Browse by Label: SEBASTIAN SPEAKS

Artist:	RYAN, COLLIE
Title:	The Hour Is Now
Label:	SEBASTIAN SPEAKS
Format:	LP
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	SSP 006LP

Sebastian Speaks, in association with Douglas McGowan of Yoga Records, is proud to present this compilation of tracks from obscure Texas folkstress Collie Ryan. The Hour Is Now culls tracks from all three of her privately-pressed 1973 albums The Giving Tree, Indian Harvest, and Takin' Your Turn 'Round The Corner Of Day, presented on vinyl in a sleeve featuring new front and back paintings by Collie herself. The tracks have been completely re-mastered from the original source tapes by J.D. Emmanuel of Wizards fame. The original records were funded in part by Collie's friends at the New Age Farms carrot and fresh juice company in Lompoc, California and her mesmerizing music remained largely a secret until "Cricket," one of the tracks from Indian Harvest, surfaced on Numero Group's stellar 2006 compilation Ladies From the Canyon. Collie's music is almost solely based around her cosmic, crystalline, bird-like voice and nylon guitar picking, and her lyrics reflect her lifelong study of theosophy and naturalist living. Even today, Collie lives largely outside of what would be considered "regular" society, residing in a converted 1930's school bus in the middle of a Texas desert and painting mandalas on hub cabs, while continuing to produce her very special and personal music. Absolutely spellbinding, metaphysical, holistic song-cycles that embrace both the darkness and the light. Includes ledger-sized lyrics page insert.

Artist:	LUCAS, TED
Title:	Ted Lucas
Label:	SEBASTIAN SPEAKS
Format:	LP
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	SSP 010LP

LP version. The music of Ted Lucas has circulated through CD-Rs and blogs for years now. Although primarily known for this, his 1975 self-titled album (sometimes referred to as The OM Record), a legacy of hundreds of tapes decisively reveal one of the psychedelic era's most criminally-overlooked talents. Lucas studied with Ravi Shankar. He was the "exotic instruments specialist" for Motown and played sitar on many of their most famous productions. He rubbed shoulders with Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent and every other major player on the Detroit scene. His pioneering early psych rock bands The Spike Drivers and Misty Wizards managed to become legends with nothing more than a handful of singles. Stanley Mouse, prime image-maker for the Grateful Dead and friend of Ted, adapted the cover for Ted Lucas from his artwork for Jimi Hendrix's unfinished last album. It's the first appearance of the space scarab -- the UFO that would later become Journey's symbol. From brief, spontaneous ditties, predating the lo-fi indie movement by 20 years, to the epicly psychedelic sitar guitar ragas in Lucas' signature loose string tunings, Lucas never wavered from his visceral, intensely honest vision. A self-taught master of many instruments and consummate do-it-yourselfer, Ted created a home studio and worked out new ways to tune his guitars. The pride he took in his craft and his attention to detail were inspiring and exasperating to all who knew him. His wit was legendary. The reasons for Lucas' failure to break out of the Detroit scene would require, and probably deserve, a book-length investigation. His career provides insight on the difficulty of self-publishing and self-promotion in the pre-internet age. Without a doubt, things would have turned out very differently had he come up today. Lucas' voice is unspeakably mellow, his guitar unbelievably gentle, and his arrangements absolutely impeccable. Do not miss this album.

Artist:	VILLEMONTE, JOHN
Title:	People Like You
Label:	SEBASTIAN SPEAKS
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	SSP 012LP

"Incredibly haunting and lush private press gem from the mid-seventies. Wisconsin singer songwriter John Villemonte may be a native of the Midwest, but this rich album conjures up the same sort of hazy Southern California vibe as David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name. There are some smooth stoned vibes here a la Bread, but with a slightly unsettled edge, especially on tracks like the gorgeous 'I Am the Moonlight', a song also featured on the Numero Group's stellar Lonesome Heroes compilation."
"This record reminds me of what music made on a perfect evening on the edge of the Hawaiian rain forest, stoked on primo weed and some nice Pinot Noir, might sound like. All the women look like Peggy Lipton, all the men like Merrell Fankhauser." -- Stan Denski, The Acid Archives

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