LAZY SMOKE "Corridor Of Faces"

Sometime in the early 90s, a friend of mine sent me a mixtape with a ton of cool flowery psych pop from the late 60s on it. I knew some of the names, sure, but for the most part, it was a huge education. Sagittarius, The Millenium, We All Together, even Colin Blunstone from the Zombies made an appearance. The one band I obsessed about, however, was the Lazy Smoke. Cool name, even cooler songs.

I set out to find out everything I could about Lazy Smoke's only release, Corridor Of Faces. I couldn't have picked a harder subject. This extremely rare 1968 elpee was released in a limited edition of 1,000. This would be the equivalent of a release on Shrimper or even my late, March Records. I set out to find the vinyl. When I started dropping their name at record shows or with people in-the-know, they laughed. They told me, good luck, but be prepared to spend about $500 for a copy. Ugh! Still, I searched.

After a few years of popping in to various record shops in various cities, I told myself, "TODAY IS THE DAY, I will find it TODAY!". Today, of course, being a record fair in Austin, Texas during SXSW, possibly in 1995. Wouldn't you know it? I found it. $25. Yes, yes, it was a bootleg, but still, I had a copy of this elusive elpee! Fuck, kill me now, I'm such a geek. Sorry, mom, for dropping the f-bomb there.

I will not be able to articulate any facts about the Lazy Smoke, and soon after this treasure hunt, small indie label Arf! Arf! re-issued the whole damn thing plus bonus demos anyway. But you can read about them and buy the collection here and listen to a few tracks, well, here. "Sarah Saturday" is a Rhodes driven pop delight and "Under Skys" could be the best track not on Olivia Tremor Control's Dusk At Cubist Castle. I spared you the crackle of the vinyl by ripping the cd versions, but trust me, the vinyl sounds yummy, and if you ever come over, I'll play it for you. It's a prized possession.

SARAH SATURDAY
UNDER SKYS