True West
Hollywood holiday

True West - HOLLYWOOD HOLIDAY - 1984

This album has been resurrected from the oblivion of my discography like a sonic ectoplasm: but upon listening to it again, I have to say that it's aged well... not just my opinion, as I've spotted a revisited CD version floating around the vast sea of the web. However, I'm not convinced by the reissues; I remain attached to this old vinyl, a gem of 80s American underground. It's worth listening to and revisiting at least for the guitars: the atavic sounds of True West's guitars and Gavin Blair's atmospheric, mournful voice evoke a more opiated than acid psychedelia, devoid of flower power and aimed at a western audience caught between post-new wave and heavy rock. The legacy of Television is evident, but the sounds and songs of Richard McGrath and Russ Tolman are perhaps more determined, leaning towards strange noise effects and kinetic accelerations compared to Verlaine and co., who produced them.

The clarity of intent is apparent from the opening—an homage to Syd Barrett—an extremely pumped cover of Lucifer Sam, one of the best ever made; this is quickly followed by the otherworldly melody of It's About Time, a minimalist gem where everything plays out between a wall of psychotic rhythm, the megaphone-voiced, rambling singing, behind a guitar weave between surf and dissonant hypnosis. There's a reprieve with the beat-like chant of Throw Away The Key—rippled with raga phrases and sonic arabesques reminiscent of the Byrds’ jingle jangle—then sparse drum rhythms, guitar drones, and vocal mantras pervade You and Steps To The Door. The sonic indolence is shaken by the tribal stomp of I'm Not Here, while And Then The Rain returns to the previous dreamy lethargies. This mini LP closes with the melancholic and jagged title track Hollywood Holiday. The trip ends here, and the plane of the cover—James Cagney in the film Captain Of The Clouds—lands in the dark jungle of the metropolis, as the first drops of rain wet the urban concrete. It was all a celluloid journey, but that's just fine.