PAT AMENT - 'SONGS'

Formats

• GY7-3 - LP W/ CD

  600197677315

Details

In 1971, at the age of 25, Pat Ament self-released his debut album, Songs By Pat Ament, in a very limited run for friends and local shops. The album is sparse and moody, conjuring a space not unlike the one that Songs Of Leonard Cohen occupies, featuring Ament on Wurlitzer with a jazz drummer and a guitarist alternating between acoustic and electric. It’s dark and at times forlorn, with meditations on yearning and loss and love. It’s ideal long-night-of-the-soul music. The lyricism evokes Dylan, Cohen, Tim Hardin and Bill Fay. When he released Songs, Ament was already a world renowned mountain climber, and he became famous for pioneering ’60s and ’70s ascents in Colorado and Yosemite. He wrote poetic books and essays on climbing, including biographies of legendary climbers Royal Robbins and John Gill. Through the years he’s balanced multiple simultaneous careers as artist, photographer, filmmaker, chess master, karate black belt, lecturer, teacher, and, yes, singer-songwriter. Pat Ament’s musical mastery was clear right out of the gate but it was only one of his many interests. Perhaps if he hadn’t been moved to pursue life’s other tempting summits and focused solely on music, he’d be as well known for his songs as for his climbing. Grapefruit is extremely proud to reissue this rare and virtually unknown singer songwriter masterpiece, sourced from original sources and under Ament’s supervision, with original artwork and deluxe Stoughton tip-on jacket. The record also comes with a bonus career retrospective CD entitled Time Moved On of additional songs hand-picked by the artist.

Tracks

1. Sometimes When I?m Lucky 2. A Gentle Day 3. The Farewell 4. Wrong Train Blues 5. It Would Be You 6. Wayward 7. I?m A Lucky Soul 8. Find Yourself 9. There?s No Hurry 10. Right Kind Of Lover 11. Melody Of Numbers 12. Laurel And Hardy 13. Concentrating 14. He Belongs With You

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PAT AMENT - 'TIME MOVED ON'

Formats

• GY7-4 - CD

  600197677421

Details

Pat Ament is best known to record collectors for his 1971 debut Songs, a self-released masterpiece. This CD (which also comes free in the LP reissue of Songs) collects the best of his musical output since, all chosen by Ament himself. In addition to music, Ament is a world renowned mountain climber. He became famous for pioneering ’60s and ’70s ascents in Colorado and Yosemite. Additionally, he wrote poetic books and essays on climbing, including biographies of legendary climbers Royal Robbins and John Gill. Through the years he’s balanced multiple simultaneous careers as artist, photographer, filmmaker, chess master, karate black belt, lecturer, teacher, and, yes, singer-songwriter. The beauty of his songwriting remains clear-eyed throughout Time Moved On, a worthy retrospective highlighting the breadth of his artistry.

Tracks

1. You?re The Dream I Had Last Night 2. Take Me Down Your Road 3. Time Moved On 4. Two Whose Hearts Are Young 5. Dark Room All Alone 6. Troubadour 7. Along The Way 8. When You Say Farewell 9. Edith 10. Last Train 11. George Burns Big Cigar 12. All The Best 13. I Was Young Once 14. Don?t Speak

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Audio & Video

SPINY NORMEN - 'S/T'

Formats

• EZRDR083 - LP

  603111720012

• EZRDR083CD - CD

  603111720029

Details

Spiny Normen were an incredible mid-’70s Houston hard rock, progressive, psychedelic rock band that featured mellotron, Vox Jaguar, crunchy, heavy guitars, flute with echo effects, and lots more. A totally lost relic, this self-titled album was recorded at a community college and never released. The recording is very English, dark, mysterious and proggy, but also very acid-drenched. “Circa 1976, Gerry [Diaz] and I would skip class, smoke whatever scrap of contraband we could scrape together and meet in the high school auditorium where there was a piano and bang out crunchy rhythms. Gerry was playing guitar, listening to Alice Cooper, hair down to his back and about the only MexicanAmerican in a white bread school. He was cool! So when he said one day, ‘Hey man we should jam some time,’ I was stoked. I found an ancient Vox Jaguar that had belonged to Fever Tree and a Kustom amp that I blew out just right, that made the most beautiful distortion, accompanied by a beloved phase shifter. Over the next three years we began to experiment, spending months penning intense, bizarre, surreal and mind-affecting pieces influenced by King Crimson, Pink Floyd, film soundtracks, Van Der Graaf Generator, and the like. I was collecting keyboards: a mellotron, a single-key-play Moog... Gerry was adding echos, early guitar, synth and tons of pedals. I learned the flute. In we went with a hired stand-up bass player and little engineering knowledge to the community college 8-track recording studio and just played like psychedelic Mozarts. Timpani, live effects, sound effect records, backward echo, violin bow on guitar and plenty of echo. Gerry and I on vocals. What came out was still, to this day, in my humble opinion, some very complex, untouched territory, holy-what-the stuff. We were all about 19.” —Steve Brudniak (cofounder of Spiny Normen)

Tracks

1. Arrowhead 2. Wrecko Wild Man Ride 3. Carry Your Water 4. The Monkeyweasel 5. To Meet The Mad Hatter 6. The Bell Park Loon 7. In The Darkness of Night 8. The Sound Of Younger Times

Press

Unreleased 1976 hard rock / progressive / psychedelic gem from Houston

Audio & Video

BRAINIAC - 'SMACK BUNNY BABY'

Formats

• GROW004 - LP

  017531600418

Details

*INSTOCK NOW* Smack Bunny Baby is the debut album from the band Brainiac, released in July 1993 on Grass Records. Long out-of-print, it is also the only album by the group to feature founding guitarist Michelle Bodine. After she left the band, John Schmersal filled in for guitar duties and stayed with the band until their break up in 1997.

Tracks

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BRAINIAC - 'BONSAI SUPERSTAR'

Formats

• GROW046 - LP

  017531504617

Details

*INSTOCK NOW*Bonsai Superstar is the second album from the band Brainiac, released in 1994. It is the first album on which guitarist John Schmersal appears. Originally released through Grass Records, and long out-of-print, the album was recorded in Brooklyn, New York with engineering and production done by Girls Against Boys bassist Eli Janney. While the album received little critical attention upon its initial release in 1994, today it is considered one of the best recordings by the band.

Tracks

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