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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9880 Posts |
 Posted - 05/12/2012 : 16:07:00
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GARY HIGGINS, "Red Hash" (1973)
"Red Hash" is a lo-fi psychedelic folk album by singer/songwriter Gary Higgins. The music found on this album sounds a lot like if Karl Blau and Six Organs of Admittance (Chasny cites Higgins as a huge influence) recorded an album together. Very few copies of the album were printed initially, as Higgins recorded the album knowing he was about to go to prison on drug charges. Because of the aformentioned Ben Chasny, however, Higgins is starting to enjoy some amount of acclaim.
Born: Sharon, CT, United States
"Thicker Than A Smokey"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc5ryvOGjaw
Members:
- Gary Higgins - guitar, vocals
- Dave Beaujon - bass
- Jake Bell - guitar, vocals
- Terry Fenton - organ , percussion
- Paul Tierney - flute, mandolin, vocals
- Maureen Wells - cello, vocals
Tracklist:
01. Thicker Than a Smokey - 3:38
02. It Didn't Take Too Long - 4:02
03. Windy Child - 3:31
04. Telegraph Towers - 2:56
05. I Can't Sleep at Night - 3:52
06. Cuckoo - 2:10
07. I Pick Notes From the Sky - 4:45
08. Stable the Spuds - 5:22
09. Down on the Farm - 3:08
10. Unable to Fly - 4:12
11. Looking for June - 3:51
A beautifully wrought record of sun-drenched folk musings courtesy of Gary Higgins, Red Hash was reissued in 2005 on Drag City to great acclaim. This is a "Buried Treasure" that lives up to its reputation.
~ by: Ariel (thedoledrums.blogspot.com)
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ROGUE BOY INTO JAIL
"Red Hash", Gary Higgins' melancholy masterpiece, is often cited in the same breath as such admired hippy-folk obscurities as Skip Spence's "oar", Linda Perhacs "Parallelograms" and Vashti Bunyan's "Just another Diamond Day". Unlike those artists, however, Higgins' story has a novel twist: by the time the album was relased in March 1973, he was doing time in a maximum security Jail!
Higgins and his chums were self-described "hippies living in the country", the extent of their crimes limited to smoking marijuana ("I even inhaled," Higgins reveals). The situation turned serious, however, when Higgins and manager Gary 'Chico' Cardillo were caught up in President Nixon's newly declared War On Drugs. As a result of their involvement in an October 1972 pot bust - they'd become unwitting pawns in a large undercover police operation - they found themself facing long, hard prison sentences.
"It certainly shocked us." says Higgins. "But it brought forth an urgency in getting some songs down on tape because I didn't know if I'd ever get another chance." ...
~ By: (c60lownoise.blogspot.com)
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Biography:
Born in Sharon, Connecticut, Higgins cut his musical teeth in 1960s New York, first in the psychedelic group Random Concept and later with avant-folkies Wooden Wheel. In 1972, Higgins was caught up in a drug sting; but shortly before entering a maximum-security facility, he cut a record featuring members of his two prior groups: Jake Bell (guitar, vocals), Maureen Wells (cello, vocal), Jerry Fenton (piano, organ), Dave Beaujon (bass), and Paul Jerney (mandolin, flute, vocals). Besides singing and playing guitar, Higgins recorded drums for a few cuts.
The record was titled (not by Higgins) Red Hash, and it failed to sell out its modest printing of a few thousand copies. After his release, Higgins held down a series of jobs in the Connecticut/New York area, eventually marrying and raising a son. While he play in a bar bands, he didn't pursue further recording, and his record became a foggy memory.
In the 1990s, a small cult of devotion bloomed around the record, a cult that included David Tibet of Current 93 and Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny, who covered "Thicker Than a Smokey" for his album School of the Flower in hopes of getting Higgins' attention. Eventually, Sub Pop/Drag City staffer Zach Cowie located Higgins, signed him to Drag City, and oversaw the re-release of Red Hash in the summer of 2005. In July of that year, Higgins played his first solo show, supported by members of Random Concept, as well as his guitarist son, Graham.
~ (RYM)
"I Can't Sleep At Night"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygsux-saPpc
Cuckoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXeAvrLZZj0
Unable To Fly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1potezo44w8
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Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 05/06/2013 17:09:22 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9880 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2012 : 16:09:07
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...on "RED HASH"
Recorded during one forty-hour period in 1973, 'Red Hash' by Gary Higgins is one of the great 'lost' albums of all time. A lovely, sad, wistful folk album, 'Red Hash' was recorded so quickly because Higgins had recently been arrested on drug charges and was facing years in prison.
Shortly after the album was self released on his own Nufusmoon label, Higgins seemed to disappear and seemingly gave up a career in music, firstly serving out his prison sentence and later falling into domestic life marrying and having a child, and 'Red Hash' fell into the abyss.
It was during the mid-1990s, when 'Red Hash' began to get noticed. Partly due to the development of the internet (word spread about the album online and pirated copies began to appear on ebay) and partly down to musicians, such as Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance, who began to cite the album as a major influence. Chasny even covered one of 'Red Hash's' many standout tracks, "Thicker than a Smokey" on the quite brilliant Six Organs of Admittance album 'School of the Flower' (2005). The story took a further turn for the better when A&R man Zach Cowie received a burned copy of the album from Chasny and was so enchanted with what he heard, decided to set out and find Higgins. The search paid off and the album was remastered and released to critical acclaim by Drag City in 2005.
'Red Hash' is a gem of an album that has aged fantastically well, comparisons with Skip Spence's 'Oar' and David Crosby's 'If I Could Only Remember My Name' begin to position this record in the "classic" territory that it deserves to be in.
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Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9880 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2012 : 16:16:05
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"WINDY CHILD"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKoTpE-mz48
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Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 05/12/2012 17:12:04 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9880 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2012 : 17:42:56
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It Didn't Take Too Long
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXWrTxmJDzE
Smooth jazzy smokey folk rock tune
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Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
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Gary Higgins-"Red Hash" '73 psych folk masterpiece
