Scott Fagan was once tipped to be bigger than Elvis although the person who made such a reckless prediction was probably as under the influence of chemical substances as the artist himself.
After an impoverished upbringing U.S. Virgin Islands, Fagan found solace and inspiration in the 1960s Greenwich Village scene but his music is far from Dylanesque.
South Atlantic Blues was his 1968 debut album that sank almost without trace when first released through Atlantic Records-subsidiary, ATCO. It is reissued now on vinyl with its original artwork, a portrait of Fagan by rock photographer Joel Brodsky. This follows an earlier reissue in 2015 featuring cover art by Jasper Johns.
The curious brand of acid-folk sounds strange even now so must have been met with even greater bemusement when it first appeared. Sharyn Felder, daughter of the late Doc Pomus, the songwriter who signed Fagan in 1964 comments: “Forget Rodriguez, forget Searching for Sugar Man, Scott was so much more. He was cut from a different cloth.”
The mannered vocal style and obscure lyricism in part mirrors David Bowie’s own late ‘60s experiments to merge pastoral folk with psychedelic pop. The opening track, In My Head, relates a disconnect between perception and mental faculties while in Nickels and Dimes the singer is overwhelmed by “too many mirrors reflecting the lying of too many people.” The title track is a hymn to self-determination: “Spread the news of glory, the whole world is in your hands”
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The eccentric semi - orchestrated arrangements by Horace Ott often seem to be competing with rather than complimenting the atmosphere of the songs. The Carnival is Ended, for instance, is excessively ornamented with steel drums and trumpets.
One can detect Fagan’s intent was to combine a pop sensibility with theatrical ambitions. Indeed, he is very belatedly working on a follow-up album consisting of a never-recorded soundtrack to his 1971 Broadway ‘rock’ musical ‘Soon’.
Whatever else you say about South Atlantic Blues, this album is certainly unique and is destined to be greeted either as visionary or delusional.
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