Echo Park is an album of previously lost recordings by Jazz session man Tommy Peltier who is now 91 years old. These songs were recorded in and around Los Angeles between 1970-76 with an all-star cast that includes Judee Sill, Art Johnson, Richard Thompson (the pianist), Wolfgang Melz, Lynn Blessing and Bill Plummer. The sessions have been mixed and mastered by Jim O'Rourke.
The album opens with Oneness a cool minimal 70's spiritual soul song, hoping that the love you share will give you both a feeling of Oneness, with the congas and laid-back guitar backing helping to create the warm feelings between you, in ways reminiscent of Garland Jeffries.
Judee Girl is his song of praise for Judee Sill who had clearly bewitched Tommy, he pours out his love for her on a cushion of strings and wonderfully high-flown vocals.
National Stardom has sparse keyboards and guitar for this song of longing and loneliness, for someone who was dreaming of National stardom that didn't quite pan out as expected, leaving him searching for his buffalo.
Flight Of The Dancer is built around a very familiar sounding piano part while tommy have visions of the dancer and all the things they could do. Time After Time is slow late-night thoughts for the ones you love and hope love you in return, before the spectral guitar solo really adds passion to the song.
Blue Rose has certainly left Kentucky and ended up in the soft shoe funk of Los Angeles, with some flighty keyboards and building strings this is supremely laid-back grooving. 10,000 Greyhounds is the song I feel like recognise, it sounds a lot like Shawn Phillips in how the guitar interacts with the keys and percussion, this could easily have been a hit.
A Heartbeat Away is a harmony vocal song of love and tenderness set against the keyboards, the multi voiced vocals use some cool stereo effects with the lovers intertwining carefully. Yellow Beach Umbrella is for someone who wishes to remain as anonymous as another Yellow Beach Umbrella, he knows how to remain discreet and undiscovered, no matter what he's up too.
Here Today has a slow spectral opening telling it like it is for a friend who is Here Today gone tomorrow leaving a fleeting impression and not hanging around long enough to bring any sorrow with you. The flute part is very Gil Scott Heron like, this brief liaison flies by.
The album closes with Smile All The While that opens with some stylophone or Casio keyboards for this folk song hoping to persuade you to Smile All The While no matter how Dark things might get, keep your chin up and you’ll make it through to those brighter days when harmonica parts like this will be properly celebrated.
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