Sad About The Times: An Exploration of North American 70s FM

Anthology is really digging in this year (not that last year was slouchin’) and they add another solid compilation to the collective wantlist. Compiled by Mikey Young, who’d previously worked on a comp of ’70s folk and psych tracks from his native Australia, the new compilation focuses on the barely there bands who breached the walls of FM in the ’70s. Young expresses the impulse behind the compilations as an extension of frustration with finding brilliant overlooked music and coming up short from sharing his finds with those in his immediate reach. I can relate, to be honest. And given Mikey’s already picked out a damn fine gem for RSTB’s Hidden Gems series, I’d trust his taste completely.

Mikey breaks it down, “”For nearly all my 41 year old life, my most constant joy has been to find new music to love. My next move is usually to force the people around me to listen and hope they feel the same joy. Teenage friends and crushes didn’t care at all about the knowledge I was imparting or the mixtapes I was laboring over, I’m pretty damn sure. City life was a little more receptive, though dj’ing what i heard as totally life changing, life affirming jams at bars to dudes requesting GnR didn’t always make it feel so. The occasional radio show gives me an outlet to continue sharing tunes but sometimes that feels like firing noise into a blackhole filled with all the other bazillion archival radio streams. Doing these comps with Keith (of Anthology) seem like the logical progression of what I’ve always loved doing. ”

The comp is packed with unheard nuggets that pick at the psychedelic fallout of the early ’70s, when the hangover from free love was fresh and the oncoming crush of the next wave was wearing on the pop product. Wrapped in a brilliantly bonkers sleeve from Brian Blomerth. The label sums this up perfectly. “Sad About The Times is a set of North American 70s jammers. With a hint of (at times) West Coast jangle, these tracks traverse the border between the power pop of the times and a late-night coke jam.” I’d count that as about what I’m looking for these days.

Tracklist

1. West – Sad About The Times
2. Hollins Ferry – Lonely City
3. Randy & The Goats – N.Y. Survivor
4. Willow – Loaves And Fishes
5. Art Lown – Deep Blue Sea
6. Jode – Tomorrow Is Gone
7. Norma Tanega – Illusion
8. Perth County Conspiracy – If You Can Want
9. David Chalmers – Hotel Room
10. Jim Spencer – Another Lonely Day
11. Hoover – Absolute Zero
12. Space Opera – Holy River
13. Roger Rodier – Am I Supposed To Let It By Again (Above The Covers)
14. Emmett Finley – Paula’s Song
15. Sky – Sing For Me
16. The Smubbs – The Running Water
17. Oliver Klaus – Here Comes The Sun
18. Antonia Lamb – Wolf
19. Kevin Vicalvi – Lover Now Alone
20. Boz Metzdorf – Sails Across The Sea
21. Dennis Stoner – Maybe Someday/Maybe Never