Clay Allison - Unrealised 1984 LP

Описание: This is the re-assembled, 'unrealised' LP by Clay Allison - the band later to re-name themselves 'Opal'. I've put it together as a playlist just to hear what might have been.

In Spring/ early Summer 1984 there seem to have been hopes for an LP to be released by Rough Trade Records. That wasn't to be. I think it would be putting it a bit strong to say the Clay Allison LP was 'unreleased'. That implies that production/ release was at an advanced stage. No evidence (for example acetates/ pre-release vinyl) have surfaced to suggest this got much beyond idea stage, However a 'track-by-track review' did appear in Spring 1984 (and you can read that review in some of the images accompanying the music here at 29:26 and 35:50). The tracks and running order as compiled here are what would apparently have been on that LP.

'Side 1'
00:00 Grains Of Sand
05:47 Hear The Wind Blow
08:49 Fell From The Sun
13:24 My Canyon Memory

'Side 2'
18:22 My Only Friend
22:22 Lullabye
29:30 All Souls
31:50 Lisa's Funeral
38:34 This Town

The tracks selected are similar to - but differ from - the tracks and running order on a Rough Trade-produced demo cassette from about the same time - April 1984. You can see an image of that cassette at the 07:30 mark. Had an LP surfaced, it's unclear whether that cassette or this version would have been the final form - if either! it's also unclear whether it would have been these versions of these songs that got released back then.

Some of the songs here will be familiar and are previously released. This playlist has been reassembled from tracks subsequently released on Opal's 'Early Recordings' compilation, bonus tracks from the withdrawn 2019 re-release of that compilation, and a few tracks only surfacing on an Opal bootleg.

The images accompanying the songs can be found in various places on the internet. In this case i have lifted them from a post on the "Mazzy Star and Hope Sandoval Group' page on Facebook. I make no claims for copyright over the music or images.