Brett Smiley –Lying in The Sun/Got To Get Through To You –Gold Star Acetate (US 1969)
Between auditioning for musicals and trekking up and down the West Coast, Brett recorded many demos in the hope of finding that elusive first step to musical success. These recordings were made at least 5 years before he met Andrew Loog Oldham and targeted Europe with the release Va Va Va Voom on Anchor before the dream evaporated with the proposed album being shelved (but not before an unbelievable Russell Harty appearance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9xIvGSj88g )
Lying in The Sun is simply amazing and quite the doom opus. Here The Prettiest Star is deeply poignant, letting reign to teenage death fantasies, but with a maturity beyond his teenage years. Lying in The Sun is in fact an Anti-Vietnam song written in 1968 but recorded in ’69
Brett: “The very same year Charles Manson murdered Sharon Tate...Written one year I believe after The Summer of Love... Anti-War song... Vietnam War at the time... Simply lying in the sun as the song says at Sunset Beach, Ca USA. A simple Truth... The first War the U.S Lost!”
It all ends up a bit like a teenage Nick Drake covering Brian Wilson’s Til I Die, but recalling Dennis Wilson’s unreleased Carry Me Home insofar of its dramatic effect. Superb!
Gotta Get Through To You is more straightforward, It’s enjoyable but perhaps lacks the impact of Lying in The Sun. Glad to say that Brett is alive and well…
Hear a full version of Lying in The Sun
Hear a full version of Got To Get Through To You
5 comments:
The links don't work! Can u please fix them so we can hear them, I can't wait! Thank you.
The links work fine. You may need to update your flash player?
This post sent me on a search to discover the whole Brett Smiley story and links to his later stuff. Thanks.
links are not working and my flash player is up to date all other links on your site work for me,just not the brett smiley (the ones i want to hear the most heh!) thanks for any help.
It's a year later, and I just got word that Brett died yesterday, but I can't find any other information. From his Facebook page, it looks like he was using again, and I know he had HIV. Does anyone know what happened?
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