Syd Straw – Surprise

Syd Straw seemed to arrive from deep in the heart of nowhere in 1989 when this wonderful, under-rated album appeared on the scene. But wherever she came from she sure made some good friends fast.

The album was produced by Straw with a couple of production collaborators including  none other than  Van Dyke Parks and Daniel Lanois. She performed songs written or co-written by Peter Holsapple, Michael Stipe, Jody Harris and Peter Blegvad, and the musicians on the album were the veritable whos who including Greg Leisz, Marshall Crenshaw, Richard Thompson, John Doe, Don Was, Dave Alvin, Ben Tench, Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner and the aforementioned Stipe, Holsapple, Parks, Lanois, Harris and Blegvad.

How it didn’t become one of the stand-out albums of the decade defies logic.

Listening to the album now it’s still very, very good, but maybe not as strange as it sounded at the time.

Straw herself is an endearing vocalist, but in retrospect she was more deeply likeable than desperately unique. Not that being a “deeply likeable” singer is in any way anything short of a major compliment!

Straw had been a backing vocalist and had come to the attention of the “cool kids” when she was recruited by Anton Fier for his Golden Palominos project. Interestingly the strongest song on Surprise is still Future 40’s (String of Pearls) which features contributions from Fier and fellow Palomino Michael Stipe. It’s a countrified alterna-pop song and it still sounds triumphant 20 years later.

What did set Surprise apart was the lyrical approach Straw took. There was nothing ‘pop’ about he words and even now the lyrics bear close attention, thought and interpretation. She comes across as literate and challenging, but not deliberately obscure. It’s an album that derives great benefit from listening with the lyric sheet close at hand. It’s music that sounds great in the background but it offers a lot more value than background music.

There is a couple of wild card songs on here. Her performance of the Stephen Foster, traditional folk song Hard Times is intriguing. The Unanswered Question is almost up there with Future 40’s until it takes a couple of mystifying tangents. Think Too Hard opens the album and it’s a delicious guitar pop-rock song. Its joined by another on Side 2 – the wonderful Racing To The Ruins. And the quirky Sphinx ultimately delights after winning a close battle with a conflicting opinion that is a little too silly.

Syd Straw went on to do another reasonably well  received album War and Peace (well it took her seven years!) before disappearing from recording until 2008 when she released Pink Velour on her own label. She performs sporadically, has acted a little and moved to a small town in Vermont where she lives happily as a creative dabbler.

But Surprise was her most ambitious and fully realised album.

Van Dyke Parks Latest Collaboration

You may not necessarily see his name on too many front covers but Van Dyke Parks is one of the most remarkable, relatively low profile figures in modern music. Born  January 3, 1943 Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, and actor.

His work spans six decades and perhaps he’s best known as Brian Wilson’s collaborator on the legendary unfinished and unreleased Smile album.

Smile acquired legendary status as one of the great lost works of the sixties. In 2004, Brian Wilson, made a surprise announcement that he was going to finish the mythical record using his current touring band. He contacted Parks, and the duo re-recorded the album. Smile won the Grammy award for the Best Rock Instrumental Performance

Parks has produced, arranged, or played on albums by artists including Tim Buckley, U2, Silverchair, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, The Byrds, Cher, Rufus Wainwright, Sam Phillips, Ringo Starr, Frank Black, Keith Moon, Carly Simon, Little Feat, T-Bone Burnett, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Victoria Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Peter Case, Gordon Lightfoot, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Ry Cooder, Joanna Newsom, The Everly Brothers, The Thrills, Arthur Goldstein and Archie Blue, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle, Scissor Sisters, Laurie Anderson, The Mighty Sparrow, The Esso Trinidad Tripoli Steelband, , and Susanna Hoffs/Matthew Sweet’s covers collection.

Parks also worked on musical arrangements for the Silverchair album Young Modern.

Recently Parks has been collaborating with an interesting artist – Inara George, who is the daughter of the founder of Little Feat, the late Lowell George who was at one time Parks best friend.

They have recorded an album  entitled An Invitation which has been described as torch baroque jazz and which has been compared to the likes of Rufus Wainright and Fiona Apple.

The album is well worth searching out but it may have to be via Amazon – no Australian release currently exists.