Lost Gems Compilation

Thanks to great music records labels such as "Light in the Attic" and "Luaka Bop" forgotten genius and neglected musicians have finally found the fame and the acclaim they deserved. Besides some artists that have previously appeared on BloggingStone (see Bill Fay, Rodriguez, Scott Fagan, and Gloria Ann Taylor), here's a few selection:

Nick Drake - Pink Moon
John Martyn - Solid Air
Dave Bixby - Drug Song
Robbie Basho - Blue Crystal Fire
Vashti Bunyan - Diamond Day
Caroline Peyton - Try To Be True
Shuggie Otis - Strawberry Letter 23
Jim Sullivan - Plain As Your Eyes Can See
Terry Reid - River
Nick Garrie - The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislaus
William Onyeabor - Atomic Bomb
Robert Bans - From September To July

• Nick Drake: Probably the most famous of this selection of forgotten artists. Drake suffered from major depression, and this was often reflected in his lyrics. On completion of his third album, 1972's Pink Moon, he withdrew from both live performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire. On 25 November 1974, at the age of 26, Drake died from an overdose of approximately 30 amitriptyline pills, a prescribed antidepressant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Drake

• John Martyn: Although he gained some recognition as a guitarist, he never got so much attention as a songwriter. The song "Solid Air" was dedicated to his friend Nick Drake, 18 months before its death. https://michambergodeentretiempo.com/2012/09/24/la-generacion-de-los-cantautores-malditos/

• Dave Bixby: A lost gem of private '60s psychedelia, Dave Bixby's debut solo effort is a lonely affair to be sure. With only acoustic guitar in hand, the songwriter penned this album in about a month in reaction to a year of drug abuse. Having filled his head with plenty of acid, the songs here serve as an intimate portrait of an unhinged victim of counterculture. MGMT included this song in their Late Night Tales compilation. http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7621&Itemid=1

• Robbie Basho: After dying at the age of 45 in a California hospital in 1986, Robbie Basho's reputation as a pioneer of finger-picked acoustic guitar passed like a shadow behind the music and myth of his friend John Fahey. After more than three decades out of print, his 10th album, 1978’s Visions of the Country, is back in circulation, and it serves as an ecstatic testimonial for a guitarist in need of a popular resurrection. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18390-robbie-basho-visions-of-the-country/

• Vashti Bunyan: released her debut album, Just Another Diamond Day, in 1970. The album sold very few copies, and Bunyan, discouraged, abandoned her musical career. By 2000, her album had acquired a cult following; it was re-released and Bunyan recorded more songs, initiating the second phase of her musical career after a gap of thirty years.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vashti_Bunyan

• Caroline Peyton: Nashville vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Caroline Peyton has never enjoyed widespread fortune and fame, although two albums she made back in the 1970s for BRBQ Records have long been collector’s items. http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/lifestyles/singersongwriter-makes-return-live-performing

• Shuggie Otis: The R&B survivor released three acclaimed albums before his 21st birthday and turned down David Bowie and Stevie Wonder. Then he disappeared. Forty years of addiction and menial jobs later, he’s back with a new record.https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/31/legend-shuggie-otis-instant-millionaire-r-and-b-singer-hendrix

• Jim Sullivan: In March 1975, Jim Sullivan mysteriously disappeared outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico. His VW bug was found abandoned, his motel room untouched. Some think he got lost in the desert. Some think he fell foul of a local family with alleged mafia ties. Some think he was abducted by aliens. http://lightintheattic.net/releases/502-u-f-o

• Terry Reid: British musician Terry Reid is a relatively unsung legend. Reid’s vocal prowess earned him offers to front both Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, but he turned down both opportunities to carve out a distinctive solo career. http://lightintheattic.net/releases/2340-the-other-side-of-the-river

• Nick Garrie: Nick Garrie is renowned in psychedelic collectors’ circles for his 1970 debut, The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas, a Baroque pop masterpiece effectively buried by nonexistent distribution and promotion. Garrie was never commercially successful in the English-speaking world. In the 1980s he toured Spain with Leonard Cohen.http://nickgarrie.com/about/

• William Onyeabor: Onyeabor self-released eight albums between 1977 and 1985 and then became a born-again Christian, refusing to ever speak about himself or his music again. http://luakabop.com/photobio/williamonyeabor/who-is-william-onyeabor.html

• Robert Bans: Robert Bans is an American journalist settled in Berlin in 1960 who started a romance with a young Germanic named Julia Braun. Their relationship was truncated after the 1961 Berlin crisis, but they kept in contact by mail until 1975. During that period, Robert sent a music tape with 4 songs to Julia. Sergio Odriozola found this tape, along with some letters, hidden under the floor of an old apartment in Berlin in 2016. I learned about this remarkable story through musical journalist Nacho Serrano. http://www.abc.es/cultura/musica/abci-canciones-amor-robert-bans-tesoro-oculto-tras-muro-berlin-201609040030_noticia.html