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▄▀▀█▀ █ Gary Higgins - Red Hash ▌ ▐▓▓▌██▓▌
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█ █▌ ▐░ ▌ ■
█ RiPPER: .... [uF]Crew █ S ▄▀▀▄▀▀▄ ▐▒░ ▌
█ RLS DATE: .. Aug-02-2005 █ T ▐▓▒░▌
█ STR DATE: .. Jul-26-2005 █ A ■ ▄░ ▀█▀
█ ARTiST: .... Gary Higgins █ T ▄▓▀▀▓█▀▄ █
█ ALBUM: ..... Red Hash █ S ▄▄▓▄▄░▄█■▀ ▄ ▄▄▀ █
█ LABEL: ..... DragCity █ ░▒▓█▀ ██▓▓▄█▓▀▄▓▒░▄█▄ ▓ ■
█ GENRE: ..... Folk █ ■▄█▄▀▓▀ ▄██▄▄▀░▀▀ █ ▒
█ SOURCE: .... CDDA █ ▄▀█▀▄█▀▄ █▓ ██▓░ ░█ ░
█ BiTRATE: ... VBR.Kbps.44.1kHz █ █▀▓▀■ ■░▀▄▀ ▌■ █
█ MODE: ...... Joint-Stereo █ ■ █ ▀█▄░▄█▀▀ ▌ ▓ ▄▀▀▄▀▀▄
█ TRACKS: .... 13 █ █ ▐█▓▀▐ ▌ ▒
█ LENGH: ..... 50:33.Minutes █ ▓ █▌ ▐░ ▌ ░
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▄▓▄ ▐▓░ ▌■ RELEASE iNFO ▄▓▓▄▀ ▄█▀ ▄█▓▓▄▄ ▀ ░░▀█▓▓█▀█▄
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█ █
█ When Six Organs of Admittance played Tonic a few █
█ months back, Gary Higgins appeared on stage for █
█ "Thicker than a Smokey", a Higgins track covered █
█ on Six Organs' last album, School of the Flower. █
█ I assumed Higgins and Ben Chasny would perform █
█ together, cross-generation style, but instead █
█ the Six Organs leader allowed the elder singer █
█ to go it alone. Still sporting a longish red █
█ beard with new-found gray, Higgins seemed █
█ nervous at first, but once he calmed down and █
█ hit a stride, the haunted beauty of the classic █
█ loner psych-folk song filled the space like a █
█ dusting of incense. █
█ █
█ Chasny's acquiescence was a touching gesture, █
█ especially when considering that it's the Six █
█ Organs maestro, along with Drag City's Zach █
█ Cowie, who's largely responsible for the reissue █
█ of the lost 1973 album, Red Hash, and Higgins' █
█ subsequent tour. (School of the Flower issued a █
█ missing person request in the liner notes, █
█ requesting that anyone with knowledge of █
█ Higgins' whereabouts please let Chasny know.) █
█ Red Hash was originally released on Higgins' █
█ Connecticut-based Nufusmoon Records. Around that █
█ time, he was busted for possession of marijuana █
█ and spent two years in prison. In his absence, █
█ the album sank into oblivion. Mastered from the █
█ original tapes with new photos and artwork from █
█ Higgins' archives as well as a lyric sheet and █
█ two bonus tracks, Red Hash is now available to a █
█ wider audience. █
█ █
█ It's been a good couple of years for once-lost █
█ folkies. Comparing Higgins to other formative █
█ players in the midst of rebirth, he's darker █
█ than Vashti Bunyan or Incredible String Band, █
█ less outer-realms and more melodic than Simon █
█ Finn. His work could, more or less, be compared █
█ to Skip Spence's Oar dressed up like David █
█ Crosby. On Red Hash, his guitar and soulsick █
█ (but often uplifting) voice are accented with █
█ rich cello, piano, organ, mandolin, flute, and █
█ bass. The sounds are melancholy but never █
█ unaccessible: This is folk both your uncle and █
█ WFMU will (and do) love. █
█ █
█ Coming first, "Thicker Than a Smokey"'s the █
█ strongest composition, a perfect blend of █
█ wanderer sadness, transcendent vocals, jangling █
█ instrumentation, dour melodies, and a libretto █
█ that feels like a Beatnik "Advice to the █
█ Graduate". Like many of Higgins songs, "Thicker" █
█ deals with a journey. Beginning with the █
█ queries, "What do you intend to do young man? █
█ Where do you intend to go?," he delves out █
█ homespun advice ("If you travel with a spider/ █
█ In your duffle bag/ With you good weather goes") █
█ and personal anecdote ("It's often that I wish █
█ to leave myself/ Buy some fancy clothes...") in █
█ a way that connotes something cyclical or █
█ unending. █
█ █
█ Higgins' major themes are travel and █
█ lonesomeness. "Telegraph Towers" finds the █
█ protagonist "sailin' for home"; only the blowing █
█ wind makes him feel like he's not alone. In "I █
█ Can't Sleep at Night" he's afraid of shut-eye █
█ because it might mean death (he smells it █
█ everywhere). The mournful "Windy Child"'s █
█ downcast sing-along weds flute, cello, and █
█ Higgins' minor chords to "You were the sun/ And █
█ I was the morning dew... / You were always █
█ bigger / you were always brighter than me." The █
█ parlor fare of "Looking For June" has Higgins █
█ joined on vocals with upfront piano for a tale █
█ of a solo desert wanderer meeting with camels █
█ and the pope (check out the subtle, Eastern █
█ vibe). █
█ █
█ Secondary lyrical fixations include animals, █
█ which often signify a lighthearted turn that █
█ under closer scrutiny isn't so joyful. There are █
█ plenty of birds (and the skies in which they █
█ fly), including a cuckoo in the track of the █
█ same name. Honing in on Trout Mask Replica, █
█ "Down on the Farm"'s comic protagonist milks a █
█ bull instead of a cow. There's also the gently █
█ humorous love ballad, "Stable the Spuds", but █
█ before getting too cozy, note the creepy piano, █
█ which trills like descending ice cubes. █
█ █
█ The most beautiful work outside of "Thicker than █
█ a Smokey" is "Unable to Fly", which is █
█ traditional-sounding and pastoral, as if █
█ performed by Elliott Smith. (In parts, Higgins █
█ adopts a falsetto that sounds torn from █
█ Either/Or.) It retells a quest to reach the sun █
█ via an Icarus-type flight, but the hero's sent █
█ off in a wooden boat (carved by his father) to █
█ sail alone on the sea (as instructed by his █
█ mother). Before going, he turns in time to see █
█ her spread her wings "to greet the sky so blue" █
█ and fly away. Addressing a lover, he's bummed █
█ that know that knows where he's supposed to go, █
█ "You no longer care to know." He then flies, "In █
█ the golden light of your stare." █
█ █
█ Red Hash proper consists of 11 pieces and ends █
█ with the aforementioned (Revelations-inspired?) █
█ dream quest, "Looking For June". Unfortunately, █
█ as it often goes with these sorts of reissues, █
█ the two bonus tracks aren't as powerful as the █
█ others. "Don't Ya Know" is an early 80s home █
█ recording heavy on the blues and lines about █
█ drinking whisky and playing guitar and being a █
█ long-hair. (Remember the Five Man Electrical █
█ Band via Tesla? that kind of thing...) The more █
█ ambitious "Last Great Sperm Whale"-- a 1975 █
█ studio track with bluesy slide guitar and tinny █
█ drums-- tells the story of recently freed whale █
█ who goes on an oceanic tear until he's █
█ recaptured and killed. Likely coming on the █
█ heels of Higgins' release from prison, it's a █
█ fitting allegorical finale to the reissue, but █
█ stylistically it creates a disjunct from the █
█ original Red Hash track list. █
█ █
█ A more fitting end: Last weekend I was at a pot █
█ luck and the host put on Red Hash. The first few █
█ strums of "Thicker than a Smokey" cast a lovely █
█ soporific feel over the room before I realized █
█ what it was. Commenting on it to my friend, he █
█ mentioned that from the pictures accompanying █
█ the music, it seems Higgins possesses a certain █
█ aura of calm (and there really is a tawny haze █
█ around his head in one of the pics). It reminded █
█ me of his Tonic performance. After Higgins █
█ completed his one-song set, Chasny told the █
█ crowd to buy Higgins a beer, but once he █
█ finished, he walked back to the bar, somehow █
█ ducked out of my sight, and blended silently █
█ back into the audience before I could attempt to █
█ fulfill the request. █
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▄ ■▐▓▌▄▓█▀▒█▓ ▀ TRACKLISTING ■ ░█▓▒░▄▓▄ ▐ ▌ ▌▄▓▄
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░▓▓ █ TRACK TiTLE TiME █ ▀▓▓▄▄█▀▀
░ █ █ ▐ ▌■
█ █ ■▓▄▀
█ :01:. Thicker than A Smokey 03:38:. █
█ :02:. It Didn't Take Too Long 04:02:. █
█ :03:. Windy Child 03:32:. █
█ :04:. Telegraph Towers 02:57:. █
█ :05:. I Can't Sleep at Night 03:53:. █
█ :06:. Cuckoo 02:11:. █
█ :07:. I Pick Notes form the Sky 04:45:. █
█ :08:. Stable the Spuds 05:22:. █
█ :09:. Down on the Farm 03:09:. █
█ :10:. Unable to Fly 04:13:. █
█ :11:. Looking for Jun 03:52:. █
█ :12:. Don't Ya Know 03:37:. █
█ :13:. Last Great Sperm Whale 05:22:. █
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░ █ █
░▓ █ TOTAL:. 50:33 min █ ▀▄▄▐▄ ▄
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█ █ SiZE:. 74,9.Mb █ ▄▀▓▀█▄██▄
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▓ ▐ ▌░ ▐ ▌ █ █ ■
▒ ▐░ ▌ ▐ ▌ █ Underground Fusion is only looking for: █
░ ▐▒░ ▌ ▐ ▌ █ █ ░
▐▓░■▌ ▐▄■ ▌ █ [x] Pre store date, UK retail suppliers. █ ▒
▀█▀ ▐▌ ▌ █ [x] Pre store Albums suppliers. █ ▓
▄ █ ▐■ ░▌ █ [x] Rippers of Underground UK Vinyl & CDs. █ █░
▄ █ ▐ ░▒▌ █ █ █▒
█ ▐ ░▒▓▌ █ [O][O][X][X][X] Dutty Sluts. █ █▓
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▀ ▐▌▄░▄ ▀▀███▀ █ uF is now 1 yr old!! and still 0wnin UK Schit █ ██░
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■ █▄ ▄█ █ 1st year .... Rls: 1256 Nukes: 35 Ratio: 2.7% █ █▓
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▀ ░▓▌ ░ █ Greets go out to VideoCD & XXL. █ █
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▐▀ ▀▓▌ ░▌░▓░▒░█ BIG FUCK U goes out to all you Lamerz █ ░ ■
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