Caught in the Carousel

True West

Hollywood Holiday Revisited
Atavistic

I first heard True West in 1983 when they showed up on Greg Shaw's Battle of the Garages Vol 2 compilation. I found their entry, "And Then the Rain" interesting. It seemed a little out of place on that fuzzfest of neo-nuggets revivalists. Unlike most of the so-called Paisley Underground bands of the early ‘80s, True West came from Northern Cal. (Sacramento). It's one of the reasons they never fit in that club. The other reason is that they sounded more like New York art band Television than any mid ‘60s act. The group went through some lineup changes but guitarist/writer Russ Tolman and vocalist Gavin Blair formed the core, and it's their version of True West we find here. What you get on this CD is the mini-lp Hollywood Holiday and the full-length album that followed, (Drifters) plus a bunch of demos produced in between by Tolman's guitar hero, Tom Verlaine. Hollywood Holiday begins with "Steps to that Door’" and with it's drone-fuzz guitar and filtered vocals, these steps seem definitely to lead down to that paisley underground. But the next track has more to do with U2 than psychedelia. And then... "And Then The Rain" and now we're on "Little Johnny Jewel" Street. Very Television this one, as will be most of what we get from here on. Like Television, True West suffers from some odd vocals over stunning guitar work. Blair sings way below his range on the title track. Maybe all these guys needed was a better producer. With harmony vocals this song and a lot of their others really could've happened. A cover of Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam" keeps the paisley connection alive but for the rest of HH it's more Verlaine-Lloyd inspired guitar songs. Don't ask me what the songs are about. They're about the guitars. Not the lyrics. On Drifters, the Television influence is still there with chiming guitars dripping down on opposite channels. Aside from a slower remake of "And Then The Rain," for the most part the tempos pick up a little. At the time, the album was criticized as sounding too slick (the same was said of Television's second album). Now it just sounds well-produced and not at all untrue to the band's style. In fact it seems the group has a better idea of who they are this time, dropping the psych clichés and nearly living up to their name on the acoustic number "Ain't No Hangman.” Following Drifters come the Verlaine-produced demos, which were done at Bearsville in Upstate New York, December ‘83. In some ways these are the strongest tracks. Verlaine seemed to have a sense of what to do with the band. With a bigger budget he might've pulled it off. But in the end, True West is more the stuff of oddity than legend. The West Coast Television? Perhaps. If you love Television and have never heard True West, check 'em out. But it's a bit like coming from New York and eating California pizza.

—Don Ciccone