Lee Underwood’s ‘88 Classic “California Sigh” Debuts On Vinyl via Drag City
Both Immaculate and startling gorgeous winds pursue the western seas as geographic landscapes break apart in a precious effort towards universal change. Where the mind splinters into a thousand holographic shades of reflective blight, mere thoughts lean into the sanctum of meditative practice upon some hill located in ancient valleys covered in a vivid, floral blankets. A bloodied sun sets in the cryptic distance as skeletal albatrosses impregnate the sudden skies just above. Fermented fruit burns under the acoustic moon where sacred choirs rage in range above mountains both quiet and still. Explosive aromas seep throughout a wood-panel living-room hiding someplace out of sight in the dormant hours of morning’s mourning. In great modesty, this is where man meets his ultimate destiny, while the disembodied soul reconnects in the same effort that the chaotic universe briefly sighed about so long ago…
Renowned musician, author and journalist Lee Underwood first began his journey in music out on the west coast after leaving the University of Colorado behind in ceremonial dust his sophomore year. After fighting vigorously with his shadow and mind, Underwood relocated to San Francisco to further continue his education and after graduating from SFSC, he got married, adopted his very first guitar, briefly attended UC Berkeley and once again fled the scene, but this time landing in the Big Apple in the spring before “Summer of Love’’. It was there he met his soul brother, creative partner and dear friend, the late Tim Buckley. The two would eventually set out to define a whole entire generation with one of the most gorgeous and simply divine catalogs in American songwriting. From 1966 to 1973, the duo recorded 7 monumental albums together before Buckley’s devastating passing in the mid 70s. With the symbiotic, self-titled debut and 1967’s groundbreaking classic “Goodbye and Hello”, which featured the unparalleled anthem“Morning Glory”, both Buckley and Underwood would soon take the world by storm with their mighty mantras of sound.
Underwood eventually parted ways from Buckley for a number of reason, but one in particular was to pursue a very successful career writing for music publications such as Rolling Stone, The LA Times, Jazz Forum, Down Beat and countless others after his return to the west coast. With publications and various novels under his belt at the time, Underwood sat under the burning glow of New Mexico’s maverick moon in 1988 to write and record his compelling debut “California Sigh”. Accompanied by a stellar cast of musicians such as Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny Fortune and Chas Smith, the band set out to create a magical body of work to decipher the almighty infinity of expression and holy atmosphere found in instrumental music. Across the albums 11 tracks springs ahead this seasonal afterlife of polished, primitive performances, where storytelling through instruments is crucial. With numbers like “Seaview”, “Quietude Oasis” and the album’s title track, “California Sigh” inspiring the wild flowing freedom of music, Underwood spoke from his heart and made sense of the decades that were now behind him. Released for the very first time since its 1988 debut on cassette, the influential Drag City label has finally given this album the proper release it deserves as a double LP. With a safe assumption that Underwood is proud of this re-release, we’re sure Buckley would feel the same for his long time friend as he makes him proud from beyond the great bardo of time and space.
