Emory, Marc

Listening Music / Anfang

Scissor Tail Editions

LP $20.25

09/16/2022

SCTR 060

MP3 $9.90

08/26/2022 795154136391

SCTR 060

FLAC $11.99

08/26/2022 795154136391

SCTR 060

Scissor Tail has long been quietly releasing some of the best folk, psych, and country to hit the turntable. From early offerings from Rosali, Sarah Louise, Scott Hirsch, and Joseph Allred, through last year’s indispensable Tobacco City LP. They’ve not often dipped into reissues, though, but they’ve hit on something magical with a new edition of a lost private press gem from Marc Emory. Recorded as a college student in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania in 1974, the record is split between folk instrumentals that certainly have a familiarity with the Takoma family, and a few vocal tracks that add a loner charm to the record. The slide blues of “All Gaul” have a dose of Fahey in their DNA, but Emory gives the familiar feel his own kind of overcast glee. Elsewhere, Listening Music/Anfang, finds itself slipping through more trad folk territory, the second side practically opening in a communal pub dance feeling. There’s a bluegrass spirit bubbling under the record, with shades of Anglican folk and country blues trading off when it subsides. When Emory’s vocal surface his weariness hides his age, an already aching spirit barely out of his school days. The original record was pressed in a run of 200 and mostly given to friends and family. There were even some originals left over that Scissor Tail made available in their shop. The new edition follows suit and also comes in a run of 200. The well of private press records that haven’t been found and freed at this point seems to be dwindling, it's best to pounce when you find one this good. - Raven Sings the Blues