Disc Two, Rainy Days (1970-1974), Available to Stream Today
Praise for Ted Lucas and Ted Lucas/Om
"At that time, no one seemed to think his story or songs would sell. But they have done something much more important: They have endured, glowing transmissions of sadness, hope, and exploration continuing to drift outward for anyone who needs them.”
— Pitchfork
“Ted Lucas' sole album borders on timelessness in its best moments and soars from start to finish.”
— AllMusic
“An ethereal and absorbing meditation.”
— Music Connection
Last year, Third Man Records released the reissue of Detroit's unheralded songwriting genius, Ted Lucas’ 1975 cult classic self-titled album Ted Lucas (OM), as part of an ambitious archival campaign intent on spreading the open secret of Lucas’s genius and putting an end to his unfair anonymity.
Today, March 31st, Third Man Records announces Images of Life, a career-spanning, 3xLP retrospective boxset illuminating the staggering breadth and depth of Lucas’ work, out May 22nd. In conjunction, they digitally release disc two, Rainy Days (1970-1974), available to stream in its entirety today. Disc one, Strange Mysterious Sounds (1965-1970), highlights Lucas’ flirtation with psychedelic major label clout via his bands the Spike Drivers, the Misty Wizards and the Horny Toads. Disc two, Rainy Days (1970-1974) contains the solo acoustic warmth and charm most similar to the music found on his self-titled album. Finally, disc three, Impossible Love (1979), is Lucas’ lost second album. The album, produced by the legendary Don Was, highlights Lucas’ smooth songwriting and near-"yacht rock," while never betraying the true artistry and craft of a once-in-a-generation talent.
Rainy Days (1970-1974) captures Lucas’ early ’70s period, the most consequential of his career. It was at this time that a rejected Warner Bros. songwriter demo was transformed into one of the most significant (and overlooked) private-press folk albums ever made. The compositions Lucas created between 1970 and 1974 represent the peak of his creative work, and the decisions he made about when and how this music saw release (if it was released at all) sealed his fate to be largely unappreciated in his lifetime. Rainy Days features stunning live performances, unreleased studio tracks, and intimate home recordings that reveal a musician at peak expressive power.
Rainy Days (1970-1974) Album Artwork
Lucas was a prominent figure in the Detroit music and counterculture scenes of the 1960s and ’70s. Known as an eccentric beatnik, prodigious guitarist, and trained sitarist under Ravi Shankar, those who witnessed Lucas at this time recall him as the most talented guitarist and songwriter to never make it out— an artist who should have been as revered as Joni Mitchell or John Fahey. He briefly became an in-demand live act, and was a first-call session player for studios like Motown, where Norman Whitfield called him his “exotic instrumentalist,” but was never able to translate that to lasting success. Unfortunately, his was a classic story of a prodigious, struggling genius out of step with the world around him. Even so, Ted Lucas managed to craft one masterpiece album in 1975 that, sadly, very few ever heard in his lifetime. Lucky for us, Lucas left us with hundreds of hours of recordings: reel-to-reel tapes of all sizes, brittle acetates, homemade cassettes, cans of film, and other obsolete video formats—decades of music and life captured by an artist who knew, as if by prophecy, that someday, long after his death, it would all finally be heard.
Images of Life Box Set Artwork
Strange Mysterious Sounds: Group Recordings (1965-1970)
1. The Spike-Drivers – “Strange Mysterious Sounds”
2. The Misty Wizards – “It’s Love”
3. The Horny Toads – “High on Love”
4. The Spike-Drivers – “High Time”
5. The Misty Wizards –
“Often I Wonder”
6. The Misty Wizards – “Harold Lloyd”
7. The Spike-Drivers – “I’m So Glad”
8. The Spike-Drivers – “Can’t Stand the Pain”
9. The Misty Wizards – “Love Took a Trip”
10. The Spike-Drivers – “Blue Law Sunday”
11. The Horny Toads – “Head in California”
Rainy Days: Solo Recordings (1970-1974)
1. You’ve Got the Power
2. Rainy Days
3. It’s Love
4. Nobody Loves Me Like My Baby Does
5. Stay High6. It’s Not Easy
7. Anastasia
8. Take What You Need
9. Driftin’ Free
10. Images of Life
11. I Wish I Knew
Impossible Love: The Unfinished Second Album (1976-1979)
1. Slow Motion Ocean (of Love)
2. Impossible Love
3. What Can I Believe in Without Love
4. Searching for Love
5. You Win Again
6. Sgt. Pinhead
7. If I Can’t Be Your Lover (I Won’t Be Your Friend)
8. How Does It Feel
9. I Can See It in Your Eyes
10. Impossible Love [Acoustic]
Images of Life Box Set Packshot
