Ted Lucas
self-titled ("The Om Album")
scum stats: limited quantities (400?) on green vinyl. the rest on black. should be in print for all eternity
Ten years of emails and phone calls, contractual negotiations, in person meet-ups, the physical relocation of a mess of tapes and probably a bunch of shit I'm forgetting. This is what it took to get Ted Lucas released on Third Man. And for me, spiritually, it was absolutely worth it.
There is so much I could write about this record, but at the moment it feels best to point you to an interview I did with local NPR station WNXP....
There's audio of me flapping my gums as well as fairly insightful text excerpts of said gum-flapping at that link. If I can further belabor maybe just two points touched on in the interview there, it's as follows:
- there is SO MUCH more Ted Lucas music to sift through and to share. LIke, it might be more that 100 reels worth of material. Across every and all iterations of bands and styles that Ted embodied, from commercial jingles he wrote on spec all the way down to field recordings and answering machine tapes, Ted chronicled and saved just about everything. And film footage? You better believe it. Thank god.
- the digital bonus track of "Love Took A Trip" is just magnificent in every way. I cannot stop listening to it even now, months after first hearing it. This is the song that overwhelmed me and brought me to tears in the Turnip Truck (Iocal grocery store) parking lot. As a raga, as a blues ramble, as an acoustic paean to the twists and turns that are inherent to the nature of "love" as it were...this song inhabits at least three different personas and each one of them is independently brilliant. But married together they take on a profile larger than the sum of its parts.
Here's how you win a green vinyl copy of this record. Just go to whatever your preferred method of streaming is and listen to the entire album, including the four bonus tracks. Once you've done so, just come back and post a comment here. You can say you loved it, say you need it, whatever. You can also say nothing, maybe just "i listened" and I will randomly select from that pool of commenters. Get in before midnight Thursday February 27th.
You really gotta listen though. If you're gonna lie, what's the fucking point? My job, my goal here, is to use my enthusiasm to help convey to you why something is important. So...pony up kiddos.
Always ready for new music recommendations. Much appreciated.
listened! really love unearthed gems like this. really dug Love & Peace Raga
Hey! Thanks for the recommendation. I listened!
Listened – I like his voice a lot
This album is worthy of listening to again. Please send me the green vinyl version so I don’t have to spend more beer and dog food money to buy it. I shall make sure it’s played on my best speakers, with maximum effort and volume
Listened! Thank you for this Blackwell!! Ted Lucas was not on my radar at all for some unforgivable reason. Great listen – rabbit hole has officially been opened. Love it!
Very cool recommendation this album! My favorite track is Love and Peace Raga. That hypnotic guitar sounds so good! The whole album has a lot of passion, I liked it!
Never heard of before, probably won’t dig deeper than this, but this album was really good. I don’t have much extra time to dig for music. Thanks for bringing us music we would never find otherwise.
It’s a really interesting record, and, based on the talent the displays on this record, it’s too bad he did not get to enjoy a long and fruitful career. A copy of this record in green would be a prized addition to my record collection. Thank you for the opportunity!
Appreciate the recommendation for the listen – an opportunity to discover! And, good luck to all in the giveaway (great idea!).