Wednesday 1 February 2012

Mazzy Star - Common Burn



Mazzy Star’s comeback single hit the record shop racks this week and opens with the enigmatic appeal of “Simple things like your overcoat and your beauty that’s still burning me”, kind of like Harriet Brown by David Roback’s old band Opal: “Harriet Brown wears a man’s felt hat that she bought in Spain”. That'll be £8.99, sir. What recession? I’m taking it just for that beginning.

This is vintage Roback and prime Hope Sandoval. Ry Cooder’s spacious desolation, Neil Young’s countrified desperation and the Paisley Underground’s smart 60s pop touches all swim in Mazzy Star’s psychedelic slipstream. If the new album's of this standard, it might just be their best yet.

It didn’t take 16 years to make this single. Mazzy Star work at their own pace. Always have. This Melody Maker interview from 5 January 1991 goes some way to explaining their outlook.

3 comments:

  1. Researching Mazzy interviews & articles I came upon your site. Thanks for posting this one.
    That Common Burn YT upload is mine. The first day the song was leaked online I snagged a recording of a stream & put it up on YT the same night. My fave recent Mazzy find is a video of Mazzy live doing a 5-song set in '94 at The Bridge School Benefit. I uploaded it here:
    http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?video_id=7WWP8ZpsXBQ&ns=1
    Enjoy!

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  2. Sorry, that was the wrong URL above for Mazzy Star's Bridge School video. This is the correct one:
    http://youtu.be/7WWP8ZpsXBQ

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  3. Thanks for the link. That school video is truly wonderful.

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