"Blessed with a reedy, delicate voice reminiscent of Neil Young at his most reflective. Finley had an ability to grapple with love, loneliness and the wanderer’s life. It is a pleasure to have his long lost country gospel gem in the world once more.” Will Hodgkinson
First ever reissue of this true lost masterwork from 1971 on extremely limited vinyl editions.
“I watched and wrote and watched. From a hilltop graveyard I watched. And all I did was write and play for the funeral..” Emmett Finley
Imagine songs redolent of prime ‘Doom Trilogy’ Neil Young, Love, Exile On Main Street’s honk via the swagger of Stone Roses (no kidding). Add the crushed biblical ballads of Bill Fay plus mini rock operas and we’re close to describing this ornately crafted but beautifully raw collection.
Like Fay, he was a willful studio maverick, a virtuoso who pushed his music as far as it would go and no mind for a career. Both eschew 70’s strings in favour of driven piano, loose skronky guitar. And soul to burn.
Emmett knew Hendrix and booked him to play on ‘Sky King’ - a rollicking paean to their competitive friendship. Hendrix vanished to England, but guests who did show included gospel trio The Ellington Sisters. Emmett enthused about their adventurous collaboration including a powerful “Three part harmony on G diminished 7th chords” & lovely snarl on “Gospel’s” finale “Come, come and believe...” giving way to two minutes of vocal musique concrète - and you’re only midway through side one!.
Lyrically beautiful and haunted, Emmett later described his main influence was ‘the Time’. “In 69, Rock had nothing higher to offer, Woodstock was a peaceful, contained riot. Charles Manson slammed the door of that generation shut!”. It’s dark, it’s emotional, it’s groovy, just a perfect album from a brilliant hooky songwriter and guitarist - with the look & ambition of a rockstar expecting to fly.
And then Emmett disappeared from the scene. Forever? A mystery wrapped in an enigma?
“I may wind up a thoroughly obscure figure entirely forgotten” Emmett Finley
The songs, the beguiling, exquisite arrangements, the ambitious undated production of this soul-piercing album should say otherwise.
Like so many others, this came like a bolt out of the blue and, even though it's well before payday, I had to have this astonishing album on vinyl to prove it exists. The feel of the tunes makes me feel like the Impressions do, Curtis Mayfield, the big spaces and instinctive horns and stuff drifting in and out. Great grooves and I can see lots of ghosts nodding along to this with big smiles on their faces. At last! Anthony Cottrell
If Wooden Shjips traded their sails for a prairie schooner, this is what you might hear them playing around the campfire at night on the Great Plains: homespun country-rock with a hint of psychedelia. Wonderful stuff, from start to finish. neu-mann
The impossible-to-pin-down new record from Pioneer 11 hopscotches across dance, psych, and modular synth music with glee. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 13, 2022
Psych-folk with a late 60s / early 70s flavour. If you like Nick Drake or Fairport Convention you will enjoy this. It's an observation of change and a celebration of a hazy, high summer harvest. The music transports you to the moorlands and mill towns of Northern England. Dark and open and embellished with beautiful melodies and thoughtful lyrics.
This is album of the year 2021 for me. distant planet