You'll come apart and you'll go black
February 25, 2020 10:33 PM Subscribe
David Roback guitarist for Mazzy Star died today, cause unknown. Guitarist for Opal, Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, and as already mentioned, Mazzy Star, David Roback, was a quiet storm of beautiful guitar playing and song writing. Sorry, I don't have more to say about him. Here's other peoples words and his music.
Here's some links to tell you who he was and what he did:
David Roback
Paisley Undergound
Mazzy Star
Opal
Dream Syndicate
Rain Parade
There's so much more than can be added, please post your favorite songs, videos and moments.
Here's some links to tell you who he was and what he did:
David Roback
Paisley Undergound
Mazzy Star
Opal
Dream Syndicate
Rain Parade
There's so much more than can be added, please post your favorite songs, videos and moments.
,
posted by with hidden noise at 10:55 PM on February 25, 2020
posted by with hidden noise at 10:55 PM on February 25, 2020
Actually I think it was his Opal cohort Kendra Smith that used to be with Dream Syndicate instead of David Roback himself (unless it was very early on)?
Nevertheless, RIP Mr. Roback. You will be missed.
posted by gtrwolf at 11:08 PM on February 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
Nevertheless, RIP Mr. Roback. You will be missed.
posted by gtrwolf at 11:08 PM on February 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
Oh yeah, here are a couple of videos from Rain Parade and Opal (okay, the last is someone's vinyl rip, but still...)
posted by gtrwolf at 11:24 PM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by gtrwolf at 11:24 PM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
The nights I spent in Paradiso (Amsterdam) watching him, were the best nights.
Here's a short article from some time ago about The Rainparade.
posted by ouke at 11:36 PM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Here's a short article from some time ago about The Rainparade.
posted by ouke at 11:36 PM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
.
For a long time now, the first ten seconds of Halah have been my go-to clips for listening to a pair of speakers or headphones. If I can hear those peerless notes ring true, they pass the test.
posted by Caxton1476 at 11:57 PM on February 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
For a long time now, the first ten seconds of Halah have been my go-to clips for listening to a pair of speakers or headphones. If I can hear those peerless notes ring true, they pass the test.
posted by Caxton1476 at 11:57 PM on February 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
He wasn’t in Dream Syndicate but he had an enviable track record while in a lot of other great bands and shared the stage and studio with a lot of great talents.
posted by ardgedee at 3:33 AM on February 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 3:33 AM on February 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:47 AM on February 26, 2020
posted by From Bklyn at 3:47 AM on February 26, 2020
Opal: Early Recordings, Vol. 2
Rain Parade: No Easy Way Down
Rain Parade: This Can't Be Today
A great 1985 Opal show with Hope Sandoval's pre-Mazzy Star band Going Home recent surfaced.
RIP + thanks, David - Opal and Rain Parade will always immediately take me back to college, and to specific people and places from that time.
posted by ryanshepard at 5:00 AM on February 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
Rain Parade: No Easy Way Down
Rain Parade: This Can't Be Today
A great 1985 Opal show with Hope Sandoval's pre-Mazzy Star band Going Home recent surfaced.
RIP + thanks, David - Opal and Rain Parade will always immediately take me back to college, and to specific people and places from that time.
posted by ryanshepard at 5:00 AM on February 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
Also, finally, after many years out of print, Opal's two LPs are being reissued.
posted by ryanshepard at 5:10 AM on February 26, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by ryanshepard at 5:10 AM on February 26, 2020 [3 favorites]
That first Rain Parade record is one of a handful of mine from that era that survived the great LP purge of ‘97. Still gets a regular turn (or queue up in the streamer).
.
posted by notyou at 5:27 AM on February 26, 2020
.
posted by notyou at 5:27 AM on February 26, 2020
(Going Home! I could never remember their name—they played a show at Al’s Bar in LA that I happened into (I was there to see The Bedshredders); a subdued and melancholy duo that seemed swallowed up by the raucous setting until gradually song by song they owned it .)
posted by notyou at 5:39 AM on February 26, 2020
posted by notyou at 5:39 AM on February 26, 2020
Sorry, I was wrong about Dream Syndicate. Thanks for keeping me honest. Well, more honest anyway.
posted by evilDoug at 6:11 AM on February 26, 2020
posted by evilDoug at 6:11 AM on February 26, 2020
I'm sorry to read this, I have liked their music more and more the past few years.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:28 AM on February 26, 2020
posted by Dip Flash at 6:28 AM on February 26, 2020
Music critic Alex Petridis writes a lovely appreciation of David Roback in the Guardian, hallucinatory guitarist still sending pop into a dream. Excerpt:
Mazzy Star’s 1990 debut album, She Hangs Brightly, was a hugely impressive statement of intent, a full flowering of a sound that Roback had been working towards, albeit with occasional diversions, from the start. Sandoval was a more striking singer than [Kendra] Smith, her voice somehow managing to appear both emotive and oddly detached. The songs largely proceeded at a snail’s pace and were haunting, conjuring up a David Lynch-ish vision of LA as a sinister, eerie city. The lengthy title track was genuinely chilling: if, as was regularly suggested, there was a dreamlike quality to Mazzy Star, it seldom sounded like a terribly pleasant dream. Meanwhile, the album’s covers – of Memphis Minnie’s 1941 blues song I’m Sailin’, and Blue Flower, originally recorded by German avant garde band Slapp Happy – suggested a duo who’d transformed their catholic tastes into something entirely their own.posted by Kattullus at 7:16 AM on February 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
Early Clay Allison (pre-Opal) show, McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, California, March 16, 1984 - just posted in memoriam.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:57 AM on February 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ryanshepard at 7:57 AM on February 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
I have always loved Bells Ring.
posted by wordless reply at 8:29 AM on February 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by wordless reply at 8:29 AM on February 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
I saw Mazzy Star open for the Cocteau Twins back in the day. I immediately went out and bought their CD. And Opal. Wonderful music for a dark room.
.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:40 AM on February 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:40 AM on February 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
I am here for Soul Giver and then Blue Flower.
posted by aramaic at 9:07 AM on February 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by aramaic at 9:07 AM on February 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Bummer, he was a great musician that will be missed.
posted by Smokey76 at 10:36 AM on February 26, 2020
posted by Smokey76 at 10:36 AM on February 26, 2020
Today's morning show on KEXP was dedicated to him, stream for free.
In case you don't know, KEXP is non-profit, non-commercial, and the best damn radio station in America.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:41 AM on February 26, 2020 [6 favorites]
In case you don't know, KEXP is non-profit, non-commercial, and the best damn radio station in America.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:41 AM on February 26, 2020 [6 favorites]
.
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 5:18 PM on February 26, 2020
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 5:18 PM on February 26, 2020
The Paisley Underground supergroup Rainy Day was one of my favorites.
posted by whuppy at 5:47 AM on February 27, 2020
posted by whuppy at 5:47 AM on February 27, 2020
« Older Lobster Theremin:5 years of euphoric, spacy epic... | We are happy to work on this project; we are happy... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Wonderful guitarist. Owned everything he did in the 90s.
posted by dobbs at 10:41 PM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]