David Blue – Stories LP

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“David Bluewas the peer of any singer in this country, & he knew it, & he coveted their audiences & their power, he claimed them as his rightful due. & when he could not have them, his disappointment became so dazzling, his greed assumed such purity, his appetite such honesty, & he stretched his arms so wide, that we were all able to recognize ourselves, & we fell in love with him.” (Leonard Cohen). David Blue is the ‘Blue’ inBob Dylan‘s “Baby Blue”, the voluble chain-smoking pinball loner inRenaldo & Clara, a companion ofJoni Mitchell‘s during the time she madeBlue, the “blue’s not right” art collector inWim Wender‘sThe American Friend. The second artist signed toDavid Geffen‘s fledgling Asylum records (afterJudee Sill), Blue’s 1971 Asylum debutStoriessold a woeful 2000 copies. Perhaps a factor in the album’s spectacular failure to achieve traction is the almost harrowing emotional vulnerability of Blue’s songs & performances. AboutStoriesBlue himself said “if you listen to the record & say, ‘god, what a downer,’ then i’ve succeeded in doing exactly what i wanted to do.” Recorded with Blue’s foil, guitaristBob Rafkin, & an A-list ensemble of LA session musicians that includes among othersRy Cooder,Rita Coolidge,Chris Ethridge, &Russ Kunkel, engineered byHenry Lewy(Blue,Gilded Palace of Sin) with string arrangements byJack Nitzsche,Storiesis the one true masterpiece of David Blue’s short life (Blue died age 42 from a heart-attack while jogging in Washington Square Park).

Aficionados of the “stoners&loners” genre have slept onStories. In the estimation of those long involved in the activities of eremite records,Storiesfinest moments (& there are many) foreshadow dark classics from later in the decade such asGene Clark‘sNo Other,Neil Young‘s ‘Ditch Trilogy’ &Dennis Wilson‘sPacific Ocean Blue, spirit albums in which the artists’ torments are transfigured into high art through bummer song. As an expression of appreciation & love to David Blue, eremite’s edition ofStoriessurpasses all previously available versions in both audio reproduction & presentation.Kevin Grayat Cohearent Audio gently remastered the music from the original tapes & cut the lacquers. Pressed on premium audiophile 120 gram vinyl at RTI,Storiesis presented in a retro flipback jacket with a 12×12 hand screenprinted (in peacock blue ink) insert byAlan Sherry/ Siwa that reproduces in-full Leonard Cohen’s 1982 eulogy for David Blue.Storiesis the only release on eremite records’ subsidiary label Sister Rose (titled after the second song on side 1 ofStories). Edition 999 copies. In the words ofGil Scott Heron, “all the dreams you show up in are not your own.”