This reissue of an insanely obscure and rare album by Susan Christie is very welcome. While I don’t pretend to have even heard of her before, I’m glad I’ve heard her now. Paint a Lady is a top quality album; it combines all sorts of styles and influences (but mainly folk) to make a nearly perfect pop album.
Most of the album is excellent with Christie somewhere between a mysterious and sexy Nancy Sinatra character and a more worldly, truthful Janis Joplin. Her backing band is great: they combine elements of folk and country with psychedelica and funk. Christie’s performance on the first half of the album is spotless. Her voice is beautiful and strong, it commands total attention. On the country standard “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” not only does she give a soulful rendition of the song but her voice is doubled up with an echo added to her words. It is a simple but very effective technique which adds an ethereal quality to the song.
Mid-way through the album is “Yesterday, Where’s my Mind?,” which is easily the weak point of the album. More specifically the first chunk of the song is turgid. The backing band are great, slowly building up a powerful groove but Christie’s spoken word vocals are atrocious flower child waffle about going on acid. However, when she starts repeating the phrase “God, where is my mind?” and snarling like a proto-Jarboe the song is saved. It quickly changes style into a country-tinged rock song. The electric guitar buzzes and growls as Christie unleashes her voice properly. As much as I dislike the intro I’m more than happy to sit through it to get to this.
One word of warning about this album: because of the nature of the source recording the sound gets a bit ropey at some points. In 1970, only three copies of the album were pressed and, although not stated in the press release, I’m guessing the master tapes were lost. This reissue was made from one of the three vinyl copies and in a few places the vinyl is worse for wear. Some of the songs have a lot of scratching on them which at times kill the mood. Still, beggars can’t be choosers.
I’m not a rabid rarity collector, I don’t think that a rare psychedelic album from the '70s or a black metal demo limited to five cassettes is any better than something that gets a huge pressing and fan base. However, I do often wonder how many classic albums have been lost to society. A better Velvet Underground could be in a vault somewhere waiting for someone to stumble across or to be accidentally destroyed. Susan Christie may not be up there with VU but making her music available at long last was worthwhile. Paint a Lady isn’t life changing or ahead of its time but it is a cracking album. A lot of albums that should never have been made have been given proper releases so it’s nice to hear some form of musical justice by getting an album like this released. Paint a Lady is something I will be returning to again and again.
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