Van Duren was part of the early Memphis power pop scene that spawned the legendary Big Star, and made several underexposed, small-label records during the late '70s. Duren began playing in bands at the age of 13 in 1966 and attended high school with eventual Big Star drummer Jody Stephens; he auditioned to replace Chris Bell in Big Star in 1974, shortly after the completion of Third/Sister Lovers). In 1975, he and Stephens collaborated on some demos that were produced by former Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham (whom he met through producer Jon Tiven), and a year later he was playing in a group called the Baker Street Regulars with both Bell and Stephens. (Less)
Van Duren was part of the early Memphis power pop scene that ... (More)
What began as the horn section for the house band at Stax became the Memphis Horns, the most highly regarded and in demand horn section in history.
The all-instrumental ˜Flame Outˇ features five Memphis Horns originals as well as covers of the Memphis soul classics "Let's Stay Together," "Gee Whiz" and "These Arms of Mine." The album was recorded at Memphis' Studio Six, produced by Terry Manning, and features top Memphis players Howard Grimes, Steve Potts, Marvell Thomas and Dywane Thomas. (Less)
What began as the horn section for the house band at Stax be ... (More)
IDIOT OPTIMISM is truly one of the all time great Power Pop albums! Van Duren was another seminal figure in the Memphis/Big Star Pop scene of the 1970's. He was good friends with Chris Bell and Jody Stephens, and in fact, once auditioned to replace Chris in Big Star. Then Van later was a member of Chris Bell's & Jody Stephen’s post Big Star band, The Baker Street Regulars. He went north in 1978 with Jon Tiven, who produced Van’s first album, Are You Serious?, released on vinyl in the 70's. This album has become an underground classic amongst cult Power Pop fans across the world (that one will be issued by Lucky Seven on CD for the first time in the US next year). Then Van worked long and hard on his second album, IDIOT OPTIMISM, but had a falling out with the record company before its release. In listening to it now, I am totally amazed by the depth and quality of his songs and performance. This is truly one of the lost gems of recorded music! One of the highlights is his version of Chris Bell's song "Make A Scene." (Less)
IDIOT OPTIMISM is truly one of the all time great Power Pop ... (More)
The group ROCK CITY has never had an album released before. This ROCK CITY recording, made in 1969-1970, has never seen the light of day publicly until now. In fact, the master tape was lost in a mis-marked box for these last thirty-three years! Yet, ROCK CITY are widely known as a very influential musical force. How can this be?
ROCK CITY was the group which immediately preceeded, and contained members of, the famous group BIG STAR, which is regarded in most musical critics’ circles as the biggest influence on modern pop-rock music not named The Beatles!
Two of the members of ROCK CITY, Christopher Bell and Jody Stephens, were also members of BIG STAR. Three of the songs on this CD were also on BIG STAR’s first album, #1 RECORD, in later versions. The worldwide cult following which has shadowed BIG STAR for now over thirty years has long been aware of the early group names which were used by these players. And, in fact, this group under another of those now-famous names, ICEWATER, also appears on this CD performing one song (“Feel”). And the other two members of ROCK CITY, Thomas Dean Eubanks and Terry Manning, are also well known in Memphis and BIG STAR music folklore! Also included on the ROCK CITY CD are two songs by Thomas Dean Eubanks in solo mode, which were released as a ‘45’ single on the highly-collectible PRIVILEGE label in 1975. (Less)
The group ROCK CITY has never had an album released before. ... (More)
