Sold Date: February 19, 2019
Start Date: November 29, 2017
Final Price: $39.98 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 6814
Buyer Feedback: 2

BOB DESPER 'New Sounds' LP + 7" (US, Discourage Records, Catalogue #007) Brand new/unplayed copy of limited edition Discourage Records label edition (issued in 2009) of rare and highly sought-after 1974 Portland, Oregon dark, downer/loner folk album by Bob Desper (one of the top albums in the genre.) Bob Desper's sole album release. Included here is also a 7" with tracks Bob recorded in 1972 (presented here with full color picture sleeve) and an insert with liner notes and photographs. 

(NOTE: LIMITED VINYL EDITION!)

'Originally recorded in 1974, New Sounds is considered to be one of the Pacific Northwest’s best kept secrets, a regional Holy Grail with copies fetching upwards of $1000. Until recently, not much was known about this mysterious blind folk-singer from Oregon. In 2007, Discourage Records located Bob Desper, alive and well, living in Albany, Oregon. After two years of culling materials, Discourage Records is proud and honored to officially reissue this once lost masterpiece. Evoking the melancholy mood of Nick Drake, the fluid improvisation of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, and the intricate instrumentation of Jose Gonzales, New Sounds’ dark, meditative urgency immediately transcends the thirty-five years marking its original release. This official reissue of New Sounds includes Bob Desper’s 1972 debut 7”, “Dry Up Those Tears” (including picture sleeve); an 11” x 17” insert with extensive liner notes and full color photos; and 1970s style tip-on sleeve.'

'The Pacific Northwest is a dark, dank place, with a suicide rate higher than Keith Richards on a four day binge. Even their most articulate native son, Kurt Cobain, drowned in the sea of despair and offed himself. And what's the cause of this environmental depression? It may be the constant gray skies and rain, it may be the extremely high runaway and homeless rate, or it just may very well be the music of Bob Desper. Bob recorded his "New Sounds" LP in one take at the local Rose City Sounds studios. Just him, his acoustic guitar and an amazing insight to the dark side of the human psyche. So dark in fact, that only a blind man can see it. Bob is that man, and on this LP he taps into a place that very few people have visited. His voice is quiet with an edge sharper than a Ginzu knife. His lyrics reflect a lonely man who recognizes the shortcomings of human kind. This LP gives me goosebumps each and every time I play it. Side one starts off with "Darkness Is Like A Shadow." A spooky, echoey tune where Bob introduces a topic that becomes a reoccurring theme throughout the entire LP, the fact that the people with eyesight are blind to things that are truly important in life. "It's Too Late" and "Lonely Man" follow and continue the introspective soul search, all accompanied by Bob's extraordinary guitar playing. The fourth and last cut on side one is "To A Friend Of Mine." This is where I usually start thinking of going into the bathroom and slitting my wrist with a razor blade just to prove to Bob that I could begin to understand what true suffering is. This 15+ journey is, in my opinion, the most flawless chunk of downer/loner folk music ever recorded. Side 2 is good, but pales in comparison to its flip side.' - Rich Haupt/Acid Archives

Tracks on this LP are as follows:

Tracks on the 7" are as follows:

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