Spent some quality time at one of my fave record stores here in LA, Highland Park’s Avalon Vintage (check tomorrow for a bunch of photos I took). There’s always something at Avalon that I’ve never seen before. This time was no different, with a couple of pretty funky Asian records that I need to get translated before I can share them with you. But, as I was making my way to the ever interesting “Private Press” section, I came across this album from an Indiana youth named Todd Wathen. I think you’ll agree, that there’s no way you can pass by a chance to hear a record with a cover like this.
Todd’s music sounds just about exactly like you’d imagine, but it’s very earnest. While there isn’t anything like Donnie & Joe Emerson’s “Baby” on this album, “Alone” does have a nice sound to it, especially with the drums that sound like they were recorded down the hallway. Though he looks like he was 30 in the pictures, Todd was approaching graduation when this record was cut back in 1979 (Me and Rodney of Avalon Vintage had a long conversation about how it always seems like there’s that one super shy dude who looks 20 years older than he actually is…Todd was most definitely that dude), Todd has a super sweet voice. At some point people passed a few stories around about this album, claiming that Todd recorded it for his high school classmates and gave out copies at their Senior Prom. Originals can fetch a pretty penny, but my copy is the reissue put out by Swan Fungus in 2013. They actually have quite a few interviews with Todd (including one that sets the Prom story straight) and if you dig this kind of sound, I highly recommend you go there and learn more about the man himself.
