Opal

**AN APPRECIATION PAGE** Floating serenely through the ether, Kendra Smith has inhabited many hues of psychedelia, from the primary paisley feedback scrawl of the Dream Syndicate (which the onetime bassist co-founded with Steve Wynn in 1981) to the swirly translucence of Opal (a group with ex-Rain Parade guitarist David Roback that transmuted into Mazzy Star upon her 1988 departure), the stonewashed pale Velvet folk-rock of the informal Guild of Temporal Adventurers to the shiny, thickly applied pop art surfaces of her solo album. Smith and Roback initially formed Clay Allison with drummer Keith Mitchell (ex-Green on Red/Romans) and guitarist Juan Gomez. Gomez and the moniker (borrowed from a Western film character) lasted for one 7-inch single, after which the remaining three recorded two new songs to flesh out the lovely and understated Fell From the Sun — on which Smith's vocals meld handsomely with the subtle mood music, a pleasant drone of translucent elegance that resembles the Velvet Underground at their most restrained — and then renamed themselves Opal. Clinging to neo-psychedelia even as many of their Los Angeles scene compatriots moved on to other fads, Opal recorded a 1985 12-inch, one full album and enough leftovers to fill the posthumous Early Recordings.



Smith exited the group in the middle of the Happy Nightmare tour, which prompted the posthumous Early Recordings. It gathers outtakes, the four Fell From the Sun tracks, plus "Northern Line" and "Empty Bottles" from the three-song 12-inch. Early Recordings concentrates on Opal's acoustic side; the spare production adds a chilling closeness to Smith's vocals, and Roback's guitar noodlings feel loose and uncontrived. The previously unissued tracks, especially "Empty Box Blues" and "My Only Friend," have a casual, unrestrained grace. The CD appends "Hear the Wind Blow."

ira robbins/karen schoemer- Trouserpress



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