Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, November 16th, 2022)
“Marble Son” performed by Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter
Oh, marble son, why can’t I love you more?
I wish I’d found you beautiful before
When I was young, I’d have most anyone
But I only loved what was to come undone, come undone
Oh, marble son
Who stands beside you?
They say we are the trees, we are in the air
We are the land, the ocean and the moon
We are despair and the happiness
That lingers everywhere
Will we ever be ourselves again?
Worried minds in need of silencing
I do not wish to be free but I know
It’s what needs to be
Oh marble son, why can’t I love you more?
I wish I’d found you beautiful before
Oh, before
In the mid-1990s, when DMG was at our first location on 211 East 5th St., we used to get a number of promo CDs and LPs sent to the store every week. Every Sunday night before I took the train home, I would listen to a stack of promos to see if any tickled my fancy.
I got a promo in the mail around 2002 from a band called Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter with a picture of a young woman smoking a cigarette at a bar or diner on the cover. I was intrigued. The CD was called Reckless Burning and something about the music drew me in. I had never heard of Jesse Sykes or the rest of the band, although one member of the band was named Tucker Martine who worked with Wayne Horvitz in the studio and ended up becoming a fine (Daniel Lanois-like) producer.
That disc has an eerie, folk-rock blend and was immensely sad yet enchanting. I ended up playing the disc every night before I went home for more than a year. It helped me to deal with my day at the store and calm me down before I went home. I was hooked. I ended up becoming a big fan of Ms. Sykes and her band and caught them live on several occasions at The Fez, Joe’s Pub, and Bowery Ballroom. The first time I kissed my ex-fiance in my car, I was playing this CD so it still reminds me of my lost love. My partner Manny used to tease me when I played it again and again but it helped to deal with things at the time.
The band featured Phil Wandscher on lead guitar and other instruments and Wandscher co-wrote and helped to produce her other discs. Ms. Sykes went on to record/release four albums between 2002 and 2010. For me, each one is a treasure and each one gets heavier (more rocking) in sound. The last one is called Marble Son (from 2011) and it opens with a powerful rock anthem that blends the best elements of The Who (via ‘Who’s Next’) with a heavier side of Jefferson Airplane. I find that Ms. Sykes’s lyrics are often sparse yet effective so that we can fill in what we think is going on with our own view of life. I often wonder if there is a religious aspect going on here but I am unsure. After Marble Son was released, Ms. Sykes broke up with her longtime boyfriend & collaborator and stopped making new records.
It has been a decade since the last one. I missed hoping for the next one to be released. I found out recently from my old pal Manny (thanks bubbie) that Ms. Sykes is in a new band with Dave Alvin (from the Blasters) and two ex-members of Camper Van Beethoven (both of who also worked with Doc Chadbourne). The band is called Third Mind and their second disc was released recently. I just ordered both discs and they should be here in a week or two.
Third Mind is/are some sorta psych band that does mostly covers. Their covers include some of my favorite sixties songs like, “The Dolphins” & “A Little Bit of Rain” (both by Fred Neil), “Groovin’ is Easy” (Electric Flag), “Sally Go Round the Roses” (Great Society & Pentangle), “Morning Dew” (Bonnie Koloc & The Dead), “East West” & “In My Own Dream” (Butterfield Blues Band) and “Journey In Satchindananda” (by Alice Coltrane)!!! I haven’t heard either Third Mind discs yet but I am really looking forward to checking both of them out. A special toast to my/our old friend Jesse Sykes.
