Jagjaguwar
2006
Beautiful Losers: Singles And Compilation Tracks 1994-1999
About This Album
For Simon Joyner's fans, this 21-track CD is the grail. It contains his singles, but more importantly compilation tracks from strange places, such as "Fearful Man" from the Circumstantial Evidence #2 cassette compilation -- and that's only the beginning. Arranged aesthetically, not chronologically (though these tracks come from recordings done between 1994 and 1999), these cuts open up another door in Joyner's world. One utterly startling revelation that asserts itself immediately in cuts such as the aforementioned and "Robin Hood" is how much Joyner has listened to and sublimated the influence of the late Townes Van Zandt. For all his lack of self-promotion, Joyner comes out of a tradition of literary American primitives that reaches back decades. Another thing that one hears in spades in these willy-nilly cuts is how much time Bright Eyes -- aka Conor Oberst -- has spent listening to Joyner. (Check "Hotter Than Satan's Heels" and "Is This How Generous You Are?" for evidence.) The international nature of this compilation is remarkable. According to his liner notes, he sent many of these songs out without hope of them ever being used. "Milk," from a double 7" comp on Walt in 1996, is one of those chilling, reckless Joyner songs that gets inside the blood.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,15,18,19,20 and 21)

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