Bob Brown’s first LP was not completely overlooked the first time around. As a protege to Richie Havens during the peak of his career, he was able to connect with an audience eager for the dreamy, open-hearted melancholia he perfected on The Wall I Built Myself. The album sold well, but not well enough to permanently fix it in the memories of Brown’s own generation. On the other hand, it isn’t nearly rare enough to attract the fetishism of the collector’s culture.Slowly this is changing, as music lovers identify with his potent voice which calls to mind Tim Hardin, and the discipline and vision which calls to mind Tim Buckley. Luckily, he managed to escape their shared fate and speak with us today about his journey.
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“I actually first found this LP nearly 20 years ago, before I was a big fan of obscurities, so it was one of the first arcane items that I was really into. This guy Bobby Brown (no relation to the California one man van band dude) is the definition of fragile folk. His voice is about as emo sensitive as you can get. The thing that I love about this LP is that it has a great recording yet the music and style is so cryptic. It is like a private issue record in it’s personal hidden qualities but has the range and sound of a real studio production. It is a beautiful record and I cannot wait to hear more about it.” – Anthony Pearson
