Like the debut albums from Mrs Miller and Madame St Onge, The
Space Lady’s Greatest Hits is a bit of a
misnomer as titles go: the lady in question has never had a ‘hit’ in the real
sense of the word. However she has proved a bit of a hit with the public in her
own particular part of the world, and last year embarked on her first ever world
tour – even appearing in my home town.
Her peculiar. echo drenched covers of pop classics (Ballroom
Blitz, Shakin’ All Over, Born to be Wild),
show tunes (Puttin’ on the Ritz)
and frankly bizarre originals won’t be to everyone’s taste but I quite like
her. There’s a minimalist, Flying
Lizards quality to what she’s doing, and the whole album is well worth checking
out (You can listen to if for free on Spotify or if you go to Mr Weird andWacky (one of my favourite blogs) you can pick up the whole album.
According to a short piece I found in The Guardian, the Space Lady - also known as Suzy Soundz but more
correctly Susan Dietrich Schneider - was a regular sight on the streets and
subways of Boston in the early 80s. Playing an accordion her husband had found
in a junkshop – which she couldn’t play at first but, as she says: “(On) my
first time out, I made both decent music and decent money.” Unfortunately an
encounter with a drunk on the subway left the accordion in pieces and her hopes
of a career as a ‘street level superstar’ in tatters.
Joel encouraged Susan to continue, using a mic, amp and
battery-powered reverb to sing acapella. As it was close to Christmas Susan sang
carols and the money came in: on Christmas Eve she made $200 busking, enough to
purchase the cheap Casio keyboard she uses on her only album (to date anyway).
Back on the streets and in the subways of Boston, she mixed songs written by
her husband with a perverse selection of covers, many of which appear on The
Space Lady’s Greatest Hits.
Joel, The Guardian
reports: ‘had played with a string of 60s rock bands and knew all
about making an impression, so they plugged the Casio into a phase-shifter, ran
Susan's voice through a full-on echo unit and created a light show by pimping
her tip box with a pile of twinkling lights. A winged helmet topped with a
blinking red ball was placed on Susan's head and off she'd go’. Although still only busking, Susan was able to earn
enough to support her family. In early 1990 Susan recorded some of the songs
she had been singing on the streets for her album.
Championed by Irwin Chusid (who featured her cover of the
Electric Prunes’ I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night on the second of his Songs In The Key Of Z
collections) sadly Joel died in 2000 and Susan abandoned music and moved back
home to Colorado. However her story doesn't end there: in 2014, seemingly out
of the blue, she embarked on a huge world tour, playing art house cafés and
small venues around the US and Europe. She’s on Facebook: go say hello.
Here are a couple of brilliantly odd tracks from The
Space Lady’s Greatest Hits for you: Born
to be Wild and Radar Love.
You know what to do if you want to hear more.
Enjoy!
1/9/15
ReplyDeleteRobGems.ca Wrote:
I read about Space Lady's info on Mr. Weird & Wacky's blog as well; I commented that her weird looking Viking Helmet that looks like it was purchased at a toy store would look like a piece of headgear that either Bjork or Lady GaGa would wear on stage. Her music is even more far out. Thanks for bringing this way-out woman's weird music to my attention. If I could see her on stage, I'll believe she'd be a scream.
She was a regular fixture in San Francisco (particularly the Castro and environs) in the mid 80s. I often wonder whatever happened to her.
ReplyDeleteMy god!! This stuff is really out there. If this had been released in the 60's it would probably set you back an arm and a leg to get a copy. Reminds me, vibe wise, of Ruth White's "Flowers Of Evil" or Louise Huebner's "Seduction Through Witchcraft" LP's.
ReplyDeleteJust picked up the first pressing of, "Greatest Hits" LP and "Live In San Francisco" CDr on Ebay!!