Tom Lucas - Red Letter Day (2004 Remastered Version) [Hi-Res]

It's always exciting to stumble across a rare LP from a past era that you've seen listed or reviewed as a gem from reputable collectors. While so many of these elusive, private recordings really aren't as good as you want them to be, this is not the case for Tom Lucas' 1975 LP, Red Letter Day. An album that was almost definitely released himself (New Fate Records, a mere 500 pressed), Red Letter Day is a synth-drenched, New York art rock record with nicely crafted songs, produced in a definitive 1970s-style. The lyrical content is scattered with social and political themes but the music rocks quite steadily as to not get too caught up in folk leanings. Most of the songs will no doubt remind the listener of the '70s top rock leaders (Bowie, Reed, but especially Neil Young), yet Red Letter Day is far more experimental and Lucas' writing style is quite original once given a proper listen. There is really nothing known about Lucas himself other than releasing one other LP in the early-'80s titled Lifeboats (also on New Fate). Red Letter Day is one of the more interesting lost titles to be re-issued in the last few years and will likely please anyone with an interest in mid-1970s New York art rock and/or lost underground, outsider recordings. --The Square of The Hypotenuse