Salloom, Roger / The Vest Pocket Players - The City in an Owl’s Eye vinyl lp (due to size and weight, this price for the USA only. Outside of the USA, the price will be adjusted as needed)
SKU
18-VOID 066
“Legendary and rare folk-psych private press record from 1967 that holds up well. Furthermore, the LP is legendary in a literal sense: until recently, few collectors really even knew it truly existed. And Roger Salloom? imagine Jack Kerouac, John Belushi, Lord Buckley, and Lenny Bruce, then throw in Leadbelly, Jimmy Reed, Lonnie Johnson, and Geoff Muldaur… all rolled into one person, and you have a glimpse of poet, singer-songwriter Roger Salloom.
Salloom was in the center of the 1960s San Francisco psychedelic scene, playing the Fillmore with Santana, Van Morrison, BB King and Procul Harum. In the 1970s he moved to Nashville to pursue songwriting, then disappeared for two decades to raise a family as a single parent and draw a syndicated cartoon. There is a story here. A story so intriguing that it enticed an award-winning filmmaker to make a film about the subject. So Glad I Made It, the Saga of Roger Salloom, America’s Best Unknown Songwriter, won six awards, was on the 2006 Grammy ballot, and received rave reviews across the U.S. .
Let’s back up: in Bloomington, IN, Roger formed Salloom, Sinclair and Mother Bear. Moving to San Francisco in 1967, they performed in venues such as The Carousel, The Fillmore and The Avalon Ballroom alongside contemporaries Santana, Procol Harum and BB King. When Chess Records founder Marshall Chess sought to broaden the label's roster, he signed Salloom, Sinclair and Mother Bear; this resulted in two albums released on Cadet/Concept. When Mother Bear went into extended hibernation, Salloom and co-leader Robin Sinclair found further success in Nashville with Area Code 615. Roger created an extended family of artist peers while in Nashville that included Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell and Richard Dobbins. Later, as a single Dad, Salloom had a challenging life throughout the 1980’s. After settling in Northampton, MA, he continued songwriting, recording and playing with artists such as The Band, John Prine, Jonathan Edwards, Jerry Jeff Walker, The BoDeans, Joan Armatrading and Leon Russell..
But before all that, Salloom was in Indiana, performing at a coffee house called The Owl. “The City in an Owl’s Eye" is from that period (1967) — and it is simply brilliant. Most of the LP is Salloom, presenting a Hippie Buddhism, era-appropriate, Indian raga-inspired droney homage to everything being nothing. Totally out there. A large portion of side two is a psychedelic voice/sound collage from a group called the Vest Pocket Players. A fair bit of digging reveals that a 19-year-old Kevin Kline (yes, the actor) was part of that group. Everyone else is a mystery. Void Records says: "I spoke to Salloom, who couldn’t seem to remember what I had just said, let alone who else was involved with the recording, or that group. Ahhh, acid [peyote - ed]. Interviews with Kline have confirmed his participation, but he is unfortunately not currently returning my calls and so I haven’t been successful in finding out anything further.” "Roger William Salloom – a neurotic, gentle soul who weaves his experiences, ideas, and emotions into simple, yet profound songs beautiful enough to rival his infectious smile.” — Joanne Casale, Motif