TS: Opal vs Mazzy Star

Do you prefer Opal or Mazzy Star?

* What are your 3 favorite songs by each?
* Do you prefer the one you heard first?
* Do you find one a lot better than the other?

* i dunno, it depends. any part of happy nightmare baby i happen to be listening to.
* yes
* yes

can't imagine choosing tbh

really? in another thread, you said that Opal's "early recordings" would be the one album you would run into a burning building to save.

* Opal: "Happy Nightmare Baby" "Rocket Machine" "Magick Power" (HNB is #1 but the other two could be lots of other songs from both albums). Mazzy Star: "Blue Flower" "Ghost Highway" "Fade Into You"
* I think I first heard Hope Sandoval singing Opal songs so this is a hard question.
* I think Opal is better but Mazzy Star are still in my top 100 bands too

the 'Rainy Day' album is also amazing.

Personally, I like Mazzy Star a lot better from what I've heard. I only heard Opal later after people on this board were raving about them. I don't really feel that strongly about what I've heard, which is the "Early Recordings" album. It seems fine but unremarkable. The second Mazzy Star album is godlike by contrast. Incredible depth, reverb, and ambiance.

then you clearly need to hear Happy Nightmare Baby, it's totally different (all 3 of Spencer's favorites come from that album)

it is really different - though I prefer early recordings slightly. kind of weird, i feel like there's a whole other opal, too... some of the live recordings are really heavy (in a different way than happy nightmare).

anyhoo, even though there are very good reasons to compare/contrast these bands, i kinda feel like hope and kendra are pretty different in their overall vibe?

Recommend The Guild of Temporal Adventurers for those of you who've not heard Kendra post Opal. Five Ways of Disappearing not so much, but it has good moments.
Opal are more austere, Mazzy are more lush. Or, Opal are mescaline, Mazzy are opiates. And I thought last year's album was easily up to their standards, I'd even say Common Burn was all time Mazzy top 5 for me.

I've listened to Opal Early Recordings Vols. I & II, & Happy Nightmare Baby quite a few times each, & all Mazzy Star's albums many more times than that. I like all those records by both bands. Plus I've heard lots of live boots of both, including ones from when Hope had replaced Kendra Smith as singer in Opal & was singing Opal songs in 1988. Mazzy Star's my favourite band of the two, mainly 'cause Hope's singing & vocal melodies appeal to me more than Kendra's. Plus I prefer Hope's more nuanced & subtle singing style she developed by the time of the second Mazzy Star album of 1993, & has continued with to this day, over her "rougher" 1988 style of Hope-era Opal, & of her 1990 Mazzy album & 1990 tour's singing style. I acknowledge Kendra Smith is also a fine singer, & she has a melancholy quality in her singing as does Hope. But for my own subjective tastes, Hope has the perfect balance of melancholy & sweetness in her voice, plus she has a rare talent for consistently writing & delivering affecting vocal melodies, imo. I much like the music Roback wrote & his guitar playing in both bands, especially his slide. But for me, the clincher in comparing Opal to Mazzy Star is the singing, & for my ears & viscera, Hope with Mazzy Star wins!
Hard to pick fave Opal or Mazzy songs for me. Too many excellent ones to choose from!

have not heard opal but hope sandoval isn't in that band so the chances of them being better seem very low

Rainy Day > Opal > Mazzy Star

But only by a nose

Rainy Day LP is in my all time top ten

David Roback 4eva

mostly like Specner:

* Opal: "Happy Nightmare Baby" "Rocket Machine" "Magick Power" "Lullaby" (HNB is #1 but the other two could be lots of other songs from both albums). Mazzy Star: "Blue Flower" "Ghost Highway" "Wasted" "Fade Into You"
* I think I first heard Hope Sandoval singing Opal songs so this is a hard question. yes. Opal.
* I think Opal is better but Mazzy Star are still in my top 100 bands too

the 'Rainy Day' album is also amazing.

in summary, everybody needs everything by all associated artists

see also:

Sweet Jesus, when will Kendra Smith make another album?

Opal - Early Recordings/Happy Nightmare Baby

fave ms: disappear / halah / california
fave opal: my only friend / harriet brown / hear the wind blow

i like HNB a lot but early recordings is a spectacular piece of work

hope is awesome, but kendra smith is probably one of my favourite vocalists of all time

jfc i crap on a lot on those threads

haha, well it was a long time ago and your enthusiasm was otm

I'd take Emergency Third Rail Power Trip over the Rainy Day record, and I'm someone who loves this shit.

this is actually pretty easy though-do you like Brigit on Sunday or Ghost Highway better?
Opal
Mazzy Star

I have them as Mazzy Star>Opal. I think Mazzy are kind of underrated actually.
Opal Picks
Happy Nightmare Baby
She's A Diamond (Early Recordings version)
Soul Giver

Love Magick Power and their cover of Indian Summer too.

Mazzy Picks
Be My Angel
Blue Flower
She's My Baby
Wasted

Recommend The Guild of Temporal Adventurers for those of you who've not heard Kendra post Opal.

― MatthewK, Friday, January 30, 2015 3:15 PM (3 hours ago)

oh hell yeah. one of my long-time favorites, though, a few moments aside, it's nowhere near so accessible as opal. glorious, strangely chilling, sui generis.

Love me some Mazzy but I find that I listen to Opal more frequently. Heard Opal first.

Fave Opal: Happy Nightmare Baby, Magick Power, Stars Are In Your Eyes, and Flying On The Ground Is Wrong
Fave Mazzy: Halah, Blue Flower, Into Dust

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui2VjVqgM_U&feature=youtube_gdata_player

^entire Rainy Day album. Notice who's youtube account posted it...

feel like Im long overdue for getting into Kendra Smith in a big way

^thank you for posting the Rainy Day link. I'll Keep It With Mine and Flying are so so good.

I notice someone posted a link here for my own yt upload for Rainy Day. Thanks. A fine album. My yt Channel's full
of Mazzy Star rarities (my main specialty), mostly live recordings & unreleased songs. Plus some Opal (both Kendra & Hope eras), Rain Parade, Hope S. & The Warm Inventions, & related rarities, including a video of an entire 1988 Italy concert with Hope fronting Opal!

Opal easily. I like Mazzy Star but they're a bit one note, much prefer Kendra as a singer too.

Any Tess Parks fans here? I'd never heard of her but saw her listed as doing a single with Anton Newcombe for the upcoming Record Store Day and investigated. Her album has a nice Mazzy/Opal vibe. Doesn't necessarily hit the highs of either or add anything new to the sound, but I've been enjoying it a lot the last couple of weeks.

https://youtu.be/TXICXbzDOZk

Argh, wish you could preview posts here. I'll try that again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXICXbzDOZk

She and Anton have been posting lots of demos to YouTube. Looking forward to the eventual album.