http://weirdcanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Lewis-Lamour.jpg
a poster linked to a track from this on the "classic album you were knocked out by" thread. theres a few other tracks from the album up on youtube. its amazing. wistful mysterious arthur russell-esque 80s soft synth ballads. anyone else heard this? is it going to be reissued? information on the record is fairly scant but i did across this - http://weirdcanada.com/2012/03/departures-lewis-lamour-1983/
― subaltern 8 (Michael B), Friday, 22 November 2013 11:54 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwaVKAD1l0
― subaltern 8 (Michael B), Friday, 22 November 2013 12:06 (ten years ago) link
it's being reissued next year on a mystery label. There's a big thread on hipinion about it
― Number None, Friday, 22 November 2013 12:10 (ten years ago) link
Bump. This is a great album. That's all I have to say at the moment. Check it out.
― mirostones, Friday, 13 December 2013 15:57 (ten years ago) link
What I've heard of this sounds incredible, very excited for the reissue.
― boxedjoy, Friday, 13 December 2013 21:17 (ten years ago) link
Learn how to spell Chlodoweg in the modern native fashion...
― Le passé, non seulement n'est pas fugace, il reste sur place (Michael White), Friday, 13 December 2013 21:33 (ten years ago) link
I am terrible with cryptic clues.
― boxedjoy, Friday, 13 December 2013 21:49 (ten years ago) link
8th April
http://lightintheattic.net/releases/1140-l-amour
― Number None, Tuesday, 11 March 2014 21:17 (ten years ago) link
This is some great stuff. I'm sure every review of this is going to mention Arthur Russell, Nebraska and "Twin Peaks" - every one I've seen so far already has - but it's not really like anything I've ever listened to. There's so much fragility and intimacy and stillness embedded in this. The synths are straight out an 80s TV movie, the piano is played with saccharine sweetness and the vocals are so smooth and delicate, on paper it sounds very cheesy but the execution is so weird that the earnestness becomes haunting.
There's a convoluted backstory about Lewis, whoever he is, being untraceable and paying for the recordings with cheques that didn't clear, and while you wouldn't need to know that to enjoy this, know that there's this air of mystery around the album just adds to the otherworldly atmosphere.
― boxedjoy, Friday, 25 April 2014 00:19 (nine years ago) link
I don't know if I'm obsessed with this record or just having a haunting old LA mystery story to click around at 3 a.m.
― kaleb, Tuesday, 20 May 2014 09:38 (nine years ago) link
I mean, in my head, this is the kind of LP a murderer with an artist girlfriend makes in a late-80s made-for-TV noir.
― kaleb, Tuesday, 20 May 2014 09:39 (nine years ago) link
i wonder why you would choose the pen name 'lewis' for a mysterious alter-ego, it reminds me of when people choose unremarkable pet names
nice album btw
― nathey, Tuesday, 20 May 2014 09:50 (nine years ago) link
just for the "lewis l'amour" joke, i figure
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 May 2014 10:02 (nine years ago) link
i had never heard of him before just googling him now.
kinda hoped it was a nod to inspector morse's sidekick
― nathey, Tuesday, 20 May 2014 10:41 (nine years ago) link
a touch of john martyn with the vocals too, the way the words just crumble to dust and are almost unintelligible
― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Tuesday, 20 May 2014 20:53 (nine years ago) link
awesome indeed
― nostormo, Wednesday, 21 May 2014 08:35 (nine years ago) link
this is great.
― cajunsunday, Wednesday, 21 May 2014 09:24 (nine years ago) link
this is SO great, can't wait for my subscription copy to show up
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Wednesday, 21 May 2014 21:11 (nine years ago) link
Purchased it digital from their site a while back, definitely...off. Pleasantly.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 21 May 2014 21:20 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/MZiG0m0.jpg
― kaleb, Monday, 21 July 2014 00:33 (nine years ago) link
I MUST KNOW ABOUT THIS SECOND ALBUM. (I know as much as Kaleb does, we've been boggling at it on Twitter/FB.)
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 July 2014 00:53 (nine years ago) link
i'm not convinced
― the late great, Monday, 21 July 2014 01:08 (nine years ago) link
This isn't him, but wouldn't it be funny if it was? http://ohio.arrests.org/Arrests/Lewis_Ballou_17403539/
― kaleb, Monday, 21 July 2014 01:15 (nine years ago) link
― the late great, Monday, July 21, 2014 1:08 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
You're not convinced its real?
― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Monday, 21 July 2014 01:25 (nine years ago) link
He isn't ronvinced its ceal!
― switching letters guy, Monday, 21 July 2014 02:18 (nine years ago) link
There is this...on page 27:
http://forums.hipinion.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=65579&start=797
"Ok. Well now that the cat is out of the bag, I will shed a little light to wet the tastebuds... A Canadian digger turned a copy of this up 2 months ago and sold it to Light in the Attic. In a great irony, it was the same guy who we asked to go to the studio in Vancouver to ask about the recordings done there in the mid '00s. In an even greater irony, he found the record in his storage unit just thumbing through the refuse of some old buys. Such is life. The copy currently on eBay landed at THE SAME record store that Aaron bought his copies from years ago. It has been confirmed as having been recorded in Calgary, despite the address on the back for R.A.W. Corp which is actually a PO Box at a mailboxes etcetera type place in Beverly Hills.The label had me come in and I found the disc under the coffee table, while Matt was on the phone. I initially thought it was a total hoax, but they handed me a CD-R and listening to it on the ride home I was pretty blown away. It's a great follow-up to an incredible record, and is decidedly even more personal and strange. The unintentional nods to Badalamenti on the first disc take a plunge into deep red room turf on "Romantic Times" and in some ways he feels like a necromancer waiting to make an appearance on that vaunted show. 5 years before it aired. I'll save the rest for the liner notes. Suffice to say, it's a doozy, and for me a future big one in the real people / twilight zone camp."
The label had me come in and I found the disc under the coffee table, while Matt was on the phone. I initially thought it was a total hoax, but they handed me a CD-R and listening to it on the ride home I was pretty blown away. It's a great follow-up to an incredible record, and is decidedly even more personal and strange. The unintentional nods to Badalamenti on the first disc take a plunge into deep red room turf on "Romantic Times" and in some ways he feels like a necromancer waiting to make an appearance on that vaunted show. 5 years before it aired. I'll save the rest for the liner notes. Suffice to say, it's a doozy, and for me a future big one in the real people / twilight zone camp."
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 July 2014 03:04 (nine years ago) link
i believe it's real, i'm just not convinced it's that great
― the late great, Monday, 21 July 2014 03:49 (nine years ago) link
Late Great: "Not Great," Says Ingrate.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 July 2014 05:10 (nine years ago) link
this reissue is seriously one of my favorite releases of the year. speaking as someone who'd only listened to the songs on YouTube previously, the vinyl pressing sounds astonishingly lush; it's the kind of album that just ensconses you in in its aesthetic. I hear where everyone's coming from w/r/t the Russell name-checks, but to my ears this album just does something else; I can't recall a Russell song fine-tuned to trigger my "beauty" receptors the way "I Thought The World Of You" does. I feel like the first Durutti Column album or Music For Airports come closer to what this album does - it's all about how gentle, delicate, and ethereal the total package of the album is (to say nothing of its many, many high points). it may be the single most poignant album I own.
I've been desperately imploring all my music friends to check this out, but it's been an uphill battle. their loss. L'Amour is an all-timer, even without the backstory. I'm very, very glad to have a copy.
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Monday, 21 July 2014 05:22 (nine years ago) link
well i like the backstory AND the cover
guess i'll give it another shot
― the late great, Monday, 21 July 2014 06:00 (nine years ago) link
Jamescobo entirely otm. It's an all-timer.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 21 July 2014 11:07 (nine years ago) link
i got quite a strong blue nile vibe off this thing
― john wahey (NickB), Monday, 21 July 2014 11:17 (nine years ago) link
omg this album
― dem bow dem bow need calcium (seandalai), Monday, 21 July 2014 12:44 (nine years ago) link
My fiancee commented about how the backstory was a little to good to be true. In the sense that it is too perfectly mysterious with all the dead leads and haunting soft music and bounced checks and his general allure against all that he's kind of like the Bon Iver of reissued artists except way more compelling in every category.
― Evan, Monday, 21 July 2014 14:22 (nine years ago) link
t'would be great if bon iver started rocking lewis' sartorial sense
― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Monday, 21 July 2014 14:51 (nine years ago) link
And similarly embraced anonymous obscurity.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 July 2014 15:07 (nine years ago) link
"What happened to that guy?"
"THERE NEVER WAS THAT GUY."
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 July 2014 15:08 (nine years ago) link
wait so there's a 2nd album thats getting a reissue??
― °ㅇ๐ْ ° (gr8080), Monday, 21 July 2014 15:16 (nine years ago) link
As we're talking about just upthread...
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 July 2014 15:17 (nine years ago) link
No that's Dustin Hoffman up there.
― Evan, Monday, 21 July 2014 15:40 (nine years ago) link
maybe lewis is gonna start to sponsor a super obscure small batch whiskey that was only made for one week during the '70s.
http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2011/12/avalanches-boniver.jpg
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Monday, 21 July 2014 15:46 (nine years ago) link
maybe lewis is gonna start to sponsor a super obscure small batch whiskey that was only made for one week during the '70s alone in a secluded cabin.
― Evan, Monday, 21 July 2014 16:22 (nine years ago) link
I'm making my way through the hpn thread about L'Amour now, and some artist called Thomas (or THOMAS) keeps coming up as comparison point. can anyone shed any light on what they're talking about? for obvious reasons this is a pretty tough one to google.
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Monday, 21 July 2014 17:08 (nine years ago) link
also I would recommend Robert Lester Folsom's "Music And Dreams" to anyone who digs this album. it's less ethereally beautiful than L'Amour - then again, the same could be said of pretty much everything in the universe - but if you like gorgeous found-object private-press records, it'll do you right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZIkdqkH-7A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUCcLLbF0O8
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Monday, 21 July 2014 17:15 (nine years ago) link
fyi http://isthisthomas.bandcamp.com/music
― just sayin, Monday, 21 July 2014 17:18 (nine years ago) link
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEWIS-LAMOUR-his-2nd-lp-LEWIS-BALOUE-Romantic-Times-R-A-W-private-synth-folk-/181469207601?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item2a40685c31
― just sayin, Monday, 21 July 2014 17:25 (nine years ago) link
wow
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Monday, 21 July 2014 17:26 (nine years ago) link
whoa
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Monday, 21 July 2014 17:35 (nine years ago) link
daaaamn
― the late great, Monday, 21 July 2014 17:59 (nine years ago) link
Fuuuck
― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 21 July 2014 18:01 (nine years ago) link
my grails are ;_;
― doodle cock-up (electricsound), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 00:27 (nine years ago) link
The statement that the albums won't be re-pressed feels like *pressure* to buy the second album when I want to live with the first one for a while.
― djh
When I read what they said about not re-pressing them I ordered the Romantic Times vinyl straight away. It came with a download which I now have on my iTunes but don't plan on listening to it for a while. I'm obsessing over L'Amour right now and want to spend a lot more time with it until I hear the second album.
The L'Amour vinyl has just gone out of stock on Amazon by the way and no sellers seem to have it anymore.
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 12 August 2014 00:53 (nine years ago) link
they still had a copy of l'amour on cd at my local record store. i thought about picking it up, since i've only heard it on spotify, but for whatever reason i changed my mind.
― wapo tofu (get bent), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 01:13 (nine years ago) link
I ordered L'Amour from LITA a few days ago and it said they'd be delivered early September. Are those coming now or did they cancel that pressing?
― brotherlovesdub, Tuesday, 12 August 2014 03:20 (nine years ago) link
Hey guys I found the 3rd Lewis album. Plz send me $5000 plus nipples
― Now you're messing with a (President Keyes), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 12:57 (nine years ago) link
Lewis - L'Ane?
― nxd, Tuesday, 12 August 2014 13:01 (nine years ago) link
New Lewis. I'm guessing the title's actually supposed to be "Heartbreak":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcor3spv3cE&feature=youtu.be
― Bloody Pelt Found Near the Scene of the Crime (Skrot Montague), Friday, 15 August 2014 03:10 (nine years ago) link
lol
― example (crüt), Friday, 15 August 2014 03:27 (nine years ago) link
Somebody please please please stick a microphone in front of this guy pronto and ask him to strum and sing the songs he's been working on for 40+ years. I get the feeling hearing Randy/Lewis in his older years could be just as singular and otherworldly and special as he was around Romantic Times times.― Bloody Pelt Found Near the Scene of the Crime (Skrot Montague), Friday, August 8, 2014 10:31 PM (6 days ago)
― Bloody Pelt Found Near the Scene of the Crime (Skrot Montague), Friday, August 8, 2014 10:31 PM (6 days ago)
http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-colbert.gif
― unregistered, Friday, 15 August 2014 03:57 (nine years ago) link
I think this recording is from the late 90s or early 00s. From the sessions in Canada.
― Bloody Pelt Found Near the Scene of the Crime (Skrot Montague), Friday, 15 August 2014 04:05 (nine years ago) link
he sounds like a muppet?
― wapo tofu (get bent), Friday, 15 August 2014 04:28 (nine years ago) link
ah. hopefully his unreleased material is stronger, because I'm really not feeling the blues thing. it's funny how the video is captioned "From The Album 'Mystery Man'" -- I wonder if he recorded an entire album in Canada or if that's just a joke on the part of the uploader/producer.
― unregistered, Friday, 15 August 2014 04:30 (nine years ago) link
That Youtube is exactly why this mystery should have just remained a mystery.
― boxedjoy, Friday, 15 August 2014 08:52 (nine years ago) link
Sounds like a Robert Plant impression.
― calstars, Friday, 15 August 2014 11:49 (nine years ago) link
I think that YT is a joke, no?
― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Friday, 15 August 2014 12:57 (nine years ago) link
from a vid uploaded in 2012:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utlLjnP9kVE&feature=youtu.be&t=50s
― example (crüt), Friday, 15 August 2014 13:02 (nine years ago) link
(50 seconds in if timestamp doesn't work)
aka lewis aka randy duke
http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100210215905/parksandrecreation/images/thumb/7/7a/Duke_Silver.jpg/250px-Duke_Silver.jpg
― Mordy, Friday, 15 August 2014 15:28 (nine years ago) link
Shoobee doo wop
― calstars, Friday, 15 August 2014 19:34 (nine years ago) link
http://31.media.tumblr.com/11e25142d4a96f00c76f492dd5211497/tumblr_naezhxDygG1qjuy9xo1_500.png
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Saturday, 16 August 2014 19:32 (nine years ago) link
yeah stockbrokers just cán't possibly have feelings. (didn't Jandek used to be a stockbroker)
for the record: i think L'Amour is absolutely beautiful, but that 2nd album... woah, laughable. if you'd buy that one in a thrift shop (if only!) you'd think, 'well at least the cover is cool!'
― Ludo, Saturday, 16 August 2014 19:43 (nine years ago) link
Is Brinkley actually hinting at being the "beautiful girl/model" that was with Lewis at the recording of L'Amour?
― ambient yacht god (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 16 August 2014 20:20 (nine years ago) link
there's a dedication to Brinkley on the album sleeve
― example (crüt), Saturday, 16 August 2014 20:40 (nine years ago) link
Billy J'oel
― Randall "Humble" Pie (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 16 August 2014 21:26 (nine years ago) link
Dang, didn't catch that at first crut
― ambient yacht god (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 16 August 2014 21:42 (nine years ago) link
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/emperor-ice-cream
― go ahead. make vid where u rap about this new TMNT movie. (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 17 August 2014 19:45 (nine years ago) link
^An insurance executive who concealed multiverses
― before you die you see the rink (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 17 August 2014 23:32 (nine years ago) link
(Or was he a banker)
http://www.factmag.com/2014/08/27/a-third-lp-from-elusive-crooner-lewis-has-surfaced/
― john wahey (NickB), Wednesday, 27 August 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link
more like lewis nae more amirite
― john wahey (NickB), Wednesday, 27 August 2014 16:58 (nine years ago) link
And yet MORE Lewis
http://www.fiascobros.com/lewis_randy_duke.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULD82AApJpo
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 7 January 2015 22:34 (nine years ago) link
Those are old Randy Duke albums that someone is digitally bootlegging as "Lewis" records
― bob seger's silver bullet gland (sic), Wednesday, 7 January 2015 23:34 (nine years ago) link
nothing beats L'amour
― nostormo, Wednesday, 7 January 2015 23:51 (nine years ago) link
I thought Randy Duke was Lewis?
― akm, Thursday, 8 January 2015 00:14 (nine years ago) link
yes, but those are not "MORE Lewis", nor anything that he wanted released under that name, nor with those covers
― bob seger's silver bullet gland (sic), Thursday, 8 January 2015 00:25 (nine years ago) link
ok well it's the same guy.
― akm, Thursday, 8 January 2015 00:41 (nine years ago) link
dudes you are never going to believe what i found in the record store today
http://blog.clearvisionstudios.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Duke+Definitive+Edition+Remaster+dukedefremastered.jpg
― I dunno. (amateurist), Thursday, 8 January 2015 01:32 (nine years ago) link
how's Hawaiian Breeze? anyone?
― soyrev, Friday, 9 January 2015 19:07 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/aVBJWHV.jpg
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Friday, 9 January 2015 19:15 (nine years ago) link
xpost -- I like it! As opposed to that other collection of Randy Duke stuff, which is good but more straightforward, just him and guitar, Hawaiian Dream has more production in general, fuller arrangements, even a backing singer and one song with a total Epic Rock Solo. It's almost something that follows on from Romantic Times.
Meantime, well worth reading this latest from Kaleb Horton.
http://bitterempire.com/best-music-story-2014/
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 January 2015 21:50 (nine years ago) link
Lewis is a 2014 artist in the same way Robert Johnson was a ‘60s artist. Sure, they verifiably existed a few decades earlier, but they were around without any myth or campfire stories or PR curation, and nobody really knew about the records.
er... nobody but some black people buying blues records in the 1930s. i know this is just an analogy but it reeks of the whole "it doesn't exist until people I know (=white hipsters) know about it!" thing.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 9 January 2015 21:55 (nine years ago) link
btw at this point i don't really care about the back story all that much, i just think they're compelling and pretty sui generis records. nice use of synths.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 9 January 2015 21:57 (nine years ago) link
xp it's immensely more complicated than that as per race records of course...http://www.pbs.org/jazz/exchange/exchange_race_records.htm... but this is probably a poor place for that conversation
― shmup....smug....shmub....shmug.... (forksclovetofu), Friday, 9 January 2015 21:57 (nine years ago) link
well, yeah (johnson's records were released when sales were pretty bad IIRC) -- but the idea that somehow robert johnson was completely unknown before the 1960s is a little nagl.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 9 January 2015 22:25 (nine years ago) link
IMO "Hawaiian Breeze" is much more engaging and wonderful than "Love Ain't No Mystery." As I get more familiar with it, I'm starting to sense it might even be as good as "Romantic Times" (though probably not quite up to "L'Amour" levels). There are less tics in his voice on the new one, but he really sounds great throughout. The weird ultra-delay effect on his voice adds an interesting new touch. Not to mention the arrangements are quite bonkers.
― Bloody Pelt Found Near the Scene of the Crime (Skrot Montague), Thursday, 22 January 2015 15:59 (nine years ago) link
And a new interview, kinda. In...Maxim?
http://www.maxim.com/entertainment/music/article/looking-lewis
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 1 July 2015 14:19 (eight years ago) link
How had Lewis gone from making such ethereal compositions to putting out such dreck?
― example (crüt), Wednesday, 1 July 2015 14:58 (eight years ago) link
that's kind of mean! although it sounds like lewis himself will never read that so i guess no harm done.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 1 July 2015 19:02 (eight years ago) link
also it immediately points out that he didn't make those records
― back once again with the panel behaviour (sic), Thursday, 2 July 2015 00:23 (eight years ago) link
control+F "Climate of Hunter"
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 25 March 2019 16:55 (five years ago) link