DRAMA - Loneliness 2LP

Insert with photos and liner notes.

Canadian experimental synth psych pop private press from 1979 now expanded to a double LP.

Highly recommended.

Canadian duo of Eric Simpson (vocals, bass, guitar) and Don Stagg (keyboards). Formed in in Mississauga, Ontario in 1978, the pair had previously played together in progressive psych bands Majik and VIIth Temple.

Almost every Saturday, Eric and Don would record one song on a TEAC 4 track tape recorder after a couple of takes with very little over dubbing. The pair were influenced by what was playing on the radio during the recording sessions. Everyone else at that time was in a rock or pop band yet Drama were making electronic music.

The pair released their debut LP ‘Loneliness’ on Psycho Records in 1979. There were 500 made and about 200 ended up in the garbage as band members shuffled from apartment to apartment. This was followed by a 4-track 7” later that year featuring live drums and additional guitar.

Seance Centre says it best, “On Loneliness, the pair traded in their velvet and chord charts for thin ties and a cheap drum-machine. The LP still carries a whiff of patchouli, but the sound stings of solder and electricity, and inhabits a nascent zone somewhere between krautrock and new-wave. The vocal cuts are all clustered on the A-side, starting with an ode to the inefficiency of the Toronto Transit Commission - some things never change! The dystopian sci-fi themes are par for the League, and highlights are the love ballad “Anna King” and the charming “Feable”. The instrumentals on the B-side feel decidedly more Teutonic, and have a certain CBC charm that sounds like JP Decerf recording for Parry Music. It even opens with a slinky stoned Pink Panther.”

For this first time vinyl reissue, it's expanded to a double LP with a bonus album of the 4 songs from Old Hollywood 7” and 9 previously unreleased tracks and demo versions.