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Skooshny — The Recordings 1971-1981
(Think Like a Key TLAK1239, 1981/2026, CD / DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2026-08-12

The Recordings 1971-1981 Cover art

Roger Houdaille's seemingly endless quest to rescue overlooked music from obscurity has unearthed another gem with The Recordings 1971-1981, a retrospective of Los Angeles cult favorites Skooshny. More than a compilation, this Think Like a Key Music release serves as a document of the band's formative decade, gathering the Alien Records recordings, the 1979 single, unreleased tracks, Michael Penn sessions, demos, and the earliest recordings featuring vocalist Mark Breyer. The set is thoughtfully sequenced as a career narrative rather than a strict chronology, moving from the early Alien Records material through the band's increasingly mature work before ending with a revealing collection of demos and origins. In fact, some of the strongest moments arrive in those closing tracks, particularly "Dessert for Two" and "One Wrong Move," where the band's melodic instincts shine with remarkable immediacy. Musically, Skooshny occupy a fascinating space between jangle pop and psychedelic pop, blending echoes of The Beatles, The Kinks, The Byrds, Left Banke, and Beau Brummels into something distinctly their own. Standouts such as "The Ceiling to the Lies," "Fever Dreams," and "You Cracked My Code" showcase their gift for inventive arrangements and rich vocal harmonies. An intriguing Russian and Eastern European thread also runs throughout their work, from the band's ironic name to songs like "Riga" and their striking interpretation of the Soviet-era standard "Podmoskovnye Vechera," which sounds less like a cover than a Skooshny original. What makes this collection so compelling, however, is that Skooshny were not simply ahead of their time — they existed between categories. They were too psychedelic for power pop, too melodic for art rock, too late for the original psych era, and too early for the jangle-pop revival that would later bring similar sounds to a wider audience. As a result, they largely slipped through the cracks of the music industry despite possessing all the qualities that earn cult bands lasting devotion. Heard today, Skooshny sound like an alternate evolutionary branch of American pop music, connecting Byrds-inspired folk rock, Beatlesque songcraft, Barrett-esque eccentricity, and the melodic sensibilities later embraced by artists such as Big Star and R.E.M. Once again, Think Like a Key Music has performed a valuable act of musical archaeology, giving this forgotten chapter of pop history the audience it always deserved.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases, 1981 recordings

Related artist(s): Skooshny

More info
http://thinklikeakey.bandcamp.com/album/the-recordings-1971-1981

 

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