After 25 years apart, ex-Sorrows bassist Rick Street has reunited with his former Tang S’Dang bandmate (and BT’s own!) Jim Santo for a genre-jumping collaboration that draws inspiration from Curtis Mayfield to David Bowie, Elvis Presley to Ray Davies, Scott Walker and more.
Out today on Dive Records, Troubled Mind is the solo debut of Street, who tore up Max’s and CBGBs with the punk-fired power-pop of Sorrows (check out their “lost album”, Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow, recently released on Big Stir Records); and put out two albums of spiky, eclectic rock with Santo and drummer Frank Patterson. After the trio split in 1992, Street immersed himself in jump, jazz, and blues with Patterson and vocalist/harp player Cliff Bernard in The Cliffhangers. Meanwhile, Santo went on to long, overlapping stints in Jenifer Convertible, The Behoovers, The Sharp Things, Wharton Tiers Ensemble, and currently, Matt Hunter & The Dusty Fates.
“I hadn’t thought about Tang S’Dang for a long while,” admits Santo. Until, in 2016, while digitizing his cassette collection, he came across a rehearsal tape from the late ’80s. “I thought, damn! We never released our best material!” But life happened, and it wasn’t until 2022 that he picked up the phone and called Street to suggest the two work together again. “As it happened, Rick had written a mess of great songs!” Santo said. “He came over and played what he had, and right then and there I decided we had to do this.”
“Troubled Mind all began with a new archtop my wife Linda gave me for my birthday,” said Street, “and like any instrument that you come to love and that loves you right back, the songs can often be found waiting for you if you know how to extract them.”
“Song writing is not new to me, but I’m always pleased when, after having put in the work, something new and potentially wonderful is achieved,” he continued. “I remain humble to that gift and especially for the feelings it can engender in other people. That’s where the real value is and I think this collection of songs achieves that goal. I certainly put as much of my heart in them as I could.
“So, when Jim Santo, my producer and trusted friend of many years, called to tell me that it was time to begin a new recording project, I was ready go with the material you now have before you. The sentiments and emotions feel true, and I believe they speak to a shared sense of community, as songs often can.”
Featuring guest performances from Richard X Heyman (piano, organ), Russ Kaplan (piano, organ, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, accordion), Ralph Axel (lead guitar), and Dusty Fates violinist Jennifer Coates, with background vocals by the Street Family Singers (Linda and Nic), Troubled Mind is a melodic, soulful, lovin’ and rockin’ LP, and we’re happy to premiere it for you today!
