Steve Noonan - Songs (1967)

Steve Noonan was an early contemporary of Jackson Browne, and like Browne he recorded some publishing demos for Nina Records, so that when Nina decided to press up a double album of Browne's demos, they added ten of Noonan's songs on side 4 of the record. Noonan actually managed to beat Browne to the record racks with his 1968 self-titled album for Elektra, which included four Browne songs and one Noonan/Browne co-write, but unfortunately he never made another album, while Browne, although he had to wait until the 1970's to make his LP debut, became a big star. Noonan's sole album contained pleasant, arty folk-rock-pop tunes that were somewhat reminiscent of those by fellow Elektra artist and Southern Californian Tim Buckley, but not nearly as outstanding. One downside of the record was that Noonan's vocals were pretty thin and expressionless, making one wonder if he might have been better suited to remain a songwriter whose work was interpreted by others, which was a criticism aimed at Browne about his Nina demos. In the mid-'60s, Noonan had been hailed by the Los Angeles magazine Cheetah as one of the "Orange County Three," a trio of singer/songwriters from the area to watch out for. While Jackson Browne became a superstar, and Tim Buckley became one of the most esteemed cult rock singers of all time, Noonan is barely remembered at all. He did co-write a small hit single for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, 'Buy For Me The Rain', with Greg Copeland in 1967, prior to his solo recording debut. In fact Copeland figured strongly on the 'Steve Noonan' album, co-writing five of its songs, and he's also well-represented on these demos, co-writing eight of the ten tracks with Noonan, and one with Browne. Noonan's album must have sold few copies, judging by how hard it is to locate a copy today, and like several low-selling 1960's folk-rock albums on the Elektra label, it has escaped reissue in the CD age. These demos are almost as hard to track down, with only one very scratchy rip of the original vinyl available online, and after listening to the clicks and clunks I felt I had to do something, so I managed to find a de-clicking programme which has worked wonders on the songs, making them much easier to enjoy.   

Track listing

01 Street Singer (Noonan/Copeland)
02 Santana (Browne/Copeland)
03 High Journey (Noonan/Copeland)
04 Maid Of Cantontown (Noonan/Copeland)
05 The Tide Of Love (Noonan/Copeland)
06 Buy For Me The Rain (Noonan/Copeland)
07 Trusting Is A Harder Thing (Noonan/Browne)
08 Leaning Back And Laughing (Noonan/Copeland)
09 Back Alley Dream Street Song (Noonan/Copeland)
10 Another Kind Of Present Song (Noonan/Copeland)

If you want to hear just what the de-clicking programme can do, then compare this from Youtube to the version on here.