• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Jul 19, 2024 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

Cult heroes are cult heroes for a reason. Because of one thing or another, their art was not properly received when it was originally released, but the strength of said art is indisputable. Margo Guryan is a cult hero for sure. Her sole album, 1968’s Take a Picture, was largely ignored in its time despite its jazzy dream-pop textures and quietly enchanting vocals, and it wasn’t until much later that people realized what they had missed. It took until 2000 for Take a Picture to be reissued (not until 2006 was it reissued on vinyl outside of Spain), followed a year later by a release of found demos.

Now, the geniuses at Numero Group have reissued all of Guryan’s work in one set, Words and Music, which comprises three LPs and a healthy liner note book with a complete Guryan history written by Jenn Pelly. It’s a stunning package with wonderful music, the perfect document to such a worthwhile but heretofore under-appreciated figure.

Guryan began her musical pursuits studying jazz in the late 1950s, both as a student at Boston University and working under Max Roach at the Lenox School of Jazz (fellow students included luminaries Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry). The earliest recordings in this set, featured on the first LP, are smoky, cabaret-style piano-led jazz, buttressed by Guryan’s delicate vocals.

It wasn’t until Guryan heard The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” that her perspective changed and she realized what could be achieved within the pop format, something that was anathema to jazz artists at the time. The revelation ultimately led to Take a Picture, which is featured on this set’s second LP albeit in a different running order and with a few additional songs from her demo release added on for good measure. Enough cannot be said about Take a Picture, but suffice it that it a masterpiece in the vein of French yé-yé pop and Françoise Hardy, the songs betraying Guryan’s jazz affectations but with more pop arrangements and orchestral instrumentation to flesh the songs out into tiny symphonies.

The third LP of this set consists of songs largely recorded by Guryan in the ’70s, songs that made up the demos reissue, initially reissued in 2001. These songs are very much in the style of Take a Picture but largely without the same adornments. They were demos after all. But the songs are just as strong as those on Take a Picture, and one is left wondering what might have been had these songs been accented and produced for a proper release at the time.

Guryan could have continued making music for decades. Alas, she did not, choosing instead to keep largely to herself for the remainder of her life. Guryan did resurface in the 2000s, getting to see her music being reissued and finally getting the appreciation it so desperately deserved. But apart from another song or two, she did not release new music in her lifetime. One of those songs, a re-recording of “Goodbye July,” written in 1966 and recorded in 2001, closes out this set in emotional fashion, a bittersweet reminder that, despite not continuing to record music, Guryan’s talent never waned. It’s a perfect cap to a near perfect reissue. (www.numerogroup.com)

Author rating: 9/10