- 1984
- With the arrival of Tom Stevens The Long Ryders
were able to spread their wings a little bit and
embarked on their first US tour in March 1984
playing to audiences on the east coast as well as
the more familiar Californian venues. The tour
enabled the band to tighten up their live set and
develop the new songs they were writing. The
success of the mini LP 10-5-60 had raised the
band's profile and interest in them from record
companies. One such company, Frontier Records, an
LA based independent label was more than just
interested in The Long Ryders and at the end of
July the band entered A&M studios in
Hollywood to record their first full-length album
for the label.
The album was produced by Henry Lewy who had
previously been responsible for producing 2 albums by The
Flying Burrito Brothers led by one-time Byrd Gram
Parsons, a strong influence on The Long Ryders. If the
sleeve of 10-5-60 had hinted at Byrds influences, The
Long Ryders' first album Native Sons wore its' influences
far more clearly. The front cover mirrored the sleeve of
Stampede, an unreleased Buffalo Springfield album.
Likewise the reverse featured Griffin's 12 string
Rickenbacker along with his 'Sin City' jacket echoing the
era of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers. If that
wasn't enough, former Byrd Gene Clark added vocals to one
of the tracks. The music itself was inspired. Combining
folk and country with brilliant harmonies and 60s guitar
sounds topped off with a punk attitude and a tongue in
cheek humour the album was set to be one of the albums of
the year. The humour and lyrical wordplay were best seen
on Fair Game and Never Got To Meet The Mom, whilst the
album cruised into peoples memories with the opening
tracks of Final Wild Son and Still Get By. Highlights
included the sublime Ivory Tower and Too Close To The
Light whilst the album sizzled to a close with the guitar
feedback of I Had A Dream.
The album was released in September 1984 and was
followed by another US tour as the band's Stateside
popularity grew. The success that The Long Ryders were
beginning to enjoy was also spreading to some of the
other acts coming out of California and the camaraderie
between the groups was strong enough for band members to
play or sing on each others records. This culminated in
February 1985 when Sid Griffin, Stephen McCarthy and Tom
Stevens joined forces with members of Green On Red and
The Dream Syndicate to record a rough and ready album
called The Lost Weekend under the pseudonym Danny &
Dusty. Even this less than polished album gained some
critical acclaim on its release as the snowball success
of the 'paisley underground' continued.
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