Artist:     Van Duren

Album:     Van Duren – Waiting: The Van Duren Story Original Documentary Soundtrack

Label:     Omnivore Recordings

Release Date:     2.1.2019

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Wade Jackson and Greg Carey were convinced they’d found pop-rock gold upon their discovery of the lost treasures of Van Duren. Awed by his flair for dramatic songwriting, which made Van Duren a rightful heir of Paul McCartney, and ability to bend big, audacious hooks to his will, the two Australians went to find this Memphis contemporary of Big Star, who had simply dropped off the map. They made a film of their search.

A survey of his 1975-’86 period, the well-curated soundtrack to a documentary of their far-flung adventures serves as both a loving tribute to Van Duren’s artistry, as well as an engaging introduction for the uninitiated. Be sure to devour Van Duren’s own commentary on his work and the directors’ thoughts in the fascinating liner notes for more insight into an artist once managed and produced in the 1970s by Rolling Stones’ impresario Andrew Loog Oldham, who noted a “spark” in his young charge.

Van Duren never achieved stardom. Sweet “Jane,” a softly buoyant and punchy regional hit for his band Good Question that’s here along with their gossamer pop-rock slurry “Catcher in the Rain,” almost got him there. Foreshadowing the alternative-rock ascendancy of Ben Folds, Van Duren specialized in lush floods of piano-pounding grandeur, like that of this set’s “Just You Tell Me,” recorded live at Ardent Studios. The waves of rolling ivories and bittersweet melody crashing through a galvanizing “Grow Yourself Up”—one of four tracks here from his forgotten classic Are You Serious?—should have carried Van Duren up the charts in triumph. And if that didn’t work, the halting, wistful charm and weary smile of “Tennessee, I’m Trying” could have been a contender, had it not appeared on his second LP Idiot Optimism, which sat dormant for years before its eventual release in 1999. It wasn’t to be, however, even though it bears more than a passing resemblance to John Sebastian’s nostalgic “Welcome Back.”

Both atifacts are exquisite pieces of pop perfection, as is a previously unreleased gem from Duren and Big Star drummer Jody Stephens called “Andy, Please,” with its beautifully bruised, romantic simplicity. Duren, Stephens and Chris Bell had a project called Baker Street Regulars that remade Bell’s “Make a Scene” with more power-pop crunch, and there’s a raw live recording of a mellow “Yellow Light” with a lazy, summery groove and gleam that’s in no particular hurry to get where it’s going. And that’s what makes it irresistible. All of this is found in this wonderful sampler, hopefully a tease to the beginning of an ambitious Van Duren reissue campaign to make him a household name.

—Peter Lindblad