Simon Joyner
Beautiful Losers: Singles and Compilation Tracks 1994-1999
JAG076
Released: March 7, 2006
FORMATS:
2xLP
CD
The early 90’s lo-fi explosion coincided with and was precipitated by the emergence of hundreds of small independent tape labels, many of which only existed long enough to release one compilation. It was during this heyday that Simon Joyner contributed some of his finest material to various intrinsically limited edition releases. Beautiful Losers: Singles and Compilation Tracks 1994-1999 collects all such compilation appearances and the few singles made during these years, including the perennial favorite “One for the Catholic Girls” and “Burn Rubber”, recently covered by Bright Eyes.This was such a prolific period for Joyner that he usually contributed his best songs of the moment to whoever requested a track, instead of reserving them for his proper albums. You’ll find here varying degrees of sound quality and various approaches to songs, from solo acoustic to full band, but what ties the collection together is the strength of the material. This isn’t filler. The same themes that haunt his large scale work are explored here: death, love, the politics of time. Fans of Joyner’s albums can now stop searching for the impossible to find cassettes and out of print 7″ records. We’ve compiled everything here, even the songs Simon would rather forget. For those unfamiliar with Simon Joyner’s music, this compilation is a good place to start as it serves in the same capacity as the original compilations and 7″ records, to introduce the ambivalent audience to the ambitious songwriter.”It’s not critical hype to say that Joyner possesses the same emotional depth as Leonard Cohen, or the same ability to tell a story. Here are the inhabitants of the boarding house in Sherwood Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio”, still staggering or sitting wondering what’s become of their lives. Joyner’s characters tell their stories as if from shock, in the aftermath of their disbelief at the beginning of quiet, devastating acceptance.” — Thom Jurek / All Music Guide”He’s been exploring the starkest frontiers of the American singer-songwriter tradition at an album-per-year pace since 1994’s THE COWARDLY TRAVELER PAYS HIS TOLL, a combination of reliability and inspiration rivaling Dylan’s mid-’60s hot streak.” — Franklin Bruno / LA New Times”Simon Joyner, poet, singer and songwriter, is quietly doing his damnedest to avoid the pervasive mediocrity that’s seeping into contemporary culture; for the past decade, he’s been earnestly crafting some of the most important, genuine and honest records in the American musical canon.” — Mike Centore
