Jeff Bridges, Slow Magic, 1977-1978 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️❌
This week we have a bit of an oddity on our hands. An album from Jeff Bridges, (yes, that Jeff Bridges) recently culled from a lone surviving cassette tape dated from 1977 or 1978. This is a fascinating artifact, because this isn’t just simply a tape of demos or anything. This sounds like a full fledged album.
This leads me to so many questions: Where are the master tapes? Why does it sound so rushed yet so finished? Why didn’t this come out at the time? I can’t answer the first two, because it really truly is baffling to me that Jeff Bridges, a guy that was already famous at the time, made an album in the 70s and the only proof of it is one cassette tape of it, mixed and mastered. But the third question might haunt me for even longer.
If this came out in 1978, this would have 100% garnered cult classic status. It’s so strange, lo-fi, loose, yet also genuinely compelling and good. This has stoner favorite written all over it. Would this have garnered the same level of reputation as The Beach Boys’ Smiley Smile, or Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes? No, probably not. But the absolutely bonkers song “Kong,” which features Burgess Meredith of all people, would have definitely been the song of choice for many a weed smoke filled dorm room.
Favorite song: “Kong (feat. Burgess Meredith)”
