I was looking at the credits on Rain Parade’s Emergency Third Rail Power Trip when I noticed something I’d never paid attention to. On “This Can’t Be Today,” the second track, there’s a credit: “Featuring: Kendra Smith.” She’s not a member of Rain Parade. She just sang on one song.
Kendra Smith was the bassist and vocalist in The Dream Syndicate. I own The Days of Wine and Roses. She played on that record — it’s one of the early Paisley Underground albums, the one Steve Wynn made with Chris D. producing. Smith’s bass anchors the whole thing.
After she left The Dream Syndicate, she formed a band with David Roback. David Roback had just left Rain Parade — the same Rain Parade whose debut I was holding. Together they called the band Opal. They released Happy Nightmare Baby in 1987 on SST Records. Then, during a UK tour opening for the Jesus and Mary Chain, Kendra Smith quit. She reportedly threw down her guitar and walked out after a show in Providence, Rhode Island.
Roback needed a singer. He recruited Hope Sandoval, a friend from the same Los Angeles scene. They kept performing as Opal for a while, planning an album called Ghost Highway that was never released. By 1989, the project had a new name: Mazzy Star. The planned Opal album became She Hangs Brightly, Mazzy Star’s debut.
I own She Hangs Brightly. I own So Tonight That I Might See. I own Among My Swan. I own Seasons of Your Day. And I own the Rain Parade album and the Dream Syndicate album. I never connected them.
The connection runs through two people and a band I don’t own. David Roback played guitar on Rain Parade’s first record, then left to form Opal with Kendra Smith from The Dream Syndicate, then replaced her with Hope Sandoval and called it Mazzy Star. Three albums sitting on my shelf, connected by a band that exists only as the space between them.
Albums: Emergency Third Rail Power Trip — Rain Parade (1983, Enigma) · The Days of Wine and Roses — The Dream Syndicate (1982, Ruby) · She Hangs Brightly — Mazzy Star (1990, Rough Trade)
Key credits: David Roback (guitar on Emergency Third Rail Power Trip, co-founder of Opal, founder of Mazzy Star), Kendra Smith (featured vocalist on “This Can’t Be Today,” bassist on The Days of Wine and Roses, co-founder of Opal), Hope Sandoval (vocals on She Hangs Brightly, replaced Smith in Opal/Mazzy Star)
Sources: Discogs — Emergency Third Rail Power Trip credits Discogs — The Days of Wine and Roses credits Discogs — She Hangs Brightly credits Wikipedia — Opal (band) Wikipedia — Mazzy Star