Bob Lind — Superior Songs

Bob Lind

Singer-songwriter Bob Lind will forever be remembered for the 1965 hit “Elusive Butterfly”, but his career is so much more interesting than the fading wonder of that one song. Once a hard partying buddy of Charles Bukowski, Lind was the inspiration for the character Dinky Summers, a down-on-his-luck folk singer in Bukowski’s novel “Women”, Lind also doubled as a writer, penning a number of novels and plays as well as serving as a longtime staff writer for the “Weekly World News” supermarket tabloid. Most importantly, he is also responsible for one of the greatest major label “loner” albums of all time.

1971’s “Since There Were Circles” was his first album since moving to Capitol Records, and Lind was joined in the studio with some of the biggest names in the LA country rock scene. Doug Dillard, Gene Clark, Bernie Leadon and session bassist Carol Kaye all have large roles, but it is Lind’s brilliant songwriting that carries the day.

Critical praise did not equal sales and Lind would soon depart the music industry for several decades. In the years that followed, the album grew to cult masterpiece status. In line with classics from Gene Clark, Bobby Charles and Lee Hazelwood, the songs have a dark and self-reflective tint, as the production embraces a loose and rootsy atmosphere, with the occassional orchestral burst. Above all of it, Lind’s wry delivery and literate detail mark it as one of a kind.

acoustic, folk, singer songwriter, elusive butterfly, jarvis cocker, charles bukowski, capitol records, 60s, 70s, los angeles, country rock, gene clark, doug dillard, carol kaye