THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,157) Jim Sullivan — “Johnny”
Before he vanished in New Mexico while driving to a new life in Nashville, Jim Sullivan (see #1,306) left us a stunning ‘69 LP with this “[a]wesome, haunting song”. (kplunk3050, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RWH2hY3eGk) Sullivan “with his rich voice, tells these wonderful, surreal stories that you just can’t help but get lost in (I’m talking about . . . “Johnny” in particular here).” (alexthegrape, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/jim-sullivan/u_f_o/reviews/2/) It “is about about escapism from polluted reality into something higher. . . . contain[ing] allusions to LSD . . . references to levitation. . . . [and] men drifting away and getting lost in the outskirts of life. . . . Johnny[] and Jim . . . seem to have shared similar fates.” (https://www.soundpit.fm/post/album-of-the-month-u-f-o-jim-sullivan-1969)
“Johnny come down, come down from the sky Johnny come down, you’re flying too high”
The LP — U.F.O. — is a “lost folk-rock gem”. (Steve Leggett, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jim-sullivan-mn0002554706#discography) Patrick Lundborg opines:
Early singer-songwriter sounds with lots of personality and atmosphere. The setting is light folkrock with excellent vocals that seem almost too good for such an obscure title. This guy has lived, man, and seen a few things in life, which gives the album a certain country music vibe without actually sounding country at all. . . . A surprisingly good westcoast . . . Van Morrison feel.
The Acid Archives, 2nd Ed.
James Allen adds:
U.F.O. is one of those albums whose backstory looms so large that it threatens to overwhelm the actual music, which would be a shame, because it’s a bit of a lost classic of the singer/songwriter realm. Southern California troubadour Jim Sullivan . . . was a big man with a big voice who built up a small regional following in the late ’60s and convinced an old friend to start a label for the sole purpose of releasing his debut album in 1969. The limited-run release eventually became a high-priced holy grail for record collectors, partly because of its quality and rarity, and partly because of the mysterious Sullivan story. In a nutshell, after recording only one more album, Sullivan took off on a road trip in 1975, during which he literally disappeared, never to be seen again, despite the best investigative efforts of family, friends, and admirers. His car was found still containing his wallet, guitar, and other possessions, with no trace of their owner. Several theories about his fate sprung up, from murder to alien abduction. Despite the album’s humble origins, it sounds more like a major-label recording than a lo-fi D.I.Y. effort. This has a lot to do with Jim’s benefactor hiring top-flight L.A. Wrecking Crew musicians Don Randi, Earl Palmer and Jimmy Bond, and then there are Bond’s string arrangements, which bring an atmospheric, orchestral feel to Sullivan’s simply conceived, acoustic guitar-based tunes. Sullivan’s deep, bluesy singing falls somewhere between Fred Neil [see #344] and Tim Hardin [see #457], as does his songwriting, which subtly tweaks conventional folk-blues templates without veering into psychedelic, post-Dylan excess.
Steve Leggett adds to the story:
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jim Sullivan only released two albums, one in 1969 and a second in 1972, but neither sold well, although his talent was obvious, and it’s easy to imagine that he would have eventually have had a commercial breakthrough had he not mysteriously vanished in New Mexico in 1975, a disappearance that has yet to be solved or explained. A fixture on the West Coast and Malibu music scene, Sullivan, a former high-school quarterback, rubbed shoulders with the hip and famous in the late ’60s and early ’70s . . . taking a bit part in the film Easy Rider, writing songs full of restless despair that he sang in a rich, Fred Neil-like voice, and winning over crowds wherever he played. . . . After a second album in 1972, Sullivan began to think his career might stand a better chance in Nashville, and he left California to drive to Tennessee in March of 1975. He checked into a Santa Rosa, New Mexico motel en route, although it was unclear whether he stayed there — his Volkswagen Beetle was found at a remote ranch 26 miles outside of town with his guitar, clothes, and wallet inside, and he was reportedly last seen walking away from the car. He was never seen again, and no trace of him was ever found. The whole thing eerily echoed some of the themes Sullivan had dealt with on his U.F.O album six years earlier, further giving a unique album an even odder resonance.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jim-sullivan-mn0002554706#discography
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