The Space Lady: Greatest Hits Vinyl LP

Finally back in print! Susan Schneider aka The Space Lady’s got a long story… born in Colorado, began busking, singing, playing accordion in Boston and later San Francisco through the 70s and 80s, wearing a silver plastic helmet with white wings and a flashing light on top. Her accordion was stolen so she upgraded to a Casio MT-40 keyboard (the very same model used by King Jammy in the production of “Sleng Teng,” which revolutionized reggae music and ushered in the digital dancehall age). She eventually retired from music to become a nurse and began selling homemade CD-Rs of her various recordings here and there. Word of The Space Lady spread when various books and compilations surveying ‘outsider music’ mentioned her in hushed, reverent tones, culminating in this first-ever remastered vinyl collection of her music, originally pressed in 2013. With a sparse kit of just her deeply human voice and the MT-40, Schneider lends newfound depth and soul to well-trodden tunes you’ve heard hundreds of times before, check out her renditions of Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom,” Steve Miller’s “Fly Like An Eagle” and Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz.” Equally (if not more) charming are the handful of originals written by her late ex-husband Joel Dunsany: “Humdinger,” “From The Womb To The Tomb” and the delicious “Synthesize Me.” These tracks ooze with lo-fi charm and a peculiar digi-dancehall-adjacent flavor; definitely on the level with Nite Jewel’s first album, Ariel Pink’s early EARLY recordings and some of the outsider soul stuff à la Jeff Phelps, Spontaneous Overthrow etc. Black vinyl pressing with foldout printed insert, recommended.

• black vinyl pressing
• includes foldout poster insert
• music label: Mississippi Records 2017

reviewed by Big Salad 01/2020