Kevin Dunn - No Great Lost: Songs, 1979-1985

A Deluxe Anthology of Pivotal Post-Rock Provocateur Kevin Dunn – Out of circulation for over two decades, the recordings gathered on the upcoming release No Great Lost: Songs, 1979-1985 shine much-needed light on the art of Kevin Dunn: insidiously influential unsung architect of post-rock and self-styled “guitar egghead.” Emanating from his home town of Atlanta, Georgia, Dunn’s music bristles with invention, melodic wit, and exploratory zeal – a uniquely southern refraction of the textural and lyrical possibilities first made apparent to him by the avant-garde pop stylings of such formative influences as the Velvet Underground, Robert Fripp, and Taking Tiger Mountain-era Eno. Dunn’s remarkable journey as musician, songwriter, and producer has found him behind the scenes of a string of legendary recordings not limited to his solo efforts.In 1979, Dunn co-produced Pylon’s early single “Cool/Dub” and debut album Gyrate – era-defining music recently reissued by DFA. That year also found Dunn with a co-production credit on the B-52’s seismic “Rock Lobster” 45, and marked the release of two of his own efforts: his salacious solo 45 “Nadine/Oktyabrina” and the Fans’ “Cars and Explosions” single, both included among the 21 tracks of No Great Lost, which also includes a new essay by Dunn and an array of rarely-seen photographs. Following the subsequent dissolution of the Fans, Dunn emerged as a solo artist with 1981’s The Judgement of Paris, a one-man underground pop classic featured in its entirety – encompassing both US and UK track listings – on No Great Lost. Restored from the original 16-track tapes, The Judgement of Paris’s blend of heavily treated guitar, furiously inquisitive lyrical bent, analog electronics, and surprising hookiness sounds alarmingly fresh to modern ears. No Great Lost further fleshes out the image of this most productive six-year span with tracks from the subsequent widely acclaimed 1983 EP C'est toujours la même guitare and the 1985 LP Tanzfeld – releases which found Dunn further refining his approach, working with a wider range of collaborators, and continuing to feature his own compositions alongside knowing deconstructions of songs from the rock canon. Dunn continues to write and record new music to this day, and plans on following No Great Lost with a long-awaited album of new material.“While the Allman Brothers Band, with its dual dual-lead line-up of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts defined the Southern Rock genre,” reflects Atlanta journalist Tony Paris, “Kevin Dunn destroyed it. Dunn’s music of yesterday is still the music of tomorrow.

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