by Pierluigi Bella
issued on Rockerilla #143/144 (July/August 1992)
Kendra Smith is one of those persons who have the qualities to be
considered artists, with that further stylish touch which made mythical a few little
rock-geniuses in the past. She marked with the Dream Syndicate that main point of
rock-music in the eighties, which was The Days of Wine and Roses
; with Clay Allison
before and with Opal later on, she delighted us with melancholy psychedelic ballads and with
her beautiful voice above all.
Today Kendra returns with another phonographic jewel (between Opal and this record, only
one 7inch with Keith Levene passed over in silence) in which Velvet Underground's influences,
that made great her past, revive. The atmosphere is very sad, no photo given to her audience
to prove the absolute concentration on the artistic content of the product, but a very nice
package for a 10inch that reveals itself to be a gem from the esthetical point of view too. The
Guild of Temporal Adventurers
presents six splendid acoustic songs, from the starting
one, the gentle Stars Are in Your Eyes
to the harmonium of Earth Same Breath
in
which it seems to hear again Nico's magic style; in Waiting in the Rain
and Wheel
of the Law
we relive Opal's early times and in She Brings the Rain
, Kendra plays
a wonderful Can's song with intense class. The whole accompanied by an ethereal atmosphere,
by trips and by mystic interludes such as bell's sounds from Himalayas or from Tibet.
She could become more famous, sell her records very well and travel all over the world with
her music but, after all, she wouldn't be the same person and we prefer her so simple
and great just like she is