Arthur Russell - Iowa Dream (2021 Reissue)

Released 26th November 2021.

At once kaleidoscopic and intimate, Iowa Dream bears some of Russells most personal work, including several recently discovered folk songs he wrote during his time in Northern California in the early 1970s. For Russell, Iowa was never very far away. I see, I see it all, sings Russell on the title track: red houses, fields, the town mayor (his father) streaming by as he dream-bicycles through his hometown. Russells childhood home and family echo, too, through Just Regular People, I Wish I Had a Brother, Wonder Boy, The Dogs Outside are Barking, Sharper Eyes, and I Felt. Meanwhile, songs like I Kissed the Girl From Outer Space, I Still Love You, List of Boys, and Barefoot in New York fizz with pop and dance grooves, gesturing at Russells devotion to New Yorks avant-garde and disco scenes. Finally, the long-awaited You Did it Yourself, until now heard only in a brief heart-stopping black-and-white clip in Matt Wolfs doc