Z turned me onto this album, which I listened to and I was instantly fascinated. I quickly looked into the LP and saw how rare it was ($$$), and almost all of the recent eBay auctions for The Unicorn included the tag “outsider gay psych.” Uh…I’m sold!
“Outsider folk which mixes Grudzien’s tuneless baritone with appalachian picking, electronic effects, fuzz, & unclear but devoutly religious songs about being gay. Previous issues of this had bonus tracks from the 80s & later, but this version adds an lp’s worth of at-the-time recordings & teen demos. Tracklisting: Innocents, The Unicorn, White Trash Hillbilly Hick, Queen of All the Blue Eyed, Private Battle, Adagio, Broken Bottle Glass Sidewalks, Hear the Trumpet Call, Satan’s Horn, Kentucky Candy, The Lost World, What Have I Done, Redemption and Prayer, Return of the Unicorn, Innocents II, New York Town, The Garden of Love, Alone Amongst the Crowd, I Don’t Complain, Dark as a Dungeon, Black Mountain Rag, Your Every Wish Is My Command, Kiss Me Another, The Bills, Pink and Yellow Haze, Echoing Footsteps, Stonewall, The Garden of Love.” – Weirdo Records
“Peter Grudzien is an American country/psychedelic singer-songwriter and musician. His music is well-known in the outsider music community for its idiosyncratic instrumentation and often openly gay subject matter. Grudzien’s music has strong roots in country, as he grew up listening to such artists as Johnny Cash, who he met as a young man. In the 1960’s, Grudzien began performing on the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit, where he met many notable folk musicians, including Bob Dylan. It was also during this time that Grudzien supposedly participated in the Stonewall riots for gay rights. Grudzien continued to make music, and released The Unicorn in 1974. The Unicorn, now considered extremely rare by record collectors, was produced in a very small quantity. The album, entirely written, played, and produced by Grudzien, was long unavailable until its re-release on CD by Parallel World in 1995. The CD release of The Unicorn also included several new songs by Grudzien, including his take on the American standard,There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere, updated with many openly gay sentiments. This song was included on Songs In The Key of Z Vol. 1, a popular compilation of outsider music. With the release of Songs In The Key of Z and its book companion, Grudzien’s music was received by a somewhat larger audience. Peter Grudzien, while known for his reclusiveness, still occasionally plays in the New York area, where he lives, and continues to create and record music in his home studio. Currently, The Unicorn is the only collection of his music that is available.” – Honey Bean
Peter Grudzien
The Unicorn
MediaFire Download Link
Tracklist:
01. Innocents
02. The Unicorn
03. White Trash Hillbilly Trick
04. Queen Of All The Blue-Eyed
05. Private Battle
06. Adiago
07. Broken Bottle Glass Side Walk
08. Hear The Trumpet Call
09. Satan’s Horn
10. Kentucky Candy
11. The Lost World
12. What Have I Done
13. Redemption And Prayer
14. Return Of The Unicorn
