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Toys for ElliotToys for Elliot - The National Tapes [MMM018] (October 19, 2001)

ARCHIVAL RELEASE. For recent recordings, check out these other My Mean Magpie Releases.

About Toys for Elliot:

The Toys for Elliot cassette was the very first release issued on My Mean Magpie (then called My Mean Mustard) with six songs in May of 1995.

Consisting of Kymberly Drake and Five Seventeen, Kym was an accomplished self-taught pianist and Five was still figuring his way around a fretboard. From 1994-1995, they would get together whenever they could and try to come up with a few songs. A purchase of a 4-track and a year later they compiled a few of their songs onto a cassette and dubbed a reserved 30 copies.

From 1995-1999, they continued to get together to play and record as often as they could. Kymberly began to work on her solo performances and joined Hamilton's The Winter Market as singer and songwriter. Meanwhile Five began to work with College friend Patti Kim in Georgia and The 25 Cent Soul Project while also doing noise experiments under the name 5MP. During that time Toys for Elliot would bring out their instruments when they got together and continued to play. Toys for Elliot never broke up.

In September of 1999, Kymberly who was born with cystic fibrosis, died in the week following a lung transplant. In the weeks following her death many of the songs presented here were remixed and compiled for a cassette called A National Tape (mmm011). In 2001, with the purchase of a CD burner the songs were again revisited and put together in a definitive collection of the bands output.

Of the 51 tracks presented here, less than 10 were ever recorded to the best of the band's limited abilities. It is presented with the intentions of archiving the music of two friends.

(Those overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tracks, I suggest sampling "Come Away" and "Sleepguitar" before delving any further.)

Otherwise, check out these other fine My Mean Magpie Releases.


This audio is part of the collection: My Mean Magpie

Artist/Composer: Toys for Elliot
Date: 2001-10-19 00:00:00
Keywords: Pop-Folk; Singer-Songwriter; Indie-Pop; Folk

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Notes

Note: Because of the quality of the source material, there may be slight pops, drop-outs and other noise. Where possible, all efforts have been made to correct the recordings. Download the recording notes for details.

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Reviewer: Boggins - - September 16, 2009
Subject: Joy
There are pieces on here that show off Kymberly's voice marvellously, and pieces that show off her sense of humour in the face of her terrible health issues. Get all this and also get the track "I Fall" from the MMM Ten:Ten compilation (also on this site). I don't say she'd have been a big star, but she sure had a VOICE.
There's some dross on here, but "Kymbliss" shines through.

Reviewer: JustinM - - January 7, 2006
Subject: Lovely
These songs are the kind of thing people play when they first pick up & guitar & a recording device of some kind, and decide they want to try & become a star. The songs are lovely... sweet harmonies & mellow guitar. They do seem a bit amateurish & unfinished, true, but the music hints at talent that has a promise for future growth. Sweet and touching, as much for the music itself, as for the situation surrounding it.