Paul Pena: New Train

So I kinda got a little tired of writing about random albums in my collection a couple years ago, and pivoted to a daily walk through my Top 1000 songs instead. Still, there are a few crevices of the collection I missed and still wanna get out there... Like this Great Lost Album from singer-songwriter/guitarist Paul Pena.

Pena, for the few who know him, is best remembered for writing "Jet Airliner" (made into a hit by the Steve Miller Band) and for being somewhat Grateful Dead-adjacent, opening shows for Jerry Garcia in the early 70s. His 1972 self-titled debut is pretty great, an amiable blend of rock, folk, blues, and R&B, with some fantastic mellow Bay Area vibes (he'd relocated from the East Coast to San Francisco in 1971)--definitely worth checking out (it's available on streaming media).

But no less cool is the 1973 follow-up, New Train. Sadly, the record was scuttled at the time--apparently some sort of dispute with Bob Dylan manager Albert Grossman--finally seeing light of day in 2000. Since then, it's gone in and out of print, and unfortunately is in "out" mode right now (and doesn't stream). Which is a shame, as it's pretty amazing. Like the debut, he crosses genres, from the feel-good bar band R&B shuffle of opening number "Gonna Move" to the gentle pop-gospel of the title track to the straight-ahead soulful rock of "A Bit Of Alright" to the Hendrix-indebted bluesy acid jams of "Cosmic Mirror."

His original "Jet Airliner" is here, as catchy as the better-known Miller version. And he's comfortably in Dead territory on "Venutian Lady," which cribs its hook from the Dead's "Bertha" and features Garcia adding some guitar leads straight out of "Sugar Magnolia." Meanwhile, "Indian Boy," dated title notwithstanding, is a majestic Americana delight with shades of The Band.

I wish it were more readily available, but until then you can hear the whole thing on YouTube.

Playing "Jet Airliner" on Conan in 2001:

"Venutian Lady":

"Indian Boy":