“City Pity”
by The Happy Hour Band
2002 song
Sky Saxon sings on the track "City Pity" from the 2002 album Happy Now by The Happy Hour Band, which included Djin Aquarian. It is another lengthy (7-plus minutes) slow, psychedelic, minor-key jam in low sound quality with various troughs and peaks and meditative grooviness from the simple guitar/bass/drums arrangement.
Sky’s vocals, like on some but not all other tracks, are buried too low on "City Pity" to be understood (I say buried instead of mixed — it sounds like this music was recorded informally, perhaps on a single microphone in a room, rather than captured discretely and later mixed and balanced). Large passages find Sky silent, as the band pulses along under its own stony steam.
At other times, other voices can be heard, either talking or singing, and Djin achieves some real magic towards the end of the performance with effusive, prickly guitar shapes that dance up the neck of his instrument (and of the listener).
Unlike other songs on the album, "City Pity" actually comes to a complete, dramatic end, rather than fading out mid-song.
