“Diamonds In The Rough”
by Sunlight And Thee New Seeds
1975 song
Sky Saxon’s first release after The Seeds’ final privately-released single in 1972 ("You Took Me By Surprise" b/w "Shuckin' And Jiving") was released on Emerald Light Records circa 1974~5, a 7-inch single with "Diamonds In The Rough" as its a-side.
Although Sky had been recording with the Source Family in extremely loose, blissful psychedelic late-night sessions, "Diamonds In The Rough" was a searing little garage rock number. Punchy and sinister-sounding rock guitars jump around chaotically, while Sky Saxon, out of his mind, chants directionlessly about universal stars, beautiful stars, and the like, managing to namecheck both himself and his guitarist Rainbow, who gets a co-author credit. The opening lyrics, sung/spoken by Sky, give an impression of the overall feel of the track:
Diamonds in the rough
So boys, girls,
You’re all beautiful stars
I’m a sunlight star
Wishing for my magic star
"Diamonds In The Rough" is credited to Sunlight And Thee New Seeds. The b-side of this Emerald Light release, "Universal Stars", is a different take of the same song, although the title (and the artist credit) are different.
When this single was re-released by Sky a year or two later (on the Expression label), "Diamonds In The Rough" was shortened, now fading in just before the “So boys, girls” line, and it was retitled "Beautiful Stars".
