The year was 1983 when the Green Pajamas germinated in the minds of Joe Ross and Jeff Kelly after they met at a party and discovered a common interest in 60's psychedelia. With the Los Angeles "paisley underground" music scene of `83 spinning at full tilt, our fab duo decided to start a similar scene in their home town of Seattle. By spring of 1984 they had recorded and released a homemade cassette called Summer of Lust described by one U.K. journalist as "British-style psychedelia similar to Dukes of Stratosphear but moreoff-center and less pastiche". Tom Dyer heard something in Jeff's songs and signed the Pajamas to his Green Monkey record label in their native Seattle, despite the fact that Jeff's fabric of choice, paisley was immediately swallowed up by a sea of flannel. Microscopic quantities of the first four GPJs releases trickled out, some in cassette only versions, giving new meaning to the term "limited edition." After 1989 'Ghosts of Love' the Green Pajamas went on hiatus and Kelly issued the solo LP 'Coffee in Nepal' in 1991. In 1997 the band resurfuced with more success and continues until today.
For most of the last score of the 20th century, Jeff Kelly has been crafting some of the sweetest, most melodious and memorable psychedelic tinged pop music these ears have encountered, mostly arranged and interpreted by his band, The Green Pajamas. Unfortunately, outside of a few pockets of musicologists scattered across the globe, most of these confections have registered about as much impact as that proverbial tree falling in the woods with no one around. Small, independent record labels from such exotic lands as Greece (DiDi), Australia (Camera Obscura, AuGoGo), Germany (Bouncing Records), Sweden (Sound Effects) and England (UBIK, Woronzow) have released his work to the cognoscenti who devour each lyric, chord progression and subtle musical nuance like a junkie scoring his last fix. As soon as the record ends, we start it again, hunting for additional clues to hidden meanings missed the first go round, savoring each note as if it were his last, yet immediately yearning for more: another album, another song.... Twenty-three years later the Green Pajamas are still ahead of the times while remaining lost in time; a quality that keeps the listener haunted yet always craving more.
1986 Line-up: Jeff Kelly, guitar/vocals; Steve Lawrence, bass/vocals/guitar; Karl Wilhelm, drums; Bruce Haedt keys/vocals
01 Ten Thousand Words 02 The First Rains Of September 03 Stand To Reason 04 The Night Miss Sundby Died 05 A Murder Of Crows 06 Ain't So Bad 07 Paula 08 Men In Your Life 09 Stand In The Light 10 Bang Bang You're Dead 11 Higher Than I've Been 12 Time Of Year
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