David Stoughton

Life

As an undergraduate at Harvard University, Stoughton "became caught up in the folk boom" and learned different folk guitar styles including "bluegrass, blues, fingerpicking and flatpicking styles", and frequented Club 47 where many famous folk artists played including Joan Baez, the Charles River Valley Boys and Doc Watson. He began teaching guitar at the Newton School of Music, and his views on music were changed by the Beatles and John Cage. John Lennon of the Beatles inspired him to write "Beatle-ish" songs on a Stratocaster, while Cage's influence helped nurture his musique concrète compositions, both of which were later hallmarks of his material. The newspaper wrote: "Like the San Francisco sound, the Bosstown Sound is more apparent in diversity than homogeneity. Such groups as Phluph, The Cambridge Electric Opera Co. and One are insistently experimental.

Transformer had been intended as an Opera Company album but was released under Stoughton's name to avoid confusion with Earth Opera. Record Collector described the album as "one of the most unique and forward-looking albums ever released by Elektra". Uncut included the album in their 2010 list of the "50 greatest lost albums". The album has also been referenced by experimental group White Out.

The Arts Desk described Stoughton as a "lost" Elektra signee with peers in Tim Buckley and Love. AllMusic describe him as being similar to singer-songwriter Marc Jonson, whose album Years (1972) has drawn comparison to Stoughton. A 1969 correspondence between Stoughton and his influence John Cage is archived by the Northwestern University Library.

Discography Albums Transformer (1968)

Singles "The Sun Comes Up Each Day" (1969)