Actual Sighs

Richard X. Heyman had the songs; he just lacked the timing. His stock-in-trade was ‘60s-influenced pop tunes with tight, excited harmonies, soaring melodies and bright, punchy instrumentation informed by the ’70-‘80s punk-new wave movement. Wrong place, wrong time. Think the Byrds and Left Banke two decades later. With a limited budget, he issued the Actual Size six-song EP in 1986 and eventually signed with a major label at the turn of the 1990s. The music business is filled with performers who never reached their full potential, but Heyman’s fate seems particularly a shame since it wasn’t for lack of talent or material. Actual Sighs attempts to right an overlooked wrong. Twenty-plus years since his first EP, Heyman re-records that EP’s six tunes with stronger production and adds 14 additional tracks he’d written back then but never recorded since the money ran out. The highlights are frequent and steady. “Kenyon Walls,” “Winter Blue,” “Can’t Keep Me From Talkin’,” “Hoosier” — Heyman’s songs make the case for immediate rediscovery of this man’s immense talents.