Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2009

Bob Lind

Bob Lind was an American singer song writer who briefly appeared on the scene in 1966 and in certain limited respects sounded like a precursor to Don Mc Lean.  He had the ability to write very interesting pop tunes with poetic - and sometimes - baffling lyrics.  The best of these were often to be found on the B sides of his singles e.g. "Cheryl's Goin' Home", "Truly Julies's Blues" and "We May Have Touched".  Another outstanding song and performance is "Spilling Over" (where his voice does indeed sound like Don McLean!)   However it is "Elusive Butterfly" for which he will always be known. This is simply a wonderful song - and still one of my favourites - with a truly magical lyric of poetic reverie. This for me perfectly "encapsulates" the truly fleeting nature of romantic love.  Sadly for Bob his own encounter with fame was to resemble the elusive butterfly of his song as he quickly became consigned to that unenv

Carpenters

The Carpenters (more correctly, Carpenters) surely deserve a unique place in the annals of pop music. The group comprised the brother and sister duo, Karen and Richard Carpenter who both were gifted with very special talents. Of course Karen is the one we nearly always hear on record with that pure, clear wonderful singing voice that perhaps remains unmatched by any other female performer. Though not especially gifted singing wise Richard was a bit of a musical genius who wrote (with John Bettis) some of their best songs and was chiefly responsible for the truly superb production values of their recorded albums. Their first album - initially titled "Offering" - contained their cover of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride". Though sung in a slow tempo not really in keeping with the original, it displays well the remarkable quality of young Karen's voice. Though this was their first single release and proved a minor hit the album contains a few superb tracks that

Joan Baez

There was an interesting programme featuring Joan Baez on BBC TV last night. It was fascinating to watch again her early appearances in Club 47 in Cambridge, her collaborations with a young Bob Dylan, and her very public stance as a political activist (esp. as supporter and friend of Martin Luther King). Looking at the concert footage is compelling as one sees a truly beautiful young woman with a unique guitar style and singing voice flawlessly presenting a large repertoire of the "old" folk songs. However on the critical side, perhaps these performances were just a little too perfect leading to the material acquiring a certain off-putting similarity. Ironically though her meeting with Dylan is credited with inspiring her with wonderful "new" songs, somehow even these started to sound like the "old" when given the familiar Baez treatment. I instinctively felt this reservation about her performances - even back in the early 60's - which prevented me fro

Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens (or Yusuf Islam as he is now called) appeared in the O2 in Dublin recently to receive a somewhat mixed reception. I cannot say that I was ever a huge fan of his though I did respect the fact that he was - at his best - a superb songwriter. When he burst on the scene in the late 60's with a somewhat overproduced sound he was hailed as a great new talent (in the singer/songwriter genre). The gimmicky - though hardly great - "I Love My Dog" was quickly followed by "Matthew and Son" and the rather similar sounding "I'm Gonna Get me a Gun". These were included on his 1st album (which not surprisingly was also a hit). Then he seemed to quickly fade from view releasing another overproduced album (like its predecessor) that attracted little notice. However this contained what perhaps was his best - and most commercial - recording "The First Cut is the Deepest" which oddly did not receive at the time the attention that it clearly w

Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson (or Rick Nelson as was called for much of his career) was a pop idol at the same time as Elvis and arguably even better looking. Though churning out a succession of hits over a number of years he has been largely forgotten at this stage suggesting perhaps that his success was due more to image and marketing rather than any exceptional talent. However I would not share this perception and would consider him one of the true greats of the early rock and roll era. What I particularly liked about Ricky Nelson was the absolutely clear quality of his singing voice. Others indeed possessed more powerful and exciting voices but no male performer - with the possible exception of Don McLean - can match him on this score. Indeed in this respect he reminds me very much of Karen Carpenter. To be honest I was never a great fan of Bob Dylan as I always found it very difficult to hear what he was saying (due to a voice that sometimes resembled the scraping of sandpaper). With so much

John Denver

To be honest I was not a great fan of John Denver during his period of great commercial success in the US in the early 70's. His first great hit - apart from "Leaving on a Jet Plane" recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary - was "Take Me Home Country Roads". I have to say this is just one of those songs that does nothing for me (whether sung by John Denver or on a cover such as that of Olivia Newton John). I felt the same about many of his other popular "country" efforts such as "Rocky Mountain High"and "Sunshine on My Shoulder". Indeed I did not even like his voice at the time! Though this changed somewhat with "Annie's Song" and "I'm Sorry" it was not till the early 80's that I became a fan (and a big one at that!) What changed my opinion so much was the album "Seasons of the Heart" given to me by a Denver fan at work. It left an indelible impression on me with a couple of tracks on it still amon

The Tornados

I have a simple confession to make. There is no pop single that I loved as much as "Telstar" by The Tornados on its release in August 1962. Though this love has diminished somewhat with time, I consider it a truly great pop single that still stirs something of that initial excitement I originally felt when I heard it all those years ago. At the time I would have considered myself well informed on the pop scene. So I was already aware of the Tornados from a previous unsuccessful single "Love and Fury". Once however I heard Telstar I decided "this was it" and that I had never heard a better pop instrumental. So like a religious missionary I quickly spread the "good news" to my school pals predicting that it would be a massive hit. On this at least I was proven correct in a manner that then exceeded all my expectations. Indeed its success filled me with such a sense of pleasure that it might as well have been my own creation. It quickly wen

The Beatles

I saw the Beatles second film “Help” recently which proved a nostalgic experience (having seen it originally at the time of its release in 1965). The plot seemed even more ridiculous than it did the 1st time around. However what rescued the whole thing for me were the superb songs like “Help”, “You’re Going to Lose that Girl”, “Ticket to Ride” and George’s “I Need You”. They sounded better than ever which possibly is due to the fact that the film has since been remastered. Indeed their entire catalogue has just been remastered with simultaneous releases of the Box Set and all the individual albums (including other single, B side and EP tracks). Now in the first week of release no less than 11 of these are included in the UK Top 40 (40 years or more after the original recordings). To my mind no other band even came close to the Beatles both in the quality and range of the output. Though occasional single tracks by other groups such as The Rolling Stones, Procul Harum, The Moody Blues

Del Shannon

I had just installed my new record player when Barry a neighbour from down the road arrived in to proudly play his most recent purchase. It was Del Shannon's "Runaway" which Barry really loved. It was not difficult to see why as it is a truly great pop record. And Del Shannon was destined to figure large in my early pop memories. No sooner had "Runaway" started to fade from the charts that Barry arrived in with the follow-up "Hats off to Larry" (which we renamed in his honour "Hats off to Barry") and then "So Long Baby". After all this time I can even recall the B sides. One in particular (on the flip side of "Hats off to Larry") stuck in my memory due to its strange title "Don't Gild the Lily, Lily". Another (on the flip side of "So Long Baby") was "The Answer to Everything" which became a huge hit subsequently in Ireland for Joe Dolan . Del Shannon was very versatile with a truly di

Les Paul

I watched a fascinating programme on Les Paul last night on BBC 4. I was in two minds beforehand as to whether to bother but it turned out to the best 90 minutes of TV that I have seen in a long time. I have of course heard of Les Paul and his successful association with Mary Ford , especially "How High the Moon". But I did not realise how great a guitarist and creator he actually was. Most of all, though in his 90's when footage for the programme was shot, he turned out to be a wonderfully engaging personality. Why was he so successful? Obviously he had a considerable inherent talent (indeed many great talents). Not alone did he develop a unique playing style (combining both country and jazz influences) he was a true innovator of sound and the first to develop overdubbing and multi track techniques which he exploited brilliantly in his own recordings (especially with Mary Ford ). However the real secret that came across was a tremendous self confidence in his abili

Elvis Presley

The first LP in my house (brought home by an older brother) was "Something for Everybody" by Elvis Presley. I was 12 at the time and had just been given a record player - one of those old manual jobs that you plugged into the radio - for my birthday. The primitive nature of the equipment, by today's standards, did not diminish my enjoyment in any way. In fact I remember it as the most magical time of my life. Though technology has moved on somewhat nothing can replace that personal feeling that came with the old vinyls. As the stylus needle slowly fell, winding its way through the record grooves the unique sound associated with each track unfolded momentarily transporting one to another world. Even the crackling from the scratches that inevitably appeared with repeated playing developed their own unique signatures. Compared to this early joy I find CDs somewhat cold and impersonal. Though not one of Elvis' best known recordings, he was in superb form on that al