Pop Memories

Some years ago in the mid 90's I found myself following an internal bleeding incident on a busy hospital ward in a Dublin hospital. All human life seemed to be on that ward but with the constant noise and unending interventions from staff and patients alike I sometimes wished for a little less of that life. Then after several days of stoical endurance, I was unexpectedly transferred to a private room. Luxuriating in my new found peace, I turned on the hospital radio to hear that a Dionne Warwick special was about to start. And for the next hour as one marvellous Bacharach/David song followed another I felt as if in Heaven. Dionne Warwick seemed to me to embody true class and sophisticated elegance. Due to her unusual vocal abilities and musical training she was the ideal vehicle to do justice to the intricate and complex demands posed by so many wonderful Bacharach melodies. And Burt Bacharach not only wrote these songs (with Hal David as lyricist) but also produced her recor...

In the early 70's I spent part of the summer doing some construction work with a motley group in a rehab centre in south Dublin. As the weather was good we lunched outdoors in the middle of the day. A record player was found and an album that I had never heard before was played which I found captivating. One song in particular "Needle of Death" really impacted with me in a way that only a handful of tracks have ever done. Music has the wonderful capacity to resonate - at least occasionally - in a profoundly meaningful manner. And this certainly was one such occasion! I remember looking at the album sleeve and mistakenly leaving with the impression that it was by Bert Yance. And on several occasions over the years, I tried without success to learn more about this artist. Then some 25 years or so later, I spotted a notice outside the College where I work in Dublin promoting an upcoming performance by Bert Jansch nearby in Whelans. In that moment I realised the true id...

Recently an old Brenda Lee song "I'm Sorry" has been featured on a TV ad here in Ireland. Though not heard that much nowadays, I remember the time when Brenda Lee was the dominant female performer of the early 60's. Though I never particularly liked her voice - which I found a little too hard and raucous - she certainly had something special. From an early stage - following her early recording of "Dynamite" in 1958 (at the age of 13) - she became known as "Little Miss Dynamite" which was a perfectly apt description that lasted throughout her career. Her voice had a special punch in it (perhaps unequalled by any other performer) whereby she could turn immediately from soft to belting mode. Thus she was at her best on certain rock ballads such as "I'm Sorry" which especially profiled this ability. She also fell into that category of a truly precocious performer that had already attained a remarkable maturity of performance at an e...

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...

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...

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 (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...