compared2what? wrote:But seriously. Who can sing this stuff? I've been practicing that one my whole life and I still can't get it right.
Clearly there is some element of alchemical mystery involved which may have a great deal to do with the verifiable fact that Ms. Warwick at one time resembled nothing so much as the most beautiful alien ever. I have often felt that the structural members of the head and face do contribute mightily to the perfection of such a resonating outpour of sound as is true with the design of the most lovely instrument of all.
And here is Burt Bacharach's song to he and Angie Dickenson's suicided daughter who had Asperger Syndrome. I can't find a vocal version but just put the lyric to the melody and you'll see.
For ev'ry dream there is a dreamer,
and when dreams are gone,
for each wish
another star shines to wish upon.
Take all my dreams and all my wishes
Hold them in your heart.
Tell me soon we'll be together,
never to part.
Nikki, it's you.
Nikki, where can you be?
It's you, no one but you for me
I've been so lonely since you went away.
I won't spend a happy day
'til you're back in my arms.
This one's taken from the video "Geography Teachers Go A Wee Bit Wild."
First band I ever seen live. War propaganda is not new. But when I was a younger it was half-decent.
barracuda wrote:Ms. Warwick at one time resembled nothing so much as the most beautiful alien ever.
Oh my god. You're so right. They even cleverly did one of those triple-reverse disinfo things they're so fond of doing by releasing irrefutable videotaped proof of her extra-terrestrial radiance, then only airing it in a place of questionable repute** in association with a single that barely broke the top forty:
Thanks barracuda. By the third listen I was into it - quite Zeppeliny
An older friend of mine who was almost there when it happened played me that lemon pipers song on a good sterio once, and I was very taken by it. It took me 'til now to remember their name and find the song on utube. Don't know why I didn't copy it when I had the chance - I'll have to try to get it on cd now. Sure beats Green Tambourine.
I'm not certain why the psychedelic bands favored titles for songs within the structure of the working formula of "X and X", but perhaps it has a connection with the surrealist progenitor the Comte de Lautreamont's famous phrase,
"...beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella"
which happens to be the title of Nurse With Wound's first album, although I must admit to not being a huge fan. And excuse me (while I kiss the sky), but is that an electric mandolin being played in this Strawberry Alarm Clock video?
[url=http://www.mickronson.com/mrearly.shtml]In London, Mick (Ronson) took a part time job in a garage and soon joined a group called The Voice. The group was from Scotland, having formed as The Royal Crests before moving to London and changing their name to Karl Stuart and the Profile and signing with Mercury. The Profile released three singles fro Mercury, before changing their name to The Voice.
Mick was replacing Miller Anderson as lead guitarist in The Voice, and the two played alternating sets for a few gigs during the transition. The Voice had released one single in 1965 while Miller Anderson was still in the band. 'Train To Disaster' b/w 'Truth' (1965 Mercury MF905) is an expensive slice of psychedelia, fetching prices in excess of 100 pounds in collector circles. (Miller Anderson, coincidentally, had also been playing in bands with Ian Hunter around this time.)
Mick played a few dates with The Voice, and when their drummer left Mick called in his old Mariners and Crestas bandmate Dave Bradfield to fill in. Bradfield's successful audition was held in Brighton, where the group was playing support to The Yardbirds that very evening. Yardbirds historian Doug Hinman points to a scheduled appearance at Brighton Top Rank on 18 March 1966 as the likely date for the Dave Bradfield audition.
[Dave Bradfield] Mick got in touch with this band, and I went down to join them. I had an interview, did my drumming, and was accepted. They were playing with The Yardbirds down in Brighton when I joined. Jeff Beck, who was in the Yardbirds, was Mick's idol.
The Voice was backed by a religious organization called The Process, which was founded by Robert De Grimston Moore and Mary Ann McClean. In 1964, the pair started a therapy group called Compulsions Analysis, which soon blossomed into a religious cult called The Process Church of the Final Judgement, or 'The Process' for short. By 1965, The Process had moved to a mansion in Mayfair at Balfour Place.
[Dave Bradfield] There was a singer, a keyboard player, a bass player, Mick, and myself. The other members were all members of the religious cult. They had a big mansion in the middle of London, and the couple that led it were called Bob and Mary Ann.
Mick's dream of turning professional in London was quickly dashed, however, when he and Dave Bradfield returned from a weekend in Hull.
[Dave Bradfield] We were playing down there for a while, professionally, and one day we came back from a holiday in Hull and our gear was on our bed in our flat down Cavendish Road in London. There was a note saying 'We've bought an island, and we've gone off to The Bahamas with Bob and Mary Ann.' And that was that. What happened to them, I have no idea!
The date of the group's departure for the Bahamas has been fixed as 23 June 1966 in biographies of The Process. After the band left for the tropics, Mick stayed in London looking for more work while Dave Bradfield returned to Hull. Mick soon teamed up with a band called The Wanted, playing Motown material, but the group broke up almost immediately. This left Mick Ronson in debt, and with no choice but to return to Hull.[/url]
barracuda wrote:
I'm not certain why the psychedelic bands favored titles for songs within the structure of the working formula of "X and X", but perhaps it has a connection with the surrealist progenitor the Comte de Lautreamont's famous phrase,
"...beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella"
Mmmm. I think it does. According to Samuel Johnson - who of course just had to be the first Mr. Smartypants on the block to name that genre wrt to the metaphysical poets -- the violent yoking together of heterogeneous elements is the intrinsic process whereby John Donne first made it mmmmetaphysical. Though since it was neither misery nor cats and he was Samuel Johnson, it almost goes without saying that he didn't mean that in a good way, poor soul.
To me, "Incense and Peppermints" acts as a Pavlovian trigger, and must be followed by "Bend Me, Shape Me" or who knows what obscure and dire consequences might ensue. So may god bless and keep us all.
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"[Donne] affects the metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous verses, where nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts, and entertain them with the softnesses of love." -- John Dryden, who was fortunate enough to live in a less sexually uptight century than Samuel Johnson was. The poor, poor soul.
