The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe

Many, many years ago, when I was first learning to drive, I raided my parents' cassette tape collection so I would have music to play on the car tape deck. This was due to me haven gotten into vinyl in the preceding years and swapping my cassette albums for their vinyl counterparts. Many of these were compilations of UK classic rock acts e.g. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, 10cc, and included '20 Golden Greats' by The Hollies.

This compilation, released in 1978, heavily lent on my preferred Graham Nash line-up from the 60s but the first track, however, was 'The Air That I Breathe', a 1974 No.2 hit from the Terry Sylvester line-up and their last significant single. At the time, I found this to be fairly saccharine and mostly ignored or skipped it (my deck had a seek feature which came in handy for this) for one of the more poppy numbers such as 'Just One Look' or 'Jennifer Eccles'.

Over the years, my opinions have changed and I'm now rather fond of this song. Alan Parsons (he of 'The Project' and the engineer on both this and Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon') once claimed that Eric Clapton believed that the first note of 'The Air That I Breathe' had more soul than anything he had ever heard! I'm not sure that I would go that far but it does have a rather lovely arrangement and production.

Bonus Clips: 'The Air That I Breathe' was first written and recorded by the British/Gibraltarian singer-songwriter Albert Hammond (him of 'It Never Rains in Southern California' and father of The Strokes' guitarist) for his 1972 album...

... and was then covered by Phil Everly the following year in an arrangement that was heard by The Hollies' producer Ron Richards who suggested to the band that it would be a huge hit if they recorded it...

... unfortunately the publishers of 'The Air That I Breathe' sued Radiohead for copyright infringement due to similar sounding elements being used in the song 'Creep'. Have a listen to this mash-up for a comparison.

Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol

You can file this tongue-twister next to other 'big beat' tunes on this blog such as Crazy Horses, I'm So Crazy and Neanderthal Man but I believe that I first heard this in a scene in the TV series 'Fargo'.

Adriano Celentano was an already-established pop star and film director in his native Italy when he wrote 'Prisencolinensinainciusol' in 1972. The song, if you hadn't realised already, is written in total gibberish but made to sound as if it was an American rock song to Italian ears. Celentano stated "Ever since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did. So at a certain point, because I like American slang—which, for a singer, is much easier to sing than Italian—I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate. And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn't mean anything."

Here's an appropriately 70s Italian TV performance from the great man himself:

Bonus Clips: there are some other great contemporary TV performances of 'Prisencolinensinainciusol' that can be found online:

Prisencolinensinainciusol RAI from Bronx Zoo on Vimeo.

... another school-themed performance:...

... the official video with Adriano on acoustic guitar(!)...

and a skit where Celentano attempts to teach the chorus to, um, Will Smith of all people...

2022 Update: OMG I've just found out that Mike Reid (British actor/comedian, probably best known as Frank Butcher in Eastenders and Doug The Head in Snatch) covered this back in 1974 as 'Freezin' Cold in 89 Twoso'! What it lacks in the gibberish lyrics and rhythm is more than made up by the cockney Reid's 'triffic' performance. BTW I discovered this from a Twitter thread started by none other than Tim Burgess (him from The Charlatans). Cheers Tim! 

The Weird Middle Eastern Fascination With Heaven On Their Minds (Or JCS Part 2)

Remember way back when when I posted a blog entry on Jesus Christ Superstar? Many years ago, when I was first searching for JCS related material, I came across a number of videos of Middle Eastern pop songs from the 70s, all of which appeared to be based on the main riff from 'Heaven On Their Minds'!

Here is 'Heaven On Their Minds' as performed by Murray Head from the original JCS concept album (the Carl Anderson version taken from the film can be found on the JCS blog linked above):

And now here is 'Soyle Beni' by Grazia. Grazia Peretz was an Israeli from a family with a Turkish background who began performing at Turkish weddings and Mediterranean nightclubs. Her father paid for an album session with the Jaffa record label, Koliphone, for her 16th birthday and the album was released in 1978. 'Soyle Beni' is a traditional song with added Moog and the funky bassline riff.

Next up: 'Talagh' by Googoosh, an Iranian pop singer from the 70s. Here the riff is slightly slowed down and they also seem to have lifted part of the verses too:

Finally, back to Turkey with 'Yali Yali' by Neşe Karaböcek, a singer and actress with a career stretching from the late 1960s to the 2010s.

Why was this riff incorporated into several Turkish/Persian songs from the 70s? Answers on the back of a postcard to the usual address!

Bonus Tracks: a great live version of 'Yali Yali' by the contemporary Dutch Anatolian band, Altin Gün.

... and Tim Minchin singing 'Heaven On Their Minds' from the recent arena tour.

Labi Siffre - Too Late

Truth be told, the only two Labi Siffre songs I knew until fairly recently were the original of 'It Must Be Love' (a hit for Madness over a decade later) and the heartfelt, albeit a bit too saccharine for me 'Something Inside So Strong'. However, listening to Mark Ronson's 'Here Comes The Fuzz' album (his debut before 'Versions' and 'Back To Black' made him a far more household name) a while back, I was struck by the River Cuomo sung 'I Suck' which appeared to be heavily based on a sample I needed to find out more about. A couple of Google clicks later led me to 'Too Late', the first track of Siffre's debut album from 1970 and an excellent slice of R&B-inflected acoustic pop.

Bonus clips: Here's Ronson's 'I Suck' - with a cute 'made for a college course' video...

... and Siffre's original version of 'It Must Be Love'.

Terry Jacks - Seasons In The Sun

Yet another musical connection from a previous post - this time from Terry Jacks ex-The Poppy Family. Until Westlife massacred it a few years ago, I had always secretly loved 'Seasons In The Sun' ever since I was small and even before I knew about the Jacques Brel connection (see below).

Bonus Clips: 'Seasons In The Sun' has an interesting development story. It started out as 'Le Moribond' by the great Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel, the original French version containing sarcastic lyrics about a dying man's farewell to his friend, his priest, his unfaithful wife and her lover.

... Rod McKuen then provided English lyrics which toned down the sarcasm but still referenced the wife's affair in the final verse. The first English version was recorded by The Kingston Trio...

... after The Poppy Family broke up, Terry & Susan Jacks traveled to California to work on a version of the song with The Beach Boys. That version was never completed and so Terry Jacks re-recorded it for himself and had a worldwide hit.

Andrew Gold - Never Let Her Slip Away

I was quite upset to hear Andrew Gold had died last week. Although mostly known for writing the theme song to 2 US sitcoms ('Thank You For Being A Friend' from The Golden Girls and 'The Final Frontier' from Mad About You), he was also an accomplished singer-songwriter having worked with Linda Ronstadt and Art Garfunkel, as well as being half of Wax alongside Graham Gouldman ex-10cc. However, he also released a number of solo albums which spawned a couple of minor hits such as this classic from 1977.

It's amazing what you only find out about people from their obituaries; I never knew that Andrew Gold was the son of Marnie Nixon (who dubbed Natalie Wood in 'West Side Story' and Audrey Hepburn in 'My Fair Lady' amongst others) until I read about it in a tribute piece. R.I.P. Andrew.

Bonus Clips: Here's another great Andrew Gold track, 'Lonely Boy'...

and Wax's 'Building A Bridge to Your Heart'.

Bing Crosby & David Bowie - Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth

Due to work and family life, this blog has become sadly neglected over the past year. I'm going to make a New Year's wish to post more regularly but, in the meantime, here is a seasonal Guilty Pleasure I left off my list last year.

This version of the classic Xmas carol, originally written in the '40s as 'Carol of the Drum', comes from a 1977 Bing Crosby TV special. The pairing of David Bowie and Bing Crosby is most odd; Crosby looks like he hasn't the faintest clue who Bowie is and Bowie seems to be too high to care! Still, I've always liked this carol, ever since I had to perform it for a Xmas show at junior school one year, and the specially written counterpoint 'Peace On Earth' fits beautifully - apparently this was added as Bowie told the show's producers that he hated 'Little Drummer Boy' and asked if there was anything else he could sing!

Merry Xmas/Chanukah/Kwanza/Festivus to one & all and have a very Happy New Year.

Bonus clips: Here's a recent remake by Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly.

My kids have been singing this non-stop all through Chanukah and beyond...

Badfinger - Without You

You may remember here where I claimed that everything Harry Nilsson recorded was utter genius EXCEPT for his version of 'Without You'. There are a number of reasons for this belief:

• Richard Perry's production is so over the top it has everything including the kitchen sink!
• Mariah Carey
• Pop/American Idol & other 'talent' shows massacring this etc.

However, the major reason is that nearly everone thinks that this was a Nisson original, denying Badfinger, a band who had more than their fair share of misfortune, any platitudes whatsoever.

Badfinger, originally called The Iveys and from Swansea, were the first non-Beatles group signed to Apple Records and had a number of hits including 'Come & Get It' & 'No Matter What'. 'Without You' was a track on their 1970 album 'No Dice'. Apparently, Harry Nilsson heard it on the radio one day and thought it was a Beatles song. When he realised it was not, he decided to record it anyway for his album Nilsson Schmilsson. Badfinger could not recapture their earlier success and, unfortunately, management and record company struggles resulted in the suicides of both Pete Ham and Tom Evans.

Bonus Clips: The aforementioned 'No Matter What', a power pop classic.

 

  and 'Come & Get It', written & produced by Paul McCartney.

The GP Xmas Edition

Regular readers of this blog (all four of you - hi out there!) know that I have a slight Christmas song fetish; see the previous GP entries for 'East 17', 'Freiheit' & 'Kirsty MacColl'. Pop songs, carols, whatever - I love them at any time of the year, so I thought I would post a selection of my favourite videos for the holiday season.

Jona Lewie 'Stop The Cavalry' (1980) - one of those Xmas songs that, with the exception of a single lyric and a smattering of sleigh bells, has little if anything to do with Xmas and indeed was a summertime hit in France!

The Waitresses 'Christmas Wrapping' (1981) - The Waitresses are better known for 'I Know What Boys Like' but this track is a staple of Xmas Compilations and has been covered by such luminaries as, um, The Spice Girls and Miranda Cosgrove.

Mike Oldfield 'In Dulci Jubilo' (1975) - is there anyone who went to primary/elementary school and did not have to play this on the recorder? Come to think of it, is there anyone who actually played the recorder after they left primary/elementary school?!

Greg Lake 'I Believe In Father Christmas' (1975) - sometimes mistaken to be an anti-Xmas song, this is actually anti-commercialisation of Xmas. Greg wrote (with thanks to Prokofiev) and recorded this separate from Emerson, Lake & Palmer although the group did release a version a couple of years later.

John & Yoko 'Merry Xmas (War Is Over)' - yes, it's another not-very-Xmassy Xmas song and a little cheesy but, hey, we can hopefully all agree with the sentiments...

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to one & all. See you in 2010!

David Dundas - Jeans On

Another GP that popped into my head the other day as an earworm, this track from 1976 is quite interesting for the following reasons:

• David Dundas is actually Lord David Dundas, the 4th Marquess of Zetland (wherever that may be)! His father, the 3rd Marquess of Zetland (also known as the Earl of Ronaldshay) was a British tennis player in the 1940s and played Wimbledon.
• 'Jeans On', Dundas' only big hit, started out as a commercial for Brutus Jeans (see also: 'I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing' by The New Seekers and 'Inside' by Stiltskin
• 'Jeans On' was sampled by Fatboy Slim for the track 'Sho Nuff'
• Dundas went on to score the cult movie 'Withnail & I'

Fox - S-S-S-Single Bed

You know what? Nearly everything about this track is wrong, from the Lili Von Shtüpp inspired lead-vocal by Noosha Fox (check here if you've never seen Madeline Kahn's Lili in Blazing Saddles) to the use of a Peter Frampton-esque talk box. However, the whole turns out to somehow be greater than the sum of it's parts! Fox were put together by the American Kenny Young, who had previously been responsible for co-writing 'Under The Boardwalk' and 'The Captain Of Your Ship', and Australian vocalist Susan Traynor who rechristened herself Noosha Fox on joining the band. 'S-S-S-Single Bed' was the last of their minor chart hits before Noosha went solo and the band split. By the way, no - that is not Lol Creme on rhythm guitar although it really, really looks like him (I believe that it is actually Herbie Armstrong).

Bonus Clip: As mentioned above, Kenny Young also wrote Reparata & The Delrons' 'The Captain Of Your Ship'. It's one of my favourite girl group songs so that's an excuse to post it here!

The Jags - Back Of My Hand

A true power-pop classic though I cannot recall a single thing about The Jags. Wikipedia tells me they were formed in London at the tail-end of the 70s and that this single scaled the heady heights of No. 17 on the charts in 1979. All other releases bombed and the band split by 1982. Shame really...

Jesus Christ Superstar

Yes, another musical but this one I didn't grow up with. I don't know if it was the subject matter or the fact that JCS is far more 'rock opera' than 'musical theatre' but this was the only Rice/Lloyd Webber musical (up to and including Phantom/Chess) that my parents neither took us to nor owned the soundtrack.

For the uninitiated, JCS is the story of the Passion but told from the point of view of Judas and raises some great talking points regarding free will, betrayal and eternal damnation without coming across as particularly sacrilegious. It is also far more grounded in rock and pop than the later bombastic ALW productions. Even as a kid, I was aware of the title song though not really sure what it was about - and of course in true playground style, the lyrics were modified to: 'Jesus Christ Superstar, Came down from heaven in a Yamaha. Did a skid, killed a kid..... Knocked his head on a dustbin lid.'

The score has been recorded many times but my favourite is still the original concept album version featuring Murray Head as Judas and Ian Gillan (yes, him from Deep Purple) as Jesus. Here's the former singing 'Superstar':

I first came to JCS via the film version directed by Norman Jewison in 1973. Jewison had also directed the film version of Fiddler On The Roof and it was that film's Mendel (Barry Dennen) who suggested that JCS be the director's next film (Dennen having already played Pilate on both the concept album and Broadway). The movie was filmed in Israel (mostly at Avdat) using as little set dressing as possible. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. It is absolutely gorgeous to look at with some great performances featuring many of the original concept album and Broadway cast. You can watch the whole thing online via the usual streaming services. Carl Anderson was cast as Judas in the film, having understudied Ben Vereen on Broadway and would go on to play the part on and off for the next 30 years (often opposite the movie's Jesus, Ted Neeley). Here is Carl with possibly my favourite song in musical theatre 'Heaven On Their Minds', which in 5 minutes tells you everything you need to know about the character and storyline:

Yvonne Elliman was Mary on the concept album and Broadway and also reprised the role for the movie. 'I Don't Know How to Love Him' was the other huge hit from JCS:

'King Herod's Song' is probably the one comedy moment in the entire score and was performed in the movie by Josh Mostel, the son of Zero Mostel. Zero. who had been Teyve in the original Broadway production of Fiddler, had been bitterly disappointed to lose the role in the movie version to Chaim Topol (the London West End Teyve). When he heard that Jewison wanted to cast Josh as Herod, he reportedly exclaimed "Tell him to get Topol's son!"

Rik Mayall gave a far more sinister portrayal of Herod, channeling the MC in Cabaret, in the 2000 filmed production of JCS. This movie was interesting due to the updating of the setting to contemporary times and portraying the Jesus figure as more politico/social reformer than Messiah. A different take but also recommended - you can stream the whole film at the usual streaming sites.

Bonus Clips: Here are just a few of the very many performances of JCS material out there on the Web. First up, a live performance of 'Gethsemane' by the 1996 London production's Steve Balsamo:

and finally a lovely unplugged performance of 'Everything's Alright' from a Volendam, Holland cast.

Note: the entire Volendam recording from 2005 is available here: 

Dance: Ten; Looks: Three (A Chorus Line)

As I've previously mentioned, I have a thing for musicals that, like most of my early musical education, comes from my dad. He would regularly watch film musicals on TV and take us to many West End shows. 'A Chorus Line', however, was not one of them - both my parents loved it but I guess that the subject matter was not appropriate for their kids. This did not preclude them from playing the soundtrack in the car and the reason that this song in particular is a Guilty Pleasure stems from one particular incident.

It was my friend Simon's bar-mitzvah and my dad had been asked to give 2 girls from school a ride to and from the function. Although I knew these girls, they were not part of my social circle. Anyway, en route my dad decides that we need some music, grabs the 'A Chorus Line' soundtrack and first song on side 2 starts: Dance: Ten; Looks: Three. Now for the uninitiated, this song is about a female dancer who is not getting any job offers and thus has some, um, surgical enhancements and it has a chorus that mostly utilizes the phrase 'Tits & Ass'. Well, this hormonal adolescent just about died and wished the car seat would swallow him up whole! We never spoke about this again...

Bonus Fact: When 'A Chorus Line' debuted, this song was not getting the audience reaction the creators had anticipated. They realised that it had been printed in the playbill under it's original title 'Tits & Ass' and therefore the audience has been expecting the setup! (Another example of this is in the mostly obscure Heather Brothers musical 'A Slice Of Saturday Night' where the song 'P.E.' has nothing to do with Physical Education...)

While Pamela Blair's original performance on the cast recording is stellar, here she is from the original Off-Broadway run at The Public Theater in 1975. The song actually starts at 2:45; the video quality is awful but the audio is amazing for being almost 50 years old (Note: NSFW lyrics obviously).

Bonus Clip: Here's Audrey Landers performing the same song in the fairly awful 1885 movie version of "A Chorus Line'

Racey - Some Girls

Cripes! This must have been the cheapest video in history to produce - it looks like they spent more on the balloons than the video itself. Racey were a British group formed at the tail-end of the 70s whose songs were written and produced by the songwriting team of Chinn/Chapman (well-known for other glam rock and pop hits of the era by Sweet, Mud, Suzi Quatro etc.). Apparently, this song was originally written for Blondie. Racey only had a handful of hits, of which this was the biggest, before disappearing. However, another of their album tracks was a huge hit for another artist after a lyric re-write...

Bonus Clips: 'Kitty' was a track on Racey's 1979 'Smash & Grab' album.

Toni Basil's version was retitled from a female perspective (allegedly about her crush on Micky Dolenz from The Monkees on the set of the movie 'Head' - one of my faves) and added the ubiquitous cheerleader chant and thus 'Mickey' was born.

...and I may as well include this, Toni's first single 'Breakaway' (not the same song as that covered by Tracey Ullman - this one was written by Ed Cobb who also wrote 'Tainted Love') released in 1966 and had an experimental video directed by Bruce Conner, with Toni credited under her birth name of Antonia Christina Basilotta (Warning: NSFW due to some nudity. The music video starts at 3:48).

Sailor - Glass Of Champagne

It may be the nostalgia but does it seem to anyone else that the 1970s were just more fun pop culture-wise? I mean, could you see a band forming a concept around sailors on shore leave, as this lot did? No, today you get Fall Out Boy instead...

Granted this sounds an awful lot like an attempt to recreate Roxy Music's 'Virginia Plain' even down to the lead singer's vocal inflections, but this is one top tune nonetheless.
Other poptastic facts about Sailor:

• They were fronted by one Georg Kajanus, born Prince Georg Johan Tchegodaieff from Trondheim, Norway
• Kajanus invented the Nickelodeon, a musical instrument made of pianos, synthesisers and glockenspiels (I believe it is the monstrous dual keyboard you can see in the video)

Bonus Clip: Sailor's only other Top 10 entry in the UK charts was the follow-up single 'Girls, Girls, Girls'

The 70s UK 50s Revival

Posting The Rubettes the other day reminded me that for no discernible reason a number of UK bands in the mid 70s to early 80s seemed to be living about 20 years earlier and 4000 miles due west. However, I'm rather fond of these for nostalgic reasons as i) they mostly gave good show and ii) my dad absolutely love them and would sing along enthusiastically whenever they were on the telly. So, let's take a look at a few of them:

Showaddywaddy are probably the most widely known example. Originally from Leicester, they appeared to base themselves on Sha-Na-Na and had a penchant for wearing colour co-ordinated Teddy Boy jackets. They were extremely popular having 23 chart hits (most of them cover versions) and a No. 1 with 'Under The Moon Of Love'. Here's their version of Dion & The Belmonts' 'I Wonder Why'.

Darts were another revival band, this time from London and had great pseudonyms such as Griff Fender, Horatio Hornblower, Thump Thompson and Hammy Howell. I had all their albums at one point or another, even if Den Hegarty (the bass vocalist with the mad googly eyes) did scare the bejezus out of me as a kid - he went on the work on the great UK kids show Tiswas.

Darts had split from a previous band called Rocky Sharpe & The Razors - in fact you can see their version of 'Come Back My Love' here. The remaining members regrouped as Rocky Sharpe & The Replays and had their biggest hit with 'Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out!)'. However, here's their debut 'Rama Lama Ding Dong'.

Finally, here is Coast To Coast and their version of '(Do) The Hucklebuck'. I recall almost nothing about this lot except that their follow-up was 'Jump The Broomstick' and it looks like their lead singer has come straight from the set of Eraserhead!

The Rubettes - Sugar Baby Love

Bop-Shoo-Waddy Bop-Shoo-Waddy-Waddy.

They don't make 'em like this anymore - take a look at the band choreography on this! Yet another studio concoction recorded by session musicians, the fantastic lead vocal on this was by a guy who went by the name of Paul Da Vinci (GP crossover alert: Paul was also responsible for most of the vocals on Tight Fit's 'Back to the Sixties Part 2'). He, however, decided not to become part of the band that was put together after the song charted and so it's mimed here by his replacement Alan Williams. This is allegedly the most popular recording by a British group in France... 

Bop-Shoo-Waddy Bop-Shoo-Waddy-Waddy

Bonus Clips: The exceedingly similar sounding follow-up to 'Sugar Baby Love' was 'Tonight' which reached No. 12 in 1974. This one does have Alan Williams on lead vocals...

... Paul Da Vinci also had a few solo singles. Here's one from 1974 (with an allegedly live lead vocal)...

...  and finally, 'Back to the Sixties Part 2' from Tight Fit

Tony Christie - Avenues & Alleyways

Tony Christie is a singer with a huge voice, kinda like a Yorkshire version of Tom Jones. He had a number of hits in the early 70s, was the original Magaldi on the Evita concept album and also tried out for the UK's entry into the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976, the same year as Brotherhood Of Man (who went on to win).

After that his popularity in the UK waned though he continued to be big on the continent. However, interest in his career has taken off in recent years. First, he was used as lead vocalist on The All Seeing I's 'Walk Like A Panther' in 1999, then 'Avenues & Alleyways' was used as the theme to a so-so British gangster flick 'Love, Honour & Obey' (which featured a version of the song sang by such luminaries as Ray Winstone, Jude Law, Johnny Lee Miller and Denise Van Outen - see a clip here). Next, Peter Kay chose 'Is This The Way to Amarillo?' for 2005's Comic Relief Song. 'Avenues & Alleyways' is a great song and was originally the theme to a not-that-well-known 1971 Gerry Anderson (him of Thunderbirds, Terrahawks et al.) detective series, though I first heard it in the aforementioned film and it has been a Guilty Pleasure of mine ever since. Plus I love this clip - the audience looks like they've wandered into the wrong studio! Also, anyone who has ever seen my dad sing may see a lot of similarities here...

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Bonus clip: For no other reason that I think it is just a brilliant song (nothing guilty here), here's the Peter Kay video to 'Amarillo'. Pop Quiz: Can anybody outside the UK name one of the 'celebrities' in this clip? All together now - "Sha La La, La La, La La La"...

Bobby Bloom - Montego Bay

If you're under 40, you're probably more familiar with the Amazulu version which was a huge hit in 1986, but this 1970 original version is just great! Plus, check this great clip (which I'm sure was not filmed in Montego Bay) - don't you just love the way the backing singers pop out from behind the bushes?! This was the only hit Bobby Bloom had, although he also co-wrote 'Mony Mony' and was tragically shot in 1974 at the age of 28.

Bonus Clip: Amazulu's cover version.