The Last Post

 

Unfortunately, the blogging police didn’t take too kindly to my enthusiasm for playing you songs I liked, so they decided to delete my blog where it originally resided (over at Blogger).

I moved the blog over here to WordPress, and here is where it now sits, but it’s in archive form only. Due to the threat of litigation, I’m under strict instructions from people close to me (people I may be related to) not to start up another popular music blog. So I’m respecting their trepidatious wishes and not continuing with what was a heap o’ fun for me.

Although the MP3s of all the songs on the blog have been removed, at least everything I typed is still there. So, if you’re ever thoroughly bored, feel free to browse these old, old posts.

Enjoy!

Song of the day: Colleen Hewett – "Day By Day"

I haven’t finished with music of the ’70s just yet. (A couple more and I’ll try to move on to another decade.)

Colleen Hewett – “Day By Day“ (1972)

Here’s the original:

PS: My Internet access has been playing up recently (the phone line is very iffy at the moment), so this blog may or may not be posting things over the next few days, depending on how quickly I can get the problem sorted out.

Song of the day: Gary Shearston – "I Get A Kick Out Of You"

As with yesterday’s song from the ’70s, today’s is another retro-retro effort – but the original of this one goes waaay back.

Gary Shearston – “I Get A Kick Out Of You“ (1974)

or

And here’s the original:

Ethel Merman – “I Get A Kick Out Of You“ (1934)

Song of the day: Cheetah – "Walking In The Rain"

The 1970s music phase I’m in at the moment continues unabated, but today’s song won’t just be retro, it’ll be retro-retro.

Here’s a song from the ’70s that is a cover of a song from the decade before that:

Cheetah – “Walking In The Rain“ (1978)

And here’s the original:

The Ronettes – “Walking In The Rain“ (1964)

Song of the day: Mr. George – "My Temperature’s High"

A couple of days ago I had a little* chat with a chap called Darren on Twitter (Hi, Darren!) about an Australian band from the 1970s called Mr. George.

T.F.D. (Twitter Friend Darren) told me about a Mr. George mini-documentary he produced. It lasts approximately five minutes and eight seconds, and it’s the shortest music documentary I know of. Although it managed to tell me a few things in its five minutes (and eight seconds), it didn’t tell me why the band decided to call themselves “Mr. George”. But it did tell me other things.

Now, because this post is meant to be a Song of the day, I’ll play you a Mr. George track and then sneak in the documentary after it:

Mr. George – “My Temperature’s High” (1974)

But back to the song:

“My Temperature’s High” was written by the splendid Ted Mulry, who recorded it himself the same year. I posted the original Ted version ages ago, but if you’re someone in a hurry and don’t have enough time to click on this link, I’ll put it here:

Ted Mulry Gang – “My Temperature’s High” (1974)

(*Due to the 140-character limit imposed by Twitter, little chats are pretty much the only kind you can have there.)

Educating Peter # 58

Michael has thrown two songs my way this week. They’re both from the movie St. Elmo’s Fire, and Michael told me to choose one.

Well, I’m going to be difficult and comment on both of ’em.

Full Disclosure: I’ve never seen St. Elmo’s Fire, so all I have to go by with these two songs is the sounds they make. I don’t have any inkling of how they relate to whatever’s in the movie. As a result, I have absolutely no emotional attachment to either song.

Full Disclosure, Part 2: I never saw any of those American teen-angst movies in the 1980s (e.g., The Outsiders, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty In Pink etc.). I was the right age (i.e., a teenager), but not the right temperament (i.e., I wasn’t interested). I did see Valley Girl. But that’s all.

I am, however, hideously familiar with a fair amount of the songs from those movies, due to them being played over and over again on the radio and television back then.

John Parr – “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)“ (1985)

0:00-0:18 – You can tell immediately that this was recorded in the mid-’80s, at the height of the period for the Top 40 where the sound of real musical instruments appeared to be anathema to the commercial music industry. This is one of the reasons I loathe the music of the ’80s. In this introduction, the only thing that sounds remotely real to me is the hi-hat in the right channel, but even that sounds more processed than a hi-hat needs to be.

0:18-0:34 – Ugh. John Parr has started singing, and he’s competing with so much electronica (i.e., synthesized sounds) in the mix that he has to remove all subtlety from his performance. He’s belting it out. (Admittedly, he’s not bellowing in the way Tom Jones does, but there’s a distinct lack of finesse in Mr. Parr’s vocals.)

That’s something I can say about popular music in the mid-’80s: it wasn’t big on subtlety.

By the way, David Foster wrote both the songs on offer today. When John Parr started singing, it instantly brought me back to something I saw when I was finding links to the artists and songs. In the Wikipedia entry for David Foster, it quoted Rolling Stone magazine from 1985 describing Foster’s music as “bombastic pop kitsch“. I think that describes perfectly what I’m hearing.

0:34-0:43 – I like the vocal melody.

0:43-0:45 – That’s a horrible thing to do to an electric guitar.

0:46-0:49 – I thought it was funny when Jack sang the deep-and-meaningful line “You know you can’t quit until it’s won” very earnestly and it was immediately followed by the ‘brap’ of a synthesized trumpet.

0:55-0:58 – And when Jack intones in all seriousness, “Only you can do what must be done”, it’s followed by the horrible thing the producer does to the guitar.

This is one way-over-produced song.

And those lyrics…

The more I’m listening to the lyrics, the more I’m thinking that, instead of being placed in a teen-angst movie, this song would be better suited for a fist-pumping feel-good film – something like Rocky.

I must admit that I really don’t want to hear the rest of this song. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve heard enough. I know I haven’t gotten as far as the chorus, but I know how that goes (thanks to its inescapability on the radio in the 1980s).

However, I must put my personal complaints aside and persevere.

1:00-1:04 – At least it has that tune I like.

1:07-1:09 – John is shouting a bit louder now (“And you’re trying to break free!”), and I know what that means. There’s a dramatic pause, and…

1:10-1:27 – The chorus.

It’s catchy, I’ll give it that. But John is shouting so much now that I’m surprised he doesn’t have a sore throat.

Trivia: The two notes of the synthesized trumpet at 1:21-1:22 sounds to me like it’s blowing a raspberry.

1:28-1:30 – The sound that John makes here at the end of the chorus is… um… ah… I don’t quite know how to put this delicately, so I’m just going to have to come right out and say it. John sounds like he’s sitting on the toilet, and he’s constipated, and having a hard time.

Unfortunately, I’m now picturing John Parr sitting on the toilet in a state of distress. (With the record producer on the other side of the door, saying “That sounds great, John!”)

Note to John Parr: If you ever get to read this, John, I’d like to sincerely apologise for the previous two paragraphs. They were uncalled for.

1:31-1:30 – Back to the verse.

Why on Earth was that dive-bombing sound (1:33-1:35) put in the song? What purpose did it serve?

And what made that tinkly series of notes from 1:35-1:36? Was that some sort of keyboard?

I’m alarmed that the producer managed to find a way to put even more sounds in this song. For this verse he’s added a ghastly – or more accurately, ghostly – guitar that has had virtually all its frequencies removed except for the very top ones. That is an incredibly trebly guitar. (You can hear it at 1:37-1:38, 1:40-1:42 etc.)

From 1:41-1:44 is a background singer who sounds like Michael McDonald. I don’t think it is Michael McDonald, just someone who’s trying to sound like him.

1:53-2:01 – It’s the tune I like.

2:01-2:27 – And the chorus I don’t need to hear again. I’ve heard it more than enough thank you.

2:27-3:06 – Ah, that was a slight surprise. This is the middle eight (which wasn’t a surprise at all), but what was unexpected was the chorus preceding it. At 2:19 the chorus went into double-chorus mode, but when the chorus repeated itself it last only half a chorus. In other words, it was a chorus-and-a-half. Odd. Anyway, now we’re in the middle eight.

In this (rather long) middle eight are the lyrics, “Just once in his life / A man has his time” (2:49-2:55). Oh dear, this is one earnest song.

Yep. Bombastic Pop Kitsch.

3:06-4:12 – This is the chorus repeated, and then the song fades out. As the song fades, John offers the appropriate vocal exclamations, all delivered at maximum volume (e.g., “BURNIN’!”, “BURNIN’ IN ME!” etc.)

I do hope Mr. Parr’s constipation clears up.

***

David Foster – “Love Theme From St. Elmo’s Fire“ (1985)

0:00-0:15 – What’s going on here? This is supposed to be a love theme, and instead of strings – a real, actual string section – it’s all played on a synthesizer. What gives? Oh, that’s right. It’s the mid-’80s. I forgot.

0:15-0:31 – A piano plays the theme, and my first thought? Richard Clayderman. (Specifically this.)

0:31-0:33 – Oh no, it’s that “ice crystal” synthesizer sound.

This music is now reminding me of a track by ABBA called “Crazy World“.

0:46-1:00 – Yuk. Mid-’80s drums.

1:00-1:01 – And double yuk for that horrid synthesizer tom-tom fill. What’s wrong with using real tom-toms? Oh yeah. The mid-’80s.

1:17-1:28 – This is the next part of the song, and I can’t think of anything – positive or negative – to say about it.

This is not my kind of easy listening. Herb Alpert, Bert Kaempfert, James Last et al – Yes. David Foster – No.

1:28-1:43 – Another part of the song. I don’t know if this a repeat of something played earlier in the track, because my mind has turned to mush.

1:43-2:13 – A saxophone solo. Of course.

2:13-3:31 – The rest of the track. Mush.

I’m glad the whole thing was only three-and-a-half minutes long.

Song of the day: Digby Richards – "New York City (Send My Baby Home)"

Ah, the ’70s…

Digby Richards – “New York City (Send My Baby Home)“ (1973)

Song of the day: Ol’ 55 – "On The Prowl"

You may have noticed that all the Songs of the day for the last eight days have been from the 1970s. This is because I’m currently in a ’70s music phase – and it’s not about to change any time soon.

So here comes another one:

Ol’ 55 – “On The Prowl” (1976)

Ol 55 – “On The Prowl” by Channel_Retro

I’m having a blast listening to these ’70s songs (even though today’s is more of a ’50s pastiche).

Song of the day: Brian Cadd – "Let Go"

Country!

Brian Cadd – “Let Go” (1974):

Song of the day: William Shakespeare – "Can’t Stop Myself From Loving You"

Glam!

William Shakespeare – Can’t Stop Myself From Loving You“ (1974)