Various Artists - This Is Rockabilly Clash

Stumbled across this one a couple of years ago, in my ongoing search for anything and everything related to The Clash.  It's a compendium of Clash tunes reworked by several bands in the rockabilly/psychobilly style.  Here's the lineup of songs and artists:

1. Guns of Brixton - The Honeydippers
2. Career Opportunities - Farrell Bros.
3. Capitol Radio - The Hyperjax
4. Jail Guitar Doors - The Caravans
5. Train In Vain - The Sabrejets
6. Should I Stay Or Should I Go? - Long Tall Texans
7. I'm So Bored With The U.S.A. - XX Cortez
8. Jimmy Jazz - Frantic Flintstones
9. What's My Name? - The Charles Napiers
10. Bank Robber - The Pistoleers
11. Brand New Cadillac - The Accelerators
12. Janie Jones - Farrell Bros.
13. Know Your Rights - The Caravans
14. Guns Of Brixton - Rancho Deluxe

Some tunes here work better than others... but all in all, this is a great group of songs providing an interesting, different take on some familiar music from Strummer, Jones & Co., in a style with which the original band was not unfamiliar with.

No long-winded story from me regarding this one...  Posting this for no reason whatsoever, other than I like it, and thought that some of you might like it as well.  Here's the compilation This Is Rockabilly Clash, released on Raucous Records in the UK on July 11th, 2003.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think about it as well.

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Various Artists - Until The End Of The World (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

I was saddened to learn of the death in Pittsfield, Massachusetts last week of singer and actress Julee Cruise. About four years ago, she announced that she was suffering from systemic lupus, a painful autoimmune condition that left her depressed and unable to move and walk. Reports state that she took her own life at her home, with The B-52's song "Roam" playing as she died (Cruise was a touring member of The B-52's in the early 1990s, replacing Cindy Wilson who took a few years off to raise her children; I remember seeing her on stage at a band show I attended in Washington, DC during that period).

In a post I wrote almost a dozen years ago, I detailed how I first came across Cruise's music and my impressions regarding it - the melancholy, haunting quality that both repels and attracts the listener. After the release of her debut album Floating Into The Night in 1989, Cruise issued a follow-up, The Voice Of Love, four years later. As with the first album, almost all of the songs on her sophomore release were written by director David Lynch and composer Angelo Badalamenti, so the sound and atmosphere are remarkably similar to Floating Into The Night. The Voice Of Love is more of a continuation of her debut, rather than a stand-alone entity. If you liked the first, than this one will be right up your alley as well.

Between these two albums, Cruise recorded a Lynch/Badalamenti-modified cover of an old Elvis Presley song, "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears", for the soundtrack to Wim Wenders' scifi drama Until The End Of The World, starring William Hurt. The plot of the film had something to do with in a finding and using a device that can record visual experiences and visualize dreams... but the end result was so confusing and convoluted that the few people who DID go to see the movie were left flummoxed by it. Cashing in on his success with small, cerebral films like Paris, Texas and Wings Of Desire, Wenders managed to secure a budget of $22 million for this latest film, an amount more than the cost of all of his previous films combined. And he proceeded to spend every penny of that money, spreading his production over almost half a year with setups in 11 countries.

While Graeme Revell (co-founder of the Australian industrial band SPK) was commissioned to compose the movie theme and other incidental music for the film, Wenders asked a number of his favorite recording artists (including Cruise) to contribute songs as well for inclusion. For their selections, he asked them to anticipate the kind of music they would be making a decade later, when the film was set. It was Wenders' desire to use every song he received to its fullest extent that ultimately contributed to the overall length of the film. The initial cut was reportedly TWENTY HOURS long, from which the director and producer whittled down to a more standard running time versions of 2 1/2 and 3 hours (which Wenders called the "Reader's Digest" versions). There is also reportedly a five-hour "director's" cut of this film which has been screened at various festivals over the years.

...Not that any of that mattered. The truncated versions of Until The End Of The World were released to theaters, first in Germany in September 1991, and later in the U.S. that December, and overall the flick was a commercial failure, managing to gross only about $830,000 against its $22 million budget.  Critics at the time savaged it; Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars out of 4, describing it as lacking the "narrative urgency" required to sustain interest in the story, and wrote that it "plays like a film that was photographed before it was written, and edited before it was completed". He went on to say that a documentary about the globe-trekking production would likely have been more interesting than the film itself.  Other reviewers were even less kind.

But while the film flopped, the soundtrack was, frankly, amazing, featuring great songs by some of the top alternative performers of the day.  Wenders chose well.  Here's the soundtrack lineup:

1. "Opening Title" – Graeme Revell
2. "Sax and Violins" – Talking Heads
3. "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" – Julee Cruise
4. "Move with Me (Dub)" – Neneh Cherry
5. "The Adversary" – Crime & the City Solution
6. "What's Good" – Lou Reed
7. "Last Night Sleep" – Can
8. "Fretless" – R.E.M.
9. "Days" – Elvis Costello
10. "Claire's Theme" – Graeme Revell
11. "(I'll Love You) Till the End of the World" – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
12. "It Takes Time" – Patti Smith (with Fred Smith)
13. "Death's Door" – Depeche Mode
14. "Love Theme" – Graeme Revell
15. "Calling All Angels" (Remix Version) – Jane Siberry with k.d. lang
16. "Humans from Earth" – T Bone Burnett
17. "Sleeping in the Devil's Bed" – Daniel Lanois
18. "Until the End of the World" – U2
19. "Finale" – Graeme Revell

Personal favorites on this disc, in additon to the Julee Cruise song, include R.E.M.'s "Fretless", Depeche Mode's "Death's Door" and the Jane Siberry/k.d.lang collaboration "Calling All Angels".  At the time, most of these songs were unavailable anywhere else, making the compilation a gold mine of rarities. All in all, the soundtrack did better than the movie, eventually reaching #114 on the U.S. Billboard Top 200 Albums chart in 1992.

So, in honor of the life and art of Julee Cruise, I proudly offer to you all Until The End Of The World (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), released on Warner Brothers Records on December 10th, 1991.  Enjoy, and as always... well, you know.

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Surf Punks - My Beach

Back in the summer of 1980 when my Navy officer dad got transferred to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPGS) in Monterey, California and we moved into La Mesa Village, the local Navy housing complex there, my brother and I quickly fell in with the other teens who lived up in that area - folks like Mike C.; Jeff and his girlfriend Kathy; sisters Jane, Jill and Leslie; loud and brash Latina siblings Rosina and Gina; brothers Pete and John; Joel; Jenny... and so many others.  But foremost in the group were two middle schoolers, Mike F. and Martin.

We would all gather together on those warm evenings, usually up by the tennis courts on the grounds of La Mesa Elementary school, to talk, bust one another's balls, and goof off, away from the watchful eyes of our parents.  We would also occasionally mess with "Security", the men and vehicles sent over by NPGS during the night to patrol and keep an eye on the neighborhood.  Most of the time, our group and Security coexisted in a sort of sullen, "see no evil" detente - they would drive by the courts, while we would either ignore them or silently give them the 'hairy eyeball'.  But on other occasions, we would hide out in some leafy, secluded spot within La Mesa and wait for the truck to go by, so we could bombard the vehicle with pine cones and ice plants and wait for the satisfying sound of those projectiles striking metal before melting deeper into the woods when the officers stopped and attempted to give chase.  No, we weren't delinquents or troublemakers, per se - just bored kids looking to have some fun and gin up a little excitement in a fairly isolated corner of the city (years later, I learned that the Security officers, similarly bored with their duties, actually enjoyed and looked forward to the cat-and-mouse antics and chases from that time as much as we did).

Half of the La Mesa crew (including myself) would be attending Monterey High School in the fall; the other half would be going to Walter Colton Middle School, both schools located downtown.  My junior-high aged brother would get to be closer to and better friends with that latter group than I was... although everyone was pretty familiar with one another through our summertime hangout sessions.  We played football together on some weekends, made treks down the narrow (and in hindsight, extremely sketchy and secluded) forest path from La Mesa to Del Monte Mall to eat pizza and play video games at Round Table Pizza, and occasionally on weekends some of us hopped on the Monterey Peninsula Transit (MPT) bus (the region had a superb public transportation system, that stopped almost right at our front door) to places like Carmel and Cannery Row (both of which had yet to be befouled/spoiled by the tourist traps that now proliferate at those locations).  Suffice to say, we were a pretty tight-knit group.

I mentioned in a previous post long ago how UNimpressed I was with California early in our stay there; I was the proverbial 'fish out of water', East Coast guy living on the West Coast for the first time and initially not quite getting into the swing and flow of things there, especially in high school.  It was the presence of music that brought me around to this area, starting off with my encounter with a B-52's fan early in the school term.  As the year progressed, I was exposed to a ton of great 'new' bands there, that I doubtfully would have ever come across at my old Massachusetts high school, or if I had, would have been ostracized for, for being one of the 'weird' kids. In addition to my B-52's story (linked above), I also came across The Residents for the first time while there. The year I moved to Monterey was the year Australasian bands broke big in the States, led by Split Enz with their hits "I Got You" and "I Hope I Never" (the band played both songs on the ABC network late-night show Fridays that October) and followed by Men At Work ("Who Can It Be Now" was released in the spring of 1981, then their massive hit "Down Under" coming out later that year, finally topping the US charts almost a year later).

At Monterey High in 1980-81, there were two big bands that the kids there were buzzing about.  The first was The Medflys, a local Santa Cruz/Monterey ska/New Wave band   They were one of the most popular draws in the early and mid-”80s at clubs and festivals from Monterey and Santa Cruz to San Francisco, and were regularly named “Best Local Band” by area radio stations and news publications during its heyday.  The band”s sound was a combination of the New Wave rock that was popular at the time, mixed with fast-paced ska music, even a little ”80s pop. They were known for their theatrical, energized live shows, especially the acrobatic and charismatic front man Christ, who possessed surfer boy good looks and boundless energy.  Their early Eighties hits included "Compulsive", "Belfast" and "State Of Mind", and later in the decade, they scored notoriety with a novelty song commemorating Clint Eastwood's successful campaign for Mayor of Carmel, "Don't Mess With The Mayor":

In their time, the Medflys went on tour with some major headlining acts, including Joan Jett, fellow locals Huey Lewis & The News and Greg Kihn, but especially The Tubes, who they formed a lasting bond with.

The other band getting a lot of local attention in those years was one I first heard about from some girls who sat next to me in Mr. Clark's science class during my first weeks in school. I noticed early on that their class folders were covered with stickers for Mr. Zog's Sex Wax, a popular brand of surfwax used to aid traction and grip on surfboards.  Of course, I had no idea at the time what this product was; with the innuendo-laden line "The Best For Your Stick", it seemed to me to be a fairly risque image to display. One day, I finally worked up the nerve to ask them about it, and was rewarded with a crash course on local surf culture - the lifestyle, the equipment, the best spots up and down the Central Coast, and the music, especially that provided by their latest fave band, The Surf Punks, from Malibu.

Friends Drew Steele and Dennis Dragon formed The Surf Punks in 1976. While both of them were dedicated surfers and adopted a bohemian "surf'' attitude, their backgrounds were strictly upper class and grounded in big-time show business: Steele's stepfather was Gavin MacLeod of Mary Tyler Moore Show and Love Boat fame; Dragon was the son of popular symphony conductor Carmen Dragon and the younger brother of Daryl Dragon, the "Captain" in the hugely popular pop duo The Captain & Tennille.

The pair recruited a couple of friends and fellow surfers to join the band, including lead guitarist John Heussenstamm, Tony Creed on second guitar and harmonica, and bassist John Hunt, and began practicing in Dragon's garage studio across the street from Zuma Beach in Malibu, one of Southern California's most popular surf spots. The Surf Punks weren't really "punk", per se - most of their songs were various amalgamations of New Wave, surf rock, comedy rock and pop, with lyrics centered primarily on the in-group/out-group experiences of "locals" (surfers living on the beach in Malibu) and "valleys" (commuters from the San Fernando Valley to the private and public beaches of the exclusive Malibu Beach community).  The band has been described more than once as "The Beach Boys of the punk world", an assessment that wasn't totally inaccurate.

Their wild shows, at places like the legendary Starwood in Hollywood and a notorious show in Ventura, were a big draw in the area in the late 1970s, and generated enough attention in the group for a local producer to finance a single, "My Beach/Go Home" b/w "My Wave", released in Australia in late 1977. The Surf Punks' first self-titled album, an independent release on their own Day-Glo Records label, came out two years later, and cuts from this disc began receiving heavy play on L.A.'s influential alternative rock station KROQ-FM. This wider exposure led to the band booking more lucrative local gigs. And it also caught the interest of industry giant Epic Records, who picked up the group on a one-off contract; their debut album (renamed My Beach) was rereleased on the label in mid-1980.  The record was fairly popular in certain quarters (mainly coastal California, Hawaii, Australia and other semi-heavy surf communities), but wasn't a national breakout hit and did nothing chart-wise.  I used to hear it all over the Monterey Bay area during that time, though, and although I wasn't (and still am not) much of a beach bum, I enjoyed the music immensely.  It was stuff like The Surf Punks that really got me settled into life in California, and I began enjoying the area, the school and my neighborhood more and more.

 

Looking back, probably the nucleus of the La Mesa group, the center it all revolved around, were the two Mikes (Mike C. and Mike F.) along with Martin. The three of them lived only a couple of houses away from one another in the upper part of La Mesa Village, and as such they were the closest of buddies, with the same skewed senses of humor and penchants for mischief and danger. A once-legendary story that emerged from that time was the night in late 1980 the three took Martin's brother's car for a joy ride. His brother Carl really wasn't part of the overall group, although everyone liked him just the same; he was sort of quiet and kept to himself and his interests, which included the restoration of a vintage vehicle from the 1940s that he had acquired. This car was a thing of beauty - a huge retro body painted metallic blue with flecks of glitter in it, sporting chromium wheels and a sooped-up engine.  Carl would drive that thing around town and instantly stop traffic and draw stares wherever he was. Prospective purchasers were drooling for that auto to be put on the market... but Martin was to have first dibs on it, going 50/50 on the purchase with his father. The car wasn't in Martin's possession just yet, though - so I have no idea how he got hold of the keys...

Anyway, with Martin behind the wheel and the two Mikes riding shotgun, these guys decided to go for a spin down Aguajito Road and up the winding mountain road to nearby Jacks Peak Park. On the way back down, legend has it that Martin decided that would be a good time to open the car up and see what it could REALLY do... As they picked up speed, he reportedly crowed "I'M GOING TO BREAK THE LAND SPEED RECORD!!!" - just before he missed a turn and ran the vintage car into a ditch. Fortunately, none of the three were hurt, but the car was a total wreck.  When Martin's dad found out what happened, he rejoined "Well, I was going to go 'halfs' with you on this - but guess what? You just bought the WHOLE car!"

The NPGS authorities finally got tired of residents' complaints of "rowdy teens" and decided to address the issue by opening up a "Teen Center" in the middle of the neighborhood. I was one of those annoying "student leader" types back then, so I was asked to be on the planning and advisory board for the facility, in an unused building up there. In the bylaws I helped set up, it was decided that the kids themselves would run the place, with minimal adult supervision. So we elected officers (I was the first vice-president), stocked the place with vending machines, a pool table, pinball machines and video games, and threw the doors open that winter. The Teen Club was a resounding success from the get-go - every night, 40-50+ kids would pile into the place. We held parties and dances there as well (all the guys angling to dance the longest song (always "Stairway To Heaven") with Stephanie, the prettiest girl in La Mesa).

 

I graduated from high school and left Monterey after one year, but my family stayed on, as well as Martin, Freeman, and most of the old group. During my first few months away, I made an effort to acquire a copy of My Beach, to remind me of the place I had grown to be fond of.  The Teen Club still ran strong in my absence, and apparently continued long after all of us had left the area (Years later, I returned to Monterey as a Navy officer myself. On a whim, I drove up to La Mesa to look around, and was happily surprised to find the Teen Club still in operation. When I told the administrator there who I was and how the place came to be, she reached up on a back shelf and pulled down an ancient photo album, that included photos from that first year of existence!).

 

As it happens in military housing communities, the old, familiar groups tend to gradually dissipate, whittled down by graduations and family transfers. By 1984, everyone who had been part of that close-knit La Mesa circle had moved away.  However, I stayed in touch with many of the folks from that period, and watched as their lives progressed.  Pete ended up remaining in the Monterey area and became a paramedic; Jill became a French teacher; Martin moved down to San Diego and worked as a teacher and high school football coach; Joel also attended Annapolis and became a Navy officer; Mike F. - the wildest of us all - ended up joining the U.S. Border Patrol, and to his credit has advanced within it to high levels of responsibility. I haven't laid eyes on most of them in years, but we all still regard one another as friends - that's how it is when you're a "Navy brat".

 

Several decades have passed since those days... yet I still think back fondly on that time and the people that I knew.  While New Zealand will always be the best place I've ever lived, Monterey ranks a close second, and is the best place in the States I've resided, hands down.

In March of this year, Martin posted a message on his Facebook page, stating that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  While it was concerning, those of us who knew him weren't overly worried, as he had worked through some other serious health issues in the past, and seemed ready to lick this thing as well.

 

Alas, it was not to be - Martin died last week, at the age of 55.

It seems odd and strange that someone who was an integral part of that period is now no longer with us. Because in some ways, those times in Monterey seem like yesterday, and therefore I'm still in my youth. I still listen to my old Surf Punks albums from time to time (after My Beach, they released (to steadily worsening reviews and sales) Locals Only on Day-Glo Records in 1982, and their final label release Oh No! Not Them Again! on Enigma Records in 1988 - and yes, I own them all), and they still conjure up that fine teenage period of life for me. But with Martin's passing, the first of the group that I know of to die, it brings home the fact that those times WERE long ago, that I'm not as young as I'd like to think, and the clock is ticking - ticking for us all.

 

Gonna miss you, Martin, man - you made it to the top of the mountain and back this time.

 

In honor and in memory of my time in La Mesa, and for my old friend Martin, here's The Surf Punks' My Beach, released on Epic Records in June 1980. Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

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The Rolling Stones Monthly Book (1964 - 1966)

In a post I made a couple of years ago, I detailed the publication history of The Beatles Monthly Book, a a magazine put out by Beat Publications Ltd. which had an original run from 1963 to 1969, with a subsequent revival (consisting of reprints and new material) from 1976 to 2003.  In that post, I mentioned that the publisher, Sean O'Mahony, had also released a similarly group-dedicated Rolling Stones Book during the same period in the mid-60s.

The site Rolling Stones Data provided a brief history of the mag:

"Between 1964 and 1966, the Stones issued THE ROLLING STONES BOOK (also known as “The Rolling Stones Monthly Book”), the equivalent of the Beatles’ ‘The Beatles Monthly Book’, as well produced by British publishing company Beat Publications Ltd. The first issue came out on June 10 1964, and continued to be published monthly until November 1966, with a total of 30 numbers. Each one featured approximately thirty pages (size 8 X 6.25 inches) containing updated information about the group, as well as exclusive photos, interviews, song lyrics, etc. The Beatles Monthly Book closed down temporarily in the early ’70s, but it was revived later, first reprinting the originals, but then as a launching pad for UK Record Collector magazine, and finally shutting up in January 2003, while ‘The Rolling Stones Book’ had only the original edition."

As noted above, unlike The Beatles Book, the Rolling Stones-centered magazine was never republished or revived after its initial run, and as such it has been somewhat difficult for fans of the group to find... until now.

A German Stones fan by the name of Christof made a special effort back in 2020 to create top-quality .pdf copies of every issue, and he kindly but briefly made them available for download. By special request, he recently provided me with copies of the entire print run - which I now happily bestow unto you. Here for your enjoyment are all thirty issues (plus a bonus edition) of The Rolling Stones Book, again formatted for viewing on your computer or printing, if you're so inclined.

Thanks once again to Christof for his diligent, dedicated efforts, which have been greatly appreciated by me and I hope by you all as well!

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Various Artists - The Fall: A French Tribute

 

Once again, here's my annual post commemorating the death of Fall major-domo and 'Godlike Genius' Mark E. Smith, who slipped this mortal coil four years ago today.

There's even less to talk about in regards to The Gruppe this year. As I've noted in prior commemorative yearly posts, the silence in FallWorld continues to settle. The last post on the Official Fall Website was in February 2018, the month after Mark died, and its discussion board has been dormant, with the last new post in May 2020, nearly two years ago. The "unofficial" (and in my opinion, better) website The Fall Online website hosted its last posting in June 2020. At least The Fall Online Forum there is still fairly active, with new posts and discussions almost daily. But I've definitely noticed a decrease in the scope and level of activity there. At least there are some Facebook group sites, such as "Mark E Smith & The Fall: It's Not Repetition, It's Discipline" and "The Mighty Fall", trying to hold up their end.  But it's distressing to see widespread memories of my all-time favorite band gradually fading away.

Imperial Wax was on hiatus for most of 2020, as the COVID moratorium on live music entered its second year. However, in October of last year, the band played its first gigs in almost two years, and continued with another one earlier this month. They appear to be expanding their concert slate in England and on the Continent further into the year, and have mentioned that they are in the process of writing their second album, which currently has an unknown release date scheduled.

Brix and The Extricated, Brix Smith-Start's much-maligned band made up of former Fall stalwarts, a group I have heaped tons of scorn and derision on over the years, appears to be no more - thank God.  Brix announced that she would be releasing a solo album, Valley Of The Dolls, later this year, and also putting together an all-female band made up of "post-punk feminists", including former members of My Bloody Valentine, to take out on the road sometime this spring. With typical modesty and humility, she added that the group would be "going under the name Brix Smith or possibly Brix Smith Group, I haven’t decided yet. It’s time for me to put my money where my mouth is and take it out there!"

(Man, the narcissism and relentless self-promotion NEVER ends with her, does it?)

Not much more left to say, so I'll just get to the music.  For your review this year, I'm offering a compilation of reinterpretations/re-imaginings of some classic Fall tunes, all done by French artists.  I love sets like this - not only do you sometimes get interesting, off-the-wall takes on songs you know well and love, this album also shows the worldwide reach and influence of The Fall's music.  I highly recommend it. 

Here for your perusal is The Fall: A French Tribute, released on Teenage Hate Records on November 15th, 2019. Enjoy, and use this disc to keep Mark E. Smith and his band in your thoughts for just a little while longer. And, as always, let me know what you think.

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2021 In Memorium - #3: Leslie Bricusse (Born 1931)

I'm sure that for many of you visiting this blog, the name of Leslie Bricusse, who died this past October 19th at the ripe old age of 90, won't ring any particular bells. But for a time in the '60s and '70s, the man was a giant in music, particularly in musical theater. His work provided the world with several beloved and memorable tunes which are now regarded as popular standards.

Born in London in 1931 to a wholly nontheatrical family (his father was a newspaper circulation manager), Bricusse gained entrance to the prestigious University of Cambridge, majoring in languages. While there, he quickly found a place in the college's famous amateur theatrical troupe, Footlights, an organization he eventually became president of during his senior year (later, beginning in the 1960s, Footlights alumnae came to dominate British comedy, producing such celebrated performers as David Frost, Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy), National Lampoon's Tony Hendra, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and several members of the Monty Python troupe).  

As president of the Footlights, he co-wrote and appeared in the 1954 revue Out of the Blue, the first Cambridge revue to reach the West End (London's equivalent to New York's Broadway theater scene). The success of this show caught the attention of longtime West End music hall star Beatrice Lillie, who took Bricusse under her wing as her leading man in her own popular revue, An Evening With Beatrice Lillie. Lillie's show played in both London and New York, and through it Bricusse was established as a "name" in international musical theater. He remained with Lillie's show through the end of the 1950s.

Late in that decade, while on a cruise in the Indian Ocean, Bricusse caught the show of the ocean liner's featured performer, British radio star, screen actor and occasional pop singer Anthony Newley. The two became acquainted while at sea, and began making plans to work together on a musical production. The pair's first collaboration, 1961's Stop The World - I Want To Get Off, was a smash hit in both the West End and on Broadway. The show included Bricusse and Newley's show-stopping song "What Kind Of Fool Am I?", which eventually won a Grammy Award as Song Of The Year and is currently a popular standard. The pair followed this show with another Broadway musical success, 1965's The Roar Of The Greasepaint - The Smell Of The Crowd, a show that was nominated for several Tony Awards that year.

Fresh from their Broadway triumphs, Bricusse and Newley moved into the world of movie music, with their first effort turning out to be a classic; in 1964, they wrote the words to composer John Barry's theme for a James Bond movie coming out later that year - Goldfinger. This tune - sung the HELL out of by Shirley Bassey - is still considered the all-time greatest Bond movie song:

Bricusse scored the title theme to another James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice, in 1967. The song is regarded as another Bond classic and was a huge hit for Nancy Sinatra that year.  From that year onward, Bricusse concentrated his work in film scores and movie musicals rather than with stage productions.  This included 1967's Doctor Doolittle (a notorious box-office bomb for its time, that still produced a hit song, the Oscar-winning "Talk To The Animals") and 1970's Scrooge (featuring another popular hit, "Thank You Very Much").

But in 1971, again collaborating with Newley, the pair produced the work they are most known and revered for. They were commissioned to write all of the songs for a musical fantasy film being directed by Mel Stuart and starring Gene Wilder - Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. This movie is chock-full of Bricusse/Newley classics, including "The Candy Man", a revised version becoming a big hit for Sammy Davis Jr. the following year (in fact, his only #1 song):

But probably the most beloved song from the Willy Wonka soundtrack is the one sung by the title character, the great "Pure Imagination".

In the past fifty years, this song has been covered and remixed hundreds of times by a wide variety of artists, including Lou Rawls, Mariah Carey, The Muppets, Barbra Streisand and Primus.

Willy Wonka the movie was not a huge success when first released, barely making back its production costs, and the original owners and producers (Paramount Pictures and Quaker Oats) sold off the rights to the property to Warner Bros. for a pittance a few years later. The film really didn't become widely seen or popular until the advent of home video in the mid-1980s, gradually growing its status from a cult film into a widely-loved classic. Eventually, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2014 as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

However, the flick's soundtrack was almost immediately recognized and celebrated as something special.  Bricusse and Newley's work received Willy Wonka's only Academy Award nomination that year, for Best Original Score (it lost to Fiddler On The Roof).  The soundtrack album was first released on Paramount Records in 1971; here's the complete track listing, for your edification:

1. "Main Title (Golden Ticket/Pure Imagination)"
2. "The Candy Man"
3. "Charlie's Paper Run"
4. "Cheer Up, Charlie"
5. "Lucky Charlie"
6. "(I've Got A) Golden Ticket"
7. "Pure Imagination"
8. "Oompa Loompa"
9. "The Wondrous Boat Ride"
10. "Everlasting Gobstoppers/Oompa Loompa"
11. "The Bubble Machine"
12. "I Want It Now/Oompa Loompa"
13. "Wonkamobile, Wonkavision/Oompa Loompa
14. "Wonkavator/End Title (Pure Imagination)"

In 1996, Hip-O Records (in conjunction with MCA Records, which by then owned the Paramount catalog), released the soundtrack on CD as a "25th Anniversary Edition".  And in 2016, Universal Music Group and Geffen Records released a 45th Anniversary Edition LP.  In all, these multiple releases seemed like overkill/a money grab by the respective labels, since every version had the exact same songs listed above on it.

Leslie Bricusse continued to write music and lyrics for several movie and stage productions throughout the remainder of his life... but Willy Wonka will probably always be the one he'll be most remember for. In honor of his long and productive life, here's Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (Music From The Original Soundtrack), put out by the labels noted above in their respective years.  Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

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2021 In Memorium - #2: Everett Morton (Born 1950)

RIP to Everett Morton, drummer for the classic '80s ska revival band The Beat (known more familiarly in the States as The English Beat), who died last October 8th at the age of 71.  His innovative, syncopated drumming anchored the band through three studio album releases (1980's Special Beat Service, 1981's Wha'ppen, and 1982's I Just Can't Stop It) and innumerable live appearances up to the group's breakup in 1983.  Afterwards, Morton teamed up with former group member Saxa (on saxophone, obviously) and new vocalist Tony Beet to form The International Beat, releasing a album, The Hitting Line, in 1991, followed by Dance Hall Rockers in 1996.  Even after the demise of his original band, Morton stayed friendly with former Beat frontman Ranking Roger (Roger produced and participated on The International Beat's first album), and in later years the two performed as a version of the original Beat all across the UK, up until Roger's death in 2019.

Back in the day, The English Beat was one of my mainstay ska revival bands (along with The Specials and Madness).  I aurally devoured any and everything they put out, and recall being bitterly disappointed when I heard of the group's demise... so much so that for years afterward, I avidly followed the former members of the old band in their new projects.  For a while in the mid-80s, I was a fan of Fine Young Cannibals (guitarist Andy Cox and bassist David Steele's pop/rock/jazz project with vocalist Roland Gift), whose music was a far cry from the Beat's ska beat.  In 1984, I bought All The Rage, the debut album of General Public, vocalists Ranking Roger and Dave Wakeling's post-breakup band (with Mick Jones from The Clash and Horace Panter from The Specials).  And in the early 90's, I never missed an opportunity to see Special Beat, an amalgamation of members of the two ska revival giants, whenever they played Washington, DC (as I've mentioned long ago...).

But somehow, I missed out on The International Beat's music until long after its release.  I must say I enjoy this album very much.  Its sound is closer to the softer, poppier Wha'ppen-era Beat music, rather than the harder, straight-ahead ska sound of the band's debut album.  But that is not to say that The Hitting Line is without merit.  In my opinion, of all the post-breakup releases, Morton and Saxa's album comes the closest to replicating the old English Beat vibe.

But here - judge for yourself.  In honor of the life and work of Mr. Everett Morton, I proudly offer you all The Hitting Line Crosses The Border, Dojo Records' 1992 rerelease (with bonus tracks) of The International Beat's original debut album, The Hitting Line, from the prior year on Triple X Records.  This will be a welcome addition to your ska revival collection!  

In any event, have a listen, and as always, let me know what you think.

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2021 In Memorium - #1: Richard H. Kirk (Born 1956)

As I did during this time last year, the following are a series of posts regarding possibly less heralded/recognized musicians and artists who died in 2021 who will be sorely missed.

Richard H. Kirk, a founding member of influential English industrial/electronic band Cabaret Voltaire, died on September 21st at the age of 65.

Cabaret Voltaire came together in the early 1970s, when Sheffield, England resident Chris Watson, an admirer of Brian Eno's early work, began experimenting with his own self-made electronic music gizmos.   His early noodlings caught the attention of fellow Sheffieldite and Eno devotee Kirk, and the two began working together making sound collage tape loops.  Kirk began adding traditional instruments into the mix, and late in 1973 enlisted his friend Stephen Mallinder to add vocals and bass guitar.  The band began appearing live at venues in the central UK in the spring of 1975, but these performances leaned more towards performance art than actual concerts.  Their provocative stage antics led to some highly raucous and violent incidents in those early days (with injuries incurred by both audience and band members), but with the rise of punk rock in the late '70s, audiences became more accepting of what Cabaret Voltaire had to offer.  By the end of that decade, the group was sharing bills with the likes of Joy Division and Gang Of Four.  Their debut album, Mix-Up, was released in 1979, the first of over a dozen LPs put out during the band's initial run (they broke up in 1994, only to reform in 2014. albeit with Kirk as the sole remaining member).

I didn't know anything about Cabaret Voltaire until the mid-80s, during my senior (First Class) year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.  That year, an underclassman nicknamed "Rock" moved into my company.  Rock was the antithesis of what the standard template for a military officer was or should be - he was tall, gaunt and geeky, in a young Ric Ocasek-sort of way.  And he had both a biting wit and a semi-rebellious attitude, features that did not serve him well with the Academy leadership and hierarchy.  

But he had superb musical tastes, and he and I began bonding over our shared enjoyment of bands considered to be outside of the popular mainstream.   Rock turned me on to groups like Pere Ubu and Bauhaus with its various offshoots (like Tones On Tail and Love & Rockets).  And he was the one who introduced me to Cabaret Voltaire, playing "Crackdown" from the album of the same name for me one weekend afternoon.  But even with exposures to that album and songs like "James Brown" and "Sensoria" from their next disc Micro-Phonies, I can't say that I was a huge CV fan until after I graduated and moved to Athens, Georgia for a few months.  As I've mentioned before, mid/late-80s Athens was a musical hotbed, and the University of Georgia's student-run radio station, WUOG, was amazing, always playing interesting stuff.  And one day they spun the song "I Want You", off of the group's latest disc The Covenant, The Sword, And The Arm Of The Lord:

That was the tune that hooked me, and I immediately ran out to purchase the album.

The Covenant, The Sword, And The Arm Of The Lord was one of Cabaret Voltaire's most contentious and controversial albums. From Wikipedia:

"Cabaret Voltaire struggled with several censorship issues with Some Bizarre and Virgin Records upon the release of the album. The original title... was forced to be shortened [to The Arm Of The Lord] in the US to avoid reference to a former American white supremacist organization. Musically, the album featured a more abrasive, sample-heavy sound than its predecessor and contained many sexual innuendos in the lyrics, to which Virgin Records took objection. Several speeches by Charles Manson were also mixed in between songs."

Virgin laid down the law to the band, saying that there had to be a charting single released from this album, otherwise they would be dropped from the label.  In response, Cabaret Voltaire cheekily wrote and directed the above video for the brutal "I Want You" (they later admitted the song was about masturbation).  Shockingly, the move worked - the album made the British Top 60, calming the label's fears (the band still left Virgin for EMI for their next album in 1987).

Long before the original band's first dissolution, Kirk had begun releasing solo albums, the first of which being 1980's Disposable Half-Truths.  He released six more solo LPs prior to the breakup, then significantly increased his output in the 1990s, with releases and collaborations under his own name and scores of aliases (including Sandoz, DR Xavier, Biochemical Dread, Electronic Eye Dark Magus and Wicky Wacky) dabbling in not only the industrial, but the techno/dance genre as well.  Not only was he a pioneer, but he was prolific, and will be sorely missed.

In celebration of the life of Richard H. Kirk, here's a copy of my favorite Cabaret Voltaire record, The Covenant, The Sword, And The Arm Of The Lord, put out by Virgin Records in November 1985.  Remember, enjoy, and - as I always say - let me know what you think.

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