Bag a bargain - the latest Podrophenia is up for download.
A charity shop special - loaded with upcycled songs: a medley that hops from Georgie Fame to Led Zep, Anthony Newley's version of Goldfinger, the funkiest fizzy-pop song ever, Mud getting on the good foot (rather than the Tiger Foot) and a track from the fifth most expensive record sold on Discogs (value is no indicator of quality)...
All here and all free..
Phew! Worra heaving evening was had by all at Saturday's Railway shindig - a shakedown, a tear up, a roof quaking, leg shaking, stompzilla of a gig. Where, by 9:30 the pub was rammed to capacity, and admission was capped at a one in/one out basis. Incredible! Bif, Bam Pow - blitzed though the winners and hits. The Len Price 3 did 45 minutes of short, sharp (suited) mod rockers : think The Ramones meet The Kinks by way of The Who…
Followed by two hours of tuney doings spun by Piley and myself. A no-wave set where anything was winged into the improv' playlist - TV Themes (Eurotrash, Grandstand), Bowie, Beatles booty remixes and covers, foreign language editions (a latin Hit the Road Jack)......
And a real treat to see so many members of the Podrophenia Panel making their way down to join us. Drakey, Mike, Phil, Martin, Reado Jnr, Pouch of Douglas, Coops, Maxwell
A huge salute is due to Steve Retroman and Fi Jacobs (and all at The Railway) for making this a full on wingdinger of a do. If you're a Facebooker pop over thus and have a peep at the rollcall of characters out and about with us .....
But on to tonight's business - this week's edition of Podrophenia comes fitted around the theme of Superheroes and sees us joined in the basement by the spectacularly talented Simon Monk, whose latest exhibition - Secret Idenities is on show at The Pouch of Douglas, Southend, running until the 23rd of March..
'Peter Parker' by Simon Monk: it's a painting not a photo - honest!
Two tunes for Tuesday: One which is on the bill and one which is on the subs bench - but you'll have to tune from 9 for the full reveal of what's in and what's out... The Other Brothers - Hole in the Wall
Hold onto your Santa hats pop-pickers as Terry of the spectacular TOTP The Definitive Website , delivers a hamper of Hallmark's holiday hits. Vol 42 listed today, was my very first TOTP album - even now seeing the cover, takes me back to sitting in mum and dad's rocking chair, eating endless helpings of marmite on toast by our 3 bar electric fire, which incidentally, caught the cat's tail aflame once. But that's another tale for another time (come on, it is Panto season)...so for now it's over to Terry and his grotto of goodies...
One of the most astute marketing decisions in pop was taken by the tiny Hallmark label in 1968, when they launched their “Top of the Pops” albums – a series of LPs packed with cheaply made, but passable cover versions of current pop hits. The masterstroke was realising the BBC had failed to trademark the title – and so by purloining it, Hallmark could cash in on unwitting punters thinking they were getting the real soundtrack to the TV programme. Come Christmas, untold numbers of unsuspecting parents and grandparents must have found these LPs in the shops and picked them up at seemingly bargain prices for the kids.
It’s Christmas Day, 1971, and on this morning, the new national album charts are published. And at number 13, it’s “Top of the Pops volume 20” [one of my favourite covers - Mond]outselling current classics by Carol King, Rod Stewart and James Taylor, among others. That same Christmas morning, “Hot Hits 8” was at a lofty number 2, while “Pye Chartbusters 2” was also in the top 30 – proof that Christmas was the ideal time for budget albums like these to fly off the shelves. And so it seems appropriate at this time of year to pay tribute to the “Top of the Pops” phenomenon, by rounding up some of their finest seasonal offerings – cover versions all, but which perfectly capture the moment......
We start our review with something of a Christmas pudding from our Elton. In his prime and scoring top 10 hits for fun, it was a major eyebrow-raiser when the custom-made “Step Into Christmas” struggled to a Scrooge-like 24 on the singles charts. “Top of the Pops” captured a version for volume 35, Elton himself no stranger to the budget covers scene of course, having recorded a good number of vocals for LPs such as this before he was famous. (In fact he can be heard singing on “Top of the Pops” volume 5, but that’s another story.) This rendition doesn’t sound too much like Elton, but to be fair, sounds every bit a Christmas hit.
One of the strangest pop phenomena of the 1970s (and that’s saying something!) was that of the Wombles. This bizarre novelty act, brainchild of Mike Batt, somehow managed to rack up four top 10 hits in 1974 alone, the best of the lot, “Wombling Merry Christmas” which was held off the top of the hit parade only by Mud’s rival offering, “Lonely This Christmas”. The Poppers plumped for the Wombles and covered them in style; in this instance, it hardly mattered that this was not the original version. Rumour has it the Wombles didn’t play on their own singles anyway… It’s easy to dismiss this track as just kids’ stuff, but use your imagination. Change the words “Wombling Merry Christmas” for “rollicking Merry Christmas” and you have a hit which could give Wizzard’s concurrent Xmas anthem a run for its money.
In the years before Simon Cowell got to decide what would be Christmas number 1 sometime over the summer, the coveted top slot was much more of a lottery than today. It is a curious fact that until 1973, only one Christmas song managed it – “Mary’s Boy Child” by Harry Belafonte, way back in December 1957. All that changed in the 70s, with Christmas-themed number 1s becoming the norm on the 25th, and “Top of the Pops” couldn’t have been better timed to celebrate the fact. Come 1978, it was a return to Christmas of yore, with “Mary’s Boy Child” top of the Christmas tree once again, courtesy of a dramatically updated version by Boney M. “Top of the Pops” do their best with this awkward fusion of seasonal worship and hedonist discotheque, as heard on volume 77, but it was never going to be an easy job. For some reason they released it a year late, in December 1979. Work that one out?!
Back in the early 1970s, when John Lennon really believed he could change the world for the better, he set about creating what he reckoned would replace “White Christmas” as the definitive seasonal song. “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” may not have quite managed that, but one wonders if Macca was just a tad jealous anyway? No sooner had Wings flown the nest than Sir Paul rushed out his first solo offering in almost a decade. “Wonderful Christmastime” is pure McCartney, bouncy, catchy, commercial and completely bereft of substance. “Top of the Pops” couldn’t resist a crack at Macca’s hit single, which can be heard on the same volume 77 with “Mary’s Boy Child”.
Fast forward one year, and Christmas will never be the same for Beatles fans. Lennon’s murder in early December cast a shadow over the festive season, the pop charts of Christmas 1980 commemorating his passing with a slew of his singles piling up in the top end of the listings. “Happy Xmas” was among them, appropriately entering the charts in Christmas week, but too late for the December “Top of the Pops” (and completely unsuitable for the January LP). Christmas number 1 that year was Lennon’s would-be comeback single, “(Just Like) Starting Over”, redolent of its time and place, and worthy of another listen through the Poppers’ prism. (Was it really thirty years ago?)
We open our last “Top of the Pops” present, as the LP series was itself coming to a conclusion, in 1981. Number 1 on Christmas day are the distinctly uncelebratory Human League, but we have our eternal saviour at number 2, in the form of Clifford Richard. For a month, his schmaltzy “Daddy’s Home” was poised to capture top spot, but somehow never did, divine intervention apparently not forthcoming. Perfect for a festive “Top of the Pops” album, this lullaby track sees out our Yuletide survey with all the ghastly bad taste we associate with the season, and indeed with Cliff. Merry Christmas – and go easy on the cheese.
If you're a fan of the Italo spy-fi film genre you may be familiar with the long-shifting whispers about low budget cult-flick The Code Zodiac Tapes. Made in 1969 it received just a handful of European screenings before being shelved due to international wrangles over distribution rights.
Zodiac dropped out of circulation and with no sightings, leaked footage or dodgy copies filtering into the public domain since, it's been widely accepted that the film had become lost, wiped or stolen. However, canisters containing the original broadcast masters were recently discovered in the basement of an abandoned Riviera mansion. Damp, dust and neglect have left the film stock, shooting notes and script damaged beyond recovery or repair..
Thankfully a handful of production details, storyboards and publicity shots survived - along with some concept art for set designs (pleasure units, undersea casinos, moonbased pods and modules ) and some costume credits....
Hair by Laurence of Park Lane Wardrobe by Mr Hipster M.O.N.D.O Mobile by George Barris
Concept art by uncredited artist
More significantly the 16 track Ampex analogue master tapes of the Zodiac soundtrack were found to be salvageable. These tapes - and any scraps and snatches of dubbed dialogue - were taken to Shabby Road studios for digital restoration. Today the freshly mastered, previously unreleased Code Zodiac soundtrack receives it's international debut. A teaser trailer is available here along with an OST stream - but the full 19 track album is available as a limited-edition free download over at Budd Schifrin's site..
Keith Mansfield's composition Soul Confusion was originally used to score a deleted scene (scripted as - Scene 34: How does that grab you?) and has been included here as a bonus track
In my last post, we looked at the way the Top of the Pops LPs were forced to accommodate the rise of punk and New Wave in 1977. At first reluctant, they were soon embracing the harder-edged singles appearing through 1977 and 1978, with a few of the Poppers recordings giving the hit versions a run for their money.
The Poppers’ remit was to hoover up chart hits, regardless of the musical styles in play. Thus they were compelled to have a go at wildly disparate, but commercially successful material like “Voodoo Chile” (volume 14), “Bohemian Rhapsody” (volume 49) and “Wuthering Heights” (volume 65), which no-one in their right mind would have selected for a pocket-money cheese-fest like Top of the Pops! And, of course, there were The Sex Pistols.
The group had already scored a hit with “God Save The Queen”, making their next release, “Pretty Vacant” a reliable bet for the top end of the charts. And so the Poppers decided to bite the bullet and nail their own version, which was taped, like most of the series, at De Lane Lea studios in Wembley.
Lead singer on the track is session man Tony Rivers, backed up by two Poppers stalwarts, John Perry and Stu Calver. According to Rivers, the latter were finishing up the backing vocals when in walked Paul McCartney for a listen. Realising what was afoot, he scurried off and brought back Chris Thomas, producer of The Pistols’ original, who happened to be in the building and is said to have fallen about laughing and what he heard!
Tony Rivers has since spoken of his take on punk figurehead, all-round bad boy and future butter salesman, John Lydon: “Johnny Rotten sounded like Norman Wisdom to me, so that’s how I did it!” Enjoy it here, as featured on Top of the Pops volume 60.
After popping their punk cherries on “Pretty Vacant”, the Poppers wasted little time zeroing in on other New Wave hits. The follow-up LP, volume 61, features both “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes” and a version of Eddie & The Hot Rods’ classic “Do Anything You Wanna Do”, which boasts a pretty decent band track (nice bass work!), albeit with a slightly dubious lead vocal over the top. Ironically it sounds markedly more primitive than the original - in fact, dare we say, more authentic? No, I guess not.
Volume 66 (May 1978) boasts cuts like “(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear” and “She's So Modern”, and we also find a version of “Because The Night”, via the Godmother of Punk, Patti Smith. OK, this Springsteen-penned track is no “Pretty Vacant”, but it’s nonetheless an interesting selection for Top of the Pops, which they manage to do justice to.
A band wasn’t worthy of the tag ‘punk’ unless they were ready to put an angry boot into the establishment whenever the chance arose, especially if it meant offending the industry itself. Cue The Rezillos, whose accusatory “Top of the Pops” had a dig at the TV show of the same name, before earning them a spot on it. And thus, the consequent hit also found its way onto volume 68, bizarrely looking like a title track for the whole series!
We wrap up this survey with a track which had originally been a hit for The Boomtown Rats. OK, we’ve heard better impressions of Bob Geldof, but this reading of the group’s 1978 chart-topper from volume 69 is still a decent listen. Interestingly it also name drops Top of the Pops in the lyric, but of course they’re also referring to the TV show.
Today sees the first instalment of a two-part post from Terry TOTP - mastermind and
curator of the online goldmine that is The Top of The Pops Definitive Website. And what a treat, as Terry hand-picks his top ten highlights from the unlikely alliance formed when punk's pinch-eyed, spit and spikes songbook was refashioned for Hallmarks budget priced audience - filtering exploding dayglo rage through rose tinted studio arrangements...
Top of the Punks - Part 1
Most readers of this blog will be familiar with the old “Top of the Pops” LPs, which ran to some 92 volumes, spanning the whole of the 1970s. The idea was to cherry-pick songs from the hit parade and give them the anonymous cover treatment. On the way the series charted the rise and fall of styles such as glam, disco, soft soul, Eurovision and so on, all interspersed with outbreaks of Wombles, Smurfs, Osmonds and the like.
It was all wholesome family stuff of course; the Poppers had, after all, safely bleeped out a mild expletive on their adventurous version of Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane” (volume 50) to keep things respectable. But then something else happened: punk arrived in the pop charts, thereby kicking and spitting its way to Top of the Pops’ door. How would they react?
The response was initially predictable, with producer Bruce Baxter simply turning a deaf ear. Top of the Pops was, after all, the stuff at which punk’s venom was most sharply targeted – middle-of-the-road pop which had no interest in confronting mums and dads (who usually bought the things for their kids). But when the Pistols placed “God Save the Queen” at number 2 (or number 1, depending which version of history you prefer), the Poppers were forced to take notice, and as the Pistols’ follow-up, “Pretty Vacant”, headed for the top 10, the Poppers captured a celebrated cover version, their first foray into the world of punk (which will be looked at in greater detail in part 2 of this blog).
By the start of 1978, punk and the associated New Wave bands were starting to invade the charts regularly. But strangely, there was a meeting of minds, with Top of the Pops enthusiastically putting their unique spin on these new styles with no trace of irony, many of them fascinating to hear in hindsight.
This selection kicks off with the Poppers’ take on The Stranglers’ “No More Heroes”, from volume 62 (October 1977). The vocalist here sounds a little more like Douglas Hurd than Hugh Cornwell, but we can forgive that thanks to the overall tightness of the backing music.
Next up is “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes”, originally a hit for The Adverts, with its subject matter the use of the murderer’s corneas for transplants after his execution. Unable to decipher all the lyrics (eg “I’m wincing in the light”), the Poppers’ man ad-libbed in places, Adverts singer Tim ‘TV’ Smith apparently amused on hearing it and commenting, “It would have been terrible if he'd got the words right”! It can be found on volume 61.
Moving into 1978, we have the Poppers’ version of Blondie’s “Denis” (volume 65). This is actually quite a spirited attempt, and to the casual listener is a fair facsimile. Credit as well to the singer for having a confident stab at the French vocals. In fact, Blondie’s “original” was also a cover version, the song first recorded by Randy & The Rainbows back in 1963!
Top of the Pops volume 68 from August 1978 is one of the more punk-inflected LPs in the series, which we will dip into a couple of times here. It includes one of the most admirable Poppers covers in “Jilted John”, which is arguably a better listen than Graham Fellows’ original! It’s funny, and for all the right reasons.
For the last track in part 1 of this survey, we’re sticking with volume 68, and a recording which, Like “Denis”, was an updated cover of a 60s tune. Thus, The Kinks’ “David Watts” arrives via The Jam, marking their arrival in the Top of the Pops series. Here, you can certainly spot the difference, but it’s a solid stab nonetheless.
Top of the Pips - the infamous nipples edition (Vol 16)
If there's one format that's a precision indicator of 70s pop culture fashions and flavours, it's those bumper bundles of refitted hits at budget prices - Hallmarks' Top of the Pops albums. Omnipresent and affordable, new and updated editons of TOTP repopulated the record racks of Woolworths, Boots and sometimes supermarkets with an industrial efficiency and unrelenting refresh rate of 'every six to eight weeks' according to volume 60's sleeve blurb from ..
It's too easy to raise a purist eyebrow over these popular compilations. Dig about the genre and you'll find it's not all charity shop fodder, some highly prized items are buried in the back catalogue: the 'nipples' cover of Vol 16 , the bondage gatefold (Best of 71) - and the golden nugget I've spent too long scouring cyberspace for - Volume 60, with a playlist pulling together I Feel Love, Oh Lori and Pretty Vacant.
From what was a mostly cottage industry of session musicians and production anono-bods, moments of glowing self-sufficient invention and thrifty studio trickery can be found. Take Bohemian Rap (or Bo Rap to give it's full title) as Ben Soundhog says....
The version of Bohemian Rhapsody is bordering on genius, considering it was done in about a day rather than the seventy million years the original took.
An online goldmine and encyclopedia of all that is TOTP (and TOTP related) is available here at the wonderful - Top of the Pops: The Definitive Website. Did you know TOTP series ran until 1985, that Larry Adler and Tina Charles appear on some editions? That two volumes topped the charts, Find out which models make multiple cover appearances, thumb through a breakdown of acts, tracks, sleeve notes and international variations.
If you have any interest in 70s retro-ology, spin over and browse away - I guarantee TOTP - TDW will be right up your Hit Parade...
PS - wonder if there were ever any outtakes that never made the final edit, perhaps it's time for TOTP expanded or deluxe editions?
For today's rummage around der Welt of Germanic shenanigans and Teutonic rockers , we won’t be rooting through the well documented and commendable end of sweaty basements and bierkellers - kindergartens to the sixties beat boomers. Or the Vorsprung durch Technik of Kraftwerk, Can and Neu! Not even a peep at one of the finest live music shows ever Beat Club/Music Laden - why did this TOTP meets OGWT format always draw out such punchy performances from the rock aristocracy of Bowie, Roxy Music, T.Rex, Tina Turner and umm The Sweet.
Nein! Friday's kitsch and kooky doings are a vier-way variation on the frothy pop option known as Schläger. Now - Mach Schau!
Warning: this post contains superhero imagery and geeky content from the start.
Typically I’ll try to handbrake most jabber and blab about my comic habits. But with just three posts in three years - hope you can indulge me with one more.
I've been a Bat-fan since the age of three, with some of my earliest reads still in the collection - although, it's a much lower-league legend, mostly unknown to non-comic fans, that I've constantly collected for over thirty years - Green Lantern. I won't bore you with his biog - there's a danger it may reduce down to nerdism - but it's all here should you fancy some backstory.
Almost all superheroes are icons directly or indirectly reflecting the climate of their time: from Superman in the 30s (farm raised immigrant becomes new world power) to Marvel's sixties super-types: Spider-man (the swinging sixties), The Hulk (nuclear mutation) Silver Surfer (space travel). Green Lantern is no exception. A superhero shaped by fifties sci-fi, jet age boom-busting, America's earliest space-racers and a young Paul Newman informing the looks of Lantern's alter ego Hal 'Highball'Jordan. Stylistically Lantern is Dr Who meets David Bowie : a focused, solo player but slight outsider and space cadet blasting through space epics and earthy adventures, kitted out in Gil Kane's glitzy, almost Ziggyish, white gloved jumpsuit.
From it's 1960 debut, The Green Lantern title middled along for almost a decade, until, in an attempt to resuscitate stalling sales and add some contemporary edge, Denny O'Neill (script) and Neal Adams (art) were drafted in from Batman/Detective Comics - having previously repositioned The Dark Knight away from TV's campy trappings, returning him to shadowy artwork, gothic plots and increased credibility and circulation.
O'Neill and Adams literally brought Green Lantern down to earth with a cultural bump. Adams documentary-ish artwork and O'Neill's protest tales teamed GL with the liberal, left-leaning Green Arrow for an Easy Rider style road trip through the America's underclass and dropped-out, drugged-up, counter culture. Alien invaders and space states were scrapped for teen drug addiction, ghetto poverty, political corruption and cult religious leaders - kick-starting the 'relevance era' in comics. Ultimately, these protest tales proved too worthy and weighty for DC's readership and the title was cancelled in 1972. Ironically, it's the O'Neill/Adams 'Hard Travelling Heroes' issues that have become high priced collectibles in the Lantern's back catalogue.
Green Lantern 76: expect to pay anywhere between £1000 - £2000 for a near mint quality copy
It’s a common plot and publicity device for super-types to be killed off only to be reanimated at some later date (in case you didn't know Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne died a year ago). Following three decades of hot runs, restarts, cancellations and the eventual death of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern was brought back from the dead, revived and ready for action in 2004. A reboot that has brought the title it's greatest levels of success and saturation in a fifty year history. Green Lantern The Movie is being filmed as I blog (scheduled for a June 2011 release). More significantly DC publishing clearly have grand plans and great expectations for Green Lantern - for the first time in seventy years, DC are deliberately positioning and putting some promotional focus on a character ahead of their traditional Holy Trinity of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
Green Lantern has never really crossed over into the same cool, cultural or rock and roll referencing as Spiderman, Batman and Superman. As far as I'm aware the he's only been name-checked in one song. Historically you've probably heard his name countless times without realising. In Donovan's Sunshine Superman...
Superman or Green Lantern ain't got a-nothin' on me
Hurrah! Things seem to be moving to a better, brighter and more manageable position, so I'm in the mood for getting back on the good foot(y) and giving two formations of Young Scene (The Big Match theme) a run-out. Keith Mansfield's original versh and a sprightly, sporty refit from The Graham Walker Sound
Think of this fixture as a pre-season friendly for Friday's post
Anarchy comes to Maine Road:the programme pictured atop this page features one of the earliest outings for Jamie Reid's Anarchy graphics - you can catch a clip of the match below
Remember the 1972 smasher 'Popcorn' by Hot Butter - a track that galloped along at the speed of the space race, sounding like Donna Summer on Skylab, Cosmonaut pop and the future unfolding around your very ears.
Well, did you know it was actually a cover? A cover of a track already three years old, and taken from Gershon Kingsley's 1969 album 'Music To Moog By'...
Never one to miss a contemporary pop-trick (like the local Marching Militaire, or Brass Band that screech out refits of cinematic hits) Herp Alpert, had himself a wallop at Popcorn
Goodbye to bubbling, fat analogue sounds, sine waves and Moogadoodledoo . Hello to the soothing muted toot of the Tijuana Brass, the tropical lapping of steel drums and the soft plod of xylophonic pop...
Both varieties are below - so, why not try a taste test and see which you flavour you favour...
So then boys, girls bloggers and bloggettes it's over and out from me until next year. Now, what can I sign off with until '09 ...something brassy, something swingle bells, and something santamental, I think...
A couple o' rooting tooting tunes from the ever-popular (according to the stats) Sound Of Brass,Torero Band
And this delicous downtempo DJ BC Beatleg remix...which gently folds The Jacksons and John Lennon into one luvverly bundle DJ BC - Imagine Santa There's a vid' for it too...
So chill your boots, fill your boots and see you in the space-age sounding 2009 playmates - x -
This fantastico bespoke hand-made illustration was kindly created by Paul McDonald of Odd Sock Illustration
I don't know about you, but while I was sprouting up during the seventies, Christmas in our house was a typically traditional ritual that followed a similar tinsel-plated template from year to year.
The same medley of decorations were randomly scattered about the tree mixing classic seventies pieces - felt baubles in orange or pink, super-modern amber plastic hoops filled with some sort of shiny sci-fi tape loops that dangled alongside retro-deco's from the fifties - cough-candy style twisted aluminium strips (purple or red on one side, silver on the other), real glass baubles and Japanese lanterns. All finished of with Woolworths candyfloss-type-fibreglass to add some soft-focus embellishment to the lights.
The Martini (red) and the drinks cabinet would be cracked open on Nan's arrival, and when it came to lunch, stalagmite style red candles, the candlebra and 'special cutlery' from an embossed box had their annual day trip to the table. Which, was typically centred around a Christmas cake wrapped in fancy band of gold foil and frilled red paper, with, perhaps a snow scene on the icing.
If you're wondering what in the name of Jacob Marley is the point of this winterland ramble? Well, it's that, the cosy essence of Christmas was the familiar similarity of the occasion. And, in much the same that way we'd fire up this Frank album while Martini's were a'pouring - I feel it could become,perhaps a seasonal tradition, to repost my homemade winter mixture created for Christmas last year....
Marc Bolan - Christmas Message Clarence Carter - Back Door Santa Keith Mansfield - Snowman Stomp Jingle Bells - Booker T and the MG's Ramsey Lewis Trio - Here Comes Santa Claus Oscar Peterson - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Stu Hamm - Sleigh Ride Up With the People - Jingle Bell Beat Anita Kerr Singers - Jingle bell rock Soulfoul singers - Santa Claus is coming to town Soulful Strings - Sleigh Ride Edwin Starr - Snowflake Boogie The Rhodes Kids - Winter Wonderland
As I may have mentioned before I'm a bugger for a cover version, and one area rich with glittering goodies and buried treasure is that period when traditional, torch or show style singers decided to get 'with it' and shake a well-tailored trouser leg or cocktail dress to the way out sounds of the In Crowd.
The finest selections are typically found around the tail-end of the sixties/early seventies, when, for the first time, themes of social awareness, cultural tolerance and polite political pop started to appear in the rock songbook and provided a platform for Vegas style cabaret and cocktail acts to appear hip, happening and doing old school cool with a twist of contemporary conscience ... Mel Torme - 'Games People Play'
Tom Jones & Engelbert Humperdinck (and Billy Preston)'Games People Play' - you have to wait one full minute for the tune to kick in, but it's well worth it
Better know as 'Grotbags' from the Rod Hull and Emu show.
Carol was something of a cabaret legend before crossing over to TV, working with stars like Max Wall, Arthur Askey, Morecambe & Wise, Ella Fitzgerald and Tommy Cooper - there's an cabtastic interview with her here - on the Licorice Soul website. I first picked up on this tune via the mighty Licorice Soul Working Mans Soul album, a cracking comp' of classic cabaret turns.
Who is Sonny King? Sidekick of Jimmy Durante, flatmate of Dean Martin, writer of Rat Pack gags and star of this piece of Mondo Bizarro Video - that's who.
Sonny King "I Cried For You"
An extraordinary amount of my mate's dads still had this Sonny 'sports-casual' look going well into the seventies.
Well here's a first, a second FF post (while politely pickled too) - I've spent years scouring for this clip so I'm grabbing it while it's up.
No rabbit, jabber or blab from me could do it justice - just tuck in to this explosive performance from Sammy Davis and two friends - it's impossible to watch just once
Were you a sucker for seventies police shows ? I was. Although a bit too young to jog along with the plot for most of these shows, each one had it's own unique ingredient that kept me coming back.
Banacek - I liked the 'rowing' intro'. The Magician - Bill Bixby's 'fancy pants' white sports car . Macmillan and Wife - the eye soothing Susan St James *sighs*. Police Woman - Pepper Anderson *goes giddy at the memory*. Kojak - the snappy suits with swishy linings. Lollipops!.
But the the coolest cops on the block were always those wheel screeching, street prowling, thug busting, bonnet bouncing, trendy tog wearing, undercover cruisers Starsky and Hutch...
There's a ready reckoner of 70's detectives right here if you fancy a peep.
Adidas SL76s were worn by Paul Michael Glaser in Starsky and Hutch - luckily I mananged to grab a pair when they ran a limited reissue about 4 years ago.
