[By Subject] [By Date] [By Sender] [Prev] [Next]
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 1994 09:34:10 -0400
From: bj835[at]-remove-cleveland.freenet.edu (Tim Connors)
Subject: Bonus songs
Shoot, there goes my pager...
If I had any idea that our better-late-than-never version of
_Love Bus_ was in some way superior to the UK version, I'd have
wasted no time taunting you poor bastards who had the
(inferior) UK version six months ago. Just kidding, of course,
but you have to admit he owed us for making us wait so long.
Yes, the US version of _WftLB_ contains studio covers of
Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" and Bobby Freeman's "Do
You Wanna Dance." They both have certain characteristics that
one associates with bonus songs: They appear after the
closing "Rosemary Davis (Reprise)" frame. The arrangement of
the great Fred Neil song is slow and echo-drenched. It's not
all that different from Billy Bragg's arrangement of
another very similar Fred Neil song, "Dolphins" on the last
Billy Bragg album. It's a short 2.36.
"Do You Wanna Dance" is by contrast quite long at 6.19. The
vocal is arranged slow dance style, closer to the (gulp)
Bette Midler version than any other version I know of. The
instruments are a combination of drum machine, effects-
soaked guitars, and synths. It has some of that xylophone/
marimba work I associate with early Jazz Butcher songs,
but just a dollop, not too much.
For the youngsters out there, this song was a hit for
Bobby Freeman in '58, Del Shannon in '64, and the Beach
Boys in '65. It has also been recorded by the Mamas &
the Papas in '68, Bette Midler in '73, and of course by
the Ramones in '78. I understand that it was also a hit
for Cliff Richard in '62. (Trans-Atlantic note: In the
UK Cliff Richard is known as that hugely popular and
famous singer who has been on the charts consistently
from 1958 to 1994, scoring over a hundred hit singles. In
the US, he is known as that guy who sang that obnoxious
song "Devil Woman" in 1976. In fact, he is probably
best known in the United States as the guitarist in
the Rolling Stones, but our minds are all addled by
MTV and Big Macs. Anyway, I get the sense we're not
missing a whole lot by not having heard those other
99 or so Cliff Richard songs... Next week on
TransAtlantic notes: Billy Fury, Adam Faith, Geno
Washington and the Jam.)
Hmm, sorry for the digression. I wonder whether the
Canadian version of the new album has these songs
too... I saw theposting re Pat in Canada. Does this mean
he'll be in the States soon?
TJC "Surprisingly tasty..."
The Jazz Butcher ("JB v. Prime Minister")
Internet: bj835[at]-remove-cleveland.freenet.edu