Second XI

Another eleven posts from the archive. Click on the image to read the piece described below.

 

1 : Golden Teardrops - the Flamingos

 

Although a more extensive piece on the Flamingos' Golden Teardrops can be found elsewhere, I'm fond of this earlier attempt to describe it during my 2000 dialogue with Clarke Davis. The style - of my writing, I mean - may be a little overheated but it reflects the excitement I felt at the new experience of  sharing my passion for doo wop with like-minded people, and I'm eternally grateful to those who expressed their appreciation by sending gifts of CDs, tapes and videos which couldn't be found in the UK.

 

2 : You Have Two (I Have None) - the Orchids

Like the Flamingos, the Orchids recorded for Al Benson's Parrot Records in the early fifties. They are best known for the disjointed narrative of Newly Wed, beloved of Frank Zappa and others, but You Have Two (I Have None), aka Happiness, which only saw the light of day in the nineties, is equally good. It seems they weren't treated well by Benson, and as a result didn't remain in the business, but they left the world eight sides of the very highest quality. Some discussion of Newly Wed cropped up during my dialogue with Clarke Davis but this piece was the first examination of a doo wop record written especially for the blog. (The image above, taken from the Vocal Group Harmony website, is not of the Orchids but the Five Thrills, the previous group of the Orchids' Gilbert Warren.)

3 : Waterloo Sunset - the Kinks

At some point in 2010 I gave myself permission to stray from the exclusive consideration of doo wop in these pages. This piece about Ray Davies's Waterloo Sunset was part of Gnome Thoughts, an unplanned, ever-expanding, series about David Bowie's early musical influences.

 

4 : Piggy Bank Love - the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

Piggy Bank Love, written by the late Neil Innes, comes immediately before I'm Bored in the running order on the Bonzos' album Gorilla. It's subtler, less showy than the Stanshall composition and I hadn't read much or even thought much about it before starting to write this. (The above etching - illustrating the song or perhaps its source of inspiration? - is by Vivian Stanshall.)

 

5 : Toll the Bell for Minnie Dyer - Kenneth Williams

A late entry in the Gnome Thoughts series concerns Toll the Bell for Minnie Dyer, a "larky" song written by Myles Rudge and Ted Dicks for the Kenneth Williams album On Pleasure Bent. I had wondered whether the pair's writing style had helped inspire the comic vignettes on Bowie's first album and it seems he was certainly a fan as a transcript exists of his enthusing about On Pleasure Bent and Minne Dyer in particular.

 

6 Tea for Two - Joe Venuti

Not much incisive criticism or analysis to be found in this account of Joe Venuti's recording of Tea for Two but it is a magical side which, as I can testify, is further enhanced by extreme tiredness, anxiety, bright sunshine and the element of surprise. My thanks to the Radio 4 producer who kindly sent me a tape.

 

7 : Roll It, Red - the Harry Donaldson Orchestra (voc: Sanky Franks)

Many years ago I bought a 78 at a jumble sale which I've never found on CD or online; the disc itself has long since disappeared so this piece is an attempt, to borrow the elusive singer's words in another context, to "reanimate a dead calf."

 

8 : The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore - the Walker Brothers

The next post, about the Walker Brothers' recording of The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore, could have been entitled "On Hearing of the Death of Scott Walker": it was prompted by the announcement on the radio that morning. Again, not much in the way of incisive analysis but an important memory nonetheless.

 

9 : Honey - Bobby Goldsboro

10: Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town - Kenny Rogers and the First Edition

 

11 : The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp - O.C. Smith

To conclude this second selection here are three stories-in-song which made an impact on my youthful self. Coming from a household of males who habitually cheered or booed artists as their images appeared during the chart rundown on Top of the Pops, the lack of "coolness" of these three records has meant that it is only now, some fifty years on that I have finally found within myself the courage to throw off the protective mantle of mockery and to speak of these songs with the loving appreciation they deserve ... maybe now the healing can finally begin.