I put this record on again yesterday for the first time in a while, and was reminded of how utterly astounding this track is. Lee's voice is incredibly low. Both Nancy and Lee add little variations to the tune, and are accompanied by some simple instrumentation: a catchy strummed guitar, drums, bass and occasional piano and strings. At various points, the song just stops as Lee sings 'Woah Woah Woooe'. Very highly recommended.
from Nancy and Lee (Reprise) available on CD - Fairytales and Fantasies
05 Sep 02 ·Liv: Lee's voice is a bit of an acquired taste(-but too,uh,rusty for me anyway-),but as for Nancy,her best recordings from this period(the 60's)are top quality..she became something of a cult heroine for die-hard 60's collectors..and went into pop history.. 22 Dec 04 ·ronin: I'll always remember them for "Some Velvet Morning When I'm Straight," which I never understood, but liked anyway--his rather drawling delivery opposite her more conventional one. 23 Dec 04 ·n-jeff: Post Top Gun this song is remarkably popular in its Righteous Brothers version amongst the local rugby and hockey playing types, so when doing sports parties its always good fun to play the nancy and Lee version for its disturbing "Slowed down" feeling. But at home, its always just good to play it.
A slow number from Gainsbourg�s classic concept album, �Ah melody� opens with that picked acoustic guitar sound which the group Air have now imitated and made one of their trademark sounds. The arrangement is very bare, with the guitar accompanied by just a vocal, bass, and a spikey, funky drum beat. Later in this short track, strings and Bacharach-style horns slip in and out of the mix, before everything stops abruptly. It�s a great track from what I find otherwise to be a slightly disappointing album.
from Histoire de Melody Nelson, available on CD (Philips)
09 Dec 01 ·e: ah delicado.... 03 Jan 02 ·Mike: Wonderful track; absolutely magic, and second only to "Manon" in Gainsbourg's output for me. In the context of the album, it's a kind of foil to the more vigourous remainder, an all-too-short lyrical interlude. 05 Sep 02 ·Liv: Stellar. "Histoire de Melody Nelson" is one of THE best concept records of all time..period.(But you don't have to understand French to appreciate this wicked album..) The lush string arrangements, interweaving deep&funky bass, Gainsborough's sleazily "seductive" voice:sometimes whispering,sometimes "singing"..all adds to the perfection. I will always treasure this album..
("Ah!Melody" is one of the "lighter" songs from the album as the overall atmosphere of the album is darker,creepier:a feeling of perversion, death & doomed love..) One of his best. Pure magic. 12 Mar 04 ·olli: got to love that. one of the definite highlights in his amazingly diverse output for me.
The Temptations may be first in your mind when you think of psychedelic soul, but this group, featuring former Turnkeys leader Maurice Dollison and the woman we can blame for "Lovin' You", Minnie Riperton, defined it with this single scorching, fuzzy, crunchy, swirling, doped-up masterpiece. Long-time Chess arranger Charles Stepney milks the string section for all it's worth.
from Aladdin (Cadet Concept) available on CD - Aladdin/Dinner Music (Raven)
05 Sep 02 ·Liv: A strange hybrid of styles.. Psychedelic soul? 05 Sep 02 ·tinks: yeah, and it wasn't even the strangest...there was an off-shoot that i'll hereby dub "native soul", which was a blend of psychedelic soul, with it's fuzz guitars and such, and native american drums. the sound is best exemplified by the instrumental group the electric indian, who were from philadelphia (and featured len barry of "1-2-3" fame") and had a moderate-sized hit with "keem-o-sabe". they recorded a couple of lps in the idiom, while all other examples i've heard have been one-off attempts. there's also good stuff out there by a group called the little big horns and a song called "warpath" by the isley brothers which is an all-out masterpiece. 07 Dec 05 ·Swinging London: Thought I didn't like The Rotary connection. Hearing that, I've changed my mind.
It's outa-sight!
19 Apr 01 ·delicado: yeah, great track! I highly recommend the Polski Nagrania CD of the albums 'Bossa Nova' and Torpedo' - incredible stuff... 05 Sep 02 ·Liv: Compost records (of Jazzanova fame) have also reissued an compilation album with the Novi singers' best tracks..well worth checking out in all their glory.. Especially the contrast between the male/female voices is fresh &innovative sounding..
In order to fully examine the minds of torment and depression, one would need to be familiar with Nick Drake's 'Black Eyed Dog.' With his transcendant ability to translate his demons into song, Nick Drake accounts a supernatural phantasm chasing him through the darkness of his own neurosis. 'Black eyed dog he claws at my door' - sung in his upper register, with the use of heavey falcetto, sounds like he is straining to survive a nightmare. His performance, despite the sparse production of acoustic guitar and vocal, is expansive. Use of harmonics and finger roll on this song proves the mastery of his instrument, as an amateur guitarist I am baffled by the sound he can create. The singular pulse of the guitar string rings-out with a delicate harmonic while the layering of other voices continue subtly underneath. And the result is the tragic embrace of his own psychological deterioration; a horror unlike the Macabre style of the French, it stands as its own haunting style, that of 'Drakesque.'
As we know his depression did finally catch up to him, and as a revisionist I would say that Nick knew it would all along, sooner or later. One would only need to hear this song and some of the pieces are put into place.
from Time of No Reply, available on CD
05 Sep 02 ·Liv: they say he had to have several overdubs of his voice on this track until he got it right, because of his depression his voice was trembling.. so far from the classical orchestrations of his early recordings, the sparse instrumentation and the intense emotion of "Black dog" affects you even more as Nick's haunting voice sounds like he's singing through an abyss of infinite darkness and despair.. 28 Feb 03 ·songs-I-love: Actually, the lyrics to this song go "A black-eyed
dog, he CALLED at my door...", but with Nick's way
of singing (or rather: expressing himself), it's
just all too easy to get confused.
The line "I'm growing old and I wanna go home" gets
through my heart like a bullet every time I hear
it. Only few songs can evoke such strong emotions in me. 13 Jul 05 ·kkkerplunkkk: Yes beautiful and chilling, but it's a small comfort to know that this wasn't actually the last song he ever recorded, that sad honour going to the recently discovered Tow The Line.
