i heard this song for the first time in spain at the purple weekend. the dj (mike stax) is as rather famous guy in the mod/garage/60's-scene. so i didn't have the guts to mail him about it for a year or so. but eventually i did and he gave me the details and told me that it was his girlfriend ho spun it. the song is a weird version of black sabbath's paranoid. i love this stuff. can be found on some german comps various artists as well as c&b comps. i saw the original cornet single on ebay a couple of months ago for a mere $180.
28 Jun 04 ·eftimihn: This is a hugely bizarre cover version: Cindy & Bert were a somewhat annoying couple in the 60s & 70s doing very light pop tunes (called "Schlager" in Germany). It was recently released on a great compilation series by Bear Family Records called "Pop In Germany", with lots more of german oddities like Dusty Springfields "Son Of A Preacherman" in a hilarious version with ridiculous lyrics sung with bavarian accent...
To me this is certainly a pinnacle of pure late 60s sunshine pop. Composed by pop genius Roger Nichols the timeless, idealistic lyrics were written by Tony Asher (who wrote most of the lyrics with Brian Wilson on Pet Sounds) not by his regular partner Paul Williams. Sunshine pop hardly gets any sunnier than on this track: great production, strings galore, Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies, great bassline & trumpet and catchy as hell with it's uplifting chord progressions throughout. While the album version (recently included on the highly recommended "The Get Easy! Sunshine Pop Collection") is good already, the single version is just crisper, lusher, just perfect.
from Captain Nemo (Decca) available on CD - The Get Easy! Sunshine Pop Collection (Universal)
08 Jul 04 ·delicado: I have to agree. What a beautiful track! Very similar to the Small Circle of Friends record, but perhaps even better! I just have the version from the compilation; I'll try and track down the single. 08 Jul 04 ·eftimihn: Delicado, you have the single version already, it's the one on my Roger Nichols compilation, i just somehow forgot to mark it as the single version. The single is clocking in at 2:18, the album version runs 3 minutes. 09 Jul 04 ·delicado: Cool; I'll listen again. This track is sure to make it onto one of my comps; surely it could make a soft pop fan out of anyone! 03 Feb 05 ·tinks: great album, and a horrendously overlooked group..."dear undecided" is the best beatles song that the beatles never recorded. 24 Jun 09 ·Major Minor: I agree this is the best version... I think it's the same one that's on the "Sunshine days" compilation.... The one on Captain Nemo isn't awful or anything, but the orchestral intro does go on a bit...
11 Jul 04 ·djfreshmoney: How about filling in the rest of the info, including the reasons you're recommending the song! Tell me why you think this group and the song are good! Without that, your recommendation isn't really worth anything. 12 Jul 04 ·eftimihn: Hmmm, there have been lots of new users lately that sign in and recommend some dozen songs without any information except title and song. Seems pretty pointless to me, i mean evryone could recommend 100 songs in an a couple of minutes that way. Apart from that, amazing song for sure... 12 Jul 04 ·delicado: I think the key is to assume no knowledge on the part of the reader when describing the track. A lot of us are so into our favorite music that perhaps for a moment we imagine everyone else is as well. But the fact is that with no explanation, a recommendation probably means nothing to most people. I love this song as well, although a fellow DJ once laughed at me for playing it in a bar! 23 Jul 04 ·konsu: My two cents may contribute to an already long thread but, I have to add as a writer on this site it takes guts to reccomend a Free Design song that doesn't sound like Stereolab. And I should mention the same for any DJ that plays them out. Let em' laugh
Delicado!
Alessandroni is probably best known for his characterstic whistling on Ennio Morricone's spaghetti soundtracks. Apart from that he was also one of the few sitar players at the time, guitar player, composer, arranger and the founder of the chorus group "I Cantori Moderni" that was featured on a lot of italian soundtracks of the 60s. In the early 70s he had the opportunity to record a "solo" album, not a score, with a big orchestra without any restrictions (which means it didn't had to fit the mood of a film). The result was "Prisma Sonoro" and it's very Morricone-esque stylewise and regarding the texture of the music with lush strings, horns, wordless vocals,harpsicords etc. Unfortunately it's scarcely available on vinyl, but the track "Punti di vista" was issued as "A spanish village" as a bonus track on the Hexacord release "Di Tresette Ce N'E' Uno Tutti Gli Altri Son Nessuno & Other Western Themes".
from Prisma Sonoro (Sermi) available on CD - Di Tresette Ce N'E' Uno Tutti Gli Altri Son Nessuno & Other Western Themes (Hexacord)
20 Aug 04 ·eftimihn: This track was also issued under yet another name, "Skyliner", on a Hexacord Alessandroni compilation called "Wizard Of Sound".
This bizarre Morricone pop tune sounds as if it came from a parallel universe. With an instrumental mix of guitar, harpsichord, bass and drums, it achieves the same kind of spooky, melancholic atmosphere as 'Deep Down', another Morricone film song from the same year. But in contrast to Christy's passionate vocal in 'Deep Down', Peter Bloom's delivery is light-hearted and much more low-key. Both tracks feature classic Morricone wordless vocal effects and some truly ridiculous lyrics. I haven't seen Partner, but I'd be interested to see how this song fits in to the story:
"I want to be your dazzling white knight
I'll splash you sizzling cool with bright light
I'll kiss your cleanliness
...Your soft, silkiness
Oh what happiness:
It's biological...
SPLASH
DASH
FLASH"
Ridiculous words, but the arrangement makes the track genuinely powerful. Shame Ennio didn't bring this one out for the crowd at the Royal Albert Hall last year.
from Partner OST (Cam) available on CD - Morricone a Go-Go
18 Jan 04 ·bobbyspacetroup: I love this song! I haven't seen Partner either but have heard it's pretty awful. 06 Oct 04 ·eftimihn: It's absolutely superb, that harpsicord sound is especially lovely and the lyrics are really weird throughout with Peter singing something with "my super-duper-baby/ we're goin' whoops-a-daisy" in the bridge part of the song... 23 Oct 04 ·megaphonerecords: i can't beleive it!!!!!!!! i first heard this song while i was living in australia. it shot right into my being & resonated hard. since i've been back in the states i've been trying to find this song with no luck. it's been 5 years now & this is the first time i've seen a sign that this song really exists & wasn't just a magical dream i had. maybe i'll be fortunate enough to actually hear this song again before i die! 02 Jul 06 ·dominb: I saw "Partner" at a revival at a cinema in Madrid and although Morricone does the whole s/track this song is the only pop number so it really stands out,the scene which accompanies it features the main character played by Pierre Clementi romping with his girlfriend in soap suds pouring out of a washing machine,he then jams her head in the washer's door and kills her!...Partner is a pretty pretentious film but it's odd enough to be enjoyable.When I saw it,this song was the high point for me,even though it only lasts a few mins....Where did you get this from? 02 Jul 06 ·dominb: ah..."morricone a go go"...I'll look out for it,must be a million morricone compilations,finding new morricone music is a hobby of mine! 03 Jan 13 ·delicado: To see the film clip with the music (dominb\'s description above is pretty accurate), visit http://youtu.be/ftueIAmdwBw
