Stunning version of this old standard. Jimmy Scott's voice is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful things in the world. I've never heard anybody else who could channel so much pain into a song. Regardless of your feelings toward David Lynch, you have to respect him for rescuing Scott's career from obscurity.
24 Jul 01 ·delicado: yeah, I picked up the European reissue of this album recently, and have to agree with you on its power. I first came across Scott on the 'fire, walk with me' soundtrack, and for many years, 'Jimmy Scott' was just that strange voice. I only figured out the gender quite recently.
This is partly a recommendation, partly a request for information if anybody has it. (hope thats not an abuse of the website)
I recorded this by accident off of a John Peel show in the late 70s/early 80s. Its a dance-y dub-by version of a old American square dance song I believe. Its not unlike Malcolm Maclarens stuff of the same time in concept, but its al lot more taste.
So does anybody else know it?
03 Mar 05 ·n-jeff: Hmmm, Sounds like the sort of thing the Suns of Arqa were up to at that time, the early stuff tended to mix uptempo dubby backings with guitar and or fiddle, and then do something daft like phase the hell out of it. I should say it would be worth eliminating, I'll try and find te hname of the LP I have thats like that.
Suns of Arqa - Sounds like thunder ? could be... 04 Mar 05 ·mattypenny: Jeff - judging by the website, that's a really good call. I shall investigate...Thanks, Matt 19 Dec 05 ·n-jeff: Glad to be of assistance.
Suns of Arqa are well worth checking out anyway, I saw them live a couple of times in their Indian phase, Tabla's, Sitar, drums and Wadada on deep bass. At the time there was no-one like it. Nice.
A bewitching song about a young woman who, to win the hand of a handsome knight, does her rival sister in. The dead girl then comes back to haunt the �black-haired bride� as a harp fashioned from her breast bone and three locks of her hair. �Cruel� may seem too kindly a description of a girl who when her sister pleads, �Oh Sister, Sister, let me live, and all that�s mine I�ll surely give� says, �It�s your own true love I have and more, but thou shalt never come ashore� before abandoning her body to the rough North Sea. Cruel? Should the sister therefore be scalded for her little� transgression? She�s an evil and monstrous sister, surely? But then this is centuries past, a time when sibling murder and human harps were commonplace. I am not likely to understand in this more civilised 21st century. Which may be why the kids don�t really dig British folk music anymore, or the mighty Pentangle. And it�s a crying shame because this is a stunning track, hauntingly sung by Jacqui McShee. I hesitate to use the term �masterpiece� in case that great oracle of musicaltaste.com, fmars, overhears and tells me that I�m wrong.
from Cruel Sister
02 Jun 05 ·konsu: Alright.In your own special way you've convinced me rum. I've been told for years to pick up some Pentangle by certain freinds (the ones who hear me playing Steeleye Span). Surely I must be missing out on something... I will consult the great one. 03 Jun 05 ·rum: Heh-heh, thank you. I�m certain you�ll appreciate these, you�ve got eclectic taste, you�re not gonna be out for my blood (unlike all those that have begged and borrowed, stolen from their dying grandmothers, to buy Manowar CDs). And they�re no way as folk folk as the Span, they spin out an equally eclectic mix of folk, jazz, blues, rock and Elizabethan dances. It�s time people stopped harping on how great it was that the Velvets, the Stooges, punk etc made you wanna go out and form a band. So simple they sounded. Pentangle are so incredibly talented, so learned, so jazz, but still so unassuming and cool, they make you want pack up the band, trash the guitar, and burn down your house. Or is that Jet? I don�t know now. Well anyway the �Sweet Child� album is the one.
