A breathtaking cover of the Jerry Butler classic, drawn out to 11 1/2 minutes of heartwrenching glory. A true masterpiece from Hayes' most brilliant period. Beautiful string arrangements by Dale Warren, and ghostly backing vocals make this something that you won't soon forget.
from The Isaac Hayes Movement (Stax), available on CD (Stax/Fantasy)
A stomping uptempo cut of blue-eyed soul, replete with slicing fuzz guitar, almost angelic harmonies and a brilliant call-and-response chorus. A league beyond the mainstream schmaltz of their earlier hit "Girl Watcher".
Les Reed, the man behind the Dave Clark Five, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, the Fortunes, and so many more, leads his orchestra & chorus through this quadraphonic recording of the Thunderclap Newman hit. Absolutely frickin' brilliant, too.
Wow. This is just...wow. I've just gotta say that I have an absolutely unnatural attraction to this group. Imagine if you will, a chorus of super-square middle-aged white folks, swinging it's way through the rockin' hits of the day, only performing them all with absolutely perfect diction & grammar. The mastermind behind this way one Mr. Ray Bloch, who, according to the back cover to every one of the LPs that I own, was the musical director for the Ed Sullivan Show. All I know is that anything the man touched was gold! Check out his versions of "Penny Lane" and "Light My Fire" on the "Hits of '67" LP, or his absolutely quizzical take on the ENTIRE soundtrack from "Hair".
02 Dec 04 ·konsu: Too true... I love the cover too. With the spunky teens shopping and sippin' on ice cream sodas in a flower montage. 02 Dec 04 ·tinks: i'm glad i'm not alone in my unholy obsession!
The Teutonic funky drummer? Herr Thomas and his inimitable Sound Orchester turn in this terrific theme song to some long-lost detective show from German television. Shows that Thomas was as great a tv/film composer as Schifrin, Mancini, Barry, Budd or Jones.
available on CD - Moonflowers & Mini-Skirts (Marina)
06 Dec 05 ·Swinging London: That's another WILD track recommended by 'tinks'.
I'm SPINNING!