Lissie gets trapped by the mainstream aspirations of Sony UK
Listening to Lissie’s major label debut is a familiar experience, in that she’s not the first artist to surrender the organic qualities of her roots in the process of aiming for a larger audience. Where her debut EP, Why You Runnin’, turned deeply confessional moments into arresting outbursts of emotion, her follow-up feels forcedly written, sung and played. Where the debut offered the studio as a space in which Lissie could be heard singing, the album is filled with placeless overproduction that, aside from the quality of Lissie’s voice, sounds disappointingly like other pop records on the market. The edginess that made Lissie’s earlier vocals so magnetic is lost here as she’s forced to compete with gratuitously busy arrangements; it feels as if the producers didn’t trust her voice to keep listeners’ attention.
The double-tracked “Stranger†does provide a clever modern twist on Buddy Holly and Bobby Fuller, but it’s only a moment’s respite from the album’s banal guitar solos and pop-rock arrangements. The minutes of deep artistic accomplishment belong to the songs brought forward from the EP: “Little Lovin’,†“Everywhere I Go†and “Oh Mississippi.†On these, Lissie’s voice is riveting, the arrangements build tension rather than volume, and the instruments create atmosphere rather than distracting complexity. Lissie’s moving, gospel-based homage to the mother river is perfectly set to a sparse arrangement of piano, chorus and distant tambourine, and the spine-tingling emotion shot into lyrics like “danger will follow me, now, everywhere I go†are unmatched by any of the newer performances.
It’s still difficult to reconcile the harrowing portraits of Phil Spector presented by Mark Ribowsky and Mick Brown with the heart-tugging legacy of the Wall of Sound. The awe-inspiring images of the teen tycoon depicted by Tom Wolfe and Richard Williams now seem whitewashed, but they make lovely companions to the heart and soul still heard in Spector’s records.
Spector apparently loved the celebration of Christmas so much that he claimed to have been born on December 25th, but most reliable records now date his birth to December 26, 1940, making today his 70th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mr. Spector.
Veil lifted from terrific mid-60s pop/garage hoaxers
Although the Strangeloves were reputed to be a trio of Australian brothers (Giles, Miles and Niles Strange), they were actually a successful New York songwriting and production team. Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer wrote and produced the Angels’ “My Boyfriend’s Back,†but in the British Invasion’s wake they opted for the mystery of foreign roots. The deception worked, as their debut single “I Want Candy†hit #11, and the rhythmic follow-up “Cara-Lin†cracked the Top 40. Their final chart success, the hard-driving “Night Time,†topped out at #30 and was selected (in its edited single form) by Lenny Kaye for the seminal Nuggets album. The trio played a few live dates, but the bulk of the Strangeloves’ touring was handled by the studio musicians who worked on the records.
Perhaps the most famous track recorded by the Strangeloves was their non-charting version of “Hang on Sloopy.†Written by Bert Russell (for whose Bang label the Strangeloves recorded) and Wes Farrell, the backing track was reused for the McCoy’s hit single. The version here includes the extra verse cut from the McCoys’ single (the uncut McCoys version appears on One Hit Wonders of the ‘60s, Vol. 2). The Strangeloves’ biggest hit, “I Want Candy,†was reborn with the 1982 new wave cover by Bow Wow Wow. The album’s cover songs, including Gary U.S. Bonds’ “New Orleans†and “Quarter to Three,†Johnny Otis’ “Willie and the Hand Jive†and the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction†are all sung in the group’s trademark style, heavy on the vocals and rhythm.
The New York City based Sorrows (not to be confused with the Don Fardon-fronted freakbeat band The Sorrows) was founded by Arthur Alexander (not to be confused with the R&B hit maker who recorded “You Better Move On,†“Soldier of Love†and “Annaâ€) following the dissolution of the Poppees. Unlike the Poppees die-hard Merseybeat inflections, Sorrows early ‘80s releases for CBS (1980’s Teenage Heartbreak and 1981’s Love Too Late) were more in line with the power pop sounds of 1970s bands such the Motors, Records, Plimsouls and Beat. You can still hear the early Beatles influences in their chiming pop, and the urgency of melodic punk rock (ala The Undertones) also made an impression, but it was the pure pop sounds of the Raspberries, Badfinger and others that really held sway.
The band played CBGB’s, Max’s Kansas City and other key New York clubs, but their albums failed to break nationally, and by mid-decade, they’d broken up. Their official CBS-released albums remain unreissued to this day, which makes this collection so especially welcome. The sixteen tracks include resequenced versions of the twelve titles from their debut album, the non-LP originals “That’s Your Problem†and “Silver Cloud,†and live covers of the Rolling Stones’ “Off the Hook†and Goffin & King’s “Chains.†The liner notes are cagey as to whether these tracks are distinct performances from the album takes, mentioning tapes rescued from a demolition dumpster and advising “this is not a reissue of previously released tracks.â€
Mid-60s San Francisco rock and pop from the Autumn label
