EarBassoon

Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers, and the indomitable Gordon Sumner deliver live! Nuanced kinetic magicianship.

The spirit of an Age. Three Dog Night, featuring Chuck Negron {lead vocal}, Danny Hutton, and Cory Wells. Don't miss our earlier post on this mighty outfit.

Oud maestro Driss El Maloumi.

also! The great Salman Shukur.

Marc Almond summons up the magical seductive powers of his, in these wondrous performances. Somerville inclusion in the lattermost!

An impassioned performance at The Grammys, 1984, by Bonnie Tyler. The Jim Steinman-penned Total Eclipse of the Heart. Drama!

And don't forget about Rory Dodd!

Top o' the Pops, 1984, below.

The Manhattan Transfer, featuring the great Janis Siegel.

"Bill Spivery, a largely forgotten Black gospel singer from Phenix City, Alabama and Cleveland, Ohio, wrote "Operator" in the 50s. Spivery originally recorded his song in 1959 as the frontman for his gospel quartet, The Friendly Brothers.

The song was released as a 45 rpm in 1959. A copy of the 45 ended up with Tim Hauser, then a young disc jockey with a Cleveland radio station. The station didn't want it; Hauser liked it, kept it and remembered it.

When Hauser and the members of TMT were putting together their first album for the Atlantic label, Hauser remembered the song and, with Siegel, developed the stunning arrangement they are still doing today. It was TMT's biggest hit, making #22 on the pop chart in 1975.

Unlike many Black songwriters, Spivery wasn’t cheated out of his royalties. In fact, TMT made a point of contacting Spivery and held a banquet in his honor in Hollywood to celebrate their mutual hit."

per: Wickersham's Conscience

Oh, Canada! The Four Lads, with Istanbul {Not Constantinople}, 1953. Thanks to the Lads for clearing everything up!

The great Stevie Wonder, with an unstoppable performance at the Grammy's, 1975. Variety magazine states: "He was fervent Pentecostal preacher crossed with rabble-rouser statesman, whipping congregations and constituents into a frenzy. When he performed “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” at the 1975 Grammys, the A-listers assembled, which included Helen Reddy, Tony Orlando, Gladys Knight and the Pips and “Poetry Man” singer Phoebe Snow, went absolutely insane."

The iconic New York Dolls, in 1973 on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Jet Boy, the closing track on their legendary debut album. RIP David Johansen. The Truly Great One.

The Turtles, featuring Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman {aka Flo and Eddie}, delve deep into the Uplift Program.

Noted bon vivant Charlie Barnet with his Big Band, performing his wondrous composition Skyliner.

Noted optimist Christopher Cross, with a couple of wondrous ventures into things.

Dobie Gray performs his enduring classic Drift Away on The Old Grey Whistle Test, July 9, 1974. Written by Mentor Williams, the brother of Paul Williams, this song turned out to be a monster hit for Gray, who delivered an unquestionably soulful, uplifting rendition. He could do the same live, as he does here, and on The Midnight Special, below, April 20, 1973. Dobie was hardly a stranger to the inducement of hand-clapping, and he shows his credentials here. Not quite at the standing World Record level, but It Exists. 

Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers perform their monster hit Why Do Fools Fall In Love live on the Frankie Laine Show in 1956. The 13 year old Lymon simply sizzles and electrifies the Nation with this performance; the prodigy already has a fully formed vocal delivery many talents never attain. His phrasing already is highly developed. Words have a different sound, and even meaning, coming from his mouth. Note the mæstro-ism in his approach: rather than hitting the same nail with the selfsame hammer, he eschews the falsetto moments for a more Joe Williams-esque way forward. It strikes this curator that the wunderkind might well have heard a Williams record, and decided, just for fun, to see if he could take a page from the legendary jazz singer’s book. His stage presence is magnetic yet composed, and, oh, Lymon is a brilliant dancer, too. Other than that, well….but wait! He gives a calm, charming interview (of sorts) with host Laine. I suppose all that’s good enough. In closing, one should mention that, although the electrifying youngster was given credit for composing this song, the erstwhile frontman Herman Santiago, a doddering, decrepit, shambling Methuselean figure at 15 years of age, is the human being most likely to have done so.

The extraordinary, powerful, and, upon its 1965 release, highly controversial composition Eve of Destruction is performed live by vocalist Barry McGuire on the Hullabaloo show. McGuire, after being introduced by Jerry Lewis, delivers an emotionally charged rendition that made ripples---more like tsunami---across the US. September 20, 1965, the very day after the song hit #1 nationwide, was the day. Composer P.F. Sloan recalls a few fascinating and unlikely (as in, almost credulity-straining...yet not) details: during the studio recording session, “Barry was reading it for the first time off a piece of paper I had written the lyric on! Okay. McGuire's record is released but 'Eve' is the B-side. Somewhere in the Great Midwest of America a DJ played the wrong side by mistake!”. Banned and (very wrongly) denounced as unpatriotic, Eve only became more and more popular, most likely benefiting from all the wild, incorrect accusations and censure. Its creator and performer were not so fortunate, however; Sloan:  “It ruined Barry's career as an artist and in a year I would be driven out of the music business too.”.

The moving studio version audio track (there was one, and only one, recorded), with accompanying warfare and related barbarities. All too often amidst the hysteria, something is lost: the poetry. This is a brilliant--and cleverly worded---song. “You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace; Hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say Grace”. A final note, and note well: “To cure an ill you need to know what is sick.” And really finally: “In my youthful zeal I hadn't realized that this would be taken as an attack on The System!” (composer and 19 year old backlash of ______ victim P.F. Sloan).

Liza Minnelli performs Cabaret, live in 1972. With such an electrifying stage presence, one could get by on that alone, but Ms. Minnelli possesses a staggering mezzo-soprano vocal ability that induces chills. The fact that her mother Judy Garland’s voice comes through at times can be terribly poignant, but also is without a doubt a thing of beauty. Here’s to Liza...and Judy.