Petula Clark- These Are My Songs

Trying to finish off this month and trying to steam roll past the remaining posts.  Here is this album I got for $1.  Being a decent fan of Pet Clark’s, I have posted numerous albums of her’s on this blog.

This album was released in 1967, her second release of that year.  It went to # 27 in the US and #38 in the UK. It also produced two singles, “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” and the previously released “This is My Song” which went to #1 in the US.

 

There were a lot of decent songs but I went with my favorite from The Umbrella’s of Cherbourg, “I Will Wait For You”.  Yes, I realize I already posted that song once this month.

Satisfactory album.  Was not kidding about getting this done.

Petula Clark- Color My World/ Who Am I

Perhaps you have noticed that the quality or length of my posts goes down the closer to the end of the month. Well, if I am getting smart ( and I think I am), I should start using artists who appear frequently on this blog towards the end. And so there is this, which I bought for 80 cents.  

This was Petula Clark’s 6th US record, released in 1967 (with a similar record released in the UK).  The two title tracks were singles in the US the year prior. The album contains songs from various artists including Roger Miller and Paul McCatrney as well as collaboration between Clark and others.  

One such collaboration was this track, “Las Vegas” which I felt was really swinging.  That it kind of belonged in the movie Casino.  I really liked this track for many reason, one of which that this is an English woman belting out a song about the bright lights and dark underbelly of Vegas.

Other than that, this was a pretty good album of songs.  Satisfactory.

Tom Jones- I (Who Have Nothing)

Here comes another month of Donkey Show despite it being the 3rd.  Off on holiday today and tomorrow for July 4th and trying to get as many of these posts done.  At first, I thought this was a lackluster month when I was looking at the records I pulled.  However, after listening to the songs for a week, I felt this was a pretty good selection.  Kind of all over the place as well as some real good songs.  When ever I find a song that I want to add to my repertoire, it is a good month.  This month there were four of them.  Anyway, here is this to start off from Tom Jones.  $2 was the cost with discount.  The Half Price at Veteran’s Memorial (the only Half Price I went to this Memorial Day Sale) no longer has the $1 records. Most of them are now $2.50.

Ah, Wales… The Land of Song.  Other than Charlotte Church, Duffy, John Cale, The Darkness, Manic Street Preachers, Goldie Lookin’ Chain, and Bonnie Tyler (who I just assumed was American), I am hard pressed to think of anyone else than Tom Jones.  Also, I am reminded of Kevin, the Welsh machinist who I knew in Corpus. The later in the day, the more alcohol he drank and the more he drank, the easier he was to understand.  Always ended up in the Safari Bar, which was known as the place old (65+) people went to hook up as well as where people went when they got kicked out of other bars at night.  Also had the longest last call in town. They had an immaculate waterfall inside but alas, it got new ownership and it is gone (or at least last time I was there 10 years ago, it was gone). But oh, woe to the man or woman who found themselves in the Safari at 2 am.

But back to Jones, this was his 15th or so album.  Released in 1970, it went Gold shooting up to #10 in the UK/ # 23 in the US.  Pretty decent album, it produced two singles, the title track and “Daughter of Darkness”.

While looking (or listening more accurately) for a sample, I was struck with the fact that there were a lot of songs that are staples of this site. Songs such as “Try A Little Tenderness”, “Lodi”, and  Rod McKuen’s “Love’s Been Good To Me” seem to always make their way to this blog.  However, I decided to buck convention and go with “See Saw”.

Good album.  Satisfactory.

Petula Clark-Just Pet

This was a dollar.  I like the English pop girls enough to buy it.  Kind of weird as I am back to getting a jump and writing these posts in advance.  By the way things have been going two weeks in advance.  Who knows what things have transpired between the time I am writing this and the time it gets posted?  Will there even be a use for music blogs in this future? What bleak existence would it be otherwise?

Well, just in case there still are music blogs, there is this from UK hipstress Petula Clark. After working the same child entertainer circuit that produced Julie Andrews, Clark found adult fame, first in France, then in the UK, and then finally, the whole world.  I had done an earlier post on her but apparently, I was pressed for time then as well as there is not much more information in that post either.  Well, at the very least, at the time of this writing, Clark is still with us. So there is some light left in the world.

This would have been her 30th record maybe?  I lost count somewhere around the 20’s.  Of course journalistic standards have been in decline so who is counting these things? Anyway, it was released in 1969.  Decent album. A couple real good spots and nothing I would classify as poor.  I liked “Fill The World With Love”, “Happy Together”, “No One Better Than You” and the Beatles’ “Fool On The Hill”.

However for samples, I went with another Beatles’ song “Hey Jude” which I felt was very good.  Normally, as I believe I pointed out either last month or some time this month, the covers of this particular song usually fall pretty flat. In fact, listening to it again right now, I am taken aback on how good it is. It has a gospel style piano line, its sung with a whole lot of soul for an English white girl, and finally unlike most cover versions of this song, they do not skimp on the ending. I felt Clark’s version held up well. I also went with the French “Je N’aurai Pas Le Temps” or ” If I Only Had Time”. PS.  It is not in French.

Decent album.  Satisfactory.  Let’s hope the future allows for more blogging.  I do have too many records I need to go thru.

Cliff Richard- It’s All In The Game

DSCN5071 (1024x1012)This was $3.00.  I got it because I have been fascinated with Cliff Richard for some time.  Moreover, I am curious why a radical like the People’s Poet would be fascinated in Cliff Richard.

I asked someone abroad to explain Cliff Richard to me.  They said he was the British Elvis.  I call bunk on this since Richard is still alive and not dead on a toilet.  But this is an apt description I guess.  Before the Beatles, he was the UK’s biggest pop singer.  With his backing band, The Shadows, Richard burst on the scene in 1958.portrait with guitar about the young musicans

Over a 50 plus year career, with subsequent ups and downs, Richard scored 14 UK #1 singles, numerous top 20 albums, singles, and eps, and pretty much every British award a singer can earn.  They even made a musical about him with four performers playing the title role.  It was not very successful, however.

Cliff’s Webpage

This was Cliff’s second album to be released in the US.  It came out long after he was established in the UK, in 1964. It consists of previous released UK singles, some cuts from eps, and a few songs from unreleased sessions. It is alright but it is relatively romantic album and not the wild Presley/Little Richard style rock and roll Richard was supposedly known for at the time.  The title track, “Secret Love”  and “I Only Have Eyes For You” stand out as well as the song which I am using for a sample.DSCN5072 (1024x1007)

That song is “Where The Four Winds Blow’ which is pretty good.  cliff_richards

But as far as repacked foreign compilations go, this one is pretty meh compared to what Richard’s UK output was at the time.

Marianne Faithfull-ST

DSCN2387This was $1.  The album cover is in terrible shape and I would argue that it barely constitutes for a cover.  The album itself is in better shape.Marianne-Faithfull-with-h-001

Marianne Faithfull has had a storied career filled with highs and lows.  Born in Hampstead, London in 1946 with links to nobility, Faithfull started singing folk songs in coffee houses when she was discovered by the manager of the Rolling Stones.  After a few albums and some successful albums, she left her husband to become the girlfriend of Mick Jagger, and becoming a drug addict in the process.  In 1970, she would end with Mick but not the drugs which would wreck her voice.  After a recovery in the mid-seventies, Faithfull returned with new albums that showcased her new raw, cracked voice.  In a sense, she was able to re-invent herself.  Through the years, she would push her limits further going into country, punk, jazz, blues, and even Weimar-era German music hall.  She is still alive at the time of this post.

 

Faithfull’s Webpage Biography

This was her second album but weirdly enough, it was released the same day as her first, which was a collection of folk songs.  This record was more pop oriented.  “Come Stay With Me”, written by Del Shannon, was the big hit single.  Other highlights include the Stones’ “As Tears Go By”, the Beatles’ “I’m A Loser”, and Del Shannon’s “In My Time of Sorrow”.  The album would go to # 15 in the UK and # 12 in the US.DSCN2388

For a sample, I went with “Time Takes Time” which I felt was the best song on the album and The Beatles’ “I’m A Loser”, just to get Beatles content up thereSMH METROPOLITAN FAITHFUL PIC SHOWS MARIANNE FAITHFULL PIC SUPPLIED.

Satisfactory record.  I do not think I would care for later work but would be interested in getting my hands on the fore-mentioned folk album.