Guest Howard
GuestForum Replies Created
-
Now Lisa, you always wanted to be a punk rocker, with flowers in your hair. Well, how about this one from the first punk rockers outside the US. Written by guitarist Ed Kuepper and singer Chris Bailey.
-
Or how about this rocking, bluesy version by Australian guitarist Nathan Cavaleri, (featuring Chris Bailey, formerly the lead singer of the Saints), taken from the album ‘Jammin’ With The Cats’ in 1993.
Nathan was only eleven years old at the time. Now Lisa, are you up for this guitar challenge?
As for the Saints, they were from Brisbane, Australia and one of the first punk bands to emerge in the 1970s! Their first single was “Stranded”, released in 1976.
-
Maybe time for another Elvis cover. How about this one in their “That’s All Right, Mama” and “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” (Nancy Sinatra Cover) live style.
I can just imagine the MLT doing this live, with Mona on acoustic guitar, swinging her hips Elvis the Pelvis style. Or, better still, a studio version with Mona on drums and acoustic, Lisa on guitar, Rudi on bass and Michaela on saxophone!
-
This is a question that was asked in October last year and following is Lisa’s response at the time:
“Well, you wouldn’t believe HOW difficult it is to come up with something that isn’t yet taken. When you get frustrated, frustrated enough and smash your head into the keyboard a few times … Woolgoose Records appears”.
-
Thanks for that Jacki. I just tested the Search function on my iPhone and it worked beautifully. Well done once again Papa Rudi! Yabba, dabba do!
-
Well done with your cruise ship on the Canadian Atlantic Jung. You certainly get around. And very fortunate missing hurricane Dorian. We have been ravaged by many bush fires here this week as we haven’t had any rain for ages and everything is so dry. Couple that with an early summer and very windy conditions and our firefighters are stretched in two of our Eastern states. Don’t forget you can pick up some MLT music on Spotify if you aren’t able to access their albums or Jukebox!
I agree with you about MLT and “A Whiter shade Of Pale”. It would truly be something else. However, it would be a major project and would probably take too much of their valuable time from their important new album work. Perhaps next year they’ll have some spare time to satisfy our constant covers requests.
-
However, getting back to the Hollies, this song has MLT stamped all over it. The video is also an excellent example of the Hollies rather unique recording process in the sixties. “The Hollies Remember – On a Carousel (various session segments)”, EMI Abbey Road studio, 1967.
Now I’m sure Lisa would just love to have a go at Hicks’ guitar work here and Mona at Bobby Elliot’s drumming style and the vocals are just crying out for the MonaLisa treatment!
-
I know what you mean David. The MLT certainly share that beautiful, positive and happy sixties sound and wonderful harmonies of groups like the Turtles. This is probably my favourite from them:
-
The TURTLES ~ “IT AIN’T ME BABE” 1965
-
“Sloop John B” is my favourite Beach Boys recording and I have previously suggested it as a potential MLT cover also.
The Kinks, Tired of Waiting for You would be nice but my preferred MLT cover would be for “Waterloo Sunset”, “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” or “Sunny Afternoon” (in their “Daydream” style perhaps).
As for the Turtles, my preference would be for “She’d Rather Be with Me” or their cover of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe”. I’m sure there’s an MLT live audio of this from a radio show somewhere, but not the Turtles’version.
‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ is a brilliant and classic sixties song but I have never seen any covers to compare with Procul Harum’s original. It would be difficult for anyone to cover successfully and is heavily dependant on the extraordinary vocals of Gary Brooker and unique Hammond organ sound from Matthew Fisher who eventually won a partial co-writing credit in 2009. However, Annie Lennox released a brilliant cover in 1995.
The following is an extract from Wikipedia. Rather long but very interesting. I recommend you read the full Wikipedia article if you can find the time.
“‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ is the debut single by the British rock band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967 and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. One of the anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of the best selling singles in history, having sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.With its Bach-derived instrumental melody, soulful vocals, and unusual lyrics – by the song’s co-authors Gary Brooker, Keith Reid and Matthew Fisher – “A Whiter Shade of Pale” reached number 1 in many countries when released in 1967. In the years since it has become an enduring classic. It was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the UK (as of 2009), and the United Kingdom performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone placed “A Whiter Shade of Pale” 57th on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
In 1977, the song was named joint winner (along with Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”) of “The Best British Pop Single 1952–1977” at the Brit Awards.
The song is in moderate time in C major and is characterised by the bassline moving stepwise downwards in a repeated pattern throughout. In classical music, this is known as a ground bass. The harmonic structure is identical for the organ melody, the verse, and the chorus, except that the chorus finishes with a cadence. The main organ melody appears at the beginning and after each verse/chorus. But it is also heard throughout, playing variations of its theme and counterpointing the vocal line. As the chorus commences “And so it was, that later …”, the vocal and organ accompaniment begin a short crescendo, with the organist running his finger rapidly down and up the entire keyboard. The final instrumental fades out to silence – a common device in pop music of the time.
A BBC Radio 4 programme in the 2018 series “Soul Music” pointed out the resemblance between the Hammond Organ line of “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and J.S.Bach’s Air from his Orchestral Suite No. 3 BWV1068, (the “Air on the G string”) where the sustained opening note of the main melodic line flowers into a free-flowing melody against a descending bass line.
Our problem is Jung, there is so much we’d like the MLT to do and unfortunately for us, they are just a small family ‘cottage industry’ with limited resources and most of their time needs to be devoted to creating their own original masterpieces!
-
I agree with you Skip. I’ve had (Don’t Fear) The Reaper on my playlist for over forty years now. Great song. I can well imagine Lisa on bass and Mona on acoustic guitar accompanying Mike Massee.
-
Yep, whoever uploaded the video of The Cryin Shames’ performance in France, included a photo of the wrong group with the video. It always pays not to trust everything you see on the internet. Some people are lazy with their research!
-
No, I’m not confused. The Cryan’ Shames are a band from Chicago, Illinois as you state. Their most successful moment came with their cover of The Searchers song, “Sugar and Spice”. Their first single was supposed to be George Harrison’s song, “If I Needed Someone”, but was not released in the US (but included on their debut album).
The Cryin Shames were from Liverpool and featured two lead singers, of which Charlie [Paul] Crane sings “Please Stay”. Released in February, 1966, it was a minor hit, peaking at #26 in the UK Singles Chart.
The two bands had more than a name in common. They were both sextets with two lead singers. The unique thing about the Chicago band was the tamborine player and singer Jim Pilster (“J.C. Hooke”), so named because he was born without a left hand and wore a hook. I think because of the similar names and personnel, some web detail could be incorrect. However, the photos following should clarify the different bands.
The picture above is the Liverpool band. The picture below is the Chicago band.
-
I challenge you to sing along with this MonaLisa song, substituting David’s “Spoon” lyrics, while keeping a straight face! I recommend you have your dessert first!
-
Hi Rudi. Sorry to be a pest. I have the same issue on my iPhone, iPad and Apple MacAir.
