Yes, I'm none too keen on the Gary Osborne period of Elton's work. On the three early 80s albums where he was writing with different lyricists alongside Taupin ('A Single Man' didn't feature Taupin at all), I tend to feel he did more interesting work with Tom Robinson and Tim Rice.
One of Paul McCartney's songs.Originally Posted by no.nine
Im not sure if this is "beautiful" or not, but its definitely a personal fave:
Whatever happened to Sixpence None the Richer?
I bought a "Best Of" on the strength of "Kiss Me" and found that I liked almost everything on there, including "There She Goes". I thought a few tunes showed maybe a bit too much Radiohead influence (which surprised me), but they were still pretty good songs. Some songs had lyrics which were too blatantly religious for my taste, and coupled with the fact that the audio was compressed and very loud, making it difficult for me to actually enjoy listening to it, unfortunately means that I no longer have it.
But yes, I think in terms of beautiful pop craft, they've got it going on! BTW, although you may already know this, they do a drop dead gorgeous version of "Don't Dream It's Over" - and that's coming from someone who never cared much for Crowded House's original!
Yes. And it's beautiful.
"I tah dah nur!" - Ike
^Sorry I wasn't meaning to imply you weren't aware of that fact, just speaking generally. This was a man with so much talent he could afford to 'give away' songs of the calibre of that, 'Step Inside Love' and 'Come And Get It', all in the same period.
Beatles-related gems...George Harrison has some very soulful recordings, 'All Things Must Pass' (the song), 'Be Here Now' and 'Who Can See It' are some personal favourites.
One lesser known gem I adore is The Hollies' 'Wings'. It was one of the last recordings they did with Graham Nash and it's like a psychedelic Everly Brothers- gorgeous. However it only came out on a various artists charity album at the time (the same one 'Across The Universe' was on) so it remains known only to fans of the band. A shame.
Talking of The Everly Brothers, they have many recordings that could be listed here- 'All I Have To Do Is Dream' and 'Let It Be Me' spring to mind.
Indeed. It's extraordinary, in fact. "A World Without Love" is another example of a song which I think was Beatles caliber, yet he let Peter and Gordon have it. And come to think of it, that's another one which I think fits the topic of this thread rather nicely.
Going back to "Goodbye" for a moment, I've heard Paul's acoustic guitar demo, and while it's already a lovely song, Mary's version somehow managed to take it up a few notches. Her voice was certainly a big part of it, but the production and arranging also added magic to the tune.
"I tah dah nur!" - Ike
Apparently 'A World Without Love' wasn't highly thought of by its writers, but I personally think it's perhaps the best of the early songs they 'gave away'. Could do without that rinky-dink organ solo in the Peter and Gordon version though, very dated sounding now. But a great song.
Peter and Gordon had another song, "Woman", which was credited to someone called Bernard Webb, but that was a pseudonym Paul McCartney. This was done to see if P&G could get hits without the lennon/McCartney tag. I liked it better than "World Without Love".
1966 was a terrific year for music. Here's another one; overlain on top of a beautiful melody, the lyrics tell of longing for a past that can never be recaptured, and was one of the first "environmental awareness" songs:
'Woman' was a case of a good song given to the wrong performers IMHO- their voices weren't really that strong. I think it would have better suited someone like PJ Proby, who'd done 'That Means A Lot'.
For their 'greatest rock band in the world' reputation, the Jagger/Richards partnership gave us some really lovely tunes, some of which they didn't record themselves. 'Ruby Tuesday', 'Lady Jane', 'Sittin' On A Fence', 'So Much In Love'...
Oh no, please. I couldn't stand PJ Proby, who always sounded to me as though someone was trying to choke him as he sang.
"There's a place fawwwr urrssss... sooom-a-wheah a place fawwwr urrssss"
Has anyone mentioned these yet? Sublime!
I agree, although I do have a strong sentimental attachment to both A Single Man and The Fox. There's some lovely stuff on both.
Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a life for you?
I used to have A Single Man on vinyl, but have never felt a great need to upgrade to CD. It's really only the two closing tracks, "Madness" and "Song For Guy" that make this one worthwhile, I think. I feel much the same about The Fox - there is "Carla/Etude" (which then segues into the rather boring "Chloe") and there is "Elton's Song", and that's about it for me.
In retrospect it's pretty clear that he was consciously or subconsciously trying to let the world know about his sexuality at this time. Both these albums have strong gay undercurrents - "A Single Man" is a well-known gay-themed novel, and the song "The Fox" almost certainly was inspired by the character in "The Well of Loneliness", an early novel in which the main character is a lesbian.
Last edited by bob_32_116; 06-22-2015 at 03:06 AM.
I'm not keen on 'A Single Man', some songs on that are overlong and yet underwritten- 'It Ain't Gonna Be Easy' springs to mind. But 'Song For Guy' is worthy of mention here and in the instrumental thread.
I'd agree with No Pride that 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight' is an obvious nomination here, I think it's his all-time creative peak.
Spandau Ballet - "True"
Celine Dion - "My Heart Will Go On"
"Normal is just the average of extremes" - Gary Lessor
I'm calling on these. Each to their own, and my opinion is no more valid than yours, but I hate both these songs with a passion. They certainly hurt me to listen to them, but not because I find them beautiful.
I'm sorry, but I did not feel I could let this go unchallenged.
An excellent pastiche of '60s pop, created decades later. Along the same lines, XTC in disguise as "The Dukes of Stratosphear" made two EPs (later joined together as a full length album called "Chips From the Chocolate Fireball") of '60s style pop and psychedelia. My favorite two tracks are this homage to The Beach Boys:
and... this one in the style of The Hollies (?):
I don't think I ever heard that one, but The Association had some great tunes! I recently heard "Never My Love" on an oldies radio station. "Cherish" was another lovely tune of theirs. I saw them back in the day, but I was too young to remember much about it.
"I don't think I ever heard that one, but The Association had some great tunes!"
My favorite part is the closing section, about the last 30 seconds. It even has a, dare I say, progressive flavor!
Mine too; that was cool!
So matchless and sad...
Perhaps it is simply over-play, i.e. heard too many times?
I like the former for it's simplicity, and I like to sing along. The latter I like for the Uilleann pipes, and the way it builds.
"Normal is just the average of extremes" - Gary Lessor
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