Five From The '65 Archive

I've been listening to Having A Rave Up With The Yardbirds recently, which then got me taking a sidestep and digging out music by female artists from the same year (1965).

I've selected five pop picks - four solo, one band - with an accompanying TV appearance (in black and white naturally). 

Sandie Shaw's performance of Long Live Love appears to be a rehearsal for Top Of The Pops, barefoot and bereft of any emotional response...and audience members! I love it.

No idea where Twinkle's version of Terry comes from, though it appears to be live on stage, rather than the studio. I first came to Terry via the cover version by Spell (Rose McDowall and Boyd Rice) in the early 1990s, though my proper introduction to Twinkle - like Sandie Shaw - was courtesy of The Smiths in the 1980s.

I had never heard of Goldie & The Gingerbreads until I acquired the superb compilation Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970 a few years ago. In 1963, they were the first all-female band to sign to a major label. Can't You Hear My Heartbeat gave the band their sole UK Top 30 single (#25) in March 1965. Lovely, though it seems very tame compared to the rest of today's company!

I'd also have said that I've never heard of Donna Loren either though, as well as being a singer, Donna also appeared (as 'Donna') in the movies Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach and Beach Blanket Bingo, as well as episodes of Batman and The Monkees, so I've unknowingly seen her countless times on screen before. This is her take on Shakin' All Over, backed by The Shindig Dancers. Groovy!

To end, as all things must, the wonderful Marianne Faithfull performing As Tears Go By on Top Of The Pops. Mesmerising.

 

How To Fall From Grace And Slide With Elegance From A Pedestal

Celebrating Marianne Faithfull, 29th December 1946 to 30th January 2025.

I was talking to Mrs. K, when Marianne's passing was announced on BBC News, so I was admittedly only half-listening as the prepared obituary was delivered, but the snippets I caught made me increasingly upset.

I know obituaries by their very nature frequently celebrate and devalue a life in a few paragraphs or minutes. Even so, the fragments that penetrated my consciousness seemed to focus on Marianne's achievements in the 1960s, living in the shadow of men (including several Rolling Stones) and the drugs. Of course, the drugs.

What I wasn't picking up was Marianne's incredible achievements beyond the 1970s and 1980s and well into the 21st Century, in the face of prejudice, preconception, misogyny, debilitating and near-fatal health challenges (not least COVID) and inevitably the ravages of time from life lived increasingly on her own terms.

I don't have a huge amount of Marianne's music in my collection, but it charts an incredible journey and a fearless confrontation and defiance of convention. Not just as a singer, but a songwriter (for Grace Jones), a collaborator (Bowie, Sly & Robbie, Patrick Wolf) and an interpreter of other's songs (everyone from Sonny & Cher to The Decemberists). 

Marianne released a single written by Serge Gainsbourg in 1967; forty years later, she revisited another of his songs to celebrate his life. Both are very special interpretations by a unique artist.

I've included a version of As Tears Go By, transmitted as part of a David Bowie special on US TV in 1973. The Rolling Stones regretted passing on the song when Marianne had a hit and belatedly recorded their own version. It's good, but not as good.

I've omitted Sister Morphine, the song Marianne subsequently co-wrote with and for the Stones. Likewise, I've not included the original version of Broken English, the title track of Marianne's 1979 album, opting instead for a remix and a cover version, both from the 2000s.

I bought a secondhand CD of Patrick Wolf's 2007 album The Magic Position (which is brilliant, by the way) and discovered halfway through the song Magpie, featuring a surprising and delightful appearance from Marianne. It's a highlight among highlights and just one example of her continuing relevance and inspiration to future generations of musicians.

Sliding Through Life On Charm, written with Jarvis Cocker, Mark Webber, Steve Mackey and Nick Banks from Pulp, is a semi-autobiographical rollercoaster and provides the title of today's post and tribute selection. To quote the full verse,

I wonder why the schools don't teach anything useful nowadays 

Like how to fall from grace 

and slide with elegance from a pedestal 

I never asked to be on in the first place

You can read much about Marianne, including much in her own words, but we'll never know the whole story, really know Marianne. But what a legacy she leaves.

Rest in power, Marianne.

1) Broken English (Baron Von Luxxury Light Touch Remix By Blake Robin) (Downtempo): Marianne Faithfull (2008)

2) I Got You Babe (Live @ The Marquee, London) (Cover of Sonny & Cher): David Bowie ft. Marianne Faithfull (1973)

3) I've Done It Again (Album Version): Grace Jones (1981)

4) The Crane Wife 3 (Cover of The Decemberists): Marianne Faithfull ft. Nick Cave (2008)

5) Guilt (Album Version): Marianne Faithfull (1979)

6) As Tears Go By (Live @ The Marquee, London): Marianne Faithfull (1973)

7) Hier Ou Demain: Marianne Faithfull (1967)

8) Lola R. For Ever (Lola Rastaquouère) (Cover of Serge Gainsbourg): Marianne Faithfull & Sly And Robbie (2006)

9) If I Never Get To Love You (Cover of Lou Johnson): Marianne Faithfull (1965)

10) Broken English (Cover of Marianne Faithfull): Claudia Brücken & Andrew Poppy (2004)

11) Magpie: Patrick Wolf ft. Marianne Faithfull (2007)

12) Sliding Through Life On Charm (Album Version): Marianne Faithfull (2002)

1965: Marianne Faithfull: 9

1979: Broken English: 5

1981: Nightclubbing: 3

2002: Kissin Time: 12

2004: Another Language: 10

2006: Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited: 8

2007: The Magic Position: 11

2008: Easy Come Easy Go: 4

2016: Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970: 7

2017: The 1980 Floorshow: 2, 6

2021: Luxxury Edits Vol. 3: 1

How To Fall From Grace And Slide With Elegance From A Pedestal (46:05) (KF) (Mega)

Life Could Have Been Very Different, But Then...

Celebrating Steve Mackey, 10th November 1966 to 2nd March 2023.

By sad coincidence, Steve appeared with Pulp in Tuesday's selection. On Thursday, he was gone at the age of 56. Far too soon.

It was when I was reading the tributes that followed that I began to appreciate how much of Steve's contribution to music outside of Pulp was sitting in my collection. So, rather than a straight selection of Pulp songs, I've gone a little wider and deeper.

Steve's partnership with Jarvis Cocker is undeniable and followed into the latter's solo albums and current releases as JARV IS... Steve and Jarvis also produced several remixes as The Chocolate Layers, with three included in today's selection.

 

I had no idea that he'd co-written, produced and later remixed (as Cavemen) M.I.A.'s debut single Galang. Or that he'd been behind the desk for Spiritualized's 2018 album And Nothing Hurt. Or that he'd produced The Long Blondes and Florence + The Machine. He had a hand in Race Of Life by Vangoffey too, a single from the 2015 collaboration between Louis Eliot (Rialto) and Danny Goffey (Supergrass). Steve also joined fellow Pulp members in writing and performing on Marianne Faithfull's 2002 album, Kissin Time.

 

And then there's Pulp. Not just the bass playing, the song writing, but a fringe to die for circa 1996. Far too many songs to choose from, but the selection starts and ends with two of my favourites, with a This Is Hardcore-era demo snuck in somewhere in between.

 

All in, an hour of Steve Mackey, with love and thanks. The title is taken from a line in this selection's final song and a tip of the hat for a life well lived. Rest in peace, Steve.

 

1) The Trees (Album Version By Scott Walker & Peter Walsh): Pulp (2001)

2) Pilchard (Album Version By Steve Albini & Jarvis Cocker): Jarvis Cocker (2009)

3) Weekend Without Makeup (Album Version By Steve Mackey & Richard Flack): The Long Blondes (2006)

4) Sliding Through Life On Charm (Album Version By Jarvis Cocker, Steve Mackey & Clive Goddard): Marianne Faithfull (2002)

5) Kiss With A Fist (Album Version By Steve Mackey & Richard Flack): Florence + The Machine (2009)

6) Galang (Cavemen Remix By Steve Mackey & Russ Orton): M.I.A. (2004)

7) Up A Tree Again (The Chocolate Layers' St. John's Ambulance Mix By Jarvis Cocker & Steve Mackey): Looper (1999)

8) Dirge (Cossack Apocalypse Mix By The Chocolate Layers aka Jarvis Cocker & Steve Mackey) (Edit): Death In Vegas ft. Dot Allison (2000)

9) My Erection (Demo): Pulp (1996)

10) Race Of Life (Album Version By Sam Dyson, Simon Byrt, Danny Goffey & Steve Mackey): Vangoffey (2015)

11) The Facts Of Life (Remixed By The Chocolate Layers aka Jarvis Cocker & Steve Mackey): Black Box Recorder (2000)

12) Am I Missing Something? (Pilooski/Jayvich Late Night Mix By Cedric Marszewski & Julien Vichnievsky): JARV IS... (2021)

13) Here It Comes (The Road) Let's Go (Album Version By Jason Pierce, Darren Lawson & Steve Mackey): Spiritualized (2018)

14) Something Changed (Album Version By Chris Thomas): Pulp (1996)

 

Life Could Have Been Very Different, But Then... (1:00:25) (Box) (Mega)