The Gatlin Bros. are a little out of my realm. But I remember why I got this. Someone or someones were saying how much I looked like Larry Gatlin. I didn’t really follow the Gatlins but I knew they were wildly popular in the 70s and 9. So with every one calling me Larry I better figure out who he was. Used records, don’t know where. but I picked up “Greatest Hits.” My hair has long ago left me so I don’t think I look like Gatlin unless he has a large hair deficit.
This is the type of country I didn’t like a bunch–county-politan — or something like that. (It’s all right with Dolly).
But I did enjoy some of the songs here: Broken Lady and ‘Statues Without Hearts stand out.
I am also a sucker for good falsetto singing and Larry’s pretty good.
ALBUMS: Peter Gabriel (1977); Peter Gabriel (1980).
MVC Rating: 1st self-titled: 4.5/$$$
2nd self-titled: 4.0/$$$
Hope everybody has had enough time with ‘The Gaugin Years’ The History of Music and Dance in Tahiti. (Scroll down if you haven’t). That was the start of my G-music section and up now is Peter Gabriel, a political, intelligent, supporter of world music. We’ll see more of him in this blog soon as his longtime band, Genesis, comes up on my alphabetical course.
I have the first and third Gabriel albums. Oddly, he didn’t name his first four albums. They are called Peter Gabriel. To ID them people add a descriptor like ‘melt’ for the third one because it has a face appearing to melt on the cover.
I fell out of Gabriel’s thing about when “Shock the Monkey’ and then ‘Sledgehammer’ — MTV’s all time favorite video – propelled Gabriel from cult status to star. One thing I didn’t like, and others feel free to chime in, is that he seemed to employ an echo effect on his voice, especially in the “So’ era. Am I correctly hearing that? It is almost as if he didn’t have confidence in his natural sound. But the songwriting on Solsbury Hill, about a spiritual experience the Gabriel had, is about as good as it gets.
Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing, stretching every nerve
Had to listen, had no choice
I did not believe the information
Just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom, boom, boom
“Son”, he said, “grab your things, I’ve come to take you home”
Biko’ on the second album is also a favorite of mine. It’s a powerful song with African rhythms lamenting the death at the hands of police of Steve Biko, an anti-apartheid protester.
September ’77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
The man is dead
The man is dead
ALBUM: The Gauguin Years: Songs and Dances of Tahiti. (Recorded on location by Francis Maziere 1972)
MVC RATING: 3.5/$$
So how did I pick up this? ‘Field recordings; of the songs and dances of Tahiti.’
I have no idea, though I’ve been known to poke around at library book sales, which sometimes had records, like this one.
From the liner notes on this Nonesuch record: The music on this record is not for the tourist trade; It’s Old Timey Polynesian. Yes there are love songs and hulas here — but also war chants, histories, prayers and protest songs.”
It is exotic — but to my ears it sounds about what I would expect, Drum beating, interlocking chants with harmony.. Maybe the movie depictions of Tahitian singing and dancing weren’t far removed from authentic.
All I need now is a coconut drink.
BTW, this is my first ‘G’ record (for Gaugin). We are now done with the F’s unless aI find another lurking somewhere,later. Now it’s time for the G’s as in (Grateful Dead, Dexter Gordon, and Peter Gabriel., among many others. I’ll also catch up with the numbers today.
