OK, time to lay your cards on the table.
The golden age of the sob song (roughly 1960-1965) resulted in a lot of contrived dross about mangled Chevys and fast boys crashing their Phantoms, but there are certain songs from that era that still genuinely pull at the heart strings. Well, my heart strings at least. If you share my affection, the wondrous Last Kiss by J Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers will be right up your street.
If however, you regard sob songs as a big, wet joke, hamstrung by bad taste and kitsch, try a bit of Jimmy Cross's wares. And enjoy, you heartless bastards.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
About Me
Regular contributor to the Guardian, The Word, Uncut, New Statesman, the Herald and theartsdesk. My work has also appeared in the Observer, the Telegraph, Esquire, Mojo, Time Out, Rolling Stone, HMV Choice, Oxford American, the Sunday Business Post and Record Collector. Occasionally I’m allowed to break cover on Radio 2, Radio 4 and Radio Scotland.
Author of five books: Complicated Shadows: The Life & Music of Elvis Costello (Canongate, 2004); Willie Nelson: The Outlaw (Virgin, 2006); I Shot a Man in Reno (Continuum, 2008); and Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush (Omnibus, 2010). I’ve just published The Resurrection of Johnny Cash (Jawbone, 2011).
I’ve sat on a sofa in the control room of Abbey Road's Studio 2 and watched Paul McCartney remove his socks. Keith Richards phoned me at 4 a.m. to ask, 'Whatya doing up so late, old boy?'. I've been offered a potentially fatal Camberwell Carrot by Willie Nelson. I've made Bob Geldof cry into his meat loaf, and Elvis Costello once threw a peach stone in my general direction. He's even less friendly these days.
LINKS
- Word magazine
- Under The Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush
- Time Out articles
- The Herald
- The Arts Desk
- Reviews: The Outlaw
- Reviews: I Shot A Man In Reno
- Reviews: Complicated Shadows
- RENO at Amazon US
- RENO at Amazon UK
- Powell's
- Once Upon A Time A Song
- Observer articles
- New Statesman
- Last Year's Girl
- Journalisted
- Jeremy Thomas
- Jenny Brown Associates (Agent)
- Guardian music
- Guardian articles
- Continuum
- 33 1/3 blog
1 comment:
Gotta love 'Last Kiss' - lovely song, even Pearl Jam didn't manage to fuck it up!
Post a Comment