For those who missed it - or simply don`t want to pay a month`s rent for the Japanese import - here`s Thelma Houston`s Sunshower written, arranged and produced by JW.
Best of all, this playlist excludes the two unlistenable tracks: a misbegotten cover of "Jumpin` Jack Flash" and a ghastly, Liza Minnelli - ish "Everybody Gets to Go to the Moon."
Burt`s influence on Jimmy is obvious here and it`s certainly the best arranged and orchestrated album the latter had done to date (`69 for you kids).
For the co-fans of Jimmy Webb
Moderator: mark
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Martin Johnson
- Posts: 442
- Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:41 am
Re: For the co-fans of Jimmy Webb
Blair, forty-four years after buying a vinyl copy of the album I personally have never found anything on it remotely "unlistenable" or "ghastly".
I had the pleasure of a brief chat with the lovely Thelma Houston after a 50th anniversary of Tamla Motown concert in London and told her how I've always loved the album, at which she replied, "Another one! That album must have sold a million the amount of people who tell me they love it". This was about a year after the re-issue with six bonus tracks was released and I got her to sign my copy. Incidentally, the bonus tracks consist of A & B sides of singles from the early 70s, none of them written or produced by Webb and so consequently not up to the standard of the original album. Here's probably the best of the bonus tracks, Laura Nyro's 'Save The Country', performed live on TV in '71.
I had the pleasure of a brief chat with the lovely Thelma Houston after a 50th anniversary of Tamla Motown concert in London and told her how I've always loved the album, at which she replied, "Another one! That album must have sold a million the amount of people who tell me they love it". This was about a year after the re-issue with six bonus tracks was released and I got her to sign my copy. Incidentally, the bonus tracks consist of A & B sides of singles from the early 70s, none of them written or produced by Webb and so consequently not up to the standard of the original album. Here's probably the best of the bonus tracks, Laura Nyro's 'Save The Country', performed live on TV in '71.
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Blair N. Cummings
- Posts: 1115
- Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 4:14 pm
Re: For the co-fans of Jimmy Webb
Martin, as always, I was simply parading my opinion. I don`t think anyone should cover a Stones track simply because the cover cannot be an improvement. Re garding "...Moon", I think I saw a truly "ghastly" version done once by Liza Minnelli (although it may have just been a nightmare). In any case, I disliked the song and its Vegas-style arrangement. The album overall remains a little-known gem.
Re: For the co-fans of Jimmy Webb
Thankfully the first version I heard of 'Everybody Gets to go to the Moon' was Thelma Houston's original weeks after the Lunar Landing. I thought it was sensational then and still do now although the song itself and the rather over-blown arrangement are very much of their time. However, if the first recording I'd heard had been by anyone from Caterina Valente, The Three Degrees, Leslie Uggams, Wilma Reading or Jackie Trent...........Funny how the song seems to only attract female vocalists!