Loved the phrase "chilly elegance" in your piece about Donovan. Spot on description of the music but also the comedown after the heat of the peak. Do you have a favorite cover of "Season of the Witch"? —JIM RULAND
My condolences also GM may she be forever held in the light. Re: “Season of the Witch” covers, the only one that ever moved me was years ago (20? 25? at my age time is more ephemeral than ever), in my hometown Philly, Luna at the Tower Theater on Halloween, as a final encore played it in a haunting Luna-style that was befitting both the source and that day’s pagan ritual. Maybe someday it will surface.
I just purchased The Shape of Things to Come - mostly because I wanted to own your 50+ pages about Sheryl Lee and Twin Peaks. I wanted to point out a couple details re: Fire Walk With Me that might delight you, but perhaps someone else has already taken the time to tell you about Lynch's hidden cameo in the Fat Trout Trailer Park?
Re: Mr. Sturges' letter, 'Marching To Shibboleth' was issued in a hardcover edition - I've got one near my desk now. I don't suppose that helps anybody, but I just thought I'd mention it for the record. It's remarkable how much the Firesigns have managed to issue from their archives in recent years - the "Duke Of Madness Motors" collection of their radio shows (a personal favorite), the Magic Mushroom shows, the "Everything You Know Is Wrong" dvd collection, various audio gems released through Bandcamp... I hope it can continue for a good while yet!
Del Shannon was his pseudonym . I thought so because there was a mystery writer who wrote under Dell Shannon. I like your description of his looks. I always thought he looked a little like John Fogerty...a tough older cousin who was into weightlifting or boxing. There's a Facebook page "Everything Del Shannon" that has a picture of him with Elvis in Vegas when EP was doing "Runaway" in his set..1969/70 ..it's on the On Stage live album. Del comments on the FB " I don't know if it was the make up but he was the best looking man I've ever seen". Funny how it always comes around to that.
As great as the Anthology series was, with its wealth of information, The Compleat Beatles is unmatched in its depiction of the overall narrative of the group, which is improbable enough to seem like fiction. In a concise 90 minutes or so, it takes you from "Mach schau" in Hamburg to Hard Day's Night to A Day In The Life to Abbey Road. I had it on Laserdisc and I'm still sort of sorry I gave it away, even though I no longer have the means to play it!
Don't recall Compleat Beatles all that well but two scenes stick in the mind. 1) George playing a transistor radio and the group reacting to hearing their own song (along with the usual inane Murray the K banter... I think?). A scene that almost matches them dancing to their own hit parade in Hard Day's Night. 2) (And I think it's from Compleat Beatles, though I could be wrong): John working out the chord progression from "Strawberry Fields" on a melodica. That was a shock, the first time.
The footage you're referring to was actually shot by filmmakers Albert and David Maysles (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens) for a documentary entitled "What's Happening In The USA?" (a Murray the K phrase). In 1990, Albert oversaw the release of a re-edited version of the same documentary now entitled "The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit." (which I also wonder if Mr. Marcus has ever seen). Neither scene you mentioned as I recall was featured in "The Compleat Beatles."
On a side note, the melodica footage of Lennon though intriguing has often been overstated in relation to Strawberry Fields Forever. When Lennon actually did write the song, he may or may not have recalled when he played the chord progression on the melodica that time. It just doesn't seem possible to verify.
You can view The Compleat Beatles on a website called "archive.org" if you go there and type in the name of the documentary. It still holds up in my view and is a more wholly satisfying experience. It was narrated by Malcolm McDowell and features interviews with various figures not interviewed for Anthology with the stand-outs in my view being Gerry Marsden and Bill Harry. While I agree with you about Anthology being more in depth, the interviews for the project become more problematic as the series progresses. I wonder how Mr. Marcus would perceive Paul McCartney's presence in "Anthology" as opposed to "The Brian Epstein Story." Ringo Starr's interview segments are the most enjoyable.
I love those Progressive commercials! The lead actor does such a great job. The punchline, of course, is in the fact that he doesn't really seem to have avoided some of the very pitfalls he's warning everybody else about. Really fun! The ads with Flo are hilarious too. Your writing about Del Shannon and suicide is very insightful and moving. I agree with Joseph Taylor about the performances on the TAMI show-- Smokey Robinson was definitely a great recording artist, but seemed to lack fluidity when he performed live. I always felt there was a static feeling live, a lack of movement in the vocal. Mitch Ryder was like that too...on TV he never captured the flow/movement of "Devil with a Blue Dress", etc. Smokey's recordings are amazing--not that he needs my approval--and "Tears of a Clown" is one of my all-time faves.
I have to say I never expected you to go for the Masked Marauders version of “Season” although it’s my favorite. Thanks. Nothing like a little validation.
I still remember the night in my friend’s Coney Island apartment when he pulled out the issue of RS with that review, and after I read it he put the album on the stereo. Couldn’t stop laughing. Thank you.
The claim that Del Shannon was being considered as a replacement for Rot Orbison in The Traveling Wilburys has never, to my knowledge, been denied.
Whether Shannon was aware of the possibility is an unknown.
What is known is the moment a 14~year-old was hit with the guitar, piano and organ of Runaway at a February Jr High dance. There had been no precedent and that thrill was recaptured four years later with the sound of Like a Rolling Stone.
Luna's terrific version of "Season of the Witch" opens the 'I Shot Andy Warhol' soundtrack; it's all a pretty fun listen: https://open.spotify.com/album/0Du2cUrElfsttoCDP7hKvR?si=bwVmCRAKTcK2GquVfSlQbA
Thx MK I’ll have to check it out.
My condolences also GM may she be forever held in the light. Re: “Season of the Witch” covers, the only one that ever moved me was years ago (20? 25? at my age time is more ephemeral than ever), in my hometown Philly, Luna at the Tower Theater on Halloween, as a final encore played it in a haunting Luna-style that was befitting both the source and that day’s pagan ritual. Maybe someday it will surface.
I just purchased The Shape of Things to Come - mostly because I wanted to own your 50+ pages about Sheryl Lee and Twin Peaks. I wanted to point out a couple details re: Fire Walk With Me that might delight you, but perhaps someone else has already taken the time to tell you about Lynch's hidden cameo in the Fat Trout Trailer Park?
Re: Mr. Sturges' letter, 'Marching To Shibboleth' was issued in a hardcover edition - I've got one near my desk now. I don't suppose that helps anybody, but I just thought I'd mention it for the record. It's remarkable how much the Firesigns have managed to issue from their archives in recent years - the "Duke Of Madness Motors" collection of their radio shows (a personal favorite), the Magic Mushroom shows, the "Everything You Know Is Wrong" dvd collection, various audio gems released through Bandcamp... I hope it can continue for a good while yet!
Surprized Terry Reid's cranked, scatted and tastefully demented version of Season of the Witch has not not been mentioned https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_daei8gipT4.
It preserves the essence of the original and enhances it with the intensity for it not to be 'hopelessly off.'
Del Shannon was his pseudonym . I thought so because there was a mystery writer who wrote under Dell Shannon. I like your description of his looks. I always thought he looked a little like John Fogerty...a tough older cousin who was into weightlifting or boxing. There's a Facebook page "Everything Del Shannon" that has a picture of him with Elvis in Vegas when EP was doing "Runaway" in his set..1969/70 ..it's on the On Stage live album. Del comments on the FB " I don't know if it was the make up but he was the best looking man I've ever seen". Funny how it always comes around to that.
I had actually been referring to the TV docu-series, not the accompanying CDs when I mentioned The Beatles Anthology.
As great as the Anthology series was, with its wealth of information, The Compleat Beatles is unmatched in its depiction of the overall narrative of the group, which is improbable enough to seem like fiction. In a concise 90 minutes or so, it takes you from "Mach schau" in Hamburg to Hard Day's Night to A Day In The Life to Abbey Road. I had it on Laserdisc and I'm still sort of sorry I gave it away, even though I no longer have the means to play it!
Don't recall Compleat Beatles all that well but two scenes stick in the mind. 1) George playing a transistor radio and the group reacting to hearing their own song (along with the usual inane Murray the K banter... I think?). A scene that almost matches them dancing to their own hit parade in Hard Day's Night. 2) (And I think it's from Compleat Beatles, though I could be wrong): John working out the chord progression from "Strawberry Fields" on a melodica. That was a shock, the first time.
The footage you're referring to was actually shot by filmmakers Albert and David Maysles (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens) for a documentary entitled "What's Happening In The USA?" (a Murray the K phrase). In 1990, Albert oversaw the release of a re-edited version of the same documentary now entitled "The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit." (which I also wonder if Mr. Marcus has ever seen). Neither scene you mentioned as I recall was featured in "The Compleat Beatles."
On a side note, the melodica footage of Lennon though intriguing has often been overstated in relation to Strawberry Fields Forever. When Lennon actually did write the song, he may or may not have recalled when he played the chord progression on the melodica that time. It just doesn't seem possible to verify.
You can view The Compleat Beatles on a website called "archive.org" if you go there and type in the name of the documentary. It still holds up in my view and is a more wholly satisfying experience. It was narrated by Malcolm McDowell and features interviews with various figures not interviewed for Anthology with the stand-outs in my view being Gerry Marsden and Bill Harry. While I agree with you about Anthology being more in depth, the interviews for the project become more problematic as the series progresses. I wonder how Mr. Marcus would perceive Paul McCartney's presence in "Anthology" as opposed to "The Brian Epstein Story." Ringo Starr's interview segments are the most enjoyable.
I love those Progressive commercials! The lead actor does such a great job. The punchline, of course, is in the fact that he doesn't really seem to have avoided some of the very pitfalls he's warning everybody else about. Really fun! The ads with Flo are hilarious too. Your writing about Del Shannon and suicide is very insightful and moving. I agree with Joseph Taylor about the performances on the TAMI show-- Smokey Robinson was definitely a great recording artist, but seemed to lack fluidity when he performed live. I always felt there was a static feeling live, a lack of movement in the vocal. Mitch Ryder was like that too...on TV he never captured the flow/movement of "Devil with a Blue Dress", etc. Smokey's recordings are amazing--not that he needs my approval--and "Tears of a Clown" is one of my all-time faves.
I have to say I never expected you to go for the Masked Marauders version of “Season” although it’s my favorite. Thanks. Nothing like a little validation.
Well, I did make it up.
Wait - forgive my memory loss - were you the author of the original fake review of the Masked Marauders?
Yes. As T. M. Christian. Which I thought would give the game away, but didn't.
I still remember the night in my friend’s Coney Island apartment when he pulled out the issue of RS with that review, and after I read it he put the album on the stereo. Couldn’t stop laughing. Thank you.
The claim that Del Shannon was being considered as a replacement for Rot Orbison in The Traveling Wilburys has never, to my knowledge, been denied.
Whether Shannon was aware of the possibility is an unknown.
What is known is the moment a 14~year-old was hit with the guitar, piano and organ of Runaway at a February Jr High dance. There had been no precedent and that thrill was recaptured four years later with the sound of Like a Rolling Stone.
For what it's worth, the Firesign liner notes are online. At Greil's other site! https://greilmarcus.net/2018/05/02/marching-to-shibboleth-the-big-big-book-of-plays-firesign-theatre-2013/