goldfinger
-
Posts
70 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by goldfinger
-
-
we dont need an 80s thread
we need an 80s forum !
-
was nt Paul a "Pothead " in the 70s and 80s ?
-
To think that guy could sit down and write music
for these musicals.... whiz it all onto disc and then sit back and watch the money rolling in.
With just one musical... Phantom of the Opera...
he sold over 40 million albums !
Many top groups have a 20 year career without getting total sales near that figure
In fact I think Phantom beats Sgt Pepper sales...
am I wrong ?
-
quote
Abba is the 4th best selling artist ever, behind Beatles, Elvis, and Michael Jackson
end quote
thats awesome, to think that Micheal Jackson outsold even Abba ... ! just makes you realise
how phenomenally popular that guy was out there.
-
In a way it might have been a good idea to
have forums... like this
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s etc
a decade in pop music is a long long time with forums like this members could post comments about the group in the decade when they were really hot and buzzing.
Instead Ive got to post a thread entitled 1980s ... which really... is not enough is it ?
But looking back the 1980s seem like a pretty hot decade... very innovative
Just off the top of my head
Human League
Aha
T'Pau
Billy Idol
ABC
to name but a few! surely these guys deserve their own... " 1980s " forum ?
-
-
Kind of sad that Mike Pinder became estranged
from the other guys in the group, after all he was the founder member... a bit like John Lennon with the Beatles.
The Moodies kind of went off without him.. Mike moved to California and did nt even go to see the group when they appeared at local venues.
Mike was of course the keyboards guy and with "the Mellotron..." gave the Moodies that distinctive.. haunting sound.
Its a bit like building a car then not being allowed to drive it .
-
Yes.... you d think he wrote ... "Heard it on the Grapevine".... but he did nt
It was a perfect song for Marvin and his vocal style.
I guess he was more of a performer and a great singer than a writer...( bit like Elvis )
-
He was a great vocalist... writer... and from distant memory seeing a TV show...... think he was pretty hot on the keyboards too.
The guy was a Motown legend.....
Was he the black Elvis ?
Elvis ... Lennon.... Marvin.... all died in their 40s ... all died far too young.
Interesting that he was the son of a Minister of the Church.... think the Pointer Sisters were
daughters of a Minister too !
-
Thanks.... Ill have to check this guy out
a lot more.
He died age 44 a tragic loss
( like Lennon age40 )
-
Interesting....releasing 10 albums before breaking up in 1977 ....not a bad run !
-
Whiter Shade of Pale....
wot an inspiration... was it Gary Brooker
who watched the cigar ad on TV , then went
to the piano to play the theme... and got it
slightly wrong
... but this went on to inspire one mega song
that was the spirit of the summer of love 1967
The organ... those amazing lyrics......
We skipped a light fandango,
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor.
I was feeling kind of seasick,
But the crowd called out for more.
The room was humming harder,
As the ceiling flew away.
When we called out for another drink,
The waiter brought a tray.
And so it was that later,
As the miller told his tale,
That her face at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale.
She said there is no reason,
And the truth is plain to see
That I wandered through my playing cards,
And would not let her be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast.
And although my eyes were open,
They might just as well have been closed.
And so it was later,
As the miller told his tale,
That her face at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale.
It hit no 1 on 8th June.... that must have
been around the time Sg Pepper was released !
The song was an inspiration ... a steal too,
but Im sure J.S. Bach would have been pleased with the international hit..
More than 900 cover versions so far !
I bet that song has kept Gary in cigars over the years.. not to say the odd Rolls Royce !
Gary has a great voice too
( bit of a Paul Mac lookalike )
.
-
No doubt he was a great singer...
and performer
but did he do a lot of song writing ?
-
I keep seeing top acts doing arena tours....
guess these arenas have taken over from... theatres... prob because of Nos of seats and lovely lucre.
Whats the biggest theatre capacity in UK.. ? 3000 ?
What is the capacity of these arenas like MEN in Manchester ? and the O2 in London
Read recently that the 02 ... formally the Dome.... is now doing more business than any of the arenas.
( from what I could figure out the O2 Arena has been built... inside the Dome ! can that be right ? )
Looks like after all the nay sayers and critics... "the Dome" has finally become a commercially viable venue ......
-
His father was from Cyprus, his mother was from
Sweden.
They met in London when his mother was working
as a nanny.
1966... Cat's first recording session
and "Mathew and Son" became a big hit.
He had great success in the 60s and we realise
now what a great songwriter he was...
Old School Yard..... Moonlight Midnight Hour...
and many others
In 1977 he converted to Islam and became heavily involved in the religion and especially education.
He gave up music and it was to be 27 years before
he picked up the guitar again
He has since released 2 new albums
Another Cup
Roadsinger
-
aBBA generated an excitement... on a par
with the Beatles and brought out huge crowds
wherever they appeared ( esp in Australia )
Their albums were an event and eagerly anticipated by their fans ... a la the Beatles.
The Beatles were really a " supergroup " with
3 brilliant songwriters in their ranks... as were the Moody Blues
as were Fleetwood mac in the 80s
So much writing talent packed into those groups was always going to generate brilliant albums
and mass following at concerts.
Abba's songwriters Benny and Bjorn were the more conventional type of writers... Benny wrote the melody and Bjorn put words to the melody.
The melodies just seemed to come into Benny's head .. as with Waterloo... he put the melody on
casette... Bjorn took it home and after a few listens and a few glasses of whisky he put some words to the tune.
Elton John is different, he needs words..
some lyrics or rhyme to inspire his melody.
-
9 years is a long time though, esp knowing
that cost was no objective to him and he
had all the time in the world.
Think he went to visit Japan at least once
in that 9 years and of course spent time in LA
-
Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971,
its strange that in all that time.. John never once
returned to England........
He had the money for the flight...
he could easily have popped back if only for a
long weekend...
Flights.. ( and concorde ) were leaving from
New York to London every day of the week !
Maybe someone knows of some clandestine visit ?
but I dont think he ever did !
-
The Beatles as an entity virtually ended
in January 1970. The pressures had been building,
John was entering a very surreal.. avante guard
phase with the way out artist Yoko... in a way the break up had to happen.
Around that time over in Sweden two very talented guys were getting together to write songs.
... In age they were nt that far away from Paul..
Bjorn is only 18 months or so younger !
So they were basically from the same generation..
but obviously late developers.
The 60s had been male dominated... music and songs performed and sung by guys for
an army of teenage girls who were the main buyers of pop music.
Abba ... very unusually, decided to go with
female vocals.... the guys were content to put
Frida and Agnetha up front while they played guitar and keyboards in the background.
The formula worked and they became a massive world wide success... rivalling the Beatles... but never
quite cracking America where the real big money was to be made.
Random Lists of Random Things
in Random Thoughts
Posted
Yes we need a good web site out there
for lists...
lists of 60s groups
lists of prime ministers
lists of presidents
lists of footballers
lists of criminals
lists of novelists
lists of short story writers
lists of painters
lists of top models
lists of soaps around the world
lists of soap babes
lists of pop babes
lists of top rock singers
lists of comics
lists of comedy actresses
lists of 60s movies
we need good lists of names... so we can google them in....