Unsung, unfair, unjust careers
Blog below about unsung 80s albums set me off thinking about unsung careers in general, or rather unfair or unjust careers - careers which simply don't represent the real possibilities.
My choice, Kirsty Maccoll.
Here's the evidence:
Quite apart from the tragic early death, here was a 20 year career, from one of the finest british pop songwriters ever, for which she's known for 3 top 20 hits, one of which was a novelty song - Chipshop - and two of which were (brilliant) covers - New England and Days.
If See That Girl, They Don't Know or Other Pople's Hearts to take just three examples, had been written by Phil Spector and sung by one of his girl groups in the 60s they'd have been number 1 and now be all time pop classics. They weren't, so noone has ever heard of them, or thinks one is a Tracy Ullman song. And let's not even start with Soho Square, four minutes of the finest pop music ever committed to tape...
Rock snobs are obsessed with albums. She only released five in 20 years, none of which are classics. But the best bits of them are better than pretty much anything else. Pop music is best appreciated in short bursts and noone produced finer short bursts than she did.
Artists are supposed to sacrifice everything for their art. She spent years off sacrificing her art/career for family, which is far cooler.
The voice!
The hair!
She was one of the best ever. Any other unfairly neglected, or unrepresentative, careers?
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"She's known for 3 top 20 hits"
Walking Down Madison was a pretty major hit as I recall.
It was pretty heavily promoted at the time.
True
Everyhit.com tells me it made 23. But i'd wager that most would still remember her as the woman who did Days and New England rather than Walking Down Madison...
I'd remember her less for Elvis
and more for Madison, but I agree on the other two.
Walking down Madison which came from the
splendidly titled Electric Landlady, wasn't it?
I'm not going to quibble on details
...but I'll think you'll find there's plenty of people out there think Kirsty was a musical genius.
And a lot of the problem with Kirsty's supposed lack of success was more to do with her legendary stage fright than being 'unsung'.
Although a constant career over twenty years can't really be called a lack of success.
Fairytale
Surely *most* people would remember her for Fairytale of New York, on which she is quite sublime?
Very good point David
and badly missed from the original blog.
But only proves my point further. For most she's not even the singer of cover versions, but the singer on a great duet.
What they're missing out on...
Or the even better
Miss Otis Regrets
Backing Vox
Brilliant backing vocals on
'Ask' by the Smiths
'Hallelujah' by the Happy Mondays
'Welcome To The Cheap Seats' by the Wonder Stuff
All of which make her indie disco royalty in my book.
Kirsty's backing vocals
List of Kirsty's backing vocals......
http://www.kirstymaccoll.com/music/bvox/
There we go, completely true, but damned with faint praise again
She was a wonderful backing vocalist, plus duet vocalist, plus covers artist. But listen to her own songs.
Plus, SimonL, a 20 year career of getting by is all well and good, but the pop talent this singer/songwriter had deserved so much more.
Don't get me wrong...
...I don't disagree with you, she should have had much more recognition than she did, which is why when she died it was so sad, as she was just appearing to enter her best phase. But I've known so many people over the years who were fans, musicians and record buying public alike that in my head/heart, at least she was the 'star' she should have been.
Tropical Brainstorm
I saw her support Ian Dury around the time she released this excellent album, such a shame as the show was great and I felt that she was starting to get a bit more recognition. Very sad indeed.
Same with Joe Strummer, he was finally getting a bit more respect for a somewhat patchy post-Clash solo career building up before he died.
Meanwhile...
....thinking of people who have been neglected over the years, one of my favourite musicians Graham Day comes to mind. Although neglected seems to be a dubious word as some of his lack of major success seems to be down to his own lack of desire for success that comes from selling out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoners
A recording career lasting over 25 years and over ten albums worth of prime raw 60s influenced music.
Graham Day & The Gaolers
He's back with a absolutely cracking album - I'd say it definitely matches some of his best work with The Prisoners (who I love dearly).
The other band members are from Garage Punk Soul group The Woggles - superb!
Oh yes, going strong!
Top notch stuff from Mr Day. He hasn't lost that fire for sure!
Absolutely brilliant stuff!
Sorry but...
...I have always found Kirsty MacColl overrated and interfered so much, presumably because of her marriage to Steve Lillywhite. The Smiths, Pogues*, Simple Minds, Happy Mondays and others all had her warbling away in the background, adding nothing, when they all had perfectly good singers. Tragic death, God rest etc but it didn't half annoy me back in the day.
* FToNY the exception that proves the rule (even though that song has been overplayed to death now).
They Don't Know by Tracey Ullman
was just magnificent. More people should be covering her songs
They don't know
by Kirsty herself, her first single, on Stiff, was better still. Tracey copied it, really, in a colour by numbers approach. Sure, it got to number 1, or nearly, but Kirty's own "version" sank without a trace.
Trivia alert!
Kirsty sang backing vocals on Traceys version.
If the masses didn't get it after 20 years...
I think its hard to argue Kirsty was denied her true place on the sales/critical charts when she did have a 20-year career. Given that in that time most people must have had a chance to get acquainted with her work, I'd suggest she hit just about the right spot on the ladder.
Kirsty and The Joshua Tree
Not quite sure why because it wasn’t produced by Steve Lillywhite, but apparently U2 asked Kirsty to choose the running order for the Joshua Tree album. She did it in order of how much she liked each song, from her favourite downwards.
Here’s one of Kirsty’s first appearances on a record: backing vocals on a Squire single, My Mind Goes Round In Circles (though you can’t hear her much on the short clip here, she’s quite prominent on the full record).
Kirsty was great
and sorely missed. Lots of quality and Electric Landlady is great. And also her greatest hits album is pretty essential I reckon.
I'd also vote for Boo Hewerdine. Very well crafted, excellent songs and his performances are pretty much always spot on.
I also can't believe The Blue Nile are not revered by everyone. They are fabulous on record as well as live and the music is more than just Paul Buchanan's marvellous voice.