pljms wrote:.....I envy anyone who attended SOS's Jazz Cafe gig in '92 and it's amazing to think that until then they'd hardly played a concert anywhere. When they finally started touring they stunned audiences and impressed the critics not only with their virtuosity and the complexity of the arrangements but at just how jazzy and funky they were. It helped in that regard that they were touring on the back of their very upbeat, soul and r'n'b infused album 'Get In Touch With Yourself', the one that owes next to nothing to the influence of Bacharach, Webb and John Barry.
Not sure if 'Get In Touch With Yourself' is totally devoid of BB's influence, Paul, but I agree it's probably the one that owes the least to him stylistically out of the albums by Swing Out Sister that I'm familiar with. However, I was never going to let that detract from my appreciation of terrific songs like the title track, 'Who Let The Love Out', 'Incomplete Without You' and 'Not Gonna Change', and of course there's their big hit version of 'Am I The Same Girl', a classic 60s song that was just tailor-made for them:
nowmedical, my missus and I have been known to drag ourselves away from the bar long enough to wander around the foyer of the Festival Hall taking in the atmosphere before BB's concerts so, yes, we may recognise each other.
As we're having a SOS nostalgia session, maybe we should each nominate our favourite ever SOS song?
I go for Precious Words, and the extraordinary instrumental version on the Kaleidoscope World CD.
Oh and Martin, if he ever comes back to the RAH I'll buy you a beer (although probably bottled stuff only there).
I don't think the focus here on SOS has anything to do with nostalgia, nowmedical, anymore than our love and appreciation for Bacharach has. Besides, I'm still discovering songs posted on here I'd never heard before (aren't we all?), like the exquisite 'Butterfly'. I'm usually quite slow on the uptake but I succumbed to this song's charms on first hearing.
The album that preceded 'Where Our Loves Grows' is 'Somewhere Deep In The Night', one of four of theirs I've yet to get hold of, and it contains the lovely 'Will We Find Love' which has a particularly attractive bridge, especially the instrumental part at the beginning and I can't help feeling that they missed a trick by not attaching a lyric to that beguiling melody.
I don't really have a favourite Swing Out Sister track but my wife's favourite is 'Where Do I Go" and being a sensible chap I commend her on her choice. I think we're firmly back in Bacharach territory with this one:
What Martin J omitted to say was that 'Where Do I Go' is from 'Somewhere Deep In The Night', the somewhat downcast album that came before the generally more upbeat and optimistic 'Where Our Love Grows'. I might have thought that the title track to the album at the heart of this topic was a touch saccharine when I first heard it, but not anymore. I don't know, maybe I'm becoming less cynical with the passage of time and I love the warmth in Corinne Drewery's voice on this song. I can only guess at how many hours, days, weeks in the studio they must have spent on this track alone to make it sound as amazing as it does. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Yeqe3P_iQ
Corinne Drewery was interviewed for an hour last Saturday afternoon on BBC Radio London for a program called 'My London' where famous guests talk about their life in the capital and pick favourite records they associate with the city. Dionne Warwick's 'Alfie' was one of her choices and she talked about bumping into her at airports and of supporting and meeting Bacharach at the Albert Hall with Swing Out Sister. She also plugged SOS's new album and mentioned the likelihood of some shows in London this summer. I don't suppose they'll be doing any concerts with a big band this time round but going by the exciting rearrangement of 'You On My Mind' featured in the concert video below from a few years ago, I for one would be pleased if they did.
As a PS for London based members, the vocalist singing harmony on the video is longtime Swing Out Sister associate Gina Foster and she's doing a gig at the Bull's Head this Friday the 23rd as one of the two vocalists for the band Soul Sugar'd. I've seen them once before and they're a terrific soul and r'n'b covers band.
I visited Tokyo last week for the first time in fourteen years and discovered amongst other things that Swing Out Sister seemed to have lost none of their popularity and for instance twenty years after it was a huge hit in Japan I was still hearing 'Now You're Not Here' on the radio. I know it's become somewhat of a cliche to say it but when it comes to Western music, whether it be popular, classical or jazz, the Japanese do seem to have the most exquisite taste:
I've always been fascinated by how songwriting teams work when there isn't a clear and obvious division of labour between a composer and a lyricist, and I suppose the best known examples of teams where those involved could all reputedly contribute both words and music were Bricusse and Newley, Lennon and McCartney and the Gibb brothers. What I know of Swing Out Sister's writing method gleaned from various interviews given by the pair is that Andy Connell will first come up with a piece of music, usually a chord progression with perhaps a rhythmic pattern, and then Corinne Drewery will supply the melody or at least help shape it in writing the lyrics. Armed with this information and then listening to the ironically titled 'Happy Ending', it almost sounds like the song is being written before our ears. This is another track from the 'Where Our Love Grows' album and once heard a few times it worms its way into your subconscious and then sticks around.
There's plenty of press stuff but I haven't found much on YT in the way of interviews featuring both Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell and certainly nothing which goes into any depth about their songwriting. However, I recently discovered this excellent short promo film for the 'Get In Touch With Yourself' album in which they talk about how Dusty Springfield's version of 'Am I The Same Girl' set the template for the kind of records they wanted to make, the novelty at the time of the jazzy brass arrangement on their 80s hit 'Breakout' and the somewhat unorthodox original lyrics to 'Not Gonna Change', which had they not been dropped I'm sure would have guaranteed them a worldwide hit. They also discuss their backgrounds and formal music education, or the lack of in Corinne's case, and it's all laced with much self-deprecating humour. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uWOHrFN31sE
Whenever a thread develops here about an album I don't have, knowing we are like-listening types, I usually go and order it and am rarely dissapointed - this is how I first came across Sunshower for example.
So Sara D thanks for making me buy "Somewhere Deep In the Night" - the CD wasn't cheap, but every track is a winner, there isn't a duff track on there. And "Where Our Love Grows" - pljms you are so right about Happy Ending, I hardly noticed it at first but now I think it's the just about the best on the album.
nowmedical, I agree and I'm sure most of us have made discoveries through this forum, whether it be a particular composer, artist, album or Japanese jazz pianist! For me a good example is Swing Out Sister's 'Where Our Love Grows', an album I'd somehow overlooked for a dozen or more years but has since become such a favourite I feel like I've owned it a lifetime. Yes, that album and 'Somewhere Deep In The Night' from a few years before must represent their creative peak.
