Neil Diamond turns 75 today, so I'll provide a "Longfellow Serenade" for this happy occasion.
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Finally, a blog post that's not about death... January is National Soup Month, so I'm going to take a break from Lassie to bring you this retro Campbell's Soup commercial. It is a cute ad that somehow just manages to avoid cheesiness, but why do the soup bowls look like dog dishes? I was not aware that Campbell's even sold "Scotch Broth," but judging from the posts on amazon.com, it was discontinued around 2010.
Glenn Frey died Monday at 67 from surgery complications. Frey made a bunch of money in the 1970s as a member of Eagles and did well with an '80s solo career, scoring his biggest hits with two #2 hits in 1985 - "The Heat is On" from the film Beverly Hills Cop and "You Belong To the City" from the TV show Miami Vice (Frey is shown above with Crockett and Tubbs). I actually prefer his solo career because it's not overplayed on the radio and seemed to have a little more musical creativity than "Heartache Tonight" (and since I come to praise not bury, I'll clench my fingers and not tap anything about rock's most moneygrubbing concert attraction). He was a talented man whose music I enjoy so here's my tribute: "You Belong To the City" was my favorite song of his, and one I was ironically playing on my mp3 player last night. I love the atmospheric arrangement, and that that insturmental coda on the end. This actually got played in its full 5-minute-plus glory back in 1985 on the radio probably due to Vice's popularity.
"Sexy Girl" was lighter and more fun. Eagles' "Doolin-Dalton" is a good a place to end this as any, a tribute to Frey's songwriting skills and vocal harmonies. You were one of a kind. You were truly an artist. Thank you for the music that blew our minds. Thank you for making us party. Thank you for Major Tom and the goon squad. Thank you for letting us beat them, just for one day. And thank you, because I will never, ever get "You remind of the babe...." out of my head for the rest of my freakin' life. I can't think of much else to say, nor can I even begin to choose enough songs to remember his legacy and immense talent, but I will try, starting with "Five Years," the song that popped into my head when I heard the news of his death this morning. "Fame '90" is the song that began my investigation of his craft when I was 15 (who was that dancer in the video?) and I suppose serves as a decent career retrospective, and no matter who was responsible for what part of the tune, his collaboration with Queen "Under Pressure" is one of the most beautiful compositions ever recorded.
Robert Stigwood died Monday at age 81. He was best known for taking some little known Australian teenage trio called the Bee Gees (above, with their sibling Andy) and turning them into megastars through his management, and he also developed the careers of Cream and that group 's member Eric Clapton. His Robert Stigwood Organization company's dorky cow/hippo/whatever logo was ubiquitous in the 1970s and early 1980s, plastering the screen in the credits of multi-million film successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease, as well as Tommy and Staying Alive, and his label not only did well with those soundtracks, but also the Fame movie score and releases by Bee Gees, Clapton, and Yvonne Elliman. In honor, here's a pretty neat alternate version of the Bee Gees' first international hit, 1967's "New York Mining Disaster 1941."
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Walburgh's BlogMostly retro, mainly music, but generally whatever's on my mind. Archives
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