Brill Building Smackdown!

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king/goffin were p tight, love bacharach/david, not immediately familiar with the others. rec'd?

he bit me (it felt like a diss) (m bison), Saturday, 26 May 2012 17:56 (1 year ago) Permalink

this poll is too hard.
requires effort on finding out who wrote what.
bottom line : they're all brill-iant.
sorry.

mark e, Saturday, 26 May 2012 17:58 (1 year ago) Permalink

Great idea!

JacobSanders, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:23 (1 year ago) Permalink

Jerry Lieber/Mike Stoller for volume of recordings, the work they did with the Coasters alone was great! But Carole King/Gerry Goffin wrote amazing songs together too. And of Burt Bacharach/Hal David came to define a certain 60's pop. I dunno.

JacobSanders, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:25 (1 year ago) Permalink

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" - The Righteous Brothers (written by Mann, Weil and Phil Spector)

curmudgeon, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:30 (1 year ago) Permalink

Goffin & King

JacobSanders, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:37 (1 year ago) Permalink

All great teams, but I'll always choose Bacharach/David in any fight.

― Trey Imaginary Songz (WmC), Saturday, May 26, 2012 1:46 PM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark

enjoying the mental image of burt bacharach in a knife fight right now

some dude, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:42 (1 year ago) Permalink

Leiber/Stoller for me.

EZ Snappin, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:49 (1 year ago) Permalink

the skinny:

Lieber/Stoller: "Hound Dog", "Young Blood", "Yakety Yak", "Spanish Harlem" (w/ Phil Spector), favored songwriters of Elvis Presley Phase 1 (pre-military)

Sedaka/Greenfield: "Stupid Cupid", "Oh! Carol", "Calendar Girl", "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do", "Next Door To An Angel", favored songwriters of Connie Francis

King/Goffin: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "Take Good Care Of My Baby", "The Loco-Motion", "Some Kind Of Wonderful", "Up On The Roof", "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)"

Pomus/Shuman: "I'm A Man", "Turn Me Loose", "Teenager In Love", "This Magic Moment", "Save The Last Dance For Me", favored songwriters of Elvis Presley Phase 2 (pre-Vegas)

Bacharach/David: good Lord, where to start, "Walk On By", "Don't Make Me Over", "Make It Easy On Yourself", "24 Hours From Tulsa", "The man Who Shot Liberty Valance", pretty much every Dionne Warwick song of note

Mann/Weil: "Uptown", "On Broadway", "He's Sure The Boy I Love", "Blame It On The Bossa Nova", a bunch of tunes w/ Phil Spector ("You, Baby", "Walkin' In The Rain", "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'")

Barry/Greenwich: the motherlode (with Shadow Morton, pretty much all the great Shangri-La's tracks; with Phil Spector, songs like "River Deep Mountain High", "Girls Can Tell", "Baby, I Love You", "Then He Kissed Me", "Chapel Of Love", Da Doo Ron Ron" and, ahem, "Be My Baby")

and, of course, the myriad songs that were composed individually or by some combination of the above

henry s, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:53 (1 year ago) Permalink

Leiber & Stoller



JacobSanders, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:56 (1 year ago) Permalink

enjoying the mental image of burt bacharach in a knife fight right now

― some dude, Saturday, May 26, 2012 1:42 PM (12 minutes ago)

Fighting the winner of Carl Perkins vs. David Bowie!

Trey Imaginary Songz (WmC), Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:56 (1 year ago) Permalink

i did this thing recently and Lieber & Stoller lost to Alicia Keys :(

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/03/new_york_musician_tournament_lieber_stoller_alicia_keys.php

some dude, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:57 (1 year ago) Permalink

and really love this girl pop song by Goffin & King

JacobSanders, Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:59 (1 year ago) Permalink

This is gonna be a squeaker.

Ian Hunter Is Learning the Game (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 26 May 2012 18:59 (1 year ago) Permalink

Was Bert Burns not a part of the Brill Building Team?

JacobSanders, Saturday, 26 May 2012 19:02 (1 year ago) Permalink

Pomus And Shuman

JacobSanders, Saturday, 26 May 2012 19:07 (1 year ago) Permalink

Drunkenly impulse voted for Mann/Weil - wrote both Vashti Bunyan's "Coldest Night Of The Year" (great cover by Dudley Benson) & the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place", as well as those henry's already mentioned.

Can I recommend Ken Emerson's Always Magic In The Air as a good overview of the Brill Building era, and fish for any further reading on the subject?

etc, Saturday, 26 May 2012 19:52 (1 year ago) Permalink

well worth it

henry s, Saturday, 26 May 2012 20:45 (1 year ago) Permalink

lots of overlap with Brill Building songwriters in here:

henry s, Saturday, 26 May 2012 20:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

would love to have an English translation of this:

henry s, Saturday, 26 May 2012 20:50 (1 year ago) Permalink

haven't read this yet; anybody wanna rep for it?

henry s, Saturday, 26 May 2012 20:52 (1 year ago) Permalink

i did this thing recently and Lieber & Stoller lost to Alicia Keys :(

insanity!

henry s, Saturday, 26 May 2012 20:54 (1 year ago) Permalink

Boyce & Hart would have almost merited consideration on this ballot. "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", "Hurt So Bad", "Words", "Last Train to Clarksville" the Monkees theme, etc.

Lee971 (Lee626), Saturday, 26 May 2012 21:04 (1 year ago) Permalink

Was Bert Burns not a part of the Brill Building Team?

Indeed, Bert Berns was a major Brill Building player ("Twist And Shout", "I Want Candy", "Here Comes The Night", "Everybody Wants Somebody To Love"). Many others too, of course. Not included in the poll because he mainly wrote alone and, unless he was strapped, would be outmanned in a square go against any of the teams listed above.

henry s, Saturday, 26 May 2012 21:05 (1 year ago) Permalink

Boyce & Hart would have almost merited consideration on this ballot. "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", "Hurt So Bad", "Words", "Last Train to Clarksville" the Monkees theme, etc.

Definitely! "Be My Guest" by Fats Domino too. They seem to get left out of the Brill Building discussion a lot, probably because they hit their stride a few years after the Brill Building heyday, and were seen as more "west coast" given their TV industry connection.

henry s, Saturday, 26 May 2012 21:14 (1 year ago) Permalink

That Pomus bio looks great, henry, and my local library in NZ has it - hopefully I'll remember to take a look for it when I'm back late July. Cheers!

etc, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 19:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

I'll rep for that Pomus bio, the guy is a very good writer and had access to Doc's diaries so is really able to capture the way he spoke and thought. In a way it is a sequel to the great Ken Emerson book that was also mentioned. Hound Dog is also well worth reading, although you get the feeling that they pulled a few punches now and then which is why you should also read that article Josh Friedman wrote about them.-

Ian Hunter Is Learning the Game (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 31 May 2012 03:02 (1 year ago) Permalink

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Saturday, 9 June 2012 00:01 (1 year ago) Permalink

Goffin/King narrowly edged out by Bacharach/David. Because nobody who writes a song this exquisite should be allowed to lose a poll....

Lee626, Saturday, 9 June 2012 07:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

this thread is going to make my brain explode.

sentimental reasons push me toward pomus/shuman

but goffin/king are amazing

probably have to give it to bacharach/david though, they're kind of next level

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Saturday, 9 June 2012 07:17 (1 year ago) Permalink

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Sunday, 10 June 2012 00:01 (1 year ago) Permalink

Forgot to vote. Probably should have gone with Doc and Mort.

F is for Fule (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 June 2012 01:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

F is for Fule (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 June 2012 01:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

surprised bacharach didn't come out on top

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 11 June 2012 03:04 (1 year ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

saw a documentary AKA Doc Pomus, familiar bio-style but I learned a lot. It'll be getting a release later this year I hope.

http://akadocpomus.com/

Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 21 March 2013 03:22 (2 months ago) Permalink

Dying to see that. Walked by some kind of special screening a while back that was not open to the public and saw the poster and ever since then.

Johnny Too Borad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 21 March 2013 03:23 (2 months ago) Permalink

One of the interviewees is Pomus protege Scott Fagan (Stephin Merritt's father).

Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 21 March 2013 12:30 (2 months ago) Permalink

Interesting. I wanna see that too

curmudgeon, Thursday, 21 March 2013 17:02 (2 months ago) Permalink


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