left banke - walk away renee

I've had Louis CK on in the next room, so I've heard "Brother Louie" a few times tonight.

RIP Michael :(

RIP, Mr. Lookofsky :(

clemenza, you seem to be thinking of Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate.

No, you are correct. Completely forgot about his involvement with The Stories. My bad.

Gorgeousness...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxooopmMmTo

James: wasn't till years later that I found out "Brother Louie" was originally Hot Chocolate's. I only knew the Stories version from the radio. (Truthfully, I never really cared for it, although the "Louie Louie" connection is interesting.)

WAs it that way round I had it in my head that Hot Chocolate had a hit with a cover of an obscure song.

According to Wikipedia, the Stories followed about six months later. Not surprising anyone over here wouldn't know that: the Stories hit #1 on Billboard, Hot Chocolate didn't chart (but made it to #7 in the UK).

I'm from the UK but the song would have come out when I was 6 years old. & I've never been massively into the band Hot Chocolate.
Not sure if I've ever actually heard the Stories version. & haven't seen the writing credits or I'd've known, though they're both Browns so maybe I wouldn't.

But I was aware there was a Stories version that somehow related to Michael brown.

I'd bet The Four Tops and several others got higher with covers of Michael Brown material than the Left banke did too.

Left Banke version went to #5 in the U.S., Four Tops went to #14.

Once some guy who fancied himself an office oldies maven was going on about three hit versions "Walk Away Renee." Which led to the following exchange:

JR&tB: Three? I only know the Left Banke original and the Four Tops, which is the third?
OOM: The best of all, Southside Johnny.

Anyway, this page has a version I like which I think I mentioned upthread:

thanks

where's the love for desiree, the less famous but just as good "woman's name ending with -ee" song that MB wrote!
i looooved this song when i was younger. it sounds like a showtune!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6d9k-Nn0P4

Bad year for Michael Browns.

RIP

Yeah! love "Desiree" (both versions).

Relinking to interesting piece about his dad, Harry Lookofsky: http://www.jonroseweb.com/c_articles_stringsville.html. His dad played and arranged strings on both Left Banke and Stories records, as well as producing, particularly on "Walk Away Renee" for which he apparently had to knock on a lot of record company doors to get a release.

RIP George Cameron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_QVUfZv92U

RIP George, had a hand in writing some great songs and also sang lead occasionally.

Rest In Peace and thank you xx

It's always a pleasant surprise to be re-reminded that the entire Walk Away Renée/Pretty Ballerina album is fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZSlF2AkrS4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_yCSNj50iI

Sundazed:

We’re deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Steve Martin Caro, lead singer for the Left Banke, it’s always brought us tremendous pride and joy to share so much of his art with you over the years. Our tone arms are now at half mast. The work of the Left Banke has long been an elusive holy grail for vintage pop fanatics. The legendary "baroque rock" combo's work ranks with the greatest American music of the 1960s, and remains beloved by discerning pop connoisseurs around the world. Out of print for decades and despite its longstanding unavailability, the Left Banke's music has attained an ever-increasing level of prestige over the years, and continues to exercise a powerful mystique amongst the group's legion of admirers. Thank you Steve for all the wonderful art you’ve brought into our lives. #stevemartincaro #leftbanke #baroquepop #walkawayrenee

RIP, such a great voice.

RIP Steve.

I'm going on a train journey tomorrow and was wondering what music to listen to, problem solved.

RIP. I listen to the 66-69 comp so often and treasure so much of it.

So many awesome versions of this tune

yup

I remember coming across this thread a long long time ago, way back when youtube.com was a brand new thing, in the olden times of 2007 before I'd ever heard this song. I looked it up because I was very interested in hearing what someone called the most beautiful song they'd ever heard. (I also did the same thing when someone here said the same thing about "Wichita Lineman." I'd never heard that before either, somehow.)

Anyway I remember hearing "Walk Away Renee" for the first time and liking it a lot not just because it's great but because it's a great thing brand new to me and therefore probably many others and therefore probably severely underrated. Upon reading the news in this thread today I listened to it again for the first time in a long time and still liked it a lot, and because I have free time to kill while I wait for my start date for my new job, I had a lot of the day today to sit around and listen to music. I listened to the whole Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina album twice. It's great! And I've never heard it before. And being able to hear something great I've never heard before is exactly the sort of thing I've been using this board for for nearly the last twenty years.

"I've Got Something On My Mind" is my favorite

^^ that's a super good one
"Desiree" is my favorite I think

I just looked up the backstory of The Left Banke, and I'm amazed by how young they were. I would never in a million years have guessed that Walk Away Renee was written by an actual teenager, even though the lyrics are all about teenage love.

Also there were two, possibly, three incarnations of the band, in as many years, and all of them were good.

The Stories’ “Love Is In Motion” is a great track. They don’t have their own thread so posting that here.

Now have been listening to There’s Gonna Be a Storm and really digging the melancholy garagey orch-pop of all of it, particularly “Let Go of You Girl.”

“Pretty Ballerina” has a drony violin I never noticed before, played by Lookofsky père, I believe, vaguely reminiscent of “Venus in Furs.”

Other thing I am reminded of a bit is the Dutch group The Outsiders.

Here’s a factoid I never knew from the second album’s Wikipedia page:

A pre-Aerosmith Steven Tyler, then known as Steve Tallarico, contributed backing vocals to several songs on the album including ‘My Friend Today’ and ‘Dark is the Bark’.[3]

It's really obvious it's him too. He was quoted somewhere about he'd been hanging out with the band and was shocked at how unprepared to record they were (songs written immediately before stepping into the studio and/or written in the studio).

Those are pretty good songs, unprepared or not!

Just happened upon this Michael Brown chestnut from the 70s: https://youtu.be/wLeQXGcw5gM

The four tops version is the worst.

Jesus christ!

Bass player Tom Finn has died, meaning the entire original line-up of the band is now dead.

RIP :(

Is it just me, or does "Pedestal" have serious early 70s Bowie thing goin' on? The ache in the vocals, wounded romanticism in the lyrics, Ronson-esque axe heroics...

I was checking out the credits for this song, and noticed it was co-written (and produced) by Thomas Jefferson Kaye, and that he seems to have revived it the next year for an album he did with Jay and the Americans, interesting in that both groups were said to have ties to organized crime at the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jND2dj8fU9A

(Association w glam Bowie reminds me that xgau in the 70s heard some of Big Star's music as a blend of the Velvet Underground and Left Banke.)
Michael Brown's mid-70s group the Beckies made one (s/t) LP, with LB appeal in the melodies and arrangements. though a bit limited in words and singing, but (available again as legit download and) well worth checking out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCJXric_9UF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPYtsXNQGj4

That second link has all 11 tracks in a playlist on the right.