― bert (bert), Friday, 8 August 2003 14:26 (twenty years ago) link
to my ears, the structure of this song is: pre-chorus/chorus/pre-chorus/chorus/etc.
it's kind of brilliant.
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 8 August 2003 16:46 (twenty years ago) link
i love the fact that "what do you know" is a country song sung in faux british accents.
― call mr. lee (call mr. lee), Monday, 11 August 2003 05:58 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 7 May 2004 02:30 (nineteen years ago) link
Not a big fan of Stories, though...just seems mannered and lacking in energy, without the saving grace of callowness found on the LB recordings. Michael Brown's dad, Harry Lookofsky, did the string arrangements on the early stuff--he was a big-time NYC arranger/session man...
― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 7 May 2004 03:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 7 May 2004 07:07 (nineteen years ago) link
"And you have to take the crunchy with the smooth I s'pose"and"And then one day it happened - She cut 'er hair and I stopped lovin' 'er"
― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Friday, 7 May 2004 08:20 (nineteen years ago) link
You should download the masterpiece Black Cab from Jens Lekman/Rocky Dennis homepage (he released stuff on Secetly Canadian etc) It was the best single last year.
It samples I´ve got something on my mind.
http://www.srvice.com/rockydennis.html
― heroes + villains, Friday, 7 May 2004 09:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 7 May 2004 12:03 (nineteen years ago) link
You sure about that link? Didn't work for me.
― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Friday, 7 May 2004 16:50 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.srvice.com/mp3/rockydennis_blackcab.mp3
― heros + villains, Friday, 7 May 2004 23:44 (nineteen years ago) link
his page on secretly
― heros + villains, Friday, 7 May 2004 23:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― Joseph McCombs, Saturday, 8 May 2004 14:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 8 May 2004 22:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― Brad Baker, Saturday, 25 December 2004 05:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Saturday, 25 December 2004 17:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 25 December 2004 19:25 (nineteen years ago) link
-- amateurist (amateuris...), August 7th, 2003 6:06 PM. (amateurist)
i guess you're not actively listening to it!
― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 25 December 2004 19:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 25 December 2004 20:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― jim wentworth (wench), Sunday, 26 December 2004 06:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 26 December 2004 07:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― the pinefox (the pinefox), Monday, 13 November 2006 14:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 13 November 2006 22:17 (seventeen years ago) link
-- fact checking cuz (factcheckingcu...), August 8th, 2003.
I love songs like that. The Raspberries' "Go All the Way" and "I Wanna Be With You" are like that too.
― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Monday, 13 November 2006 22:39 (seventeen years ago) link
Michael Brown's dad, Harry Lookofsky, did the string arrangements on the early stuffLooks like the dad's album is getting rereleased tomorrow.
― The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Monday, 13 November 2006 23:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy (Kerr), Monday, 13 November 2006 23:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 00:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 00:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― the pinefox (the pinefox), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 15:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 15:44 (seventeen years ago) link
Yes! I thought of "I Wanna Be With You" right away.
― billstevejim (billstevejim), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link
And the acronym is "WAR."
― billstevejim (billstevejim), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 16:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 16:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― the pinefox (the pinefox), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 16:31 (seventeen years ago) link
i'm a big fan of the banke. "she may call you up tonight" is their best song, i always thought, though i quite love "left banke too" LP which has "goodbye holly" and "my friend today." just dark, dripping pop that sounds like nothing else. "men are building sand" is some kind of genius song, too--i mean, the decemberists will spend their whole career trying to do something as good. but, it's such callow music. it's kind of amateur night in a way, but that's what makes it so affecting, in that classic power-pop manner. funny to compare the l.b. and the beau brummels from the same period. there's something very very uptight about those left banke hits whereas "laugh laugh" is a bit less inhibited.
what a strange history, too. michael brown was gone by the time they did "left banke too," right?
haven't checked this, but you mean the "there's gonna be a storm" comp is OP? out-of-print seems a perfectly good term. and pinefox, i think the comp is worth having. a few things that are just too fucking fey, strained, mannered, but overall it's great stuff.
i have the orig. smash LP of "walk away renee" in good shape, and i remember my buddy's *dad* had a copy of "left banke too," this was years ago, that we taped and were way into back then...
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 16:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 16:41 (seventeen years ago) link
It's not worth $60. Either look for it cheap (it used to be a budget price comp for under $10 so I'm sure you'll find it eventually) or wait until it or something to replace it cycles back into print.
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 16:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 16:46 (seventeen years ago) link
That said I've been listening to the Raspberries a lot too. The David also has these kinda baroque pop elements as well. Good stuff.
Ben
― Ben Dover (jonbenetsbody), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 16:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― billstevejim (billstevejim), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 17:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 17:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Redd 47 Ronin (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 19:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 20:30 (seventeen years ago) link
then, a few years ago, I sold it on eBay for $55. The fucker who bought it emailed me back and said that it had a scratch and he wanted his money back. Natch, I said he could have his money back as soon as he returned the disc. He ripped the disk to his hard drive, and then sends me back the disc and it is still in perfect condition (it was in perfect condition because I played it exactly one time when I ripped it to my hard drive, and he played it one time when he ripped it to his hard drive.)
I then sold it again on eBay for about the same amount.
Record companies are so stupid to let shit go out of print.
― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 20:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 21:17 (seventeen years ago) link
This comment made me want to listen and count. The verses are 8 bars long, which seems relatively normal (and is the same as e.g. "About a Girl" by Nirvana). But there is a sense of everything being there to set up the chorus. So maybe it's something in the way the melody and changes lead to the chorus that gives this impression?
― Sundar (sundar), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― Sundar (sundar), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 22:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 14 November 2006 22:32 (seventeen years ago) link
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=EZSlF2AkrS4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_yCSNj50iI
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 12:52 (four years ago) link
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
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 18:09 (four years ago) link
RIP, such a great voice.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 15 January 2020 18:24 (four years ago) link
RIP Steve.
― Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 18:38 (four years ago) link
I'm going on a train journey tomorrow and was wondering what music to listen to, problem solved.
― Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 18:46 (four years ago) link
RIP. I listen to the 66-69 comp so often and treasure so much of it.
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 18:56 (four years ago) link
So many awesome versions of this tune
― Mule, Wednesday, 15 January 2020 20:55 (four years ago) link
yup
― Disco Cladistic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 23:50 (four years ago) link
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.
― del griffith, Thursday, 16 January 2020 03:13 (four years ago) link
"I've Got Something On My Mind" is my favorite
― uncrut gems (crüt), Thursday, 16 January 2020 03:24 (four years ago) link
^^ that's a super good one"Desiree" is my favorite I think
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 16 January 2020 14:33 (four years ago) link
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.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 16 January 2020 17:06 (four years ago) link
Also there were two, possibly, three incarnations of the band, in as many years, and all of them were good.
― Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 January 2020 17:08 (four years ago) link
The Stories’ “Love Is In Motion” is a great track. They don’t have their own thread so posting that here.
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Marat/Sade (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 February 2020 20:59 (four years ago) link
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.”
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Hitchcock/Truffaut (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 4 February 2020 16:57 (four years ago) link
“Pretty Ballerina” has a drony violin I never noticed before, played by Lookofsky père, I believe, vaguely reminiscent of “Venus in Furs.”
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Hitchcock/Truffaut (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 4 February 2020 16:59 (four years ago) link
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]
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 15 February 2020 14:55 (four years ago) link
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).
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 15 February 2020 15:42 (four years ago) link
Those are pretty good songs, unprepared or not!
― Load up your rubber wallets (Tom D.), Saturday, 15 February 2020 16:00 (four years ago) link
Just happened upon this Michael Brown chestnut from the 70s: https://youtu.be/wLeQXGcw5gM
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 19 February 2020 13:51 (four years ago) link
The four tops version is the worst.
Jesus christ!
― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Wednesday, 19 February 2020 17:26 (four years ago) link
Bass player Tom Finn has died, meaning the entire original line-up of the band is now dead.
― Future England Captain (Tom D.), Monday, 29 June 2020 10:33 (three years ago) link
RIP :(
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Monday, 29 June 2020 17:09 (three years ago) link