The Cowsills vs The Partridge Family

Still need to check out their own (Psycho Sisters) album, And need to dig up Susan's solo album--was good, but don't remember particulars, just an impression of her standing by a river, singing her ass off (but not in a showboat way).

Thanks for adding all that stuff, dow. Isn’t Bill Mumy also a member of The Psycho Sisters?

Been listening to Susan’s solo album called Lighthouse which is pretty good and has a song called “River of Love” which is a tribute to Barry and was written by him, I think, performed by the four remaining Cowsills. There is a nice video of it made by the director of Family Band which starts with three of them on the mic waiting for John who is in another room either warming up or practicing for a gig by playing a Beach Boys song.

Ah, actually it is not John singing and playing The Beach Boys, maybe someone else on piano, perhaps it is Jackson Browne, as someone claims in the comments section, and then Paul Cowsill is singing it in imitation of John imitating Blondie Chaplin imitating Carl Wilson, in an attempt to summon John
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xva13taqpJY

Sorry about being a bit gaga at gogo about posting videos but it’s just that there are so many videos of them on YouTube if I find one I am particularly interested it I am putting it here so I can find it again.

Or maybe it is him playing piano. In any case it is an amusing illustration of the Cowsill dynamic.

Some post-Katrina talk from some of us here: Bands in the "powerpop" chapter of the 1980 new wave guide I just bought for https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?showall=true&bookmarkedmessageid=171&boardid=41&threadid=46289 off a seemingly homeless guy set up on the sidewalk of St Marks

Thanks! Had forgotten about that thread.

Sure.

Some good stuff on the RIP Billy Cowsill thread too.

So that video of TRTP&OT in front of the houses and barns is from one of their 2/10 Ed Sullivan appearances.

And that mic problem at the beginning is the reason Bud got mad and then in response Ed & Co cancelled all the remaining performances except one. So yes, that is a live performance, not lip-synced.

And if you watch it a couple of times you can start to see each Cowsill sing their various parts. Way cool.

There seem to have two nights of that Taste of Rhode Island 2000 show in which all seven siblings are on stage. For instance in one of them Barry is playing a violin Beatle bass on "Hair,"in the other it's something else, looks sort of like a Rickenbacker but probably not. Most of the bass is actually played by a guy named Robby Scharf, who plays in Bob's band.

From what I understand, that Ed Sullivan clip is of the rehearsal. The volume problem was really bad when they went live.

Makes sense. I hear the problem went on for twenty seconds so sounds right.

Would love to see the performance the second time they were on - they did "We Can Fly."

The audio for that seems to be available through the major streaming services, although I can't quite seem to click all the way through yet.

So the thing I posted upthread which shows up on Youtube as Taste of Rhode Island is from the first night, and the earlier set, before the inexperienced singer RIchard Cowsill loses his voice, which shows up simply as TORI, is this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFg-leBxM54

Ah, not available in US

Wow, Bill sounds fantastic. Is that Dick singing backup behind them by Barry?

Oh sorry, I see you mentioned that that is indeed him...

I think the other set is a bit better but watch them both if you have time.

Can't stream Sullivan version of "We Can Fly" but I think it may be worth the 99 cents to buy it.

I'm listening to the clip on iTunes and it sounds like the Sullivan house band or something!

Yeah, me too.

This Billy Cowsill Everly Brother's pastiche is pretty sweet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL5Xe_550EDVBX4qjBJfQROlNCz5LKvnOI&time_continue=117&v=_RWKPl0vZgo

Everly Brothers (extra apostrophe ugh)
Here is simpler link, "Love's A Hurtin' Thing"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RWKPl0vZgo

Although that full playlist is interesting

This is like a bottomless well. Just found yet another video of Billy singing incredibly well, starting with “Blue Bayou” then “Devil Woman” and I don’t know what comes next.
RIP Billy Cowsill

Ahem. Sorry. Meant to post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXxZYUOiJTs

It’s presumably just some brunch gig but still

That striped strung-out Sunday sound

Billy sings Bob (not his brother):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QUNo_eRppk

Billy sings Merle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNQo4sComus

Billy sings Hank:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGhFOMxqWCs

Listening to what he does with his voice in some of this stuff, quite convincing imitations of various country styles, has made me go back to the earliest MGM stuff and listen with new ears. Even if he is singing in a more pop-rock style, one can hear or imagine hearing a certain melancholy in his voice that translated well when he went country.

I was a friend of Billy Cowsill over the last ten years of his life, and even was honoured to sing one of his Blue Shadows songs at his memorial wake here in Calgary, which was attended by 850 people. Billy was beloved here. In 1997 a group of his Calgary pals rescued Billy from Vancouver, where he had sunk into drug and alcohol dependency after the breakup of the Blue Shadows. They paid for him to get into rehab for an extended period (that brunch gig JR and the Bs linked to above was early on in the process when Billy started leaving the facility for the occasional afternoon gig, just to keep his chops up) and set him up in an apartment afterward. Billy took on a trio of younger local musicians to do mostly early 60s covers and called it the Co-Dependents. He stayed sober, mentored a lot of younger musicians, played extensively in hospital wards, seniors homes and long term care facilities and attended community college. Unfortunately the long term damage he'd done to his body led to his early death in 2006. I miss him a ton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_QgvUS-wfY&frags=pl%2Cwn

Thanks so much for that. Think I read that when he passed he was working on a psychology degree.

Also, were you trying to post a video? There is an embed but it is not showing up properly.

Okay. Couldn’t see it in zing but do see it in Chrome.

"love's a hurtin' thing" is good and all but unfortunately gloria ann taylor recorded the definitive song with that title

Near the end of this clip he is singing and playing on another Arthur Alexander song.
https://youtu.be/ErjqWzROMaM

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

Really dig Billy’s song “Vagabond”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHKTSt4RZp8

Billy used to love telling the story about how he first recorded Vagabond as a demo in an NYC studio one night in 1972. His own guitar wasn't staying in tune so the engineer pulled a Gibson Everly Bros Flattop out from a closet, that had been left in the studio by the daytime occupant (recording "Sometime in New York City"), John Lennon. He couldn't believe he was playing Lennon's axe. Later in the Blue Shadows he wrote a song about the experience called "Johnny's Guitar".

Thanks. Love these Billy stories you are providing.

Just found the first Blue Shadows album on Spotify. Still kind of amazed at what a convincing country and rockabilly singer he became. Maybe I am a bit of fool on that point but the fool is the last one to know.

Two notes on songwriting credits:

• Interesting that “You’re Not the Same Girl” was written by another guy in Blue Northern, Ray O’Toole, not Billy, but it ended up in the Cowsills repertoire.
• Guy who wrote “Covered Wagon,” Danny O’Keefe, also wrote “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues.” (cf recent Elvis poll) Still don’t know anything else about him.

Just found this great live performance of “Deliver Me” with the Blue Shadows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E47DEbOiYTo

Oh, just noticed the latest Super Hits poll

Miranda Lambert, er, covered "Covered Wagon" on her last album.

The Blue Shadows album really holds up

Like how the harmonies lean a little more towards the Louvins than most

Was referring to the first album. Here is the title track of the second album, which I just came across and enjoyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqtXWrB4xm4