I would be remiss if I didn’t note that passing of Peter Asher’s musical partner Gordon Waller. They had a solid string of hits in the 60’s. I’ve grabbed two of their tunes from 1967 off of an old piece of groovy vinyl I own, both composed by Mike Leander and Charlie Mills. I’m fairly sure Peter produced these singles.
First the slighty risqué “Lady Godiva”…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/LadyGodiva.mp3]… and “Knight In Rusty Armour”
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/KnightInRustyArmour.mp3]
Denro, ITA, “I Go to Pieces” is my all-time P&G fave. I’ll have to look up Del Shannon’s version. I always loved how they sang the line “I remember what she said when she said … goodbye .. . bay..a .. bee. ” always gave me goosebumps. Great musical tempo, arrangement, and vocals. I give it a 95, Dick!
The latest issue of Beatlefan, which arrived this week, had a glowing review of a recent Peter and Gordon appearance in Atlanta. They apparently sounded great and were having quite a bit of fun on stage. I read it and thought, “I really would like to see them if they come up our way.” Then I realized that Gordon had just passed away and the opportunity will never come. My favorite P&G song is their terrific version of Del Shannon’s “I Go To Pieces”, but I have also have an unexplainable affinity for “Nobody I Know”!
Doug, one of our local AM stations recently changed its “oldies” format to include a much richer and wider variety of oldies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The response from the public has been unanimously positive. I think I had complained to you that even I was getting sick of “Would It Be Nice!” Anyway, just the other day, they played “Woman” by Peter and Gordon, which I hadn’t heard in eons! Just yesterday, I read of Gordon’s passing and was stunned, having just heard the aforementioned toe-tapper, George Martin-esque arrangement of Spanish horns and cellos. I always forget Gordon’s last night! Jane was his sister! Glad to hear his career continued to flourish. One final note: I always mixed them up with Chad and Jeremy.
Here’s “Woman” live from Hamburg. The guys look great, but the backing band is AWFUL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STzzdjw6H14&feature=related
Peter Asher’s sister Jane was, of course, Paul McCartney’s girlfriend for some years, and he was best man at Marianne Faithfull’s wedding. Asher was the A&R guy at Apple Records when the label started and he gave James Taylor his big break. In the 70’s Asher was a top record producer and he worked a lot with Linda Ronstadt.
Oh my gosh! I hadn’t heard that he died! I saw them two years ago at a free concert in Disney World and they sounded fantastic…if you closed your eyes (and didn’t see that they looked like grandfathers) you’d have thought they were still 18 years old…beautiful music!
Very beautiful songs! I didn’t know them till 2 days ago, when a friend sent me their songs!