Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Faithfull, above, ultra-stylish in 60s mod clothes .

Like a Rainbow
Married and then separated to an artist, mother to a young son,  a hit single, a rock star boyfriend and a heroin addiction, all before the age of 21 - in the rich cultural history of hip 60s London scene, there were few figures as notoriously colourful as Marianne Faithful. From the beginning, she seemed to tumble effortlessly into fame, a singing career and a world famous relationship.

Physically, as well as stylistically,  the singer had all the right ingredients for the times: wild blonde hair, a  slender body, a sensuous mouth, whispery voice, incandescent blue eyes and the whole enhanced by a  Carnaby Street cool that reflected the cutting edge fashions of the era. (though Faithfull describes Carnaby Street as a media construction)

Clothes aside, her convent background and sweet, angelic facial features belied a daring, hedonistic personality that sought out sensual experience but the clash only made her seem more interesting. Looking at very early footage of her, she seems exceptionally effervescent, dreamy, articulate and almost childishly naive, as though she lived in rarefied air.

Where do you go to my Lovely?

 Image by Alain Elorza

You talk like Marlene Dietrich and you dance like Zizi Zeanmaire

Your clothes are all made by Balmain and there's diamonds and pearls in your hair...yes there are

Nice to be some

Singer/composer Peter Sarstedt's 1969 magically evocative ode to an  unknown and probably imaginary jet setting beauty, translated into a huge hit for him in England and I have to confess, it's always been a favourite of mine, romantic fool that I am. The song does tend to be more favoured by women than men, perhaps because it's a story song and provides a kind of romanticised female escapist fantasy. Those of us not in a position to steal a painting from Picasso (apart from the fact that he's dead) can listen to the song and imagine for a brief moment what it must be like for the Aga Khan to give one a racehorse for Christmas or more precisely, to be fabulously rich, glitteringly gorgeous and utterly adored...never forgetting of course, at night, alone in bed, that one came from the back streets of Naples. Yes, oh yes, I still bear the scar deep inside...

Bob Downe and Barry Morgan

The irrepressibly upbeat Bob Downe

In Praise of the Sickly Seventies
If immovable hair, carbon nitrate teeth and polyester safari suits appeal to you, you might like Antipodean entertainer Bob Downe, who lives, worships and dangerously inhales all things '70s.

Bob has been quipping, singing and what could be loosely called dancing, around clubs, cabarets and TV stations since 1984, an ominous year in more ways than George Orwell could predict.

Everything Bob Downe does, he does with gusto - disturbing gusto, so keep a kidney tray handy if you decide to sit through an entire song. Call me cowardly but somehow Bob and the Gilligan's Island theme together seems just too much 70s to take in in one gulp...

Vinyl Records

'Round & 'round.Vinyl record on the turntable. Source

The Vinyl Comeback
For some traditionalists, the exponential evolution of digital music over the last fifty years or so, while impressive, is somehow lacking in soul. Vinyl enthusiasts miss the shiny black smoothness of the grooved record, the visual impact of the album cover, even the smell - in short they pine for the whole  feel and ambiance of an actual record. Vinyls have a 'physicality' that just can't be matched by non-touchable mp3's or even lightweight CD's in their crackable cases. Records have substance and according to many LP fans, a richer, warmer sound than their digital counterpart.

Teenage Idol

Ever since the term "teenager" was invented, there's been moves to create the one, a role-model youth who would have the rest of the mob longing either to be them or have them. The first post-war, manufactured, young teen idols (as opposed to bobby soxer magnet Frank Sinatra, who was a mature man of 45 by 1950) were probably Frankie Avalon and Ricky Nelson, who were a 1950's phenomenum and there have been teenage idols in every decade since. Usually the idols were male but females have been on top of the teen pedastal too - Sandra Dee, Gidget and Hayley Mills, just to name a few. However they never had quite the same pulling and selling power as the boys, which yank all the right strings in the tender hearts of tweens.

Abba in Australia

ABBA

70s Musical Kitsch
In the 1970s, for reasons that are largely mysterious, Australians formed a great and lasting love affair with the Swedish pop group ABBA. As Bjorn Ulvaous remarked at the Melbourne ABBAWORLD exhibition in Melbourne in 2010:

‘Australia was the first country that took ABBA to heart and we never forgot about that. We always felt a lot of love from audiences there.’’ Aw...

Skyhooks: Living in the 70s

They had flares, glam jumpsuits, dubious hair and plenty of attitude...Melbourne group Skyhooks was the quintessentially seventies band. In fact they even wrote a song about it - Livin' in the 70s, which shot up the charts in 1974. They were, in their day, a very popular band.  Love them or hate them (and not many people did hate them), Skyhooks were at least different. Visually, each band each member had a completely unique, theatrical presence - there didn't seem to be one cohesive style, although  musically, they were tight..

The Harpsichord

A guide to all things harpsichord

Although it may conjure images of Lurch and elderly ladies in musty chintz-curtained parlours, the harpsichord was at one time the instrument of choice for hip young ladies in fashionable parlours. A woman who could display her musical accomplishments on an elaborately decorated harpsichord was socially ahead of the game.

The harpsichord appeared sometime in the Middle Ages and continued to be widely played for a few hundred years, however its popularity waned with the emergence of the piano in the eighteenth century.

The Baroque Period
 The distinctive notes of the harpsichord featured prominently in Baroque and Renaissance music and notably, in the the concertos of immensely popular composers such as Bach and Vivaldi.  It was Bach who arranged some of Vivaldi's concertos, many of which he (Vivaldi) had written for the young girls at a convent school in Italy, so that they may be played on the harpsichord.The Baroque period was a particularly vibrant period for music, breaking away as it did from traditional European religious and choral based music.

Split Enz

Originality was the key to Split Enz's success

The musically inventive and visually theatrical band Split Enz emerged in Australia in the latter half of the 1970s and while we were were more than happy to claim them, the band was in fact born in New Zealand. Enz was  formed at Auckland University in 1971 and the original line-up included Phil Judd, Tim Finn, Noel Crombie, Robert Gillies and Mike Chunn.

When Judd left the band (he later rejoined) the gap was filled by Tim's younger brother Neil and in 1974, noted  keyboard player Eddie Raynor joined the group. In the following year, after garnering a significant following in NZ, they made the shift to Australia, changing their name from Split Ends to Split Enz, as a fond nod to their home country.

Rudy Vallee

Me and my Megaphone

Rudy Vallee and his megaphone

Musician, singer, screen actor, radio star and comedian Rudy Vallee was a bit hit in the 1920s, 30s and 40s - with his softly intimate voice, tousled hair and non-threatening, boyish features, he cultivated a distinctive crooner image and personality that made him stand out from the regular popular singer crowd.

'College boy' Vallee had been a bandleader and saxophonist in the 1920s, who made a name for himself by singing through his trademark megaphone, often in a university sweater and singing Ivy League ditties such as the Yale drinking song, Whiffenproof.

Daddy Cool

Daddy Cool CD, "includes every hit they had"

Daddy Who? Daddy Cool?
According to Australian rock legend, what began as a tongue-in-cheek rock band in Melbourne in the early seventies, turned almost overnight into a serious success story. Harking back to the hip Beatnik lingo of a decade and a half earlier, the band was named, with affectionate humour, after The Rays, 1957 song, Daddy Cool.

Their first single, Eagle Rock was released in 1971, shooting to No 1 on the Aus. music charts and remaining there for ten solid weeks. Further successes followed with Come Back Again, Lollipop, and Hi Honey Ho. Most of the songs were written by lead vocalist, Ross Wilson, though a couple of 50s cover songs, Baby Let Me Bang Your Box and Sixty Minute Man appeared on the album Sex, Dope, Rock'n'Roll; Teenage Heaven.

The Theremin

What's a Theremin...?

You know that eerie, wailing, space-age music that enhanced the music soundtracks of many a sci-fi film in the 1950s? Well that was down to an intriguing instrument called a theremin -so named, after its inventor, Leo Theremin, who patented his device as early as 1928. A ground-breaker in electronic music, it was used to good effect in the sci-fi classics The day the Earth Stood Still and It Came From Outer Space. I'm not 100% sure, so don't quote me on this but I also strongly suspect it was used in the music for the hedonistically weird beach dance scene in The Day the the Fish Came out . Even the Beach Boys took it for a whirl in Good Vibrations and more recently, it appeared in the theme tune for the BBC's Midsomer Murder series.

Still from The Day the Earth Stood Still. 1951

Easy to Learn but Hard to Master
The theremin is interesting for a number of reasons - it's reputedly the only instrument you don't need to touch in order to play it, as it has clever antennae that sense where your hands are; the pitch antennae controls the pitch you are playing, while the volume loop controls the volume. The closer your hand moves to the pitch antennae, the higher the tone and the further away your hand is from the volume loop, the louder the sound. Apparently a wide variety of tunes can be achieved, from classical, eccentric avant-garde and back again to mainstream dance tunes, such I was Meant for You, played by in the video below by Samuel Hoffman on the TV show, You Asked For It..  Whatever the tune though, there's always that soul-disturbing eerie tone to it.

Russian Research
Leon Theremin's invention initially came about as the result of the Russian governments sponsorship of research into proximity sensors (machines sensing things nearby without physical contact). Evidently Bolshevik leader Vladimir  Lenin was so impressed he requested lessons to learn how to play the instrument. The theremin also enthralled the West and there was even a concert tour of the US, featuring a classically trained  female musician playing the greats on the theremin.

Theremins have changed a bit over the years and heavy coils and vacuum tubes have been replaced by lightweight, solid state circuit boards. The theremin still has it's enthusiasts - nothing else sounds quite like it.

Robert Moog's modern Etherwave Theremin Kit

Theremin Info Page
Csirac...Australia's first computer

Sadie, the Cleaning Lady

In November 1967, blonde, clean-living English immigrant Johnny Farnham released his new single Sadie the Cleaning Lady onto the Australian air waves and immediately he became the darling of teenyboppers, housewives and dishwater damaged, aging domestic engineers everywhere.

Farnham, with his warm and fuzzy nice-boy personality, exuded too much youthful charm to be ignored and the song was, at the time at least, the perfect vehicle for his husky, sympathetic voice. By early 1968 it was #1 on the Australian singles charts, where it remained for six weeks, only to eventually become the biggest selling single in Australia by an Australian artist in the 1960s - 180,000 copies - huge by Australian standards.

So Young. Johnny Farhnam, State Library of Victoria.

Sadie was written by Americans, Dave White, Johnny Madara and Ray Gilmore yet slotted in well with the upbeat, kind of tongue-in-cheek UK working-class sentimentality of the era - it would have made a good companion piece to King of Skiffle, Lonnie Donegan's 1960 hit, My Old Man's a Dustman. The B side, In my Room was written by Farnham and while the singer went on to see a couple more songs in the singles charts they failed to match the success of Sadie.

Farnham's career seriously sagged in the 1970s until he replaced Glen Shorrock as lead vocalist with Little River Band in the 80s,  after which, with the help of manager Glen Wheatley and songwriters Vanda and Young, a mature Farnham very successfully reinvented himself in the late 1980s and 90s as The Voice...John Farnham

 Tragic Offshoot...?
According to music writer Jeff Jenkins, talented singer Mike Furber was offered the Sadie song but rejected it, later telling Farnham's then manager, Darryl Sambell, that that early mistake signalled he was not "destined for success".

Furber suicided in may 1973, apparently having hanged himself in the garage of his Sydney home. Whether or not this was related to his own perceived sense of failure at having missed a chance at the upward trajectory to stardom, is anybody's guess but whichever way you slice it, it was a tragedy He was 25 years old.

The Zombies

UK band The Zombies had three major hits in the 1960s - She's not There, Tell Her No and Time of the Season (ironically, after the original band had already broken up through internal conflict and lack of popular interest). The Zombies were a tight,  cool band of the Mod era, led by Colin Blunstone on vocals and Rod Argent on piano/keyboard. Most of the songwriting was done by Argent and bassist, Chris White and the lyrics and music put together gave them a unique...and on some tracks, an almost hypnotic sound. My personal favourite - This Will be our Year..

For my money, they still hold up even after all these years. There's a melodic, soothing and timeless lilt to the music, enhanced by Blunstone's coolly emotional vocals, great harmonies and out-there chords.  The Zombies are never hard to listen to - songs rolls over the olfactory senses like Marsala over ice-cream. I'm not alone there, as their classic 1968 album, Odessey and Oracle is listed by Rolling Stone, as among the top 500 of all time.

60s Psychedelia. Odessey and Oracle album cover.

Official Zombies Website

Chick Henderson

Chick Henderson

British singer Chick Henderson had a warm, rich, emotional, yet manly voice, that could stir the heartstrings and get the body swaying.

Henderson was just 31 when he died in 1944 as the result of torpedo wounds sustained during WW2 but in his short career had managed to garner a significant fanbase in the UK and recorded some highly acclaimed tracks, including his greatest hit Begin the Beguine, recorded with Joe Loss and his band.

Rumour has it Chick was unassuming, witty, charming and entirely lovable. Born Henderson Rowntree in the North of England in 1912, Henerson had enjoyed singing throughout his boyhood and as a young man, he auditioned for and was signed up by bandleader Harry Leader. Chick's first recording appeared in 1985 on the Eclipse label -Zing went the Strings of my Heart and he joined the Joe Loss Band in the same year, after being heard and admired on radio.

Chick went on to make over 250 recordings, many of them great songs, such as That Lovely Weekend, Starlight Serenade and Bewteen a Kiss and a Sigh - and in fact Chick Henderson was the only recording artist in the 1930s to have a hit record (Begin the Beguine) that sold over a million copies.

For more comprehensive info on Chick, visit the Chick Henderson Appreciation Society

With Plenty of Money and You...

Swing Dancing: Lindy Hop. Jitterbug, Jive

The Origins Of Swing

Swing dancing goes right back to the raging 1920s, where it developed alongside jazz music among the black communities in Harlem. The same vibrant communities who had invented the Cake Walk, the Black Bottom, the Charleston and the Lindy Hop. Swinging jazz bands could be heard pumping out music in large and boisterous nightclubs like the The Cotton Club and The Savoy in New York, which opened in 1926. it was the kind of music it was impossible to sit still through and swing dancing more or less organically grew from the throbbing sounds.

The 1920s were an exciting, experimental period in 20th century history and this was reflected in the music and dancing, which had a kind of infectious vibrancy, as well as a crazy optimism. The vibe was continued into the 1930s and new dances, which had their roots in the old, sprung up. Popular bandleader Cab Calloway introduced a new tune in 1934 called the Jitterbug, which in turn spawned a new dance by the same name. It was a six beat variant of the Lindy Hop and required a serious amount of energy and chutzpah.

• African Influences on Swing Dance

The Harvest Moon Ball

Along with Calloway, Swing dance was brought into the mainstream by high profile hot jazz band leaders like Benny Goodman and Count Basie and later, Glen Miller..though there were critics at the time who complained that Miller's version of swing was too slick and controlled, thus moving it away from its wilder jazz roots toward a softer, more commercial version.

In 1938 the famous Harvest Moon Ball at the Madison Square Gardens in New York, incorporated Lindy Hop and Jitterbug dance competitions into its program.
By the 1940's swing had reached its zenith an the dances were everywhere...in the movies, in the streets, homes, dance halls and nightclubs . The terms Lindy Hop, Shag, Lindy, Jive, Jitterbug and Swing were used interchangeably in popular culture to describe the same type of spirited dance and eventually it all the dances came under the general banner of 'swing', although there are distinct differences between the individual dance styles.

 

Hellzapoppin'

The video below, from the 1941 film Hellzapoppin' is a little bit old and crackly and the first part is music only, but stick with it and you'll be rewarded, as it contains one of the most 'out there' dance sequences I've ever seen - it exemplifies everything swing is about - joie de vivre, phenomenal energy, and complete freedom of expression. There's nothing uptight about these dudes...

Swing Times

By the time the middle of the century rolled around, swing was being taught in most commercial dance studios, though often in a watered down and less rambunctious form, to accommodate a less nimble and sure-footed general public.

The swing that had developed through the decades had required a fair amount of skill and energy. One high profile swing enthusiast of the 1930's..Frankie Manning, had introduced the first aerial into the Lindy Hop. He and his partner had developed a back flip that he had seen performed by professional dancer and incorporated into the dance.

Frankie Manning and partner

Manning was an innovative dancer and made a name for himself at the Savoy Ballroom , where he and his partners did much to advance the swing cause and in particular the Lindy Hop. When the swing revival hit in the 1980s, Frank Manning once again proved to be an International driving force for the dance, through his performance, choreography and teaching.

Much of the swing dancing seen in vintage film clips from the era reveal the kind of expertise required to perform these dance numbers, which are in perfect sync with the music. They make it look spontaneous and easy, but of course, it wasn't. That kind of aerial flipping swing was not usually danced socially..rather, it required a high level of skill and practice and was performed professionally or for dance contests.

Still Popular

"Swing is so much more than a dance, it's a way of life. The music gets stuck in your mind and the dance is in your heart and the whole scene is engraved on your soul. You can fly."
Nicholas Hope

Swing dancing still has pockets of fans all over the world, is danced on the ballroom dancing circuit and every now and then there's an enthusiastic revival. It's s an exhilarating and social form of dance and a great way to keep fit. Many places hold regular dances and competitions, often with DJ's and live swing bands.

Swing dance resource page: Hefty Resource

Al Bowlly and Ray Noble

,

My father was a great fan of music of the 1930's, an appreciation buoyed by a great collection of vinyls, as well as old 78's and as a result I grew up listening to music by the greats, such as Fats Waller, The Mills Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. With unfailing regularity, every saturday, morning Dad would rustle through his collection and dance around the lounge room floor to the music of his choice, always uplifted by the melodies. Many a saturday morning I would awake bleary-eyed to the cheerful, sometimes too cheerful, strains of George Gershwin's Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries.

Ray Noble

One of my favourites from this vintage musical treasure trove was  singer and jazz guitarist Al Bowlly. Bowlly was a prodigious artist, making more than 1,000 recordings between 1927 and 1941 and his sweet, warm but nonetheless strong voice appealed to a wide range of listeners. In the 1930 he teamed up very successfully with fellow Englishman, (another of my favourites), Ray Noble and his Ray Noble Orchestra and it proved to be a great boon to both careers.

The Songs

Love is the sweetest thing, The Very Thought of You, You're So Desirable, The Touch of Your Lips, Goodnight Sweetheart, Isle of Capri are just some of the songs British bandleader Ray Noble has left to the world. Noble too, was immensely popular in his day and his beautiful tunes are still used in various productions, more than seventy years after their inception; notably in a cat food advertisement, as the theme for a British television series and in the films of Woody Allen, a fellow 30's music fan.

Perhaps the most striking feature of a Ray Noble song, besides its warmth and simplicity, is its 'humanness'.  Bowlly and Noble seem to have been able to tap into something basic and uncomplicated about human love and extract the essence, which is perhaps why they are still enjoyed, despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that the peculiarly sweet innocence of the lyrics jars with the more aggressive tendencies of modern song. There is nothing convoluted or pretentious about a  Noble song; his lyrics are timeless, evocative and utterly relatable. These songs, enhanced by the sweet vocals of Al Bowlly, have been a consistent thread in my life and a musical backdrop to many old memories of childhood. They always add a little Springtime to my heart....