Back in the mid 80's there were two American female singer songwriters and a British one who just blew me away. Being stuck at home again in Lockdown, I've been remembering them.
Suzanne Vega was a slow burner really; quietish Californian singing, no great wizz-bang; acoustic, melodic and intelligent. It was 1985 and as soon as I heard Marlena on the Wall I wuz hooked. Next came Luka and she lived on the second floor! Superb lyrics and sweet vocals of metropolitan life I imagined big city Twenty somethings had. I think me and the Missus got hold of her first eponymous album on tape and maybe the second, Solitude Standing. Alas, all these tapes have gone years ago and its just the faintest of memories I have now, of Suzanne's wistful talk-song with lines like 'I'm fighting things I cannot see' breezing over us when we were a very young married student couple with a baby girl, completely broke but happy as Lamb Chops on Shari's hands.
Around the same time in Britain a new voice arose called Sade. Sade was a singer-songwriter with a band named after her. Gorgeous, stunning, regal, I was in love with Sade as many people were. Her voice was sublime and soft, like baked camembert. Her debut single Smooth Operator knocked me out and again described a big city life of higher highs I couldn't imagine. Diamond Life continued the theme and cemented her voice as the sound of the late night metropolis. The missus and I bought the album. Yep, real vinyl. I think we still have it in the stack and I really ought to let Sade's silken breath take me away once again.
Last but by no means least came Traci Chapman in the late Eighties. Undoubtedly a genius, she was that rare thing; sincere, compelling and tapping into the Zeitgeist. When Fast Car came out me and the Missus, both flower teens of the Seventies, thought we were listening to a new Joni Mitchell, a guitar-playing minstrel for a new shaky decade. Fast Car was the opposite of Diamond Life. Broke, desperate youths wanting a way out, a sentiment we recognised , as if shot straight out of the Seventies. 'Any place is better' she sang. Yep, Traci struck a chord and her next single 'Talkin' bout a Revolution' sealed the deal. We were sold. 'Poor people gonna rise up and get their share'. We bought her first and number one LP and played it non-stop Christmas 1989, dancing round a rented house in Nefyn in our beloved Gwynedd. So long ago now, it really does 'sound like a whisper'.
Did you like any of these Eighties female singers readers or maybe some others?
Blimey, where to begin.
ReplyDeleteKate Bush, Judi Tzuke, Debbie Harry, Tina Turner etc, etc !
Mish.
Yep, like all of those Mish. Went to see Judie Tzuke at Lancaster Uni. I was in love her too! Still got the badge from the gig!
DeleteMy fave was Carmel McCourt from the band Carmel, More,more,more was the stand out, Sadé gets played in the barbershop occasionally and I'm not a fan so every time it's on I say "she's no Grace Jones!" And Grace is just great!!- MJ Southcoast base
ReplyDeleteDon't know Carmel MJ soz. I was into Camel in the Seventies but that was all male prog! I was never a big fan of Grace. Not folksy enough for me. Too scary too!
DeleteYes, superb songs and a superb voice, though I have to admit I didn't actually buy anythng by Miss Vega until later on in her career and I only own a couple of singles and a best of. I was a big fan of a lot of female-fronted bands - Cocteau Twins, Everything But The Girl, Throwing Muses, Siouxsie & The Banshees,Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls, The Sugarcubes and many more - but not so many solo artists other than Hazel O'Connor and the blessed Kate Bush. If you're a fan of Joni Mitchell, it might be worth checking out Laura Nyro and Judee Sill, the latter being another Laurel Canyonite. 'More, More, More' was a great single, I agree, and 'Slave To The Rythm' is an all-time pop classic!
ReplyDeleteGrace Jones's la vie en rose gets lots of air-play in the barbershop -MJ
DeleteI liked a lot of those bands too Paul especially Cocteau Twins, who I listen to on You Tube when I can. London Grammer remind me of them a bit nowadays. I also adored This Mortal Coil and played two albums ad nauseum in the student house-share me and the Missus had in the mid Eighties. Everything but the Girl - yeah, we had one tape, can't recall the name. It was really good. Souxsie Sue I just knew from their singles. Never heard any Throwing Muses or Pauline Murray. I was listening to Laura Nyro the other month on my copy of the LP Fill Your Head with Rock. Don't know Judee Sill either. I'm a fan of local folk lady Kate Rusby too.
DeleteI'll have to check out London Grammer - heard the name but none of their tunes - and I must buy some This Mortal Coil albums. I don't have any (!), even though their cover of Big Star's 'You And Your Sister' is an all-time favourite. With Laura Nyro, I'd recommend the album 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession'. With Judee Sill, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5CalHct6FA
ReplyDeleteAnd Grace Jones' covers of 'Private Life' and 'She's Lost Control' are excellent, too.
Cheers Paul. I'll check out Laura and Judee. Another fave album is Natalie Marchant's Ophelia. Lovely songs. Big Star should have been bigger than they were.
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