I can't stop listening to Pretty Ballerina and Barterers and Their Wives and Walk Away Renee and Dark is the Bark. This has been my constant play lately. And I just got two of their records on vinyl so whenever I actually get to go home, I will be very excited to listen to them.
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The Left Banke, famous for their two hits "Walk Away Renee" and "Pretty Ballerina", split in 1967 after making just one album together. The band lost the architect of their sound but still went on to make one more inferior record before calling it quits. That architect was Michael Brown, their main writer and keyboardist responsible for their Baroque Pop sound. He went on to be part of the shor...
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I've been on this Michael Brown kick lately: the first Left Banke album, the single "Desiree," and the two Stories albums on Kama Sutra, and the sole album by The Beckies. Three groups, each with a different lead singer, each marked by the distinctive sensibility of a songwriter/auteur who is one of those vanished purveyors of '60s and '70s pop.They tried to slap the 'baroque-rock' label on 'Wa...
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Once again, I take my lead from Baudolino when he declares Saturday the day for playing originals of songs made famous by somebody else.This is a very obvious one, but precisely because it's so obvious, I cannot resist it. I know the Left Banke had a fair-sized hit with it in the US in 1966, but in the UK it was the Four Tops who had the hit in 1968 - I didn't even know this wasn't a Tops origi...
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Although 1979 was a strange year for me (lots of coke and quaaludes), I have a few brain cells left and I remember a few things. At the time, I was hanging out with two former members of The Lefte Bank. The lead singer, Steve Martin, who you will see in this video below and the bass player, Alan Waters) who played in a band I was auditioning for and hanging out with at Max's Kansas City (we won...
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