Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Friday Music: Cilla!

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  • Alan Perrott,

    I do love me some Cilla, she does a belting Aquarius

    and this is a rather sweetl duet with Marc Bolan

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Alan Perrott,

    I had a feeling it'd be you who'd bring the knowledge on this one!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Smith can sing too, but that’s where Cilla falls short. She’s not Cilla, and for all the air she moves, she doesn’t really come near the blaring, brassy voice, with its remarkable dynamic range, that seemed to come effortlessly to the Liverpudlian singer.

    Remember the Jimi Hendrix biopic, All Is By My Side that played at the film festival this year? In a weird way, the Hendrix Estate did an interesting if flawed film and lead Andre 3000 a solid by refusing to let them use any of Hendrix's music. It was quite refreshing to see a movie about a musician where you're not assessing a ventriloquist act that's never quite going to come off.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Ken Double,

    Bless. I remember her Blind Date period well. She was a bit (a lot) of a Thatcherite was our Cilla. Keeping that plonker Andrew Lloyd Webber company while all the proper musicians were down with Red Wedge. Gotta love her though, she's a trooper. 28 takes of Alfie - that's real work that is.

    Wellington • Since Dec 2012 • 119 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott, in reply to Russell Brown,

    ha, apologies for perdictabliity...also,

    and some light swing the Dudley Moore Trio

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    last one...her sort of psychy dabble, with added belly dancing

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Tim Michie,

    Lawks, there was no escaping her show in the 70s. But just as with the Beatles, she has a rich vein of cheek that appealed in New Zealand. Predictably you already have my choice but this includes archival footage I think justifies a second appearance

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Remember the Jimi Hendrix biopic, All Is By My Side that played at the film festival this year? In a weird way, the Hendrix Estate did an interesting if flawed film and lead Andre 3000 a solid by refusing to let them use any of Hendrix’s music. It was quite refreshing to see a movie about a musician where you’re not assessing a ventriloquist act that’s never quite going to come off.

    Yes. In that sense, it obliged the film to make its own way.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ken Double,

    Bless. I remember her Blind Date period well. She was a bit (a lot) of a Thatcherite was our Cilla.

    You see, if she'd just kept hanging out with the Beatles and done loads of acid with them, this would never have happened.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    You see, if she’d just kept hanging out with the Beatles and done loads of acid with them, this would never have happened.

    Bryan Ferry would like an elegantly clad word with you young man.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Okay, so it turns out there's quite a bit of Cilla, although much of it fits more comfortably under "novelty".

    I'd been thinking "if only she'd worked with Scott Walker" -- and she did! Kinda. This muffled recording of a duet is all that remains of Walker's appearance on one of her Christmas specials.

    It's from a Guardian roundup of unusual Cilla moments, which crosses over notably with Alan's :-)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott, in reply to Russell Brown,

    nah man...I hadn't seen that list. but there is a Cilla canon swapped among certain types.
    I'd have chucked in Faded Images as well but it doesn't seem to be on youtube.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Dammit.I knew I forgot something.

    Gary Steel's highly readable memoir of Wellington's In Touch and TOM magazines, for Audioculture.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Alan Perrott,

    nah man…I hadn’t seen that list. but there is a Cilla canon swapped among certain types.

    Oh, I certainly wasn't suggesting you'd cribbed!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Thornton,

    Thanks for your music postings every Friday Russell - its always a highlight of my online week. Cilla's voice is extraordinary.

    I just want to shout out a couple of gigs not to be missed this weekend. Ska band The Selector are playing this Friday at Bodega in Wellington and on Saturday at The Studio in Auckland.

    The concert at the Dux Live in Christchurch was unforgettable. Something occurred that I have seen in many years - the whole dance floor bouncing in unison. Not bad for a few hundred 40-50 year olds!

    After 35 years The Selector showed the same energy as this:

    Christchurch • Since Oct 2014 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Market forces...
    Twilight Vintage Market at the Commons in Chchch on tonight (friday), 5-8pm.
    (The Commons is where the Pallet Pavillion used to be, which is where the Park Royal used to be, which was where Victoria Street used to be – back in the day when it actually was Market Square – circles within circles…)

    There will be lots good stuff and old codgers like me selling comics and books and stuff – rarities and oddities for prince and proletarian alike, step right up…
    step right up...

    :- )

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Mike O'Connell, in reply to Craig Thornton,

    The concert at the Dux Live in Christchurch was unforgettable

    It's a pity so meany good events clashed last night in Chch. Dark Matter was at the Darkroom but I checked out Mulholland at the Wunderbar. One of the best local gigs I've witnessed in a long time. Superb musicianship all round, the band just kept getting better - it was one of those 'short, sharp set, left you wanting more' nights. Jol Mulholland also picked up the bass with keys man Matthias Jordan as 2nd support act with Bowie's Golden Years getting a great makeover.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 385 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Guy Peellaert's Cilla.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Attachment

    Guy Peellaert’s Cilla.

    My sister had a copy of that book, Rock Dreams which fascinated me. I knew most of the images were pure fantasy but they felt real in a way that a photo would not.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to nzlemming,

    Attachment

    embrace the NME...

    My sister had a copy of that book

    This one is about the same vintage,
    and going for a song
    at the Market tonight in chchch
    :- )

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    For some of us it may still be too soon, at the mere mention of Cilla my only thought is "lorra lorra foon". Which is a shame because damn she could sing. Give it another twenty years or so....

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Yamis,

    Only link I can find between Elvis Costello and Cilla Black is that he covered a couple of 'her' songs. And this ain't one of them, but I like it anyway... sound quality is pretty average...

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report Reply

  • Ken Double, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Dammit.I knew I forgot something.

    Gary Steel’s highly readable memoir of Wellington’s In Touch and TOM magazines, for Audioculture.

    A raised glass to Fourth Estate, then publishers of NBR, for the "donation" of type galleys, scalpel blades, wax, photocopy toner and bad coffee. Couldn't see Barry Colman sponsoring subversive shit like that.

    Wellington • Since Dec 2012 • 119 posts Report Reply

  • Mike O'Connell,

    I've just dug this out - has anyone seen Work is a Four Letter Word?

    ... A true British drug, pop-film rarity! David Warner and Liverpool beat girl Cilla Black star in this delightfully-absurd account of a young man called Valentine Brose who is on a mission to grow a crop of psychedelic mushrooms to promote bliss for the overworked masses of Great Britain!

    Ha! The title song is also a Smith's cover from 1987.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 385 posts Report Reply

  • Mr Mark, in reply to Ken Double,

    Yep. Despite the wonderfully authentic working-class scouser vocals, Cilla was an out-and-out Thatcherite. While Merseyside suffered badly throughout the 80s and 90s, Cilla was one of the Conservative Party's key Celeb-endorsers Election after Election. As, indeed, was that other working-class girl, Shirley Bassey, from Cardiff's notoriously rough and ready dockside suburb, Tiger Bay.

    No surprises, then, that Black - like other Brit Light Entertainment Celebs with Tory leanings - happily played South Africa at the height of Apartheid.

    She also, rather tragically, attended David Cameron's recent attempt to re-ignite Tony Blair's (equally unfortunate) late 90s Cool Britannia campaign.

    Wellington • Since Dec 2009 • 128 posts Report Reply

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