Category: Music (Page 25 of 35)

It's true I have an irrational fascination with the Cher-Compilation-Industrial-Complex. Secretly, I believe Oompa Loompas are in some factory putting these things out. This is an old rare one I've been hunting for many years…basically for the cover art….a painterly representation of Sonny & Cher. Now that I have it, I'm highly disturbed by it.

Hilariously, this MCA compilation, Sonny in Cher Once Again, was produced for Spencer Gifts in 1976. Any mall rat from the 1970s remembers the cheap gifts, sex games and back-of-the-store poster racks of their favorite mall store Spencers. The electronic puppy running into the wall at the front of the store? Where else could you get a pet rock? By the time I was frequenting their shelves, Sonny & Cher merchandise was long gone.

But back to this unusual cover art. The artist is not credited for some reason and the faces of Sonny & Cher are a bit off. Cher's lips and nose especially. Sonny looks more like Magnum PI, Cher like Lindsay Lohan. Secondly, their heads are taken from two completely different pictures…and you can kinda tell by the awkward positioning. Cher is from the back cover of the 1972 All I EVer Need is You album, the best S&C picture ever taken in my humble opinion.

I have no idea where Sonny's image was extracted from. That blue button down is totally unrecognizable to me. Especially without fancy embroidery on it. Does anybody know? The background is I guess some kind of a door opening into a large fern forest.

Once Again is a good name for a compilation from them. Other good compilation titles would be: Yet Again, More Random Selections from Sonny & Cher, You Haven't Seen The Last of a Sonny & Cher and/or Cher Compilation.

This is also a double album. It's got a mix of songs from their Live and Kapp/MCA albums…so you get "Train of Thought" bumping up on "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" and "Half Bread" inbetween "The Beat Goes On" and "Song for You." It ends on "United We Stand."

I love their version of that song. I really do.

I've been working on my 3rd zine lately and doing a survey of artists who have covered Cher songs. Some great artists have been covering Cher, by the way. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have. Click the photos to enlarge.

 
This is truly awesome. Not quite a cover but a sampling of "Gypsys, Tramps &  Thieves" by a French rap group called IAM. Une Autre Brique Dans Le Mur

 
In 2010 Charlotte Church covered "Bang Bang." It's haunting like the Nancy Sinatra version we all know and love but she totally takes it up a notch. Excellent cover.

 
Speaking of "Bang Bang," years ago Paul Weller did an amazing cover as well. An artist of his caliber…wow. It's a joy to hear.

 
I was at the movies to see the Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (couldn't make sense of it but it was very beautiful) and I saw a preview for the French Canadian film Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires) which had the Italian Dalida version of "Bang Bang" featured prominently. All her Sonny & Cher covers from the 60s are lovely ("Mama" and "Petit Homme").

 
And finally, a band who did something f-ing awesome with "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves." The Scud Mountain Boys really treat it well.

Meanwhile, Cher scholars Rob, Robrt, and NYCDishy have been forwarding some good Cher video:

 
Sonny miming & Cher singing "All I Really Want to Do." This one is cute because at the end Sonny walks off and Cher looks like she's having a shy moment. She buries her head in his shoulder at the end.

 
Sonny & Cher singing "What Now My Love." Also, stick to the end to hear S&C duet with Bing Crosby about New Year's resolutions.

 
Sonny & Cher singing "Baby Don't Go" live in early hair and outfits.

 
All the old S&C footage then makes this clip all the more bittersweet: Cher singing "Didn't We," her swan song to her relationship with Sonny, performed at the end of their run on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour back in 1974. At this point in the song, Cher really belts out the words about their rise to fame and "that long, hard climb."

Misty water colored memories….of the way we were.

This Russian bloke has just purchased Cher's music label: http://www.fastcompany.com/1751965/len-blavatnik-warner-music-group

Well…bombastic Bon Jovi rock is not exactly in. So this kind of made sense to me when I heard it. Cher and country: not exactly oil and water.

The rumor was out last week that Cher's new album would be country. This article below also chronicles in excruciating detail Cher’s appearances at Country events and venues over the last few years: http://tasteofcountry.com/cher-country-album/

…as if to say "it's okay…Cher has country cred."

Gregg Allman is contemplating a country album and Gwyneth Paltrow signed a recent deal to make a pop-country record, but here are four words country music never thought it would hear: Cher is going country!

The diva herself has hired Carrie Underwood and Lee Ann Womack‘s producer, Mark Bright, according to Digital Spy, and he is confirming that Cher is indeed recording a country album. Bright says, “Cher knows that her listeners also listen to country music, so she felt it was a natural thing to develop a country music relationship.”

Cher, of course, is not a total stranger to country. She was a presenter at the 2010 CMA Awards, getting a standing ovation by the likes of Tim McGraw, Keith Urban and Ronnie Dunn when she walked onstage. Taylor Swift was even seen throwing her arms enthusiastically into the air as Cher sauntered up to the mic.

The ‘I’ve Got You Babe’ singer reminded the audience that country runs deep in her family. When her mom was young, she sang with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. On the show, Cher said, “When I was about five, I thought there was only two kinds of music: the songs that were in ‘Dumbo’ and ‘Cinderella’ and country.” She added, “The first song my mom ever taught me was ‘Hey Good Lookin,” and my dear friend Merle Haggard and I’ve been talking about doing a duet forever, but I really have a hard time wrapping my head around ‘Haggard and Cher.’”

The last publicly reported time Cher was in Nashville was 2008, when she booked a private jet and came to Twang Town to see her good friend Haggard in concert at the Ryman. Later that night, a man was charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication after he repeatedly harassed her at the legendary club Tootsies Orchid Lounge.

In 2009, Cher and her boyfriend were seen at a Haggard show in California. Her most recent brush with country music was to star in the movie ‘Burlesque’ alongside Julianne Hough earlier this year.

But we can’t ignore one of Cher’s earlier run-ins with a country great: In the video [check the site to view the video], Cher joins the legendary Dolly Parton onstage for a ‘Spiritual Medley,’ dated from a 1978 television special.

More of the same from The Boot: http://www.theboot.com/2011/03/18/cher-country-album/

Cher is going country, according to famed Nashville producer Mark Bright. The studio veteran has added the pop culture icon to his impressive production resume, which includes albums by Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Reba McEntire and Sara Evans, just to name a few.

Mark met Cher through a mutual friend, Songwriters Hall of Fame member Desmond Child. "Because we know each other," Mark says, "when she came to Nashville she thought of me."

Although Cher has been tight-lipped about her foray into country music, Mark's confirmation offers hope to rabid fans who crave new music from the living legend. The new album would mark her first studio album since the release of 'Living Proof' in 2001.

I was actually kind of getting excited about a Cher country album; but then reports came out that this was all rumor (per usual).

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-beat-goes-on/posts/exclusive-hold-on-to-your-horses-cher-is-not-making-a-country-album

Hold your horses — Cher is not making a country album (Melinda Newman)

You know that story about Cher recording a country album that’s making the rounds today? It was true, but is no longer the case.

As often happens once artists get into the studio, the direction shifts. Cher is now making a full-on dance record, according to her representative.

We contacted Cher’s spokeswoman today to see if there were more details about Cher’s country album with Nashville producer Mark Bright. Bright told the website Silk And Denim that he and Cher met each other through songwriter Desmond Child, who has written songs for Cher and who now spends much of his time in Nashville.

That interview ran in January, but for some reason, all the major websites picked up on it today.  News that Cher was looking for country songs first surfaced last November.

We’re waiting for more details about the new set and will add more when we get them, but Cher’s rep tells us that although the country album was in the works, it "no longer is. It will be a dance-oriented album.”

This all gives me a headache. I was actually psyched about some kind of musical departure. Another dance album isn’t going to turn the rock and roll world around. Don’t get me wrong: I love Cher’s dance records. This isn’t about dance. It’s about country. Cher’s voice is very soulful and soul and country are kissing cousins. Cher has never fully developed this natural inclination of her voice (think Elvis and country). It's so neo-hip, too. Just the thing I would love (like so many other thwarted Cher desires: a tourch ballad show, a full-fledged movie musical staring Cher).

I’m feeling a spoiled child tantrum coming on. I'm channeling Napoleon Dynamite.

Gah!

This story got Cher fans to listing out her country oeuvre:

Doug wrote: Cher already has a few country songs under her belt:  "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" from the I Paralyze album [1982], "You're Just What I've Been Looking For" from the Dark Lady album [1974], and "It's Too Late to Love Me Now" and "My Song" from the Take Me Home album [1979].

Ibekeen wrote: Don't forget "She Thinks I Still Care" the George Jones standard from her first album [1965] and "Crying Time" the Buck Owens/Ray Charles classic from the second S&C album as a bonus track [1966], and "Spring" from I'd Rather Believe in You [1976] could be considered country too.

Marcus wrote: And possibly, "Dixie" from Cherished [1977].

I feel a mix tape coming on.

Cher’s Warner Bros albums have now completely missed two levels of music technology: cassette tapes and CDs. We’re now on to mp3s downloaded from iTunes and these four albums STILL are buried under a rock like a time capsule we buried back in 1978 and now can’t find. What the hell?

This awesome Cher scholar Joe Marchese reviews the gems of Cher's late-70s Warner Bros time period and daydreams about the absolutely necessary compilation that is missing from our lives.

How can Cher be taken seriously as 5-decades-long musical artist when some of her best tracks are hijacked in a closet under hundreds of pairs of shoes?

“We listeners don’t need a modest little Diane Warren power ballad to remind us that Cher isn't going anywhere.”

I love his line-up but would one-up the thing after reading about Neil Young’s Blu-Ray DVD set Archives. This is the kind of package Cher fans need, a really serious musical retrospective of her career.  Young's set includes three cornerstone live concerts, rare footage and his entire catalog. Sure it’s $300 but what Neil Young scholar wouldn’t eat it up.

Read the whole Warner Bros retrospective:

http://theseconddisc.com/2011/01/27/reissue-theory-cher-a-womans-story-the-warner-bros-years/ 

Speaking of Warner Bros tracks, Cher scholar Tom found the original version of "Island" on iTunes, recorded by Chunky, Novi and Ernie. Some Cher fans speculated that the song's writer Illene Rappaport was a psudonymn for Cher but this isn’t true. Ileen is her own self (although her name is Lauren Wood) and was alledgedly thrilled Cher recorded her song.

http://www.beyondrace.com/columns/catching-up/980-catching-up-with-lauren-wood