C or D - 70s era artists (usually white dudes) with gospel-style backup singers (usually black women)

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This must have been done before, but it's hard to search.
You know, what Lou sang "and the colored girls go ........."

This seemed to be de riguer at one time to the point of cliche, but it works more often than not. Rolling Stomes obv.- other good examples??? Just a lazy bid for soul?

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:30 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno, seems like more of a S/D topic to me -- can't really uniformly condemn or condone it.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:33 (nineteen years ago)

oops, just saw a thread which kinda touches on this re: modern-day artists with gospel choirs. Don't know if that makes the thread redundant, up to you mods....... (weird coincidence)

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:34 (nineteen years ago)

Eh, I think there's a big difference between having a couple of backup singers and an entire gospel choir.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:36 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, guess i'm talking more about a few gals, also more 60s/70s, so we're distinct enough from other thread.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:38 (nineteen years ago)

does this count?

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000068QZR.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:43 (nineteen years ago)

i can't remember if this has a big choir (pretty sure it does), but it has a really heavy gospel feel and it's fucking good

Hill/Barbata/Ethridge: LA Getaway LP

http://www.tazrecords.com/tazcovers/taz4171.jpg

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:48 (nineteen years ago)

what about bowie's young americans?

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:49 (nineteen years ago)

and this is breaking the rules and might get me flamed, but the first track on Blur's 13 is pretty awesome (i remember really liking the whole album too)

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:50 (nineteen years ago)

as is that shit Spiritualized did with a gospel choir

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:51 (nineteen years ago)

what about bowie's young americans?

That's the first thing I thought of.

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:55 (nineteen years ago)

Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells A Story"

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Friday, 30 June 2006 04:06 (nineteen years ago)

fuck yeah laura nyro

― trees (treesessplode), Friday, 30 June 2006 04:13 (nineteen years ago)

Pretty much everything Marc Bolan did after "The Slider"...

― vartman (novaheat), Friday, 30 June 2006 04:33 (nineteen years ago)

2 classic records from the 70s that do this with mostly good results - NO OTHER/Gene Clark & WELCOME TO LA/Tim Buckley.
Also, Neil Young "Old Laughing Lady"

Slightly out of this period, and kinda dubious, that Simple Minds record right after their Breakfast Club breakthrough - I remember a video with a largish woman singing very prominently,
i think she was sort of an official member of the band briefly.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 30 June 2006 04:57 (nineteen years ago)

flëétwøöd måçk - the nyro album is an absolute classic, but I'd call labelle more soul than gospel (and on a few tracks it's nyro backing herself up).

70s country is especially fond of the gospel-choir back-up e.g. Waylon Jennings, Charlie Rich, George Jones

― Dr J Bowman (Dr J Bowman), Friday, 30 June 2006 06:01 (nineteen years ago)

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 30 June 2006 06:43 (nineteen years ago)

Big Star's Thank You Friends seems like it jumped on this band wagon but it didn't come out till '78 so it doesn't look as obvious as it might've.

Neil Diamond immediately came to mind but I couldn't think of any songs to verify it.

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 30 June 2006 06:43 (nineteen years ago)

"old laughing lady" definitely has it though it's not quite "salt of the earth"/"like a prayer" hoedown (or just soul backup singers which is what alot of these are a la "young americans"), it's a little different, particularly awesome. on "walk on the wild side" it's definitely not gospel and not really quite soul either, it seems to me to be evoking more a girl-group feel but that might be just how i'm remembering it right now. wanna hear that nyro track like now.

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 30 June 2006 06:53 (nineteen years ago)

Gordon Gano's Mercy Seat band (I guess VF were an eighties band, but early eighties). I bought this LP used a year or two after it came out and STILL haven't played it. I love the Femmes but never quite felt in the mood to hear his gospel experiment.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 30 June 2006 07:05 (nineteen years ago)

2 classic records from the 70s that do this with mostly good results - NO OTHER/Gene Clark & WELCOME TO LA/Tim Buckley.

like serious duh. these are two of my favorite albums, like ever

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Friday, 30 June 2006 07:16 (nineteen years ago)

~~Another David White-Dude~~The expanded Talking Heads — 70's band, but they did it in the early 80's.

― mark 0 (mark 0), Friday, 30 June 2006 08:41 (nineteen years ago)

"I wanna know what love is" - Foreigner

― Herr Fahrstuhl (Herr Fahrstuhl), Friday, 30 June 2006 08:53 (nineteen years ago)

T/S 70s White Dudes with Black Backing Singers vs 80s Hi-NRG Birds with Black Backing Dancers.

― Duck Rivers (noodle vague), Friday, 30 June 2006 08:56 (nineteen years ago)

= Punch the Clock. Which I like, but not as much as anything preceding it (Almost Blue notwithstanding -- that album never happened), and it would've been better without said singers, and we all know what happened next.

But that was '82 -- cliche by then? Deliberate (nostalgic?) cliche? Fuck you in any event, Langer and Winstanley.

― Pessimist (Pessimist), Friday, 30 June 2006 09:42 (nineteen years ago)

Lou Reed, "Walk On the Wild Side", "Sally Can't Dance"

― ¡Vamos a matar, Dadaismus! (Dada), Friday, 30 June 2006 09:54 (nineteen years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000C8AW2.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 30 June 2006 10:01 (nineteen years ago)

The backing singers on "Walk On The Wild Side" were white and British.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 30 June 2006 10:03 (nineteen years ago)

I know that, but the thread title does say usually black women

― ¡Vamos a matar, Dadaismus! (Dada), Friday, 30 June 2006 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

WTF start a new thread when this is basically exactly the same as this one that i revived yesterday. (Plus there's another very similar one in the archives.) Christ.

(grumpy this morning)

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Friday, 30 June 2006 10:30 (nineteen years ago)

Primal Scream channeling the 70s on "Don't Give Out." I don't really think of it as the Scream, and therefore like about half that album. As I recall (not having listened to it in ten years).

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Friday, 30 June 2006 10:37 (nineteen years ago)

What bit of the phrase "70s era artists" don't you understand?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 30 June 2006 10:58 (nineteen years ago)

Given that Foreigner, the Talking Heads, and Punch the Clock had already been mentioned, I assumed the thread had as usual devolved into kinda-sorta-ness.

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Friday, 30 June 2006 11:11 (nineteen years ago)

Hardcore miserabilists always demur, but the backing vocals on Nick Drake's "Poor Boy" are fantastic.

― Duck Rivers (noodle vague), Friday, 30 June 2006 11:15 (nineteen years ago)

That rubbish version of "Why Are We Sleeping?" on Kevin Ayers' "The Confessions of Dr. Dream"

― ¡Vamos a matar, Dadaismus! (Dada), Friday, 30 June 2006 11:19 (nineteen years ago)

humble pie with the blackberries: billie barnum, vanessa fields, clydie king.

(owns this thread)

― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Friday, 30 June 2006 11:30 (nineteen years ago)

Nope, Captain Beefheart owns this thread: "Too Much Time" (with the Blackberries!)

― ¡Vamos a matar, Dadaismus! (Dada), Friday, 30 June 2006 11:33 (nineteen years ago)

Pink Floyd - "Great Gig in the Sky"

Pure awesomeness or pure awfulness? I can never decide.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Friday, 30 June 2006 11:37 (nineteen years ago)

Pure awfulness

― ¡Vamos a matar, Dadaismus! (Dada), Friday, 30 June 2006 11:39 (nineteen years ago)

Nope, Captain Beefheart owns this thread: "Too Much Time" (with the Blackberries!)

beefheart recorded with the blackberries?! that's so much like my dreams, it's scary.

― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Friday, 30 June 2006 11:49 (nineteen years ago)

I was just listening to Electric Warrior and trying to figure out how T. Rex manages to get away with that when it would sound terminally cheesy on anyone else's record.

― js (honestengine), Friday, 30 June 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

Agreed that S/D works better for this. So, S:
Pacific Gas & Electric, "Are You Ready" (also with the Blackberries, I think)
Melanie, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" (with the Edwin Hawkins Singers)

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 30 June 2006 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

Forgot there's another Beefheart song with the Blackberries: "Crazy Little Thing"!

― ¡Vamos a matar, Dadaismus! (Dada), Friday, 30 June 2006 13:21 (nineteen years ago)

Terry Melcher overdubbed some gospel stuff to this album:

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00004OCEO.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Friday, 30 June 2006 13:23 (nineteen years ago)

Casual Grace Slick fans might be intrigued by "Fat," a song they did (as Kantner/Slick/Freiberg) with the Pointer Sisters on backing vox.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 30 June 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

was You Can't Always get What You Want the first bona fide Big Hit to utilize this? was that even a single?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 30 June 2006 13:28 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, as the b-side of "Honky Tonk Women", but it was a shorter, seemingly choir-less mix.

― Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Friday, 30 June 2006 13:33 (nineteen years ago)

speaking of the Pointer sisters, Alice Cooper's "Teenage Lament '74" featured them on backing vocals...(Liza Minelli also can be heard)...

― hank (hank s), Friday, 30 June 2006 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

Paul Simon-"Loves Me Like a Rock" and "Mother and Child Reunion"

― Arthurgh! A Music War (Arthur), Friday, 30 June 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

I was gonna say that Paul Simon owns this shit. Prick.

― trees (treesessplode), Friday, 30 June 2006 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

As in he is a...

― trees (treesessplode), Friday, 30 June 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

Joe Cocker-Mad Dogs and Englishmen

― Arthurgh! A Music War (Arthur), Friday, 30 June 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

"Too Much Time" is like probably my favorite Beefheart song ever, just because of how awesome the contrast is with his voice & The Blackberries.

Also, somewhere up there someone said "black backing dancers" which I read as "black BLACKING dancers" which gave me something of a confused roff.

― you can email me if you wish to challenge the truth (nickalicious), Friday, 30 June 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

It's not "70s era", but one of the best Faith No More songs of all is "Just a Man", which is +1 gospel choir.

― you can email me if you wish to challenge the truth (nickalicious), Friday, 30 June 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

Bob Dylan - Slow Train Coming

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 30 June 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

late period tim buckley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1TRlmCvYyk

― buzza, Tuesday, 29 June 2010 03:47 (fifteen years ago)

Humble Pie-30 Days in the Hole

― Chicago to Philadelphia: "Suck It" (Bill Magill), Tuesday, 29 June 2010 13:54 (fifteen years ago)

i would imagine he's a bit of a pariah around here(?), but a friend hipped me to joe cocker's joe cocker! and it's damn solid and employs gospel-style female singers (merry clayton, bonnie bramlett, rita coolidge, etal) to great effect

― easiest lay on the White House lawn → (will), Tuesday, 29 June 2010 16:39 (fifteen years ago)

^otm

what about stoneground?

― hobbes, Tuesday, 29 June 2010 18:03 (fifteen years ago)

five months pass...

not quite fitting the thread concept but i love everything about this clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haZPPBJC8Ic&feature=related

― hoax (ico) (buzza), Friday, 24 December 2010 06:20 (fifteen years ago)

We have a winner. Bonus points for title + lyrical content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgklds_9h7c

― B-Boy Bualadh Bos (ecuador_with_a_c), Friday, 24 December 2010 10:30 (fifteen years ago)

There's a term for this that Broadway singers use:[ "black up singer."

Culture Club "Church of the Poisoned Mind."

― thirdalternative, Friday, 24 December 2010 14:54 (fifteen years ago)

Van Morrison.....for about 15 years, it was like he walked around with a trio of backing singers covering his back 'think I'll go for a lie down' B Vox ' go-o-o-o for a lie down!' 'I'll be down for dinner' ' he'll be do-o-o-o-wn for his dinner!'

In a downsizing move, he replaced them all with Brian Kennedy in the mid-90s.

― sonofstan, Friday, 24 December 2010 15:24 (fifteen years ago)

Bob Dylan's "Queens of Rhythm" black up singers. I think he married two of them.

― thirdalternative, Friday, 24 December 2010 15:41 (fifteen years ago)

two years pass...

"Twenty Feet from Stardom" movie doc about background singers is making the rounds of filmfests and is opening in W. DC June 28th

The singers for the Rolling Stones are included

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 26 June 2013 15:49 (twelve years ago)

Fresh Air recently interviewed the director and Merry Clayton. They played an isolated track of Merry's vocals for "Gimme Shelter." So awesome. Looking forward to this doc.

― Your Favorite Album in the Cutout Bin, Wednesday, 26 June 2013 16:32 (twelve years ago)

Saw it. Amazing.

Aside from Merry Clayton, featured performers include Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, Claudia Lennear of the Ikettes, Tata Vega, Judith Hill, and family group The Waters.

Beyond being informative about the job of backup singing, it's a pretty deep commentary on the music biz in general.

― Josefa, Wednesday, 26 June 2013 17:25 (twelve years ago)

great idea for a documentary!

― tylerw, Wednesday, 26 June 2013 17:31 (twelve years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqXyjbgs5rU

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 26 June 2013 17:39 (twelve years ago)

two weeks pass...

Friend of mine saw it last night, said it's fantastic.

Here's the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWyUJcA8Zfo

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 16 July 2013 19:01 (twelve years ago)

four months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjCw3-YTffo

― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Thursday, 21 November 2013 08:37 (twelve years ago)

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