on cduk this morning. 'automatic high', it is sung in that midatlantic style - ie auDomatic, not auTomatic. but the sound is resolutely MFI flatpack
Towards the end, it changes from auDomatic to auTomatic, betraying its Britness, its £19.99ness with some of the screws missing, and an extra piece of wood that belongs to another sleving unit. Often, with British pop of the old school (as this is), this can be endearing, although in this case i find the record to be too asinine for endearment to happen.
the ITV studio houseband style gives game away as brit mediocrity straight away of course, but the change to the english pronounciation of Automatic was still jarring and unexpected, the heavy T seemed unlikely, and not really a throwback to the 70s, but a more clear exposure of the continuum of british music from the mid 50s, the ghost of John Leyton oversees...
― gareth, Saturday, 6 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
The heavy T is not a throwback to the 50s at all. The first
generation of British pop singers (Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde, Adam
Faith etc) sounded more mid-Atlantic than any subsequent generation,
even when compared to the British blues singers of the 60s. The
heavy T did not appear in British pop music until Paul McCartney used
it very strongly ("I never knew them aT all") on the Beatles' version
of "Till There Was You" in 1963. Speaking for myself, I don't get
the connection between the British T and mediocrity - 39 years ago
McCartney's use of the British T was revolutionary, breaking down a
whole range of cultural inferiority complexes (sometimes cliches are
truths).
― Robin Carmody, Saturday, 6 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
yes robin, you may be right (certainly about faith, richard and
wilde). i feel there is a link through from the 50s though, but i'm
not really sure who (more your field of expertise really) - which is
why John Leyton came to mind, its there in the 70s though, with
Daniel Boone etc. i think its more a production thing, immediately
identifiable as british, but the way that T jumped out made me think
vocally rather than musically. not so sure now...
― gareth, Saturday, 6 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
From memory (it's a long time since I heard it), Tommy
Steele's 'Little White Bull' (1959) has Brit t's. But they're
more 'Cockney-corrective' (glottal stop self-consciously replaced by
a slightly prissy hard 't' sound that you'd normally only get at the
beginning of a word). Steele probably used that pronunciation to
enhance the record's appeal to children.
― David, Saturday, 6 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
Ah I see Gareth - if you're making the point that the S Club
continuum is basically old-school British light entertainment then
I'd agree with you. Possibly this is the key to why they lack
endearment, because this sort of music only works in a climate when
it fits around the world and the world fits around it, and this is
not such a time.
Adam Faith had some vocal tics which have been described as semi-camp
mockney, but which actually remind me more, bizarrely, of Buddy Holly
(check "Peggy Sue" in particular).
― Robin Carmody, Saturday, 6 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)