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Gordy 7026 (B), December 1963
B-side of May What He Lived For Live
(Traditional)
The A-side of this record, May What He Lived For Live, had been unexpectedly superb, a lament for President Kennedy which drew much of its power from the uncharacteristically tasteful and restrained approach taken to the song by Liz Lands.
Of course, it doesn’t take a lot to undo such magnificent work, and so for the B-side – not featured on the copies of May What He Lived For Live Motown sent to the White House and the DNC – we find this, which shows off everything bad about Liz Lands, taking the faults of her début We Shall Overcome and multiplying them by a factor of about a dozen.
A shrieking, warbling, directionless bossa nova cover of a song that was already teetering on the precipice of first-grade singalong territory, this is just about as bad as it gets.
All the requisite boxes are ticked – tacky new arrangment, complete abandonment of said arrangement by “operatic” vocalist instead using song as vehicle to show off vocal range, ear-splitting high notes in strange places, wanton and repeated use of the phrase itty bitty baby, shrill, staccato backing vocals, backing music that sounds like piped muzak from a convenience store circa 1979… it’s just not very good.
Even when it comes close to being vaguely affecting, either Liz or the backing musicians contrive to mess it up by throwing in some freeform noodling where it doesn’t belong, resulting in pockets of horrendous noise that make the rest of the record impossible to enjoy.
Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
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| Liz Lands “May What He Lived For Live” |
Eddie Holland “Leaving Here” |
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The Laurie London version from 1958 is one of the earliest records I remember and I would have been four years old then. Good or bad, my fascination with records was probably setting in just then.
I was born in ’54 which I think left me too young to appreciate Elvis mania. From what I’ve read, you had to be there and old enough for his breakthrough, ‘outlaw’ years (1956 & ’57) when he drove conservatives apoplectic with his gyrating hips and threatening sneer. After the army, he was granted the deadly Mainstream Show Business Respect, and rubbing elbows with other entertainers “your mother would know.” In the years when Motown, the Beach Boys, the Four Seasons and the British Invasion were cornering the record market, Presley landed all of one single (“Crying In The Chapel”) in the U.S. Top Ten between 1963 and May of 1969. His mostly forgettable movies in this period reflected nothing of the social turmoil teenagers were witnessing in that decade. You respected his legacy and his unassailable contribution to rock and roll, but the demographic of audience he reached for in his first few years with RCA didn’t seem the same one anymore.
Forgive me for going so far off topic here, Nixon. 🙂
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