Crispian St Peters

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while searching for stu phillips soundtrack to Follow Me (and as usual only coming up with the john barry soundtrack to the film of the same name 4 years later), i came across an album from 1966 also called Follow Me, by...

Crispian St Peters

what is this? have you heard it?

― charltonlido (gareth), Thursday, 19 May 2005 06:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I have heard "Pied Piper" nine hundred times on oldies radio.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 19 May 2005 06:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Sort of standard mid-'60s mainstream pop trying to go country, but not a precursor to the Notorious Byrd Brothers or anything like that. You'd be better off getting the Lou Christie anthology on RPM. An extremely strange record.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 19 May 2005 06:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(well, i think ive found a copy of the stu phillips soundtrack at last now - with dino, desi & billy on it too), but, tell me more of lou christie?

― charltonlido (gareth), Thursday, 19 May 2005 06:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Christie's a strange guy, just going on the records and the little biographical knowledge I have. I like "The Kids on the Street Will Never Give In," but not as much as the title convinced me I would. (There shoulda been a song by that title on 'Mott.') I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when he and Lesley Gore were touring together in the '80s.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 19 May 2005 07:00 (twenty-one years ago)

The anthology's called Original Sinner. Imagine if Brian Wilson had started off doing Pet Sounds but then suddenly decided to turn into Scott Walker. "Lightning Strikes" was his big hit single from that period, but the rest of the album gives us fantastically pretentious orchestration (Jack Nitzsche being responsible for at least some of it), sound-effects and pre-psychedelic psychosis coated in bubblegum. "Painter" and "Summer Snow" are particularly out there.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 19 May 2005 07:04 (twenty-one years ago)

"Two Faces Have I" makes Frankie Valli sound like Paul Robeson.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 19 May 2005 07:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Any mention of Lou Christie should include a tip of the hat to "Egyptian Shumba," one of the most insane would-be hits of the early 60s. Take the crazed vocals and weird pseudo-ethnic subject matter similar to that in a lot of Christie songs (Gypsies and whatnot, but in this case ancient Egyptians) crank it up to about 23 and throw in "the Tammys," designed to be the protege girl group adjunct to Christie. The overall effect is that of an exceedingly anxious femme trio on crystal meth - it actually sounds like a way stranger version of an early B-52's number like "52 Girls" but a lot less planned out. Sadly, I can't find even an Amazon sampling of this track, but for anyone who posts their e-mail address, I'll send a low-fi MP3 of it - you'll want the entire CD (Lou Christie & the Tammys' "Egyptian Shumba."

Someone on Amazon described it nicely:

"Egyptian Shumba" is a mesmerizing monument of mythic proportions. The energy! The urgency! The pulsating primordial pounding! "Egyptian Shumba" begins with an insane cobra clarinet leaping and licking. Then The Tammys chant,
'Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Shy-Yi Meece-E-Deece.
Last night I dreamed I was on the Nile...'

One of the most underrated tracks ever.

― Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Thursday, 19 May 2005 07:42 (twenty-one years ago)

[email protected]

Thanks, Dee.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 19 May 2005 07:45 (twenty-one years ago)

"Pied Piper" is a really creepy pop song, something that haunted me as a ten year old kid listening to AM Top 40 radio. "So FOLLOW ME..."
See also the similarly odd: "Master Jack" by Four Jacks And A Jill

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Thursday, 19 May 2005 09:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Big love for Lou Christie here too.. The whole Lightning Strikes album is superb, I still get goose pimples from hearing Trapeze. Crying In The Streets is a classic too..

Some of his late 60's bubblegum stuff on Buddah almost ventured into Northern Soul territory..

― Jack Battery-Pack (Jack Battery-Pack), Thursday, 19 May 2005 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I love Lou Christie's last hit "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" the most. He just sounds so persistent. And the backup vocals slay me. He's appearing at a cheese festival in Little Italy in NYC on May 30th with Bobby Rydell and the Shangri-Las (or whoever's left of them, I guess.) Gareth, you should fly over! It's free!

Dee Xtrovert, your "Egyptian Shumba" description is fantastic!

― Moosie Grosvenor (Arthur), Thursday, 19 May 2005 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

"cheese festival"

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 19 May 2005 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

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