Surreal Noir: “Surreal Portraiture”
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Now on YouTube–Surreal Noir by friend of the Gutter Kate Laity! In this
episode she extensively discusses Otto Preminger’s Laura (1944) and Vera
Caspary’s ...
10 hours ago
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8 comments:
Lovely.
And that's by far not even her only brilliant song.
Something I am woefully overdue in investigating, I'm afraid. But, really, how could someone who wrote something that masterful not have all kinds of other great songs?
I'll second that emotion. There are several cool compilations for Bobbie Gentry available, but I liked the one on Raven best. But you want to check out songs like "Courtyard" and "Refractions" and "Casket Vignette" and "Penduli Pendulum" and "Okoloma River Bottom."
While the compilations are pretty great, I'd actually recommend getting your hands on the albums. She was pretty great at making those.
Thanks, guys! But just the early albums, right? Didn't she kind of go "Vegas" a little later on?
Well she was in Vegas in the early seventies. She was a headliner still and hung out a lot with Glenn Campbell (with whom she'd done a few hit duets) and Elvis. That was kind of the end for her as performer. She'd made a lot of money, studied philosophy at UCLA and banged around Vegas with Elvis. What more was there to do? Her best original LP is probably The Delta Sweete.
Touch 'Em With Love is also great though.
I agree about Delta Sweete as her best record; I'd work my way through the rest too - there's not (too) much Vegas on her last albums and a lot that's worthwhile.
An astonishing body of work for a career of just four or five recording years.
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