Thursday, September 09, 2010

An Early (And Highly Automated) Clue to the New Direction

From 1966, please enjoy Manfred Mann -- one of the two notable 60s rock stars who shares a birthday with yours truly -- and the rest of the gang with the original (and I think on balance inferior) version of "Machines," the prescient Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman song done two years later (as perhaps the first genuine synth-pop record) by Lothar and the Hand People.




A lot of the sort-of space age effects on this are similar to those on the Lothar version, but it sounds to me like they were done with conventional electronic keyboards of the day, rather than the primitive Moogs the Hand People used.

In any case, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded the first reader who gleans the clip's relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Listomania.
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16 comments:

  1. J. Loslo9/09/2010 3:10 PM

    Songs about, uh, machines?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9/09/2010 3:31 PM

    Songs about the future.

    Songs with interesting/wacky percussion.

    By the way, I'd never heard this version before, it's very good.

    ROTP(lumber)

    ReplyDelete
  3. TMink9/09/2010 3:53 PM

    First computer oriented songs you heard?

    Trey

    ReplyDelete
  4. steve simels9/09/2010 3:57 PM

    Nope X3.

    All good, though.
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9/09/2010 4:33 PM

    Maybe it's a coincidence with today's date, but songs one wouldn't guess are by Jewish composers from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Levittown, or Hicksville.

    AP

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gummo9/09/2010 4:46 PM

    Never heard this version before either. Quite cool!

    Lesser known original versions of songs that were big hits for other people? (Or did you do that one already?)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous9/09/2010 5:01 PM

    Songs about Tom Terrific's dog?

    Songs inspired by Lord Byron's dramatic poetry?

    ReplyDelete
  8. steve simels9/09/2010 5:37 PM

    Songs about Tom Terrific's dog?

    Songs inspired by Lord Byron's dramatic poetry?

    I don't think you're treating this competition with the seriousness it deserves....
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sal Nunziato9/09/2010 6:11 PM

    Inferior first versions?

    Unlikely offerings from fanous songwriters?

    ReplyDelete
  10. edward9/09/2010 6:16 PM

    Alliteration (Manfred Mann Machines)?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Michael9/09/2010 6:55 PM

    following Edward, to bad Manfred Mann didn't cover Metal Machine Music. MMMMM

    But what an odd collection of songs on this EP(?) Machines and Tennessee Waltz...

    ReplyDelete
  12. steve simels9/09/2010 7:39 PM

    Okay, somebody's actually gotten close to it, albeit obliquely.

    So here's a clue --


    It has something to do with Manfred.

    ReplyDelete
  13. dave™©9/09/2010 7:57 PM

    Songs by people with the same first name as characters on Captain Kangaroo?

    ReplyDelete
  14. J. Loslo9/09/2010 8:05 PM

    Manfred Mann's given name was Lubowitz, so it's... songs by Jewish guys!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gummo9/09/2010 8:37 PM

    J. Loslo said...

    Manfred Mann's given name was Lubowitz, so it's... songs by Jewish guys!

    Jewish songwriters??

    That's just crazy talk.

    ReplyDelete
  16. steve simels9/09/2010 8:52 PM

    Okay, we have a couple of winners!

    But just for the record, as it were -- it's not just Jews.

    In any case, a coveted PowerPop Gang No-Prize goes out to everybody who weighed in on this tonight, and a happy Rosh Hashanah to all.

    ReplyDelete