Monday, November 08, 2010

Compare and Contrast: Got Live If You, Uh, Want It

From 1958, it's the great Eddie Cochran NOT lip-syncing his immortal teenage anthem "Summertime Blues."



And from 1968, it's five guys from Long Island, a/k/a The Vanilla Fudge, and their psychedelic revamp of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hanging On," also performed as nature intended.



BTW, this is not meant to imply some esthetic equivalence between Cochran's (to my ears) proto-powerpop and the Fudge's portentous turtle-tempoed classical/metal pastiche.

I do think, however, that it's beyond remarkable that a mere ten years(!) -- and frankly not all that much difference in the technology -- separates these two examples of (for their respective days) state of the art absolutely live rock 'n' roll.

Oh, and for the record, I'm aware that the Fudge did not all actually hail from Long Island. I meant the description more in the spiritual sense.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not sure Eddie Cochran's actually live there. (I'd feel better about it if we actually saw them end the song, not fade out.) But the point is made: In those days, pop music changed. Today, the genres hang on forever.

Sal Nunziato said...

"Turtle-tempoed"

Excellent.

ninotchka said...

dear anonymous- eddie should have hung on forever...

steve simels said...

That Cochran clip is 100 percent live; the fadeout at the end was done by whoever transferred the video, not on the original clip itself.

There are no drums on the original record, for starters; also, if you listen to the vocals after the deadpan spoken parts, Eddie and the singer are clearly cracking each other up and he can be heard laughing, spontaneously.

mister muleboy said...

You know, I actually liked that ugly Vanilla Fudge thing -- until that dude opened his goddamned mouth and I really learned what they intended. . . .




I'm considering forced ear puncturing, just to make it stop

Tierra Madre Horse Sanctuary said...

Portentous as it may be, the Fudge's version of that song has always been one of my fav-o-rites.

But what do I know? - I've always been kinda partial to "Drop-Kick Me, Jesus, Through the Goal Post of Life", too.

steve simels said...

If truth be told, the Fudge version is a long time guilty pleasure for me.

The rest of the album its from not so much. Especially because having gone to school on Long Island at the time, I can recall when every fucking bar band you'd see looked and sounded exactly like that.

Edward said...

As we know Sullivan was a big fan of the Supremes, it would have been really cool to have them join the boys for a mashup;>

FD13NYC said...

I always liked the Fudge's version of Hangin' On. An unusual cover that was a shot in the arm. Take Me For A Little While is also good. Carmine Appice was one of the unheralded rock drummers out there, one of the best along with Dino Danelli and Ian Paice.

Anonymous said...

The Vanilla Fudge aren't from Long Island??? Now I'm sad.

Eddie Cochran was a genius on multiple levels. This clip is a great example.

AP

pete said...

Another hint that the Cochran's live: they speed up in the third verse. As for VF, anyone but me find it interesting the announcer before the clip says the record went "nowhere" "for a year" until they were on Sullivan? How did they get on the show if their record had gone "nowhere" "for a year"? The phrase "notoriously mobbed-up" echoes from various bios.

Faze said...

Ed Sullivan and the mob. A book waiting to be written. Here's what I want to know: How come Eddie Cochran looks older here, and in all his pictures, than I do now? (And I ain't young.)

steve simels said...

There's no question the Cochran's live -- there's a clip from the same show on YouTube of him doing "C'Mon Everybody" where it's even more obvious.

My point being that if you want to know what a really, really good live rock band sounded like on stage in 1958, this is it. There's a reason why his one brief tour of England was such an eye opener for a lot of Brit kids; George Harrison, for one, apparently followed him all around the country just to get a chance to figure out what he was doing on guitar.

Billy B said...

Two excellent tunes, my friend.

I listened to the Fudge at junior high dances and got turned onto Cochran after hearing the Pie cover "C'mon Everybody".

Anonymous said...

still not too sure about the eddie cochran - the acoustic guitar doesn't seem to match up with his hand movements/rhythems.

steve simels said...

Same show. "C'Mon Everybody."

It's live, just like the other one.

And fantastic, I might add...

John Fowler said...

Steve,
well, it happened again. You post; iTunes gets $; I get music (this time, Eddie Cochran x2).
thanks!

Anonymous said...

Two cents too late, but my impression is that, while Cochran and band are playing live, the signature riff is coming from elsewhere, either an unseen guitarist or a tape. (EC seems to be playing a steady back-up rhythm.)