All the times I waited patiently for you...
Big thanks and kudos go out to reader Kathleen for sending me the video for Alone Again Or, a great tune covered by the Damned in the late 80s.
Back in my heady band days, my friend Jon the drummer and I would listen to this on his tape copy of The Light at the End of the Tunnel, the Damned's greatest hits double album. Until then, I wouldn't have thought that Flamenco and punk rock would go together so well, admitting that to classify this band as "punk" one has to stretch the definition to allow musical over-achievers. I have to say that the surrealism of the video is perfect, it was like hearing it for the first time again. Or.
Yeah, the title always bothered me a little. Or what? Why the dangling disjunctive? "Or" can also refer to gold, as in ore or d'or, etc. I also found out from cursory research that or is the word for dog in the Basque language. But none of this helps. The lyrics are hauntingly mysterious as well, so it all somehow works.
Here's a link to the original recording by the 60's psychedelic band, Love.
Update: Wow, here's a recent live performance by Love featuring Arthur Lee the original singer/songwriter for the band, although the tune was written by Bryan MacLean.
Also -- at Glastonbury. Strings way up in the mix and I love it. They give the song that glittering, Ellie Rigby feel.
i've been obsessing over this video for about a month now. it's pretty cathoilc -- this odd assortment of characters up there like a collection of saint statues, all doing their own thing but conveying the same message. the director was french (i'm assuming from his name) so the catholic vibe makes sense. but beyond that, sublime art direction and complete lack of cheesiness.
ReplyDeletethe 80's were such a rich time for music, and i missed out on so much of it b/c i lived in places with no decent radio stations (including my college). funny that i'm still discovering things. depressing that the pop culture landscape has deteriorated so utterly. i wonder if young people now have any idea how much better music was then. The lack of easy access to music (lack of internet) made things that much more exciting.