Rock’n’roll can be cheerful and assertive, like a young man at the prom, hiding behind his bravado the fear of inviting a school sweetheart to dance. Rock’n’roll can be sarcastically aggressive, like a pack of blockheads from a back alley, waiting to rob someone of pocket money. Rock and roll can be dark and even frightening, like the heroes of noir films who step into the pitch shadow of doom without hesitation. But rock’n’roll always remains the music of complete romantics. It’s about this facet of him that I want to talk about on Valentine’s Day. After all, without proper musical accompaniment, wine will not light, candles will not be poured into glasses, and a cat that has eaten all the parmesan will have to dance. Our fresh almanac is intended for all heartthrobs, heartthrobs and just lovers with good taste. Dim the lamps and start the gramophones!
Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent, for most fans of the style, looks like a standard rockabilly bully in a black motorcycle jacket, insinuating be-Bop-A-Lula and recklessly inviting the Devil to race on hot rods. However, the other side of Vincent was the soulful ballads, teenage at first glance, but in fact possessing a certain otherworldly depth. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from the Rodgers-Hammerstein musical “Carousel” was originally performed on behalf of a ghost, and Gene and his musicians achieve a “ghostly” effect with studio reverberation, without slipping into Broadway’s treacle tearfulness. “Unchained Melody”, first performed in the prison drama “Unchained”, is better known to the domestic audience and music lovers according to the version of the Righteous Brothers, the leitmotif of the mystical melodrama “Ghost” starring Patrick Swayze and Dami Moore. Vincent’s book lacks pathos, as well as the middle bridge, being perhaps the most sincere reading. The jazz standards “You Belong To Me” and “Up A Lazy River” are inventively played and incredibly beautiful. “Keep It A Secret” has sadness and an almost fatalistic wisdom. The devil caught up with Gene Vincent in 1971, when he was only 36 years old. But these songs are still twinkling like stars.
The Platters
The Platters are perhaps the most famous black vocal group of the 1950s. In ’55, their regular composer Buck Ram wrote, and the magnificent tenor vocalist Tony Williams sang “Only You (And You Alone)”, which only Aldebaran did not hear. The piece is so good that to this day there are those who believe that it is performed by Elvis Presley. But their other song, “The Great Pretender”, was once recorded by Freddie Mercury. Although The Platters’ real masterpieces escape the lazy ear of the layman.: “My Prayer”, which became a hit by Glen Miller before the Second World War, shines with all shades of love charms for the New York quintet. “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” intoxicates no worse than an exquisite sparkling. “I’m Sorry” is the best way to apologize for any prank. Unfortunately, the band’s “golden” period lasted only four years. A band called The Platters is still performing in the States, without any of the original members. As many as three classic hits of New Yorkers are heard in George Lucas’ nostalgic film “American Graffiti”, which gave the director a ticket to the big cinema.
The Blue Hawaiians
According to legend, Quentin Tarantino decided to fill his Pulp Fiction with surf rock compositions after regular gatherings at The Lava Lounge club in Los Angeles, where the same band played every night. Indeed, The Blue Hawaiians, several old friends and experienced musicians, joined the band in 1994 specifically for performances at this institution. After the resounding success of “Reading” and the awakened interest in the Californian variety of rock and roll, beach bums rushed to listen to The Blue Hawaiians in a ninth wave. Having released three albums on independent labels and participated in the soundtracks to “Friends” and “SpongeBob”, in 1999 our heroes finally got to the big studio Interscope Records. The result was the album “Savage Night”, named after the novel of the same name by Jim Thompson, the author of the toughest noir novels of the 1950s.
The first piece is “A Cheat”, composed by Lee Hazlewood for rockabilly artist Sanford Clark. She envelops in the warmth of the southern night, whispering about the dangerous waters of the slumbering ocean. The galaxy-famous mambo “Sway” is the perfect dance for couples in love, and the Hawaiians have made perhaps the best version of it. Tom Waits’s “Jockey Full Of Bourbon” is a raucous story in the best traditions of “black” crime dramas, where vocalist Mark Fontana, with the help of the band, brings to the surface all the fatal seductiveness of the song, reminding of the dangers that lurk in the eyes of burning brunettes mysteriously smoking behind the counters of midnight bars. Their own material is not inferior to non-films: “Lonely Star” is a serenade floating like a lonely beacon in the Obsidian sky, “Flesh & Soul” is blues, tempting not to resist, flying into the arms of vice. According to someone’s clever observation, The Blue Hawaiians are Roy Orbison singing in The Doors. Unfortunately, they are too lazy to record a new album, to this day occasionally playing at festivals for fans of surf and Polynesian exotics.
Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison is undoubtedly the greatest rocker of rock’n’roll, famous for his light love songs such as “Blue Angel” and “Pretty Woman”. Director David Lynch, however, saw and provided the stunned audience with the dark side of the singer: “In Dreams”, which adorns Lynch’s “Blue Velvet”, suddenly acquired the dreamy coloring of sinful nightmares, and the piercing “Crying” was completely dissected for an episode in the mysterious nightclub of the iconic “Mulholland Drive”, turning into a Spanish-language version. the anguish of an inconsolable Mourner. However, the music will speak for itself: “Running Scared” and “You Got It” will make the candle flames flutter, and goosebumps will run over the suddenly so sensitive skin.
Elvis Presley
No rock and roll Valentine’s Day can do without mentioning the King. Elvis recorded so many “valentines” that they can decorate more than one evening, although radio stations continue to bleakly record the only “Love Me Tender”. Rare-cut diamonds are hidden in a series of late recordings: “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” (in the original “Io Che Non Vivo Senza Te” by Italian Pino Donaggio) squeezes the heart with a warm palm, reaching a unique tear in the crescendo of the chorus. “Love Letters” shimmers with delicate piano notes. “It Hurts Me” is southern soul with its inherent emotional sincerity. “It Ain’t No Big Thing (But It’s Growing)”, written by Roy Orbison, is an outwardly calm country story about the inevitability of separation and pent-up pain.“Moody Blue” is a lyrical disco song about the fickleness of a girl’s nature, a single from the album of the same name, which became the final one for Elvis before flying to Betelgeuse.
Download or listen online Rock and Roll Playlist for Valentine‘s Day (mp3, 172 Mb)
Hopefully, in such a musical company, any evening will take on a languid tone, and any day will become Valentine’s Day. Do not limit yourself to February 14th, give dear people bunnies, postcards and screwdrivers at any opportunity!
