getting a drag

A pal of Mott the Hoople - she supplied some vocals to "Roll Away the Stone" and also came up with the daft name "Ariel Bender" for the band's new lead guitarist Luther Grosvenor, formerly of Spooky Tooth - so Lynsey D P is tangentially connected to the glam commotion as well as a pervasive participant in the frivolity of UK pop during the first half of the 1970s 

Here, she verges into glam terrain with what seems to be her attempt at her very own "Lola" - cross(dress)ed with "Arnold Layne"  and ever so slightly anticipating the scenario of Barbara Mason's "Another Man"

The tale of a relationship that founders when she discovers that he...  likes wearing women's clothing? Or is just a chronic narcissist, who spends even more time looking in mirrors and caking on make-up than she does (which would really be saying something)

A MOR take on trendy swings-both-ways / ambiguity / camp themes of the day -
"Walk on the Mild Side"

The lyrics:

Could it be? Is it true?
Was it me? Was it you?
Because I thought you were a brother
But you turned out like my mother
And it's getting a drag

I was sure, I was wrong
But before very long
I found that I had kissed a mister
Just as pretty as a sister
And it's getting a drag

Who am I? Who are you?
What am I gonna do?
Most people make up when they break up
But we break up 'cause you make up
And it's getting a drag

Bye bye, don't cry
My, my have I been had
So sad, too bad
It's getting a drag


Jonathan King essayed a few similar moves at this time, coming at it from not so much the MOR as the bubblegum / novelty pop end of things

Lyrics from the object of predation's point of view (ironically)

Now, could this be the only reference to "tinea" in a song lyric?

I wouldn't want to live in his psyche ta very much

An anti-LSD, hipper-to-be-square song in praise of straightness

Parody of psych (but also a faithful cover of a US psych classic by the Hombres)

I've strayed from the lovely (if regrettably, it appears, Tory) Lynsey

Look at the dancers in this little slice of coy sanitized raunch

Is it just me or is the drum crack in this like the snap of a whip?

She went out with one of my favorite movie stars, James Coburn, for many years

I imagining her also dating Formula One racing champions and manly types like that.

For all the ultra-femme image and cooing high-pitched voice, a driven and creatively autonomous music biz stalwart who wrote, arranged, produced, you name it.

Shame about the Tory bit though.

One of her projects was this troupe of Mott backing vocalists (they also supplied the "doot-di-doots" on "Walk on the Wild Side" as it happens)

It got to Number 30.

he who shall not be named

the dandy unperson, from the dead centre year of the Bad Music Era

both Mancunian, Burgess and Moz

is the book choice an early indication of right-wing tendencies?

(1985 being a proto-Thatcherite dystopia / cacotopia  - published 1978 - of near-future UK dominated by trade unions - and featuring a gang of hooligan truants from comprehensives where all the classes are about labour history and the crimes of British imperialism, who are hungry for literary mindfood and who hire a fired teacher to school them in the classics -  the bookish thug = Moz wet dream)

cf the similarly eve-of-Thatcher Tory-fantasy-of-bureaucratic-socialist-dystopia 1990 by Wilfred Greatorex (wot a name!)

Ah I only just noticed the playful twist  - in his other hand, an image of Paul Weller reading 1984





as it happens, Burgess started out as a socialist, then reverted to his parents's conservatism.

the greatest English band to come out of America

                                          

"Sparks established themselves as the greatest English band to come out of America since the Nazz" -  Ron Ross, Record World,  October 28th 1972

"You can't be indifferent to them... Both albums are as good as Sgt. Pepper's. Though they're certainly not equivalent social milestones, they resemble it in that their music is obviously and totally different from anything we've heard before" - Todd Rundgren, 1972

glamnimation (Mok rok)

Rock and Rule - sounds like an Alice Cooper anthem





"musical science fiction animated movie" could hardly be more glam really

Iggy and Lou Reed contribute





Plot has whiffs of Ziggy Stardust, Phantom of the Paradise, Richard O'Brien and Jim Steinman

but is ultimately it's own uniquely overripe concoction of cobblers


"The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States populated by mutant humanoid animals....

"An introduction states that in 1983, a nuclear World War 3 had erupted between the Soviet Union and the United States of America which destroyed the human race, leading to the creation of humanoid animals.

"Mok, an aging yet legendary rock musician, is on the search for a very special voice that can unleash a powerful demon from another dimension, his dwindling popularity driving him to destroy the world in vengeance and immortalize himself in the process. After travelling around the world looking for the right voice, he returns to his hometown of Ohmtown, a remote, storm-ravaged village famous for its unique power plant. Meanwhile, at a nightclub, Omar, Angel, Dizzy and Stretch perform in a small rock band. As Angel performs her romantic ballad to a mostly empty audience, Mok hears her sing; he realizes that Angel has the voice he needs when a ring he is wearing reacts to her voice. Mok invites Angel and the band to his mansion outside of town, where the band is formally introduced to him and his assistants, the "Rollerskating Schlepper Brothers" Toad, Sleazy and Zip. Mok incapacitates Omar and Stretch with hypnotic "Edison Balls" as he takes Angel on a stroll through his garden and tries to convince her to join him. Although Angel is unaware of Mok's true intentions, she refuses to abandon her band. Unwilling to admit defeat, Mok kidnaps her and takes his blimp to Nuke York, where his summoning, disguised as a concert, will be performed.





"Following their ejection from Mok's mansion, the band find out what happened to Angel and they follow the blimp in a stolen police car. Before they reach Nuke York, they are arrested by a border guard. Meanwhile, Angel attempts to escape with the unwitting help of Cinderella, the sister of the Schleppers. While sneaking through the ventilation system, Angel overhears Mok confirming his plans with his computer. At this time, the computer informs Mok that the only way to stop the demon is with "One voice, one heart, one song", but when Mok asks who can do this, the computer replies that there is "no one". Angel and Cindy escape the building and head to the zero-gravity dance club "Club 666", unaware that the Schleppers are following them. Dizzy's aunt bails out Omar and his friends, and tells them of the club. Angel and Cindy are intercepted and taken back to Mok's apartment, and the band tries to follow. Omar eventually bumps into Mok, who uses an impersonator to fool Omar into thinking that Angel has fallen for Mok. To manipulate Angel, Mok captures the band and tortures them with a giant Edison Ball to force her to agree with his demands. He also brainwashes them to ensure that they stay out of the way. The Nuke York concert turns out to be a disaster due to a power failure. Because the invocation requires a titanic amount of electricity, Mok relocates the summoning to Ohmtown, whose power plant has enough energy, though Zip expresses childlike doubts about whether their actions are good or evil. During the concert, a power surge causes overloads all over the city. The shock also brings Omar and his friends out of their hypnosis.

"Stretch finds a poster advertising Mok and Angel's concert and Dizzy sticks with him to save her. After confessing that Omar saw Mok and Angel together, Stretch tries to remind him it's all mind games. Omar, still believing Mok's earlier deception, refuses to help Dizzy and Stretch stop the concert. They go without him in a stolen police car, but crash at the concert too late, as Mok forces Angel to summon the demon with her song. But Omar has a change of heart and arrives to free Angel from her electronic shackles before the demon can turn on her. When the demon attacks Omar, Zip seemingly sacrifices himself to save Omar's life. Angel tries singing to force the demon back, but her lone voice has no effect. But Omar joins in harmony with Angel, and thus the creature is weakened and driven back into its own dimension. Mok is thrown into the portal by the vengeful Toad, and as he is sealed away, he realizes that "no one" did not mean that the demon could be stopped; it meant instead that "no one voice" could, acting alone; two voices and two hearts singing as one were needed for the counter-spell. The audience believes the confrontation to have been part of the concert's theatrics, and the band continues their song in triumph."

I wonder if Daft Punk are fans

my philosophy

Slade's dream birds

rock glammers (bandwagon jumpers #1 of ??)

"it doesn't take much to persuade an Englishman to dress in women's clothing"

bonus "don't fancy yours much" pic