A Taste of Honey...

Yesterday, I was reminded of a cheesy song from the early 80s called "Sukiyaki".

This is a cover version done by a band called A Taste of Honey...

It was originally done in 1963 by a Japanese singer named Kyu Sakamoto.  I had never heard the original version of "Sukiyaki", but I well remember A Taste of Honey's version, which was all over the radio in 1981.

Kyu Sakamoto sings "Sukiyaki" in Japanese.

It wasn't until recently that I found out A Taste of Honey was behind the pop English version of "Sukiyaki".  I knew them from their big disco hit, "Boogie Oogie Oogie."

This runs for over ten minutes!

I confess that I loved "Boogie Oogie Oogie."  I also liked the background music on CHiPs.

And here's a song called "A Taste of Honey".  My parents owned this album on vinyl, so that's the version of "A Taste of Honey" that I remember best.  But this is an instrumental version.  There is also a version with lyrics...

I didn't know the Beatles sang it...

You learn something new every day, I guess.  

Goodnight...

Ever heard the song "Goodnight" by The Beatles?

It's kind of a sweet lullaby.

Karen Carpenter sang a gorgeous version of the same song in 1969, accompanied by the choir at California State University at Long Beach and her brother, Richard.

I love the way Karen sings this song, but I also love the addition of the choir, which gives the song depth and texture.  It's beautiful.  I remember when I bought The Carpenters' box set From The Top and heard that deep cut for the first time.  It was stunning.

Years later, I bought a CD of lullabies put out by...  Martha Stewart!  The funny thing is, the liner notes had little to do with the music.  They were all about decorating the nursery and breast milk.  I have a hard time believing Martha breastfed her daughter, but I digress.

Linda Ronstadt's cover of "Goodnight" was on that collection by Martha Stewart.  It was breathy and kind of ethereal and I liked it less than Karen's take, even though I generally like Linda Ronstadt's music.

It would be interesting what Karen Carpenter would have done if she hadn't died so young.  I would have been interested to hear her voice change as she aged.  

Mike Sammes...

I have mentioned before that when I was a little girl, my dad would play music for me.  We both enjoyed Olivia Newton-John, so I have already blogged about her.  One thing I always wondered about was the identity of the deep voiced guy who sang backup on her earliest recordings.  I finally asked the right person, who discovered the mystery man's identity.  Why I couldn't find this out on my own, I'll never know.  I mean, I can Google with the best of 'em.  But now I know, so here's a blog post dedicated to the late Mr. Sammes, who had quite a colorful and interesting history in rock and roll.

Turns out Mike Sammes led a choir of sorts-- The Mike Sammes Singers-- who recorded seven albums in the United Kingdom and were responsible for backing vocals on The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus" and "Goodnight".

Oddly enough, my first exposure to the song "Goodnight" was a rendition by The Carpenters, which also used a choral sound to back up her lead vocals...

The choir in this version came from the Carpenters' alma mater, California State University, Long Beach, and Richard Carpenter's professor and friend, Frank Pooler.

Anyway, all that is cool and shit, but I'm most interested in Mike Sammes' distinctive vocals.  Check 'em out...

 You can hear him on the chorus...

And even more on "If You Love Me Let me Know"...

Here too... This video is totally freaky...

In this video, Olivia's got quite the accent.  I was in the womb when this was recorded.  I feel old now.

Mike Sammes' career apparently really suffered by the mid 1970s, because artists were using overdubbing and multi-tracks to do their own backup singing.  The Carpenters were really into doing that.  And I know Olivia did a lot of her own backup, too.  Still, Mike Sammes had a very interesting and distinctive voice that lent some color to Olivia's otherwise whitebread songs.  He sort of gave those songs a real old school country feel.

I might have to learn more about this guy.