Hyperbolium » Obituary

RIP John Barry

hyperbolium — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:00:13 +0000

Five-time Oscar-winning composer John Barry has passed away at the age of 77. Barry is best known for his scores for numerous James Bond films, including the contested authorship of the series’ theme. Though a court awarded credit for the iconic theme to Monty Norman, Barry remained associated with the work throughout his life. More impressively, he authored signature music for dozens of films, including Born Free, Midnight Cowboy, The Lion in Winter, Somewhere in Time, Out of Africa, Body Heat, and Chaplin. Starting in the late ’50s he also wrote pop-jazz for his own John Barry Seven, producing singles and albums, such as Stringbeat, and teaming with vocalist Adam Faith for songs in the film Beat Girl. Many of Barry’s film scores are available on CD and for download, and you can find a sampler of his work on The Best of John Barry and the multidisc John Barry: The Collection.

RIP Scotland Barr

hyperbolium — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:04:04 +0000

Scotland Barr passed away September 1st after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. His last album with the Slow Drags, All the Aviators Agree, found its way on to many reviewers top album list for 2008 with its combination of Americana, British Invasion, southern rock and West Coast pop.

The band was feverishly working on a new double album to be titled (unironically at the time) We Will Be Forgotten. Four stupendous songs have been released and can be found linked below. The band, unable to tour without their leader, is seeking fan support to finish the album. Please visit their home page to find out about the Finish the Album Fund.

MP3 | Eyes Like L.A.
MP3 | Rasputin and Me
MP3 | Everybody Knows
MP3 | Right Where You’re Supposed to Be

RIP Ellie Greenwich

hyperbolium — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:25:08 +0000

I don’t actively read obituaries, as I expect the passing of anyone of import will filter to me through regular news channels. Apparently not. Ellie Greenwich passed away a week ago, and I just happened upon the news today. Brian Wilson said, “She was the greatest melody writer of all time.” Quite a compliment from anyone, but even more so from such a terrific melodicist in his own right. My affection for Greenwich isn’t tied only to specific songs, but also to the craft that she helped define as part of the Brill Building stable.

Several years ago I was listening to the Shangri-Las “The Train From Kansas City” and marveling at the lyric “I’ll be back in the time it takes to break a heart,” I started searching the web to see if I could find Greenwich’s address so I could see if there was a back story to this song, and on her home page found a link to a contact page. I expected a canned reply or a note from a publicist thanking me for writing, but a couple of days later I got a response directly from Ellie Greenwich. She couldn’t remember what inspired her and Jeff Barry to write the song, but was touched that someone would seek her out to ask about a 40-year-old lyric to a song that was never a hit.

I still find it difficult to wrap my head around one person writing or co-writing:

And Then He Kissed Me
Baby, I Love You
Be My Baby
Chapel of Love
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Da Doo Ron Ron
Do Wah Diddy Diddy
Good Night Baby
Hanky Panky
He’s Got the Power
He Ain’t No Angel
I Can Hear Music
Leader of the Pack
Not Too Young To Get Married
Out in the Streets
River Deep, Mountain High
Then He Kissed Me
(Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry
Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts?

Not to mention lesser-known gems like Connie Francis’ “Don’t Ever Leave Me,” The Shangri-Las “Give Us Your Blessings,” The Chiffons’ “I Have a Boyfriend” (remade to perfection by Reparata & The Delrons) and dozens of sides for the Blue Cat and Red Bird labels that never made the charts. She recorded fine singles and albums under her own name and as part of the Raindrops, and discovered Neil Diamond.

Diane Warren said, “Those songs are part of the fabric of forever.” They’re certainly part of my forever.

Ellie Greenwich was 68 when she passed away on August 26, 2009. RIP.

Listen to Ellie Greenwich sing “Hanky Panky”

RIP Willy DeVille

hyperbolium — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:10:50 +0000

After an initial diagnosis of Hepatitis C earlier this year, Willy DeVille was found to have pancreatic cancer, from which he passed away yesterday. DeVille founded Mink DeVille a few years ahead of the late ’70s punk explosion, but his band ended up sharing the stage with the leading lights of CBGB. Where the punks were loud and abrasive, however, Mink DeVille was soulful and suave. With Phil Spector’s one-time engineer Jack Nitzsche, the group waxed a pair of streetwise Spanish Harlem-inflected rock and soul classics, Cabretta and Return to Magenta, and a string of group and solo albums that expanded on the original Brill Building dream and into beefier rock, Muscle Shoals soul, and even New Orleans funk ‘n’ roll. DeVille was a superb showman, songwriter, vocaliast and band leader, who will be missed by all those touched by his music.

Willy DeVille was 55 when he passed away peacefully on August 6, 2009. RIP.

Listen to “Little Girl”