A couple of nights ago, Bob and I went over to Charles Shorts place to watch Family Band: the Cowsills Story with him and his partner Brian Mazzanti. Of course, Im obsessed with late 60s, early 70s pop, so I had read a bit about the Cowsills before. But it was really cool to hear their story from the band themselves. And I didnt really know them as individuals besides Bob and Susan Cowsill. So I was really glad to get to see this film. But its also kind of sad to watch. The Cowsills are one of the biggest if only bands in pop history. If only the bands father hadnt treated them so badly and made such poor decisions. If only theyd been allowed to do the kind of music they wanted to. If only their father hadnt kicked Bill out of the band. If only he hadnt forced their mother to be in the band. It just goes on and on. But still... they were REALLY talented, and theres a lot of grooviness in what they DID accomplish. Since watching the film, Ive been obsessed with the song Hair. Sure, its been around for a long time.... its the song that introduced me to the band. But the vocal arrangement is SO cool, that I never really paid much attention to whats going on in the rest of the song. Like... the bass. Did Barry play that? When he was, like, 15 or 16? Damn, its funky. What a great bass line. Barry had a way of sliding into a note that was very much like the way Paul McCartney plays. Very cool. And theres cool stuff going on all over the recording. And from what they say in the film, it was all kind of accidental. Somebody thought it would be funny to have the squarest band in America lip synch this ode to hippie hair on TV. So the Cowsills just ran off to a studio and knocked this out to have something to lip synch to. And then they had to fight to get their record company to release it. THIS is what the Cowsills did when there was no one looking over their shoulders. And it rocks. https://youtube/watch?v=1qBdk42S2Uc
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 04:15:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015