Considerable Sounds: 10cc Draws from Diverse Influences and Redefines "Popular" Music

By DC Music Editor Benjamin New

In 1968 Eric Stewart became co-owner of Strawberry Studios

Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who wrote and recorded together for about three years before taking on the name of 10cc in 1972 created some of the freshest most intelligent pop music of their time. Drawing from cabaret, show tunes, rock, pop, and the avant garde the band was completely unique.

All four songwriters injected their songs with an incisively sharp wit and lyrical dexterity that no one has ever quite matched.

The experimental half of 10cc was Godley (vocals, drums, percussion) and Creme (vocals, guitar, keyboards), who brought an "art school" sensibility and a more "cinematic" writing style to the group. Of course Stewart and Gouldman were brilliant songwriters as well. Gouldman made a name for himself long before 10cc as a hit songwriter. The Yardbirds' "Heart Full of Soul" and "For Your Love", and The Hollies' "Look Through Any Window" and "Bus Stop" were all Gouldman-penned hits. Other notable Gouldman hits of the era included Herman's Hermits' "No Milk Today", "East West" and "Listen People". Each member of the band took turns being the lead vocalist.

And when Brian Eno & Phil Manzanara wanted "Heavenly Vocals" for their 801 "Listen Now" album, they rang up Godley & Creme.

In 1968 Eric Stewart became co-owner of Strawberry Studios, and the "gang of four" pretty much moved in. They released material under the names "The Yellow Bellow Boom Room" & "Frabjoy & Runcible Spoon". Around this time all four members of the original 10cc line-up were working together regularly at Strawberry Studios. American bubblegum pop writer-producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz of Super K Productions came to England and commissioned Gouldman to write and produce formula bubblegum songs.

These were either augmented or performed entirely by varying combinations of the future 10cc lineup. These songs included "Sausalito", a US hit credited to Ohio Express (Yummy Yummy Yummy),"Susan's Tuba" by Freddie and the Dreamers (which featured lead vocals by Gouldman), "There Ain't No Umbopo" by Crazy Elephant, "When He Comes" by Fighter Squadron and "Come On Plane" by Silver Fleet (these featured lead vocals by Godley.)

Lol Creme said “Singles kept coming out under strange names that had really been recorded by us." Kevin Godley adds, "We did a lot of tracks in a very short time – it was really like a machine. Twenty tracks in about two weeks – a lot of crap really."

They also were the backing tracks producers and engineers for Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire" and "The Tra La La Days Are Over".

Grahm Gouldman said, "We were a bit choked to think that we'd done the whole of Neil's first album with him just for flat session fees when we could have been recording our own material."

Don't Hang Up

10cc was born.

Their 1st album was "10CC" which featured parody's of rock & roll like "Rubber Bullets" a send up of "Jailhouse Rock". Their second effort,"Sheet Music" became the band's breakthrough success album in 1974 with the memorable songs "The Wall Street Shuffle" and "Silly Love".

OH EFFENDI (lyrics)
from Sheet Music

In the middle of a caravan
On a four wheel drive oasis
There's a man with a thought in mind
To cash in on the desert faces
He's got a truckload of yorkshire girls
For your harem going places
And the border bums never saw
The guns in the whiskey cases
There's a real, big demand
And it's written in the palm of his hand
He's gonna change the face of the desert
He's gonna sweep away the sand
Hang on sheik, I've got a yellow streak
I ain't here; I'm a mirage.
Get back des, keep it under your fez.
And don't give us away in the massage
Look what i did for the pyramid
I put a pool in and made it pay
I built an elevator and a film theater
And i shipped it to the USA
`cos there's a real big demand
And it's written in the palm of my hand
I'm gonna change the face of the desert
I'm gonna sweep away the sand
Hang on friends!
There's a lot more goodies in the pipeline
So this ain't the time to close the deal
Here's the deal
Ooh, now you've got a howitzer all of your own
Ooh, and a panzer division to chauffeur you home
Gun running is fun
But hang on, friends, hang on friends
Allah be praised, there's a whole new craze
We're gonna shoot up the foreign legion
And it's up with the sheik
And down with the frog
We're gonna liberate the region!
Oh effendi, we're gonna bury your head in the sand
Oh effendi, you better get off my doggone land
Hey, prince of the moonbeams
Son of the sun, Light of a thousand stars
Your gorillas are urban
And there's bourbon on your turban
And the sun shines out of your ass
Oh effendi, i'm gonna grovel in your wake
Oh effendi, it's all been a big mistake
You're gonna cut out my liver If i don't deliver
Things are getting out of hand
I'm going to ride off into the sunset
And make a deal with the promised land
Goodbye friends
There's no more goodies in the pipeline...

Music & Lyrics By Eric Stewart & Kevin Godley

No this is not about current affairs (Though it could be) it was penned in 1973.

MATERPIECE THEATRE

Then the masterpiece "The Original Soundtrack" was released with my personal choice for best group vocals of the era, Godley & Creme's "Une Nuit A Paris", an eight-minute, multi-part "mini-operetta" that seems to have been a fairly large influence on "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical "Phantom of the Opera" also paraphrases the melody in it's overture.

Imitation is indeed a sincere form of flattery.

The perennially popular "I'm Not In Love" has heavenly vocal tracks. How did they do them? They sang each note in the chromatic scale, one at a time and made tape loops of them. Then they were hand faded in and out of the mix creating the lush bed of voices you hear in the background. This was studio wizardry at it's very best. Here is Eric Stewart's account from Sound on Sound Magazine:

"So I had the first six chords or so of the verse figured and I had the melody already figured in my head, as well as the first verse lyrics 'I'm not in love, so don't forget it, it's just a silly phase I'm going through...' so I took this to the studio, played it to the other guys and asked 'Would anyone like to finish it with me?' GG, the bass guitarist, said he would. We usually wrote in pairs, and while the major hits came out of Godley and Creme or myself and Graham Gouldman, we were a very incestuous bunch — we used to swap partners all the time.

I wrote 'Life Is A Minestrone' and 'Silly Love' with Lol, and we did swap around a lot just to keep the writing freshness going. It worked beautifully for us. Anyway, at that time Godley and Creme were writing the mini musical 'Une Nuit à Paris' [which would open the album], so they went into one room to finish that, and GG (Grahm Gouldman) and I went into another to work on the 'I'm Not In Love' idea with two guitars. We developed the song pretty quickly. I usually wrote on the keyboard, but 'I'm Not In Love' was written on two guitars, and the ironic thing is that there is no featured guitar on the finished product, just a little DI'd Gibson 335 playing a light rhythm pattern. In the end, we must have spent about two or three days writing before completing it.

Well, we recorded 'I'm Not In Love' as a bossa nova and Godley and Creme didn't really like it! Kevin was especially blunt. He said "It's crap". We threw it away and we even erased it, so there's no tape of that bossa nova version. It pissed me off no end at the time, but it was also very democratic and so we turned our attention to the recording of 'One Night In Paris'.

Then the studio secretary Kathy said 'Why didn't you finish that song? I really love it. It's the nicest thing you've ever done.'

This didn't really impress Kevin, of course, but we discussed it again, and believe me, it was Kevin who suddenly came up with the brainwave. He said 'I tell you what, the only way that song is gonna work is if we totally fuck it up and we do it like nobody has ever recorded a thing before. Let's not use instruments. Let's try to do it all with voices.'

I said "Yeah. OK. That sounds... different."

So a simple bass drum sound was played by Kevin from a Moog synthesizer as the rhythm track. It was Lol who thought of recording tape loops to layer the voices. it took me a couple of hours to get my head around the idea. But then I figured how we could physically make the loops and set up the studio to do that. I rigged up a rotary capstan on a mic stand, and the tape loop had to be quite long because the splice edit point on the loop would go through the heads and there'd be a little blip each time it did.

So, I had to make the loop as long as I could for it to take a long, long time to get around to the splice again. That way you wouldn't really hear the splice/blip. We're talking about a loop of about 12 feet in length going around the tape heads, around the tape-machine capstans, coming out away from the Studer stereo recorder to a little capstan on a mic stand that had to be dead in line vertically with the heads. It was like one of those continuous belts that you see in old factories, running loads of machines, and we had to keep it rigid by putting some blocks on the mic stand legs to keep it dead, dead steady.

It worked, but the loop itself — and this is where it gets interesting — had to be made up from multiple voices we'd done on the 16-track machine. Each note of a chromatic scale was sung 16 times, so we got 16 tracks of three people singing for each note. That was Kevin, Lol and GG standing around a valve Neumann U67 in the studio, singing 'Aahhh' for around three weeks.

I'm telling you; three bloody weeks. We eventually had 48 voices for each note of the chromatic scale, and since there are 13 notes in the chromatic scale, this made a total of 624 voices." Eric recorded the lead vocal and Rhodes piano. The band sat in the studio for 3 days just listening to the playback. Kevin suggested the Bass solo in the middle. Lol remembered he had said something into the grand piano mics when he was laying down the acoustic piano. He'd said 'Be quiet, big boys don't cry' — heaven knows why, but I soloed it and we all agreed that the idea sounded very interesting if we could just find the right voice to speak the words. Just at that point the door to the control room opened and our secretary Kathy looked in and whispered 'Eric, sorry to bother you. There's a telephone call for you.' Lol jumped up and said 'That's the voice, her voice is perfect!'

"We got Kathy in the studio just to whisper those words, and there it was, slotted in just before that bass guitar solo. And it fit beautifully. Again, another little twist of fate, an accident that wasn't on anybody else's songs. We'd never heard that before. It just clinched it and made the song even more original. Poor Kathy was bemused. She didn't want to go in the studio, we had to drag her in, but she was very, very sweet and we eventually persuaded her: 'You've just got to whisper. Just whisper, don't worry. You're not singing, just talking. Use your best telephone voice.' She had a gorgeous voice, and there it is; it's on the recording... and she got a gold record for it, too."

Kathy Redfern, The studio secretary whose voice you hear saying, "big boys don't cry" in "I'm Not In Love."



The entire album was masterful, even the lighthearted "Life Is A Minestrone".

LIFE IS A ROLLER COASTER WE ALL RIDE...

"How Dare You!", their next album was another completely original work. With "Art for Art's sake" still an FM radio staple in my listening area (N.Y. - Philadelphia). When I purchase audio equipment I bring "How Dare You" and Steely Dan's "Aja" as the benchmark source for fidelity. I think both of these bands had similar production values. (Perfection or bust).


Sadly, no one has supplanted 10cc in the past 20 years. There is nothing remotely like it. I still go back to The Original Soundtrack when I want to hear something completely original, and it still gets my blood pumping, after all these years.

I will do another story in the future about the amazing contributions to both music and film these 4 gentlemen have amassed since Godley & Creme left the band. I leave you with a bit of news; Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman recently launched a web site and have new material available for downloads! Here are some samples:

THE SAME ROAD

SON OF MAN

VISIT THE KGGG WEBSITE

Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof

Hey Jude: Disappointment With Supposed Democratic Rescuers

Hey Jude!
by
Contributor, Jude Rouslin

Letter to Newly Elected Congress:

I am but one of the many citizens that made it possible for you to hold office. I think I remember a thank you speech somewhere along the way; speeches of a New Day. However that seems like such a long time ago .

I now realize as most Americans do, that those words you spoke in November of 2006 had absolutely no substance at all. Though, like many others, I did believe them at the time. Just as we believed your words of hope, change, accountability and morality. The only problem is, we assumed that your ideals would continue to be the same as ours and our Country would be reclaimed as ours. You would follow up on your campaign promises.

Unfortunately, the victorious celebration of regaining the House and Senate was short lived as we watched with shear indignation, the reality of your political character and the choices you made in our name. As it became more evident with each passing day, we knew we were once again far removed from the debate. And in the end, you made a choice. A choice which excludes the very principles the majority of voters hold in this Country.

Why did you decide amongst yourselves that the voters of this country were only worth the votes tallied and anything beyond that, well, we were excluded. How does it feel to have it be known that many in the democratic party are no longer viewed as the Sir Galahad's of our times? Reality is a difficult swallow but so too is your fall from grace.

By now, you've made it quite clear that neither of you represent the individuals that placed you in office. Your decision to not hold to your pre-election ideals... our ideals, proves many things, none of which I would think you ought to be proud of. But then again, perhaps we the voters were merely desperate for change and actually believed your rhetoric, sound bytes and slogans. It's quite clear that we the voters were simply the necessary medium which would pave your way to Washington. Nothing more, nothing less.

You are no different than those that have preceded you and America has learned another startling reality of human behavior and politics. The U.S. Political Arena is a total farce. It's a system that has been broken for quite some time and you are now part of the problem. Our government is no longer viewed as being filled with potential positive possibilities and hopeful solution.

Talk is cheap, as the adage goes, and so too, is the purchase of an elected official. For it is your actions by which you will be gaged by and remembered. Not the campaign slogans which you've failed to adhere to and make a reality.

So lets call this what this actually is. We no longer have a Government that is for the People and by the People. It has been transformed into a seedy dark private business and we the people are merely the road in which you've trampled upon in order to ensure your place in the Corporation . Once there, we the people are left behind once again and it's business as usual.

Government has been reduced to nothing more than a backroom business deal. Welcome to the Corporation of the United States, as we, the shareholders have no voice, votes, or say. It is your way once you step into the confines of the murky, seedy beltway.

I am ashamed, appalled, and sickened . I am tired of the lies, faux democratic hype, spin and above all, I am no longer disillusioned. That is the reality that you also must face in the next election. We the People have learned a very important lesson. Those that serve us as "Elected Officials", merely use the power of the people to win. Once the finish line has been crossed, you do not look back but rather proceed to ignore those that placed you there while you work out your own agenda filled with private promises in closed meetings to secure deals.

I suppose I could ask, how do you sleep at night, however, I think I know the answer. Very easily. And for that, you ought to be ashamed as you are no different than the last Congress. Our problem is that we actually trusted you to do what was right for America, not what was felt to be right for the Bush/Cheney agenda or your political career.

So, this has taught us that you are not the solution we all had hoped for, but rather, part of the problem. There are those that claim , the Democratic Party has sold us out. I disagree. As it is quite obvious your agenda was apparently already set in stone.And you merely told us what we so desperately needed and wanted to hear."Change In Washington" Didn't matter to you that it was a con, as long as your goals were reached and you won the election.

Ahh, but you might state, "We've been holding investigations, hearings,ordered committees which can be viewed on CNN, and have threatened to send subpoena's and add non binding resolutions." That is all fine and good, as window dressing. But let the truth be known, you've done nothing in terms of enforcing accountability, ending the Iraq Invasion which was based on Cherry picked intelligence. There ought not even be a debate concerning Iraq, when the basic premise was a lie to begin with. Anything after that is simply moot. You've missed so many opportunities when it comes to making individuals accountable for the injustices we've been forced to endure the world over.

How many times must the world see just what a charade your investigations have been? Despite the overwhelming evidence that corruption from the top down has grown like a cancer, along with years of obstruction of justice. Still, you've done nothing except to provide the continuation of a broken political system. In a real court of law, a real investigation or hearing, there would be those that would have already been charged with the RICO Act. After all, lets be real here, U.S. Politics has become nothing more than a cover for Organized Crime. And, I would rather place bets on the loyalty of the Mob, than Washington Officials at this point. At least there is honor and loyalty to some extent. You have no honor. Nor do you have a sense of loyalty to those that put you in office. How unfortunately typical for what has become Politics in America.

In closing I would like to say that the American People are tired of the abuse. Sickened by private agendas. And we the people are so distrustful of anyone right now. I see this Country being forced down a revolutionary road and and it will be a matter of survival and preservation. It will be in response to the abuse of power, ignoring your base, and selling out the entire Country for what? I blame you as well as the Congresses that have gone before you. You now have blood on your hands in terms of Iraq.

You also have proved that you also work in a "Decider" like fashion, by proclaiming that Impeachment is off the table. By who's authority may I ask? Certainly not the voter's. When will America be returned to it's people? America has had enough and the world will no longer be held hostage and lay victim to such a manipulative Industrial Military Complex driven by your Political Agendas. While you continue the charade by referring to America as a Democracy, people are dieing all over the globe. The United States of America has wreaked havoc over the entire world .

Let's be real here and call it what it actually is: Organized Global Crime, which you helped shape and forge as a willing participant . You've no humanity left and it is becoming increasingly clear that you are also a very large part of the problem, not the solution.

Jude A. Rouslin

Letter From Naval Officer On Nimitz Off Iranian Coast

USS Carrier Nimitz and supporting battle
compliment off the coast of Iran

It is very painful to hear from someone you love while they serve in the US military, but if we didn't hear from them, we are left with the fear that things may have gone awry.

It is difficult for me to share this letter from my Nephew, but he would like for America to know the human side of this massive military show of force. And sometimes, show of force is the very thing that prevents war. Sometimes, it just scares countries into increasing weapons production. Who ever knows?

There are 16,000 personnel on these ships above and beyond the buildup in Iraq. It is really an intimidating site to see and the part they don't see is underwater with full compliments of nuclear weapons. The planes are in the air constantly off the Iranian coast and God only knows what must go through the minds of the simple people of that country.

We can only pray that our leaders will avoid doing anything that will force us into many more years of death and war.

Iran is a beautiful and ancient land, Persia, as it was once known, and its leaders are not a refection of the beliefs of its people. Sometimes we forget, wars are between leaders, but the deaths and destruction is born by the people.

We must never forget that Iranian President Ahmadinijad no more represents all his people than Bush represents all the US, yet it is they who will either deliver us from evil or into a bloody conflict the likes of which none of us could imagine.

LTJG Nick Hall and shipmates, USS Nimitz

Good Afternoon from the Iranian coast,

Sometimes it’s hard to write everyone out here, whether it’s because our email service isn't working or secured or we are just being worked to death, so these emails make it easier to write home so I don’t leave anybody out.

Things are keeping busy for the NIMITZ lately. You may have seen in the papers that we just steamed 3 battle groups together into the Straits of Hormuz off the coast of Iran. Obviously someone higher up has us parading around in a show of force for political reasons. Whatever the case, It certainly is a sight when you see some of these small fishing boats or Arabian dowhs and they are trucking along right next to the Carrier and the other 7 or 8 warships.

We will being doing a lot of operations out here and then may be back home in late ****. Talking with my detailer, I will possibly be receiving orders to Charleston, SC and moving with Ashley back east in January, but that is still not confirmed. Like anything in the military, I am waiting on an answer.

Due to our email being secured, I missed MOTHER’s DAY, so Happy Late Mother’s Day mom, I hope you liked the card.

Ashley started a HR position at ***, a company based out of San Diego that works on Military Technology, including some naval equipment that I am familiar with. So she is excited, call and congratulate her if you get a chance. Keep on truckin'!

I will attach some more pictures to this email. Some are of our recent Beer Day that we had on-board, yes the Navy drinks beer. The rule is, if you are out at sea longer than 45 days, Uncle Sam owes you a couple beers and we have been at sea since I left, so it was well deserved. The other pictures are of the battle group marching around so enjoy. Hope to hear from all of you soon.

P.S. Can someone forward this to Grandpa and send me his address, the one I have isn’t working.

Lieutenant Junior Grade NICK HALL
AWEPS / SHIPS GUNNER
WEAPONS DEPARTMENT
USS NIMITZ

“Duty is the most sublime word in the English Language”
Robert E. Lee, c1857

Editor's Note: Anytime a part of the US military shows force without actually fighting, it is solely for political and diplomatic impact. This should go without saying. "Parade rest".

As for readers, reading something into an article that wasn't written; welcome to journalism.

Nick is well aware I am a professional writer and I would say the same to him as anyone. Anything someone doesn't want repeated, it is THEIR responsibility to request it be off the record and to receive confirmation before they continue, according to journalism practice and the law regarding news.

There are NO private communications with reporters unless both parties agree it's private.

Neither Nick nor I would be ashamed of anything in his letter or article. He's a fine man;his words should not be paraphrased, nor mine.

Considerable Sounds: Amazing Blues Voice - Sue G. Wilkinson!

By DC Music Editor Benjamin New

One of the Goals of Considerable sounds is to illuminate music that our readers may not have heard before that we believe is worthy of your attention. Many of these artist's are independent. (Not affiliated with major music labels). A great wealth of talent lays in waiting.

May I introduce you to Sue G. Wilkinson (If you are not already a fan). I only recently became acquainted with her music and regret not previously having this entire CD in my MP3 player's "favorites" list.

A song I feel is a real treat for the ears is "Sympatico" a lush somewhat ambient piece that showcases Sue's voice in modes well outside the blues scales where she is obviously quite comfortable. Her piano chops alone are reason enough to investigate this remarkable record. But you also get a unique sensibility of solid songcraft and one of the most legitimate female blues voices in the history of the genre!

But to classify this work as R&B is simply too limiting, I detect bit of Professor Longhair, Fats Waller, Wendy Rene, Judy Clay, and Ann Rabson. But there seems to be equal amounts of Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, and Dolores O'Riordan, (I know these references to other artists are never really fair but you have to know where you came from to grasp where your going, right?)

An interesting note about Sue; her first demo tape was co-produced and promoted by DC Editor Bryan E. Hall and the band Kansas' Phil Ehart. According to Hall, the most most common response from record labels was that "no one would ever buy another album if we produced her."

Sue has opened for many big-time acts such as Kansas and Art Garfunkel, and she has toured extensively in Japan and England where they love her!

Ambient Songs

All Fall Down	mp3	lyrics	notes
Sympatico	mp3	lyrics	notes
Always One	mp3	lyrics	notes
Wash Away	mp3	lyrics	notes
Work It Out	mp3	lyrics	notes
R&B
Box	mp3	lyrics	notes
Bitter Girl	mp3	lyrics	notes
Lack of Trying	mp3	lyrics	notes
See About Me	mp3	lyrics	notes

Check out Sue's collaborations with Patrick O'Hearn (former bassist Frank Zappa, Missing Persons)! As always, keep searching for the art that you luv and the art that luvs you!

Sue G. Wilkinson
Little Crimes

This CD has a 30% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!

© 2001 Sue G. Wilkinson (803763022827)

CD Baby Price: $12.00

An eclectic mix of Americana roots-rock and Ambient Pop music make up this CD of pulsating piano, keyboards and stunning vocals.

TRACKS lo-fi: dial-up hi-fi: broadband LINKS Check out the Sue G. Wilkinson website TRY THIS OTHER CDs you will love Rachael Sage: Ballads & Burlesque and Caroline Lavelle: A Distant Bell GENRES you need to try BLUES: Rhythm & Blues ELECTRONIC: Trip Hop SOLO FEMALE ARTIST Find more artists from USA: Georgia

NOTES This independent release "Little Crimes" represents not one, but two projects by Sue G. Wilkinson. Inside you will find ambient pop selections are well as piano based rockin' R&B. Get ready for some music that you won't be able to leave alone folks! Read on for more details: The unforgettable ambient sounds of SUE WILKINSON are trance-like and highly melodic, powered by breathtaking vocals that can only be categorized as one of a kind. "Blessed with an amazing vocal range, she has not only the power to blow down a brick house, but an astounding sense of versatility with the emotional capacity of PATTI GRIFFIN, FIONA APPLE and TORI AMOS combined." Her new title track "Sympatico", is at once piercing yet mellow, languid yet pulse pounding, and undoubtedly one of the most gorgeous cerebral pieces I've ever heard." says ezine MuzikMan. Sue is the voice and co-composer behind a musical collaboration with film scorer, bassist, and recording artist, PATRICK O'HEARN. A Grammy award winner, his electronic-based instrumental music is considered to be the foundation behind the ambient musical movement, not to mention the modern synthesized orchestral sound heard in today's film scores. Here's what the critics have to say about her Rockin' R$B stuff: GO GIRLS MUSIC REVIEW describes Sue's piano based music: " She hits rapid-fire intros, takes improvised solos, plays like mad, and it's a pleasure, an inspiration, and a "how does she do that?" to listen to. Sue's adventurous spirit blended with a diverse, eclectic musical background has also given birth to a Rhythm and Blue's band that has toured extensively. Well known in the UK, Davy MacFarlance writer for BLUES MATERS, INTERNATIONAL BLUES, AND REAL RNB, the UK's most read blues magazine, says Ana Popovic "could be fighting for space in a crowded field given the amount of blues women around: Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedesch and the most EXCELLENT SUE G. WILKINSON." No reason to wonder why Miss Wilkinson has opened up for bands like PEARL JAM, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, Ministry, Lush, THE INDIGO GIRLS, COLONEL BRUCE HAMPTON and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, GRATEFUL DEAD'S Bob Weir, Michelle Shock, KANSAS and many others. Probably her favorite gigs were in JAPAN. Twice, through two different Cherry Blossoms Festivals, she got down with the Japanese. Spending time in the UK touring includes gigs at BURNLEY INTERNATIONAL BLUES FESTIVAL, LEMON TREE IN ABERDEEN SCOTLAND, 12 BAR CLUB IN LONDON, MUSICIAN IN LEICESTER, ENGLAND, and STUDIO IN HARTLEPOOL, just to name a few. Some of Sue's accomplishments include a nomination by THE COCA COLA MUSIC AWARDS for BEST NEW ROCK BAND in Georgia. That same year the INDIGO GIRLS won Best Acoustic Act and Trisha Yearwood won Best New Country Act. Her voice can be heard on many commercials, including WAFFLE HOUSE, THE NATIONAL MILK ASSOCIATION, & SIX FLAGS OVER GEORGIA. Described as a SIREN WITH A SOULFUL SOUND, she has also been featured on WOMEN OF MP3.COM - with three of her songs holding the #1, #2, and #3 in the Georgia AAA/Alternative category for close to a year. "Sympatico", her collaboration with Patrick O'Hearn, was downloaded over 30,000 times on MP3.COM. Sue's ORCHESTRAL COMPOSITIONS won an INTERNATIONAL TELLY AWARD for an original instrumental score Sue co-composed with former STEVE MORRIS bassist JERRY PEEK. SUE G. WILKINSON? performer extraordinaire - once you hear her, you'll remember this sound, this voice, this style of music. REVIEWS: London's Time Out: "Hugely enjoyable pounding, stomping, riffing, rough-hewn, piano-driven R&B from the soulful Wilkinson, ripping it up all the way from Atlanta, Georgia." Davy MacFarlane UK's Blues Matters: "Ana Popovic... could be fighting for space in a crowded field, given the amount of blues women around: Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, and the excellent Sue G. Wilkinson." Atlanta's Creative Loafing: "Sue Wilkinson has a gorgeous voice, no doubt, like some shimmering symphony of nature." Muzikman's Sound Script: "Wilkinson still reigns queen on this brilliant project... she adapts the lush linger of Tori Amos and Kate Bush, only to rise to a level above these youngsters. The title track [Sympatico] is at once piercing yet mellow, languid yet pulse pounding, and undoubtedly one of the most gorgeous cerebral pieces I've ever heard." 99X Sound Menu-Creative Loafing: "...Wilkinson pounds the piano like Professor Longhair, sounds like a less frantic Janis Joplin and clearly has an affinity for classic, hard-edged R&B [more Stax/Volt than Motown]." -Justin Robertson, 6/19/00. Ginger Massey, CitySearch.com: "Through bursts of "rockin' R&B" from her acoustic piano and soul-stimulating vocals, Wilkinson not only dissects every dirty emotion, but she wallows around in them until the fear of that emotion is erased. Of course, just when tears begin to well up in the corners of your eyes, Wilkinson throws out a song so fun and playful that you're compelled to leave the seat and groove to the beat." Gregory Nicoll, Southeastern Performer: "... a breathtaking synth track where Sue Wilkinson's fine voice keeps sounding like it's gonna burst into the title theme from some '60's James Bond movie. [describing Sympatico]" 99X Sound Menu-Creative Loafing: "Filled with an abundance of soul, local band leader Sue Wilkinson can get you stomping your feet while you wallow in self-pity. The title track to her album 'See About Me' captures Wilkinson in her element; evoking Janis Joplin, creating her rare multi-cultural, cross-generational stew." -Mossman, 8/8/01. Click here to write a review about this CD! OUR Greatest Living Female Blues Singer Reviewer: Mark White Awesome. The first scale on See About Me sends shivers down your spine, and the lyrics (I’ve got the full moon, empty arms, guess you’re immune to my many charms..) are amazing. She sounds like Janis Joplin with a better range and a great sense of humor and irony ('when your soul is in traction, baby, see about me'). The music is sophisticated and pleasing, which great guitar riffs, chords, and satisfying endings. Lack of Trying is another great song; the intro of church chords leads into fulsome blues hyperbole: 'I could find you in a field that was thick with sugar cane; I could find you in a church with one thousand widow panes. Why can’t I get next to you? Well it’s not for lack of tryin’.' Stop what you are doing and buy this CD immediately! This music may not complete your life, but it will make it much fuller. Littles Crimes delivers incredible vocals and songs unique unto themselves. Reviewer: Debbie Boon Although comparisons have been made to other artists, Sue Wilkinson's voice and music are unique to her. Little Crimes is a CD that offers its listener driving beats, subtle vocal nuances, driving vocals, subtle musical nuances, powerful melodies, powerful vocals, and single notes that are so rich in texture you feel they are resonating from an entire symphony. Little Crimes is a great CD that offers something intriguing for all musical tastes. It's a must hear CD! Reviewer: www.audio-style.com online audio music magazine. Don't waist your time reading this review, just buy the CD! If you are still reading, here's what you will get when you buy the CD: well crafted songs in an era when most of the music is cookie cutter at best! soulful vocals that reach out of the recording and strait in to your heart! some of GA's best musicians backing Sue up! Great lyrics!!! something that is important to me, a great recording! Don't miss this rare opportunity to buy a CD that will stay one of your favorites, I promise, you won't sell it on eBay next year! Annie Lennox, Kate Bush, Alison Moyer, Crall, and Joplin all in one! Reviewer: Bryan E. Hall, Footnotes Music & Entertainment / DULY CONSIDER- Sue Wilkinson in this album brings together her training and natural talent with that which is clearly influenced by Annie Lennox and Kate Bush. In this CD, she demonstrates the soulful depth of Alison Moyer, the coolness of Diana Krall, and the balls of Janis Joplin! Record execs in Hollywood have said one thing consistently, if they distributed her, no one would buy a garage band because they would listen to her CD over and over again. When the worst thing someone can say about this CD is it has 'too much shelf life', that is one essential to any music collection. Simpatico, Stronger Heart and Lack of Trying are deserving of James Bond movie themes!!!

Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof

Considerable Sounds: A Blast from the Past! Gino Vannelli - Pauper in Paradise

By DC Music Editor Benjamin New

Gino In Atlantic City 1999

Canadian singer songwriter, Gino Vannelli wore many hats. Composer, vocalist, conductor, etc.
His father was a big band musician and the "big band" sound is evident in Gino's music. Gino's brother, Joe, arranged and played keyboards for most of his recording career. At a time when polyphonic synthesizers were non-existent, like Wendy Carlos, Joe overdubbed multiple parts to create a texture of sound that was remarkably coherent and full, often adding fat analog warmth to real live orchestras used in the recordings. Jazz, Rock, Funk and Swing are all spoken here like a native tongue but fused in a metal of glorious colors unlike any other.


As in the music of Steely Dan, (who will undoubtedly be making an appearance in this column before too long) I hear a bit of Count Basie and Duke Ellington lurking in the background. It was Herb Alpert (The A in A&M records) that signed Gino to his 1st recording contract. We spotlight this work for its independent spirit and it's vision that was contrary to the flavor of the day.

Gino now lives and works in The Netherlands (2007) and is collaborating with Dutch Jazz pianist Michiel Borstlap. They are working on a new CD, so keep your ears peeled. Gino will be appearing at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands on Saturday, July 14, 2007.
Tickets available here.


Buy Now!

• Original Release Date: 1977
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M
  

1. Mardi Gras		Listen
2. Valleys Of Valhalla		Listen
3. The Surest Things Can Change		Listen
4. One Night With You		Listen
5. A Song And Dance		Listen
6. Black And Blue		Listen
7. A Pauper In Paradise: 1st Movement		Listen
8. A Pauper In Paradise: 2nd Movement		Listen
9. A Pauper In Paradise: 3rd Movement		Listen
10. A Pauper In Paradise: 4th Movement		Listen

Below is the most recent classic contribution to music in tribute to 911 from Vannelli -- None So Beautiful! It begins with a 15-second newsy bit but just wait for this awesome track. He has one of the best male voices in the world!









Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof