Okay, first off, gaze upon the wonder that is Smokey Mims' hairstyle. Amy Winehouse would kill for a beehive that good. Briefly, Smokey and Viki Mims were siblings from Cincinnati who supposedly moved to New York in the mid-'60s in thrall to Bob Dylan. You would not guess that inspiration from these songs, recorded in 1966 and 1967 for a never-released Columbia LP (a later album on Warner Brothers did make it out, barely) produced by staff freak David Rubinson, who was working with Moby Grape and the United States of America around the same time. There is none of the freaky majesty of either of those bands on Smokey and His Sister: instead, think of a cross between Petula Clark's Tony Hatch orchestrations and the folkier side of sunshine pop acts like Harpers Bizarre, Spanky and Our Gang and the whole Curt Boettcher/Gary Zekley axis. This is twee pop decades before the term existed, featuring the Mims siblings' equally wispy, delicate voices in front of a full orchestra and the usual batch of session musicians, playing 12 Smokey Mims originals that are long on the ethereal harmonies and languid melodies, but not so much on the whole concept of memorable hooks. Sunshine pop fans will be at least moderately enchanted, but this is no kind of great lost masterpiece of the style, just an entertaining curio.(Stewart Mason, allmusic.com)
Twee Pop??? Häh??? Folky sunshine pop with well done orchestrations is what i hear. Nice album. Enjoy.(Frank)
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Thanks, Frank, strangely enough, I couldn't remember the band but the front cover photograph. Actually, a band worth to remember because of their musical talent rather than because of their hairstyles.
ReplyDeleteStewart Mason's trial to classify elder music in comparison to current "styles" by giving it trendy modern names is silly because there isn't a single contemporary release (except the ones that have little to nothing to do with music) that doesn't owe to 1950s and 1960s (and, o.k., early 1970s) groundbreaking music. But even this very commen (vice versa) process of infinitely searching for origins ends up in superfluent analysis.
The dilemma of modern classical (e-)music that thoughout 500 years of relevant composing, arranging, and inventing music every possible tone sequence, melody, chord changes, time parameters, assembly of ensembles, etc., have been explored and displayed to exhaustion now echoes in popular music where (because of the comparatively simplicity of the genre) it took less than a 100 years.
Smokey's pompadour, however, reminds me on The Hobbit's Radagast the Brown who's hilarious toupee included a bird's nest (among others). But, hey, those were the times. Remember, that somewhere under those mighty diamonds, shiny glitter coats and fancy suits, under the surface of tons and tons of make-up and strange behaviour there was that wonderful unique musician called Elvis...
wow this is sooo nice an great to see Victoria McMorrow/Mims an Smoke/Lawrence Wayne is his birth name Vicki is my mother,who is missed EVERYDAY SHE WAS A VERY GIVING LOVING PERSON..SHE IS VERY VERY MISSED
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