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/ News

From Lulu, With Love: Edsel Reissues Bowie Collaboration and More

June 1, 2017 By Joe Marchese 10 Comments

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Lulu's first album promised Something to Shout About, and indeed, throughout a career now spanning six decades, the Scottish pop singer has always delivered with her full-throated, soulful belt.  In 1972, Lulu wrapped up her tenure at Atco Records - in which she reinvented herself in full southern soul mode - and signed to Wes Farrell's RCA-distributed Chelsea label.  At Chelsea, she released two albums: 1973's Lulu and 1976's Heaven and Earth and the Sky.  Both of those LPs have just returned to CD on a single-disc two-fer from Edsel.

Wes Farrell ("Hang On Sloopy," The Partridge Family) had produced one of Lulu's final singles for Atco for his Coral Rock Productions, and so was well-acquainted with the singing star.  Lulu joined an eclectic roster also including Wayne Newton, Johnny "Mr. Bass Man" Cymbal, Tommy Boyce a.k.a. Christopher Cloud, Boyce's partner Bobby Hart, and the Thom Bell-produced soul outfit New York City.  For her self-titled Chelsea debut, Farrell enlisted the crème de la crème of L.A. session players including Wrecking Crew veterans Hal Blaine, Joe Osborn, Don Peake, Louie Shelton, Max Bennett, and Gary Coleman, as well as Dean Parks, Tom Scott, Chuck Findley, Victor Feldman, Michael Omartian, Tom Hensley, and John Bahler.  Producer Farrell crafted a potpourri of an album, with Lulu touching on all of her musical personas.

Lulu drew heavily upon both covers and songs from within Farrell's enterprise.  Lulu bowed to her European roots with the opening "Make Believe World," an attractive ballad composed by U.K. tunesmith Tony Macaulay ("(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All," "Build Me Up Buttercup").  In a more uptempo vein, she offered breezy MOR takes on two songs from The Young Rascals.  "Groovin'" wouldn't have been out of place on a Partridge Family record, and "A Boy Like You" replaces the sleek rock groove of the original with a big, brassy production led by her gutsy lead.  Lulu also tackled Alan O'Day's oft-covered "Easy Evil" in an arrangement clearly inspired by Carole King's "It's Too Late," and invested Willie Nelson's evergreen "Funny How Times Slip Away" with feeling in a lush, Nashville Sound-style rendition.  Dan Penn and Chips Moman's "Do Right Woman" harkened back to the deep soul sound of her Atco recordings.

The singer was in a funky vein on Tony Ritchie, Del Spence, and Miki Dallon's "Hold On to What You've Got," and from the Chelsea label roster, Austin Roberts supplied the carousel-esque waltz "I Wish."  Farrell co-wrote "Could It Be Forever," also recorded by David Cassidy, with his longtime collaborator Danny Janssen, and gave it a soulful, gospel-flecked treatment here.  "Help Me, Help You," from the pen of Farrell, Janssen, Bobby Hart, and Austin Roberts, was recorded earlier by Wayne Newton, and likewise drew on a rootsy R&B framework in Lulu's recording.

Lulu's next album didn't arrive until 1976, but she wasn't idle during that period.  Heaven and Earth and the Stars would incorporate four sides she recorded in the interim - two that would become among her most heralded recordings.  These were David Bowie's productions of his own "The Man Who Sold the World" and "Watch That Man."  Bowie and his frequent collaborator/guitarist Mick Ronson ushered Lulu in the studio and brought out her inner glam-rocker with their high-octane reinterpretations of songs originally released on Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World and Aladdin Sane.  "The Man," which became a top five hit for Lulu, reset the central riff on saxophone rather than guitar.  Lulu's fiery vocals fit right into the Bowie milieu, with his own background vocals featuring prominently.  (Alas, further tracks recorded by Bowie and Lulu remain in the vaults.)  Another illustrious collaborator was film maestro John Barry, who gifted Lulu with his and Don Black's "The Man with the Golden Gun" from the 1974 James Bond film of the same name.

Singer-songwriter Kenny Nolan's two-part "Take Your Mama for a Ride" also arrived on 45 RPM to precede Heaven and Earth and the Stars; the buoyantly uptempo admonition returned Lulu to the U.K. top forty after the success of "The Man Who Sold the World."  Nolan's songbook was heavily tapped for Heaven and Earth and the Stars: a total of six songs including both sides of the single.  Naturally, the Bowie and Barry tracks lent Heaven and Earth a grab-bag feel especially next to the straightforward pop of Nolan's songs like "Boy Meets Girl" and "Mama's Little Corner of the World."  The album was rounded out by the attractive, Don Costa-arranged title ballad, and a song written by Lulu and her brother Billy Lawrie, "Baby I Don't Care."  The fine arrangement has a tinge of Lesley Duncan's "Love Song," and Lulu sings with great sensitivity.

Edsel's reissue has been newly remastered by Phil Kinrade, and includes a 16-page color booklet with new liner notes by Alan Robinson.  Lulu is currently wrapping up a rare North American tour, with European dates set in the fall!  Lulu/Heaven and Earth and the Stars happily restores a key period of her recording career to CD, and is available now at the links below!

Lulu, Lulu/Heaven and Earth and the Stars (Edsel EDSA 5065, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Make Believe World
  2. Groovin'
  3. Easy Evil
  4. I Wish
  5. A Boy Like You
  6. Hold On to What You've Got
  7. Could It Be Forever?
  8. Funny How Time Slips Away
  9. Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
  10. Help Me Help You
  11. Heaven and Earth and the Stars
  12. Boy Meets Girl
  13. Mama's Little Corner of the World
  14. The Man with the Golden Gun (Main Title)
  15. Baby I Don't Care
  16. Take Your Mama for a Ride (Pt. 1)
  17. Honey You Can't Take It Back
  18. The Man Who Sold the World
  19. Watch That Man
  20. Old Fashioned Girl
  21. Take Your Mama for a Ride (Pt. 2)

Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: David Bowie, John Barry, Lulu, Mick Ronson

Avatar photo

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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Comments

  1. Kenny says

    June 1, 2017 at 12:48 pm

    Most of Lulu's career seems to have been re-issued now apart from the early eighties material. She made some great music around the time of her superb hit "I Could Never Miss You More Than I Do" and released a couple of really good albums,. I think one was on Alfa and another on Rocket. Randy Edelman's Rocket album "On Time" could do with a re-issue as well.

    Reply
    • Dana says

      June 1, 2017 at 2:23 pm

      My sentiments exactly! So much attention has focused on her 60s & 70s material. It's high time her 80s output finally gets its day.

      Reply
      • kurt says

        June 1, 2017 at 3:49 pm

        There are actually two Alfa albums: Lulu (1981) and Take Me to Your Heart Again (1982). I believe the latter campaign basically collapsed because Alfa went under around the time of its release.

        Reply
        • Zubb says

          June 1, 2017 at 4:05 pm

          Yes, those two Alfa LPs need to be reissued. I have been waiting anxiously. I've even written to a few reissue labels. I hope the masters are still available and that they are in custody of someone who has cared for them properly. Maybe they would be good choices for a Second Disc/Real Gone release!

          Reply
          • Avatar photoJoe Marchese says

            June 1, 2017 at 4:13 pm

            I'd like to see that happen, too, Zubb! 😉

            Reply
        • Kenny says

          June 2, 2017 at 2:19 am

          The Rocket album was called "Don't Take Love For Granted" and came out either towards the end of 1979 or early 1980. Some of its tracks, including "I Could Never Miss You" and "Don't Take Love For Granted" were later used on "Lulu". The cover of the "Don't Take Love..." album is superb. Don't think there has been a better portrait of her.

          Reply
          • Kenny says

            June 2, 2017 at 2:24 am

            Just checked and "Don't Take Love For Granted" actually came out in late 1978. Still... "What's Another Year"

            Reply
  2. kurt says

    June 1, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    "Hold on to What You've Got" is actually from the pen of Joe Tex, though his hit version went with the shorter title of "Hold What You've Got".

    Reply
    • Avatar photoJoe Marchese says

      June 1, 2017 at 4:22 pm

      Thanks, Kurt. Indeed - the song as recorded on Lulu's album with her radically different re-arrangement has been credited to Miki Dallon & co. since the original release; likely the compilers here had to retain that credit.

      Reply
  3. kurt says

    June 1, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    Also, "Groovin'" is much too sensual to have been on a kid's show soundtrack. I think the Rascals (the vocalist half) lent their backing vocals to some of the tracks on the LP.

    Reply

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