6 thoughts on “World music classics #18

  1. tom haines

    Jahsonic, the picture of a bespectacled Barbara Bouchet that i found in your world cinema that was listed as “unidentified” is Bouchet as Miss Moneypenny in the 1967 “Casino Royale.”

  2. georgy

    and you like Wally Badarou too…

    he has a nice site, http://www.wallybadarou.com/ full of anecdotes about some of the cult records he has made. I love the one about the keyboards parts in Marianne Faithfull’s “The ballad of Lucy Jordan”. I won’t spoil it for you, see for yourself.

  3. georgy


    ••• Leo Missir asked me to arrange the song in the manner of Steve Winwood wonderful work on Marianne Faithfull’s ‘Ballad Of Lucy Jordan’ (from the “Broken English” album). Which I believe I did in a way, with just my Korg 1000 Polyphonic Ensemble, my Roland RE-501 Chorus-Echo, and an Oberheim OB-Xa I borrowed from pal Michel Coeuriot.
    ••• Listening to Winwood’s work, I was convinced his keyboard had gone through some clever echo device, which I tried to emulate.

    ••• While vacationing on the Côte d’Azur, Elton John heard the song we did through the radio and decided to make a cover of it, in french (with an english version known as ‘Nobody Wins’ on “The Fox” album). And to my surprise, he retained all of the arrangements I had done, performed by west coast aces like legendary Toto’s David Paich, Steve and Jeff Porcaro.

    ••• I went on to apply the same ‘ping-pong’ echo technique to a song Steve Winwood (again) had written for himself, ‘Talking back to the night’, which Joe Cocker was to make a cover of, with the Compass Point All Stars in Nassau.

    ••• Steve Winwood heard the Cocker’s version we’ve made, and decided to arrange his own … with the same kind of repeat rhythmn underneath, unaware of where it all came from, up until we finally met at his home in England. He then told me the ‘Ballad of Lucy Jordan’ keyboard parts were played twice, with a time offset, no echo system involved.

    ••• The loop turned out not to be where expected …

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