Friday, November 16, 2012

Thank My Lucky Stars

I hope no one will mind if I take a moment out here, before this week's record, to remind everyone to go and seek out the family and friends and tell each of them how much they mean to you, and to say "I love you" as often as possible, to anyone you love.

I spent this week experiencing and watching the effects of the unexpected death of a 20 year old, a young man who my family had gotten to know well over the past two years. One never knows. With this event close up in the rearview mirror, and Thanksgiving on the horizon, I thought I'd speak up.


And also felt the need to share something upbeat and genuinely fun to listen to, and as I've said before, there are few things in the song-poem world that I like more than the Film City era productions of Rodd Keith. And this one  - "Thank My Lucky Stars" - is especially nice, what with Rodd going all out on something of an Four Aces effect, overdubbing himself four times, by my count, and offering up some really nice, thick harmonies, as well as a first rate, jazzy arrangement, complete with a solo section wherein the vocalists playfully interject parts of the solo melody. This record was "Dedicated to Rachael", and I hope she appreciated how much work went into it.

Play:  

The flip side, "I'd Rather Dream", is a fairly forgettable lounge-lizard sort of performance, with a lugubrious vocal and a setting which matches that vocal at every turn.

Play:  



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my fave Film City singles....love the "baby" back-ups on "Thank My Lucky Stars", hilarious. Love the b-side too.

Bryan Harwell said...

I love this! This is exactly what I would expect from a Rodd Keith 45. Each side has something going for it. The overdubbed harmonies on side A are really good. However, I like the B side better with the extensive use of the chamberlin. I really enjoyed both songs. Again, thanks for sharing!