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Wednesday 25 March 2020

Verdelle Smith

Another new singer that is new to me...Its seems that this is the only L/P that she recorded which is a pity would have liked to have heard more of her !!

 Perhaps the closest parallel to Verdelle Smith would be Dionne Warwick: a soul singer by discipline but a dramatic pop singer by any other name. She cut two songs that were later covered by Nancy Sinatra and Scott Walker -- "In My Room" and "Tar and Cement," respectively -- and that gives a good idea of the symphonic melodrama that lies at the core of her work. This is not meek music. It's big, sweeping and grand, with mini pop symphonies that showcased her range and power.  Smith's appeal lies in how she never quite belonged in either the pop-soul world or in Hollywood pop. She fell through the cracks, a powerful soul singer but what's best about Smith is how she never belonged to any world, how she was soulful without being gritty, overblown without being sticky.




       6. Toot-Toot-Tootsie.

6 comments:

  1. Many thanks, espo!

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  2. Thanks for Verdelle Smith. I once had a 45 single of Tar and Cement, which was I think her only high profile single. Interestingly (or not) Francoise Hardy recorded a version of the song in both French and German.

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  3. Tar and Cement was one of my favourite songs when I was a kid.

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  4. really amazing ! I'd think that with this version of Tar & Cement she did one the best cover ever of Celentano original song "Il ragazzo della via Gluck"

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