I’m kinda glad we’ve had a specific request for some Lou Christie lately. I was unsure about how –or whether — the two singles I found recently on a scouring trip would hold up amongst the real thrifty gems I have in store for you. So, for now, I’m just going to pop these tunes up here, and let the chips fall where they may. I for one like these songs, but… well, then again…
Here’s my big probing thrifty question: you may know that Lou Christie is the guy doing all the falsetto stuff in these songs. Remarkable! But, I ask: Is anybody doing the male falsetto thing anymore? Seems to me that even in the urban/R&B category, there are precious few artists singing like little girls anymore. And I’ll add: I had no idea what Lou Christie looked like when I found that YouTube clip of Christie sporting the chest-wig and open vest Look. Has the day passed when a man could look so *manly* and still sing like a woman?
Anyhow, here are two obscure Lou Christie tracks for you to enjoy:
Lou Christie, “Guitars and Bongos”
HVB
You’ll get no complaints from me on this stuff, Hrrundi. It’s far from “easy listening” or “cool,” but I always like how rhythmic this style of music is. The vocals are rhythm instruments. The horns are always punchy. It’s like our ’60s equivalent to Winstanley-Langer productions of bands like Madness.
WOW, I was trying to learn a little more about the singer of the fantastic “Lightning Strikes,” and I hit paydirt with this 1999 Chicago Reader article on his biggest fan and historian, a guy named Harry Young:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/for-the-love-of-christie/Content?oid=898270
If we’ve got Townsmen who know details about the members of Redbone, we’ve got to have someone who can fill me in on all the other fascinating things there is to know about Lou Christie!
Sorry to hog your post, Hrrundi, but I’m not obsessed. Check out this hirsute, denim-clad falsetto singer in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIu7aoC205s
Check out this one – it must be the same location where he donned that super-manly vest. No vest in this clip, but plenty of chest hair!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3FwXQ3L7-A
Cheese and crackers, does it get any better than this? Dig the belt!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLemdORSx_E&feature=related
Although to my knowledge Christie never sported a goatee, he’s definitely a member of good standing among Goatee Rockers like his swarthy, Italian-American laden Four Seasons and Rascals!
Is it too obvious to propose that the display of hirsuteness is over-compensating for the falsetto? I liked the thrifty tracks. The 12-string on Bongos is a nice touch, and the bg chick vocals on Du Ronda cut like a knife. Christie’s falsetto isn’t dreamy like Smoky’s. It’s got a biting quality, like Frankie Valli’s, that’s kind of weird, and no I can’t think of anything like it today. It was an evolutionary dead end I guess.
I *loved* the clip of 70s Christie singing on the Midnight Special. Frighteningly efficient little band he had there, loved the wah-wah break. But the second, apparently 80s, version, with the rolled up sleeves and the dyed hair was sad and way too Vegased out for me.
The most interesting thing about that article on the fanatic was the tidbit that Tony Visconti is married to May Pang.
Mod, that “alternate” video of “I’m Gonna Make You Mine” is grrrreat, as is the Midnight Special clip. Somewhere online I remember seeing a complete database of Midnight Special performances–I’m curious to know when that was from. Whenever it was, he hadn’t lost the voice.
hrrundivbakshi, kudos for putting this much-needed thread together! Go Lou!
Tom Waits does his fair share of falsetto singing (Dirt in the Ground for example) but I suspect that’s not the sound you’re looking for.
I haven’t listened to a new Stones album in a long, long time but maybe 2000K Man could let us know when the last time Mick busted his falsetto out.
Wouldn’t Prince be the greatest contemporary exponent of the falsetto? Is Prince still contemporary?
There is a lot of male falsetto singing in modern pop and R&B: Justin Timberlake, Usher, Robin Thicke.
It appears the Midnight Special performance dates from 1974. Season 2, episode 36, to be exact. Can’t say I saw it at the time. After my bedtime.
http://www.tv.com/the-midnight-special/show/2974/episode.html?tag=list_header;paginator;2&season=2