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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Ray Paul <permpress@earthlink.net> |
| Subject | Re: The Aerovons...I've heard it..have it |
| Date | Sun, 15 Jun 2003 10:35:29 -0400 |
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I too, was intrigued after reading the article in the current Mojo on
the unreleased album by The Aerovons.
I just received it in the mail having ordered it online from
Amazon.co.uk. Looking very much like The Iveys did on their 1st LP
cover, and with the tracks engineered by Geoff Emerick, Alan Parsons &
Jeff Jarratt, and co-production by Norman "Hurricane" Smith with the
band's leader, Tom Hartman, I was looking forward to hearing a long-lost
gem.
While it's not bad, it was a bit of a letdown. I wouldn't put it in the
same league of other long-lost releases from the 1960's such as The
Moon, Colours, or Wallace Collection.
Where The Rutles succeeded by taking Beatles songs as references and
then making them stand out on their own, the Aerovons fail.
"Resurrection" is a direct rip-off of "Across The Universe", and I mean
just about note for note, especially in the chorus. They sing the exact
same melody line over the exact same chords, while just changing the
lyrics. Just think if someone were to write a new song that you could
sing different lyrics to, but with the same melody line. Sort of like
what Weird Al does, but done seriously. Can you imagine hearing someone
take the chorus or key part of a well-known song and just put different
lyrics to it? I can see why EMI didn't want to release this. Not that it
was bad, just that they didn't want to piss-off The Beatles and create
legal problems for themselves.
The 3rd track "Georgia", comes very close to being "Oh Darling", yet not
nearly as much as the other track did.
Not to be unfair or give anyone the wrong impression, but these are
really the only 2 tracks on the CD that lift things that closely from
The Beatles. Most of the tracks are average, with a kinda
doot-de-doot-de-doot sugary sound in amid-tempo or slow pace. The
Aerovons don't rock, that's for sure. Lots of orchestrated stuff and
piano. The best tracks, to me anyway, are the opening orchestrated
track "World Of You" and the This-Boyish harmonies of "Words From A
Song."
The vocals are nice, but the songs are not very memorable. I'll come
back to it in a week for a 2nd opinion. I would recommend this one for
diehard '60's fans or those who like orchestrated BeeGees arranged pop.
Get the import of The Moon's 2 lps on 1 cd instead.
Ray Paul
(P.S. I guess the above would qualify as my 1st Audities cd review
ever.)
www.permanentpress.net/raypaul.htm
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