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| From | "zoogang" <zoogang@buhdge.com> |
| Subject | Sailor (Glam Beach Boysesque band?) |
| Date | Mon, 6 Dec 2004 14:43:34 -0400 |
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A friend asked me:
Have you ever heard of the 70s band "Sailor"? They were a glam band
but get compared to the Beach Boys a lot.
In all of my Beach Boys travails, I don't remember hearing of the band. Anyone
here have any info?
Scott S
I don't think Beach Boys enters into the Sailor equation, Scott...but the
thought intrigues me, I must admit! And as for glam, well, original leader
Georg Kajanus wore a lot of makeup and glitter on stage, I think!
Sailor hit back in the 1974, complete with a totally fabricated (by the record
company) bio including allusions to European aristocracy (or some such
nonsense) on the part of Kajanus. None of it was true. What was true, however,
was that the band toured with not one but two nickelodeons that were always
going out of tune (good thing they didn't tour with an optigon!). The
nickelodeon figured prominently through the first couple of albums.
It's too bad the record company put so much emphasis on the group's
nickelodeon gimmick, as it were, because Kajanus and Pickett and company wrote
some really teriffic pop songs. They released at least 11 albums (AMG lists
nine, but there's also a self-titled record and a 2-CD greatest hits comp in
England), including a live album in 2002, I think through their fan club.
Apparently, most of their later albums were on CD at one point; I saw them on
eBay once, where they went for $30 and up apiece!
The album that David mentioned, 1981's Dressed for Drowning, is really a
Sailor album in name only, despite having two original members. The album
sounds nothing like the Kajanus-fronted band, although it's just as engaging,
if not more so. They paired with a husband/wife team, James and Virginia
Stroud, for an ambitious Phil Pickett-penned song cycle that includes some
really fine material, including the wonderful thirties pastiche, Hat Check
Girl, and the dramatic Danger on the Titanic (great couplet: "There's just one
lifeboat, so please don't panic"); it's also one of my favorite albums of all
time, and has yet to be released on CD, as David said.
Hope this helps.
Alan
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