Featuring the "sound on sound" of Trevor Horn. This song still blows my mind, and sends shivers down my spine, almost three decades later. Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford had the perfectly complementary voices.
Xanadu - Kubla Khan
a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
I much prefer the (above) Holly Johnson version of Welcome To The Pleasuredome. However, the live, Ryan Mulloy version, below, captures the totality of the song.
In particular, listen for the dulcimer sound at about 7:15:
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
5 comments:
One thing that always stuck with me about this CD was how they listed the recording 'flaws' in the liner notes.
What was even more remarkable: just how vacuous and narcissistic the band-members appeared to be.
And i'm a big fan of the music.
I was a huge fan of FGTH in the day... these bring back serious memories.
The version w/ Ryan Mulloy isn't one I'm familiar w/ though. Was this during the reunion tour a couple years back? If so...He sounds wonderful. Not Holly Johnson, but still pretty amazing.
It was during a tribute to Trevor Horn. Holly Johnson refused to participate in a reunion performance so they auditioned for a replacement singer. Holly was better, but Mulloy wasn't too bad.
Ah, I forgot third.
Third: have you seen Plate-mail (27th edition)? Some interesting thoughts along this line. Jason's stuff is obviously useful too, but I know you've seen that.
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