Perhaps unsurprisingly another cover version made some 30
years after the original recording, failed to set the British charts alight.
Listen to this and I’m sure you’ll understand why: who in their right mind
thought this absurd recording would ever be a hit? It's throroughly insane - but I have to admit I absolutely love it.
You might have never heard of The Enid, the British rock
band who are about to enter their 40th year of existence, but I’ll
bet you at some point or another you’ve hummed, whistled or sang along to one
of their performances: they may have a reputation for ridiculous, overblown
prog-rock nonsense but they were also the backing band for Kim Wilde, playing
the vast majority of the music on her debut album (Water on Glass, Kids in
America).
Formed in 1974 by Robert John Godfrey, who had been the
musical director for prog-rockers Barclay James Harvest, and John Francis
Lickerish, the band released their first album, In the Region of the Summer
Stars, in 1976, just as punk was tearing up the rule book. Their recording of
Golden Earrings first appeared as an A-side the following year, around the time
of their second album Aerie Faerie Nonsense, although the track did not appear
on either album. The single bombed…yet for some warped reason EMI decided to
re-issue it three years later as the B-side to another non-album single 665 The
Great Bean (a re-recording of their earlier album track the Devil). It too sank
without a trace.
The band, in various guises but always fronted by Robert
John Godfrey, has continued to record (and perform) sporadically ever since: a
farewell gig in 1988 proved to be a pause to their career rather than an end to
it as the band reformed in 1995 and since then they have released several new
albums. As far as I know none of them has included a re-recording of this piece
of bombastic drivel.
Enjoy!
This song is GLORIOUS!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlthough the chanting at the end loses some of the effect..
This sounds like Skeletor from He-Man dropped acid with David Bowie and decided to sing some old show tunes. Genius!
ReplyDeleteSo over the top - love the "classical" piano at the 3:00 minute mark.
ReplyDeleteIt's so (knowingly) completely over the top it comes over the other side into bonkers genius territory - yes, even the "ear-rings" chanting at the end (to give the rest of the band the chance to give it their all vocally). This single is one of my most treasured possessions. newelectricmuse
ReplyDelete