Christmas Music, FVS-Style

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat; here's Facel Vega Soul and the tunes are always phat -

We should warn you up front that if you’re looking for the usual holiday-flavoured confections by the likes of Michael Bolton, Susan Boyle and Sting:
You've come to the wrong place.
We spend a lot of time on this site dissecting songs about love, sex, cheating, and even knocking people out (ahem). Well, we like our Christmas songs too – as long as they’re a short walk from John Lee Hooker or Big Mama Thornton. Save Amy Grant for the in-laws (and don’t get us started on that holly-jolly hairball Burle Ives).

Eddie Floyd - Doo-Wop Christmas (2012)

f you ever wondered what Santa sounds like surrounded by Soul and Doo Wop then you better grab this Christmas Album by Eddie Floyd, oops I meant Santa! From the Harmonica to the Bass and the Baritone Sax, this album says "Merry Christmas" like no other.

Carla Thomas - Gee Whiz, It's Christmas (1963)

My favourite Stax Christmas record. A understated beauty from Rufus Thomas's daughter Carla.

And despite the title, nothing to do with her hit Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes).

Dave Brubeck 1920-2012

Arguably the last true jazz legend has left us.
Dave Brubeck passed away on 5th December aged 91. We here at Facel Vega Soul are great jazz fans, so although we are hard at work on other projects, we are absolutely honour-bound to down tools and salute an absolute great.
If Brubeck had only ever bought out three tracks and they were Take 5, Blue Rondo a la Turk, and Unsquare Dance, he and the Dave Brubeck Quartet would have been remembered forever, but his talent went far, far deeper than that. We'll leave the in-depth story of his career to others, as they will no doubt be more eloquent than us, but we'd like to take five, sit upon the ground and show you three examples of his genius, as well as his cohorts.

Unsquare Dance; this version is from the Burghausen jazz festival in 2001:

 

And of course, Take Five, probably his signature tune and one of those tracks that the general public have hummed the melody to without actually knowing who it's by, always the sign of a piece of music that has passed into popular culture. The track is actually written by his long-time composing partner Paul Desmond, who passed away in 1977 at the age of just 52.

Take five, Mr. Brubeck. You've earned it.

-FVS

Gladys Knight - Licence To Kill (1989)

The soundtrack to Licence to Kill, the 16th James Bond film of the same name, was released by MCA Records in 1989.
Because the legendary composer John Barry (who had scored almost every film from From Russia With Love onwards) was unavailable due to ill-health, the soundtrack's more upbeat and suspenseful score was composed and conducted by Michael Kamen, who also composed the soundtracks for the first three Die Hard films and all four Lethal Weapon films. Initially Eric Clapton and Vic Flick were asked to write and perform the theme song to Licence To Kill; the tune was said to have been a new version based on Monty Norman's signature theme, with the guitar riff played by Flick. The prospect, however, fell apart and Gladys Knight's song was chosen, later becoming a Top 10 hit in the UK (reaching no.6) and in Germany.
The song, one of the longest to ever be used in a Bond film, was composed by Narada Michael Walden (best known for his work with Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Aretha Franklin), Jeffrey Cohen and Walter Afanasieff (Houston, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Luther Vandross). It was based on the iconic horn line from Goldfinger, which required royalty payments to the original writers, Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. The music video of Licence to Kill was directed by Daniel Kleinman, who later took over the reins of title designer from Maurice Binder for the 1995 Bond film, GoldenEye.

All the instrumental tracks on the film's soundtrack are amalgams of various sequences and musical cues from the film rather than straight score excerpts. The end credits of the film feature the song If You Asked Me To sung by Patti LaBelle. Though the song was a top ten R&B charter and a minor pop hit for LaBelle, in 1992, the song was covered by and became a much bigger hit for singer Céline Dion. The track Wedding Party, used during the wedding of Felix Leiter to Della Churchill, makes reference the track Jump Up from the first Bond film, Dr. No.
In all honesty, I think Licence To Kill is possibly the most underrated of the Bond theme songs. Most of them usually sound all the same, but thanks to Gladys Knight's vocals and Michael Kamen's unconventional (for Bond) production, the tracks offers something different. Overall, he provides an exciting and hard hitting, yet beautiful score mixed with various songs from the film. Fans of the traditional bond-style soundtracks may find this a little different at first, but watch the film a few times, give the album a few listens and it'll grow on you. And as for the signature theme - I personally rate it so highly, it's up there with Bassey's Bond stuff.
If that seems a bit of a hard concept to take, remember one thing. This is Gladys Knight we're talking about, not some fly by night flavour of the month vocalist. Ms. Knight can go toe-to toe vocally with anyone.