Hello Sailor
One of the best things about the Glam Rock era is that bands didn't just go on Top of The Pops in tatty old jeans and t-shirts, they had to dress up and have a distinct image of some kind, especially the ones further down the talent food chain from the big guns of Bowie, Roxy, Bolan and Slade. Mud and Showaddywaddy wore rainbow-coloured Teddy Boy outfits, The Bay City Rollers got decked out in tartan, The Rubettes had their white suits and floppy hats, Leo Sayer dressed like a clown, Alvin Stardust squeezed into a leather jumpsuit, and Sailor... well, have a guess what they dressed as.
Another gimmick they had was a bizarre musical contraption called the Nickleodeon they built themselves which was several musical intruments banged together into what looked like a synthesizer designed by Heath Robinson. But all the gimmicks in the world couldn't help them have more than two hits (though apparently they were very big in Germany) of which "A Glass of Champagne" was the biggest in 1975. This sounds an awful lot like a bubblegummy Roxy Music, I'm surprised Bryan Ferry didn't sue the lead singer for infringement of vocal style copyright. Still a top tune though.
Download: A Glass of Champagne - Sailor (mp3)
11 Comments:
This turned up on a advert for Marks And Spencers I think it was last year; and while the Roxy comparison is spot on I also thought that vocally it sounded a lot like XTC, although obviously they were later on. There's something a little West Country about the phrasing; not quite Wurzels but....
Good stuff though! That whole era was off limits to me for years, but there's some really good pop music floating through the early 70s. :)
I've been considering doing a post of camp/kitsch 70's music for ages and this one was top of my list. Great minds and all that...
Somewhat shamefully, I once had five Sailor singles (only four survive). This is by far the best - Roxy Music without the artsiness.
The singer was called George Kajanus which is funny in it's own right.
I was going to expand that into something about the sheer wonderful silliness of the 70s charts (not just the barmy clothes but bands like Lieutenant Pigeon) but if every post turned into an essay I'd never get anything finished.
What's so funny about a Norwegian name like Georg Kajanus then? ;-)
www.sailor-music.com
Well, I certainly didn’t want to offend anyone but believe me any name ending in –anus is funny when you’re a teenager.
It still is.
Funny, I never thought of that. ;-)
Btw - I have one of the old Nickelodeons standing in my back garden these days. Very strange!!
well, color me badd - i assumed this was XTC on the Marks & Sparks ad mentioned above - a good fun pop song - thanks, as always!
Nobody's mentioned Girls Girls Girls yet. Probably because it's crap. Quite like this one, though.
One of the best Crackerjack performances ever this.
A rousing if shrieky round of applause from a chocolate-stained pack o Brownies in the audience at the BBC. Peter Glaze even swayed in the wings.
It's not crap, it is just funny looking back at our own past with todays eyes. Back then the BCR Tartan and Sailor's fake tattoos were something new to the kids. Don't forget, all this is not about music, it is about shifting truckloads of records. Every new gimmick helps. That was then but this is now... completely the same. Why do we hate ringtones? Because they try to sell bad versions of the past!
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