Seabird – Pendulum

In 1977 Pendulum followed up the success of 1976’s ‘Take My Heart’ with ‘Seabird’. While the former managed to get to number 6 on the Springbok Top 20, ‘Seabird’ did not fly as high, only getting to number 18 during a 3 week run. And this is probably a fair reflection of the 2 songs as ‘Seabird’ is not as anthemic as ‘Take My Heart. It is a more gentle track which kind of glides around like the bird of the title.

While the drums, guitars and keyboards take to the breeze and weave their way across the sky above the sea, there is a strong vocal from Richard Hyam who had previously worked with McCully Workshop. Amongst the backing vocals is the voice of Glenda Hyam who would later find fame as a member of Clout (going under the name Glenda Miller) and also work with Juluka. The lyrics plead for the seabird to fly home as they have been away from land too long. The obvious meaning is that this is a lover who has been away and the singer is aching for their return.

There is no real stand out thing about the track. The way the voices combine with the gentle instrumentation to create a mellow pop tune would never set the world alight, but the feel is like meeting an old friend that you catch up with and spend a relaxed evening reminiscing about the old days.

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Every wondered what the classic Queen track ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ would have sounded like if Freddie Mercury had been born in Africa. Hang on, wait, Freddie Mercury was born in Africa. Zanzibar in Tanzania to be precise. Okay, so ever wondered what ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ would have sounded like if Freddie Mercury had been born a Zulu? Well, wonder no more as the Ndlovu Youth Choir have recorded a version of the song with (mostly) Zulu lyrics and in a variety of African musical styles.

Covering any classic tune is, at the best of times, a bold project. But to change it into a different language and to weave in different styles of music, well that takes guts. And the Ndlovu’s, who came to fame doing well in the US TV show ‘America’s Got Talent’, have that in spades. Previously, they have taken on Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’, the classical piece ‘Nessun Dorma’ and Michael Jackson’s ‘Man In The Mirror’, bringing their colourful flare and African sounds to these pop classics. But ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is surely their most ambitious project to date.

They have no problems with the harmonies in the opening section of the song as that is their bread and butter. The lead vocals have a soulful edge to them and they throw a few clicking sounds into the mix to make you realise (if you haven’t already done so due to the Zulu lyrics) that this is an African version of the song. And the song builds beautifully to the part where Wayne and friends (of ‘Wayne’s World’ fame) start head banging in their beat up car. Then instead of the heavy guitar bit that one is used to, there is a township jive/high life guitar that brings a festive feel to the track.

This cover not only needs to be listened to, but you need to watch the video (see link below) along with it as there are stunning visuals to accompany the track. The costumes, set and dancing all add to this ambitious project. This was the first time Queen authorised a translated version of the song and, I believe, the Ndlovu’s have done Freddie proud with this effort. This choir keeps surprising and amazing with their takes on various songs and their energy levels seem to just keep getting higher and higher.

The cover marks the 50^th anniversary of the original release of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and what a great way to mark the occasion.

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Just How High – Mike Eager

Before he became Mike Eager, he was Michael Eagar and he would have 2 hits on the Springbok charts, the first being ‘Rock me To Sleep’ which made it to number 13, and then the following year he saw ‘What Have I Done’ reach number 8. He would record 2 further singles, one as Michael Eagar and one as Mike Eager before 1982’s ‘Just How High’ which would take him back into the top 20. This time, he would see a peak of 6 during a 12 week run.

The song is a pop rock track featuring some stomping guitars, a whirling organ and a catchy chorus. It kind of struts into your room, peacocks around for just over 3 minutes and then slowly recedes. Eager delivers a strong vocal that has an 80’s rock sensibility to it. It has edgy and slightly growly, long-haired quality to it as he demands to know ‘Just how high do you think I can go/just how high can you take me’.

Undoubtedly it would have had people on the dancefloors of the clubs of the early 80’s with its dance/stomp rhythms. Girls with big hair and possibly wearing leg-warmers would be parading around while moustachioed guys in tight white trousers and colourful shirt (and maybe even a little bit of make up) would try their utmost to look cool doing weird New Romantic dance moves.

Yes, the song was of its time and I can’t honestly say that it has aged well. Today its sound like something from the early 80’s and the truth of the matter is that it was. But it was one of the standout local tracks of its time, cashing in on the emerging New Wave scene, but also dragging a little bit of the late 70’s glam rock with it.

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Teaching Afrikaans As A Foreign Language – The Buckfever Underground

Here’s another one from those masters of the obscurely brilliant lyricists, Buckfever Underground. Even before you get to listening to the song, you are already intrigued by the title which is probably a play on the title of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel ‘Love In A Time Of Cholera’.

‘Love In A Time Of Visas’ is one of those in English and tells the story of a guy on the phone to his girlfriend when she is away overseas and he is presumably sitting in an office in Cape Town (‘from here I can see the cable cars’). He feels like they are ‘two things on the same line, but never at the same station’. As usual with Buckfever Underground, there are startling lines in the lyrics that sit like glistening sugar on your rough bowl of cornflakes (okay, so I may not be as great a poet as Toast Coetzer, the band’s lyricist). You hear them and you go ‘Wait? What?’ and then sit back and let it sink in, then realise how such a apparently weird image can be so powerful. For example, while on this long distance phone call he says he is ‘trying to let that hug you send me crunch my bones, pretending the plastic of the phone is the warm curve of your face that fits like a favourite hat’.

There is something very intimate about the words, yet they are delivered in a kind of sardonic and emotionless way over a layer of dramatic piano and almost laid back and jazzy drums. Yet there is an undeniable tension in the words, a longing to be reunited and experience that almost violent passionate coming together of lovers kept apart too long – ‘I wish it was the end of July already, so I can rub a rough thumb over your eyebrows…melting the sheets as if it was snow’.

This is poetry put to music and, for some, it is not their cup of hot cocoa and that is usually because the music is too angular for them. Certainly in the Buckfever Underground’s case, the music is not radio friendly nor pop oriented. It is not the easiest to listen to. It’s kind of experimental and jazzy and a bit out there. But it is certainly worth enduring (even if it’s not your favourite style of music) in order to hear the brilliance of the words Toast offers. He is probably one of the greatest local poets of recent times and deserves more than the 6 likes the song has on Youtube (you can count them when you listen to the lyrics).

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Get Me Some Help – Neville Whitmill

By the time Neville Whitmill was pleading for some help, he had already seen 2 Springbok Top 20 hits as part of The Square Set. Those were ‘Silence Is Golden’ (not a cover of The Tremeloes’ hit of the same time and the same name) which made it to number 3 and then with ‘Carol Corina’ which peaked at 15. ‘Get Me Some Help’ was his first solo hit to make the top 20 and it would peak at 2, a place better than the best his previous group had managed. So why did he need some help then?

The song was a cover of one by a Dutch singer called Tony Ronald. One of the songwriters on the track, Daniel Vangarde, would go on to form the band Ottowan (remember the hits ‘D.I.S.C.O’ and ‘Hands Up’?). Musically, the two versions start off sounding very similar, but when we hit the chorus, Whitmill’s version has a mesmeric organ sound which moves it into a slightly psychedelic realm compared to Ronald’s version which goes straight into a light stomp pop rock track. The other thing that separates the two, and for me makes Whitmill’s version preferable, is that Whitmill has a growling, soul filled voice while Ronald sticks to pretty much a 70’s pop rock style.

No matter which version you prefer, it is a catchy song with sing-a-long chorus which was denied the top spot on the Springbok charts by Charisma’s ‘Mammy Blue’ which was busy having the longest run at 1 that any local song would manage. And maybe that was why Whitmill was crying for help as he could not break that run.

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Bignity – Van Der Want & Letcher

Yes, this is a cover of the Springbok Nude Girls song. And yes, the original is one of those that you think could never be bettered. And yes, you are probably right. But with songs where one feels the original can never be bettered, every now and then a cover comes along a version which you go, wait, this is almost as good as the original. In my humble opinion, Van Der Want & Letcher’s version of ‘Blue Eyes’ comes a very close second to the Springbok Nude Girls’ original.

Van Der Want & Letcher were Matthew van Der Want and Chris Letcher and they recorded the wonderfully entitled E.P., ‘E.P. Tombi’ in 1997 and the 2 albums. Firstly ‘Low Riding’ in 1998 and then ‘Bignity’ in 2002. ‘Blue Eyes’ was the closing track on ‘Low Riding’ and it was a studio assisted acapella version of the track. The track starts with some scratchy record sounds which those who grew up in the vinyl era would have fond memories of. Then it goes into a kind of angelic, voice driven sound that form the basis of the backing track.

The vocals that come in are gentle and kind of float on top of the beats and music. There are some great harmonies on the chorus bit of ‘Round about/round about/round about now’. And it is these vocals that, for me, make this a great cover. Where Arno Carstens’ vocals on the Springbok Nude Girls’ version have a hard edge to them and make the song seem vaguely creepy, these vocals completely take the edge off, making this feel more like a love song, than the original.

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Have Beans Will Travel – Psycho Reptiles

The clip clop of a posse of horses coming into town. A Spanish styled guitar. A honky tonk guitar. Sounds like you should be in the wild west of America. But you’re not, you’re in the deep south of Africa. And there are no cowboys around, just some punkabilly punks going by the name of The Psycho Reptiles. And it is cooler than the Lone Ranger, has more swagger than John Wayne and is tougher than Wyatt Earp.

Okay, so I may have got a bit carried away in that last bit, but The Psycho Reptile’s ‘King Of The West’, is a classic ska-punk track which should have been a global hit. It has the tongue-in-cheek cliches of every western. It has a rhythm of a horse chase. It has the cool sax of ska and a vocal that has all the confidence of a gunslinger. And it has interludes of a struggle through a desert on a tired horse.

Along with ‘Monster From The Bog’, these two were the stand out tracks on the band’s only album, ‘Have Beans Will Travel’ (yes even the album title has a hint of the western to it). The song is fun and shows off that these ‘punks’ were talented musicians and not just noise merchants as some punks bands tended to be. It was no wonder that the band were one of Barney Simon’s local favourites for the short period when they were the kings of ska-punk in the south.

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Deur Die Donker Vallei – Valiant Swart

Taken from his fantastic 1999 album, ‘Deur Die Donker Vallei’, ‘Ek En Jy En Die Highway’ is as a relaxed road trip song that you would ever find. It sees Valiant in a melancholy mood as he cruises along ‘die highway’. And when you examine the lyrics, you realise why he is feeling that way as they talk of a lost love with the first line being ‘Jy’t opgestaan en jy’t afgedraai van die langpad deur my hart’ (You got up and you turned away from the long road through my heart).

But he is not bitter as he takes his memories of her on to the highway, acknowledging that she felt that she needed more. But he knows that ‘die sterre was te hoog om te vang in jou hand’ (the stars were too high to catch in your hand). He is heading off on his road trip anyway and that is where he finds his solace.

And he is accompanied by a harmonica, an organ (giving the song an almost gospel feel) and a some beautifully plucked guitar. The tune carries him along as he sails through open spaces under bright blue skies. The wind blows through his hair, keeping the heat of the day from becoming uncomfortable.

The song has a beauty to it that draws you into his mood, you are with him on the highway, travelling along in a memory-powered car (perhaps an old Valiant). The tune seems deceptively simple as you listen to it, but a closer listen reveals layers of complexity that are subtle, but this and the imagery-filled lyrics are what turn the song into something special.

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Street Level Bare Essentials – The Hits – Various Artists

Black Diamond were the precursor to Semisane, a local band who were big in the early 2000’s. However, Black Diamond were not as successful. Not much is out there by them that I can tell, in fact I am only aware of the 2 tracks of theirs that appeared on the compilation CD ‘Street Level Bare Essentials – The Hits’ which brought together tracks from a number of acts who recorded at the Street Level studios in Cape Town. Others on the compilation were The Usual and The Rupert Mellor Band (Mellor being a member of McCully Workshop).

The 2 Black Diamond tracks were ‘It Wasn’t You’ and ‘Red Guitar’. Both tracks are pleasant, guitar driven tracks with a hint of R.E.M. of the mid 90’s and that ilk. Thomas Stono, who provides the vocals on the track, was one of a number of different vocalists the band had. And it is a slightly higher register rock vocal, not quite the same level as Yes’ Jon Anderson, but somewhere between that and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe.

Of the 2 tracks on the Street Level Compilation, this is the catchier with a sing along chorus. It shows a band briming with potential. They had an ear for a good tune and this was proved correct when band members Chris Akker and Sascha Muller went on to see success with Semisane. ‘Red Guitar’ is a bit of lost gem, so lost in fact that I could not find anywhere online to point you to so you could hear it. You will have to go scrounging in second hand shops for the Street Level Compilation. Sorry.

Ages – McCully Workshop

After 1970’s ‘McCully Workshop Inc’ and 1971’s ‘Genesis’, we had a bit of a wait before we heard from McCully Workshop again for it was 1975 before the aptly titled ‘Ages’ appeared. Now whether the McCully’s et al were playing on the fact we had to wait ages for the album or not, I don’t know. Still, for those waiting, the album did come and it was the worth wait as, apart from it being a great album, it contained the excellent track ‘Guinevere’.

Fans of the rockier Workshop material, might have been a bit put off by the slow piano driven ballad start to the song. But this prog-rock ballad builds to a large chorus of soaring vocals accompanied by a loud chant of the song title from the backing vocalists. This comes with a barrage of drums. The song see-saws between the quieter refrain and the big chorus.

Just over half way through, we are treated to a mix of psychedelic and prog guitars and keyboard as the instrumental interlude hits. This is, at times, otherworldly and slightly ethereal, letting you immerse your head completely in the track. One could criticise the song for not giving us a bit more of this. In fact, one feels that with a little more work, the song could become a 10 to 15 minute epic with a longer interlude. And maybe there is, hidden away in some archive somewhere just such a version. But this is just me being greedy for more.

History buffs will tell you that Guinevere was the name of King Arthur’s wife and the song does have a kind of royal tribute feel to it. It is majestic in places where the electric guitar and keyboards are akin to the trumpets announcing the arrive of royalty while the lyrics have a Arthurian cadence to them, telling a tale of love.

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