"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Beautiful Harmony Never Dies: The Starland Vocal Band in 2007



That's the Starland Vocal Band, performing this summer - 2007 - on PBS.

Their Afternoon Delight was my favorite song of 1976, and has been pretty close if not at the top most years since. Exquisite, zesty, soulful harmonies - not to mention a cleverly truthful lyric, if ever there was one.

I gave them a shout out a few months ago on Light On Light Through - did that term even exist in 1976? - and now, the more I listen to this song, I'm thinking it's not only up there with the best of the Mamas and Papas, it's even better (except maybe for 12:30 - "Young girls are coming to the canyon..." - my favorite Mamas and Papas song).

But Bill and Taffy and Margot and Jon are up there, singing their hearts and souls out, as good as they ever were, just a few months ago. What other harmony group can you say that about?

I put the Starland Vocal Band on my MySpace Top Friends section, and I'm going to keep them there forever. Check it out - and their great page on MySpace, too. And while you're there, take a look at Bill Danoff's page, and the pages for other members of the group. On Bill's, for example, you'll find a real gem of a video - John Denver, singing a song he wrote with Bill and Taffy, singing it down in Australia in the 1970s ... "Take Me Home, Country Roads"...

No comments:

InfiniteRegress.tv