There's a time in life for Hoagy Carmichael. There's a time in life for Claude Debussy. There's a time in life for Jerry Lee Lewis. There's a time in life for Destiny's Child. All these things have their moment. ~Elvis Costello
20 Nov 2020 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: dean ford, marmalade, reflections of my life
The Marmalade’s 1970 hit “Reflections of My LIfe” rose above typical radio fodder of its time. Infused with wistful longing, the song managed heart-baring emotion without slipping into the maudlin melodrama common to the era.
Forty-four years later Dean Ford found still more layers of beauty in this reflective pop chestnut. Dean was himself “taken back home” four years after this recording.
The classic 1970 version is below.
06 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: i see the rain, marmalade
Marmalade: “I See the Rain” (1967)
Some things just don’t travel across the pond well. Artists like Dan Fogelberg and John Denver never had a Top 40 single in the UK. And bands like Madness and Small Faces, who were significant hit makers in England, somehow missed the boat, as it were, when it came to success here. Cliff Richard was a monster in England: fourteen #1 singles, his first in 1959. In America he was a virtual non-entity until “Devil Woman” went to #6 in 1976, and he never charted any higher here. ABBA had nine #1’s in England to only one in the US (sadly, “Dancing Queen”). Remember Take That? I didn’t think so. While they topped the British singles chart eleven times, they were a one-hit wonder to us with “Back For Good” in 1995.
Scotland’s Marmalade (called The Marmalade on some record labels) only hit the American Top 40 one time, with their transcendent “Reflections of My Life” in 1970. But both before and after it they produced music that fans of the Kinks, the Zombies, Badfinger and similar bands will surely appreciate.
“I See the Rain” is a great lost psych nugget with some fine harmonies (Graham Nash guested on the session) that sounds like a standout Badfinger album track. Jimi Hendrix called this the best song of 1967–a year that didn’t lack for great songs. Despite the fact that the single never charted in either the UK or the US, it’s attained a degree of cult status in latter years.
09 Apr 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: cousin norman, marmalade
Marmalade: “Cousin Norman” (1971)
England’s Marmalade were a one-hit wonder in the US (with the sublime “Reflections of My Life” in 1970) but significant hitmakers on their own side of the pond, hitting the top 40 there eleven times, including British top ten single “Cousin Norman” which has a wee bit of Van’s Tupelo Honey running through its veins.
Every Moment Has A Song 