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Tigers and Fireflies | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 1979 | |||
Studio | Long View Farm Studios, North Brookfield, Massachusetts, U.S. | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Producer | Rupert Holmes | |||
Lynsey de Paul chronology | ||||
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Tigers and Fireflies (sometimes referred to as Tigers & Fireflies) is an album recorded in 1978 and released by Lynsey de Paul [1] in April 1979 [2] on the Polydor record label [3] [4] [5] [6] in the UK, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South America. [7] It was launched at a special event at the Mayfair Club in London, with de Paul looking similar to the 1940s film star Veronica Lake. The album was recorded at Long View Farm Studios [8] [9] with additional recording at Mediasound Studios, New York and produced by Rupert Holmes. [10] [11] [12] [13] In his 1986 biography, Justin de Villeneuve, de Paul's manager at the time wrote "I gave Rupert Holmes a call in New York. He agreed to see me if I flew to America. Polydor, with the prospect of the involvement with Holmes, agreed to up the budget". [14] The collaboration between de Paul and Holmes on Tigers and Fireflies was mentioned on the Ray Shasho Show, when Shasho interviewed Holmes on his BBS radio show on 7 August 2018. [15] The story behind the recording of the album was also discussed in the book Dervish Dust: The Life and Words of James Coburn. [16] Speaking to Music Week about the album, Jim Cook said "Throw away all of your preconceived ideas about Lynsey de Paul" [17] and the Scottish press reported "Nifty production by Rupert Holmes has the petit blonde back on form Not a weak song on the album". [18]
The track listing and lyrics for each song are listed on Musixmatch.com [19] as well as on Musicbrainz, [20] MusicMeter, [21] and Rokol. [22] The first album track is the lead single "Hollywood Romance" [23] [24] (co-written by de Paul and David Jordan) which was released ahead of the album in October 1978 and was well received. [25] It was BBC Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis's record of the week during his time as "the Hairy Cornflake" and became a radio airplay hit. [26] It was also released on the BBC Latin America label (together with "Don't Take Love for Granted" by Lulu and "Got to Get You into My Life" by Earth, Wind and Fire), and it is still played on BBC radio. [27]
The follow-up single "Tigers and Fireflies" [28] was released just prior to the album itself. [29] Some years later, de Paul revealed that the song 'Tigers and Fireflies' was about two of her former managers Gordon Mills and Don Arden and is about being cheated and lied to with dazzling promises. [30] [31] [32] De Paul had already performed a precursor version of the song with the more telling title "False Friends and Fireflies" and slightly different lyrics on the Des O'Connor Tonight show in October 1977, shown on primetime BBC. [33] Both versions of the song are listed in the ASCAP ACE song database. [34] "Tigers and Fireflies" was playlisted by national BBC Radio 2 as well as many BBC local radio stations but it received little if any play on the UK commercial radio stations. [35] [36]
Other tracks include "Losin' the Blues for You" (which was the B-side to the single version of "Hollywood Romance") [37] [38] and "Melancholy Melon", [39] both co-written by de Paul and her boyfriend at the time, [40] [41] the actor James Coburn, [42] [43] [44] Coburn was around when the album was being recorded, having flown from South America where he was filming Firepower with Sophia Loren. [45] "'Twas" is a piano bar song with a blues tinged feel and is the only song that was co-written with the album's producer, Rupert Holmes. [46] [26] [47] [48] "Before You Go Tonight" was an affectionate song for former partner Ringo Starr, who was leaving for the US while de Paul remained in the UK. De Paul teamed up with former Eurovision Song Contest writing and singing partner Mike Moran to write the jaunty "Without You". [49] The album also featured a striking, updated, re-recording of her earlier hit single "My Man and Me" that has a more bluesy feeling than the original ballad. [5] [50] The final track, "Beautiful", is a song in its own right but ends by reprising snatches of each of the album's songs woven into the fade out. [51]
As noted elsewhere, de Paul's vocals had never sounded stronger, in a style somewhere between Crystal Gayle and Maria Muldaur, in spite of her apparently suffering from a bout of hay fever at the time. [14] The album was well received and garnered positive reviews in the music press, [52] with Smash Hits nominating "Hollywood Romance" and "Losin' the Blues for You" as the album's best tracks. [53]
Six of the original album tracks, including the title track, "Melancholy Melon" and "Without You", were finally released for the first time on CD on de Pauls' anthology CD Into My Music in March 2013 and the original striking album sleeve was used for a limited issue release on Think! Records label in Japan. [54] [55] Surprisingly, "Hollywood Romance" was not included on Into My Music - since de Paul herself oversaw the selection - and it has yet to be released on CD, although it is available as a mp3 download. It still is played on International radio stations, most recently on the David Sheppard show [56] [57] as is "Tigers and Fireflies". [58]
A number of well respected and accomplished U.S. musicians were recruited to play on the album, including Tom Malone who played all of the brass, reeds and flutes on the album [59] and Joel Diamond played acoustic piano. Long term Holmes collaborators Dean Bailin [60] and John Caruso [61] played various guitars and electric bass guitar, respectively. Gary Burke played drums and percussion, Bob Christianson [62] played synthesizers as well as clavinet and singing backing vocals, and former Mick Ronson collaborator Dede Washburn [63] provided percussion and backing vocals. Holmes also played clarinet and electric piano. [64] Jesse Henderson and Michael Barbiero were the engineers and Henderson mixed the album. [65] The striking photography for the front cover (de Paul hiding around a corner from a man with a torch) and back cover (de Paul marching away, hair fluttering behind her) sleeve was by John Shaw, with art direction and design by Jo Mirowski. [66]
Songs on the album that have been covered by other artists include "My Man and Me", recorded by Carl Wayne (as "My Girl and Me"), [67] as well as the Swedish artist Agneta Munther, [68] and by the Japanese musician Hummingbird. [69] A jazzy/blues version of "Hollywood Romance" was given Japanese lyrics and recorded as "Romance" on the 2013 album Froggie by Japanese singer-songwriter Yoshiko Goshima (aka 五島 良子). [70] [71] [72] Chinese singer 濃情 covered the song as Track A4 on her 1981 album 林嘉寶 with lyrics by Caron (卡龍) under the title "濃情" ("Passionate"). [73] [74] Lena Zavaroni also covered "Hollywood Romance" as a song and dance routine with the "Ace Eight dancers". It was the fifth number from the second episode of her first BBC prime time TV series, Lena Zavaroni and Music. [75] [76] Jake H. Concepcion, a saxophonist of Philippine descent but active in Japan, recorded his version of "Without You" on his 1983 album, J. [77] [78]
Lynsey de Paul was an English singer-songwriter and producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting with UK top 10 single "Sugar Me", and became the first British female artist to achieve a number one with a self-written song. She represented the UK in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, coming second and scoring another chart-topping hit in Switzerland, and had a successful career as a two-time Ivor Novello Award-winning composer, record producer, actress and television celebrity.
Rupert Holmes, is a British-American composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist and author. He is widely known for the hit singles "Escape " (1979) and "Him" (1980). He is also known for his musicals The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which earned him two Tony Awards, and Curtains, and for his television series Remember WENN.
Taste Me...Don't Waste Me is the third album by the English singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul but the second album of completely new material and de Paul also was the producer for all of the songs. It was released in the UK in November 1974 and was the first album on Don Arden's then new label, Jet Records, and initially distributed by Polydor, although Island Records was soon contracted by Arden to take over distribution and this confusion may have negatively affected sales. Releases in all other countries, such as Spain, Germany, Australia, Japan and South America, were on the Polydor label in early 1975. The album was generally well received by music critics from leading magazines of the day. AllMusic journalist Craig Harris stated that "one of the first successful female singer-songwriters in England, de Paul has had an illustrious career" and lists this as one of her best albums. The Sunday Sun reviewed the album and wrote "Lynsey de Paul has shown her fine smoochy new album "Taste Me Don’t Waste Me" that she consistent song-writing talent". It was also de Paul's personal favourite album and she wrote on her music store website some years later "The Taste Me... Don't Waste Me album was a romantic collection of songs that I wrote and recorded as a relaxing, late night album", echoing earlier comments to the music press. The LP was listed as one of the best album releases of 1975 by journalist Judith Simons. It has stood the test of time in that it is listed as one of the top albums released in 1974 by online site "Best ever albums", as well as one of the top 1000 albums released in the 1970s.
"My Man and Me" is a song written, recorded and produced by the British female singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul for her second album, Taste Me... Don't Waste Me, and released as a single backed with de Paul's smoochy version of "Dancing on a Saturday Night" on 21 February 1975.
"There's No Place Like London" is a song co-written by Lynsey de Paul and Gerard Kenny, and held by the British Library. The song was published by Lynsey de Paul Music/Chelsea Publishing Co Ltd/Arlon Music/Chappell Music.
"Strange Changes" is a song that was co-written by Lynsey de Paul and Sue Shifrin, the former wife of David Cassidy and that is listed in the ACE database of ASCAP songs and also in the MusicBrainz database.
"Love Bomb" is a song and title track from the album Love Bomb by Lynsey de Paul, written by de Paul and Barry Blue. It is listed in the Catalog of Copyright Entries held by the Library of Congress 1976. The song's lyrics express "a call for love and peace".
"If I Don't Get You The Next One Will" is a song written, recorded and produced by Lynsey de Paul and released in April 1976 in the UK as her seventh and final single on Jet Records. The B-side of the single was another de Paul song and fan favourite "Season to Season". A longer version of the song was recorded as a track for the 1976 album Take Your Time, but the album was shelved as part of a dispute between de Paul and Arden, and when it was finally released on CD in 1990 in Japan as Before You Go Tonight, the single version was included. This humorous and tongue in cheek song relates many of de Paul's negative dating experiences. One well known muse for the song was former boyfriend, Ringo Starr, who missed a dinner date with de Paul. De Paul herself described the song as being about revenge, after Starr missed a dinner appointment with her because he fell asleep in his office. Stylistically, it was quite a departure from previous releases, with prominent use of synthesiser and a sparse arrangement that received positive reviews. At the time, the Record Mirror wrote "Cleverly constructed song with Lynsey's voice playing leap-frog over itself. Uptempo rhythm that winds itself all over the place, following the intricate vocal patterns" with the Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette also praising the single.
Before You Go Tonight also known as Take Your Time is a Lynsey de Paul album recorded in 1976 for Jet Records, but shelved out of spite by then manager Don Arden, and not released until 1990. Then it appeared as a CD release in Japan on Century Records, and again on the Vivid Sound under licence from Trojan Records. The album was originally called Singer-Songwriter and was finally released on de Paul's music store as Take Your Time, albeit with a slightly different track listing. All of the songs were written by de Paul, except the amusing "You've Either Got It or You Ain't", which was co-written with David Jordan. The album was produced by de Paul. The track "If I Don't Get You The Next One Will" was released as a single in 1976 and this version is included. "My One and Only" is de Paul's version of a song recorded and released in 1975 by her label mates at the time, the British female vocal trio Bones.
"You Give Me Those Feelings" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul, and produced by de Paul and Jon Kelly. It was released as a non-album single, with the B-side "Beautiful" also composed by de Paul, on Polydor in August 1977, as the follow-up to the European hit single "Rock Bottom". The German and French releases of the single both had picture sleeves. The romantic song makes clever use of vocal overdubbing and has a false ending making the shorter version more radio friendly that the whole song, which clocks in at over four minutes. The song was play listed by a number of British radio stations. It is listed as one of the songs of 1977 in a German music database as one of the songs of the year 1977.
"Beautiful" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul. It first appeared as the B-side to her 1977 single "You Give Me Those Feelings" on the Polydor record label and reflected her real life philosophy that all forms of life are beautiful, including household flies. This recording was co-produced by de Paul and Jon Kelly. An extended and reworked version of the song with snatches of songs from de Paul's 1979 Tigers and Fireflies album as a reprise that was produced by Rupert Holmes, was featured as the last track on this album. The latter version of the song was finally released on CD on Lynsey's 2013 double CD anthology Into My Music, whereas the original version has yet to be released on CD.
"Hollywood Romance" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and David Jordan. It was released as a single on Polydor Records on 20 October 1978 in a picture sleeve, almost six years to the day after the release of their last hit collaboration "Getting a Drag", and it was play-listed on BBC Radio 1. The record label for this single was unusual in that it was printed in silver instead of the usual Polydor red label. The release was announced in a full page advert "Hollywood Romance - a new single from a very special lady" published in Music Week. In Japan, it was released in February 1979 in the same picture sleeve cover with the title in Japanese added, plus the lyrics were included on the back cover. It was listed as a major release in Hong Kong. It was also released as a track on the 1978 BBC transcription album Servicio Latinoamericano de la BBC vol. 44 together with "Don't Take Love for Granted" by Lulu and "Got to Get You into My Life" by Earth, Wind and Fire.
Into My Music - Anthology 1975-1979 is a digitally remastered double album, featuring songs written and performed by Lynsey de Paul, that was released on 18 March 2013 on Cherry Red's RPM Retrodisc label. All recordings have been remastered by de Paul and Simon Murphy from original tape sources and co-produced by de Paul and Mark Stratford. The album is packaged with photographs and memorabilia from de Paul's personal archive and text by Michael Robson.
Love Bomb is the fourth album released in 1975 by the British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul, and her second album released on Jet Records in the UK and Polydor in Germany, Australia and Japan. In the US and Canada, it was released in January 1976 on Mercury Records. The album was recorded at the Marquee Studios, London, England, produced by de Paul and arranged by Tony Hymas, with Terry Cox playing drums, John Dean percussion, Chris Rea guitar and Frank McDonald bass. The striking sleeve cover photo of de Paul in U.S. military style clothing was taken by Brian Aris.
Just a Little Time is an album by Lynsey de Paul. It was originally released on 30 September 1994 on the Music Deluxe label but has since been released on the Tring International PLC label and on Arc Records/The Magic Collection. All of the songs on the album are written or co-written by de Paul.
"Rhythm and Blue Jean Baby" is a song that was written and produced by Lynsey de Paul, and released in July 1975 as her third single on the newly designed yellow Jet Record label in the UK, as a follow-up to the hit single "My Man and Me". It was released on Polydor in Belgium, France and Germany ; backed with another de Paul composition "Into My Music". The release of the single was also announced in the American music industry magazine Cashbox. The song as well as the lyrics and credits are listed on the Italian music resource "Rockol".
"You Don't Know" is a song by Smoove & Turrell, released both as a CD and 12 inch single, including remixes by Kraak & Smaak as well as Featurecast, on Jalapeño Records in 2009. It was also released as a track on the Smoove & Turrell 2009 album Antique Soul, as well as on the compilation album, Wavemusic: Soul Ya 3. "You Don't Know" was written by Jonathan Scott Watson, John Turrell, Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue, and sampled the track "Water" from de Paul's debut album, Surprise.
Sugar and Beyond is a double compilation album by the British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul released on 18 March 2013, together with a second double album, Into My Music. De Paul personally oversaw the project and was involved in the digital remastering of the tracks from the original tapes. The CD includes all her hits as well as the two LPs released in the period between 1972 and 1974.
"Water" is a song written by the British female singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue, who was credited as Barry Green. It was first released as a track on De Paul's debut album Surprise in March 1973. Shortly afterwards, a live version that de Paul recorded for the BBC, appearing on the BBC Transcription Services album number 443 in April 1973. It was released as a single later that year in Peru with the title "Agua" but the song was not released as a single in Europe, Japan and the USA. It has since appeared on a number of de Paul compilation albums such as Greatest Hits, The Best of Lynsey de Paul and the Sugar and Beyond anthology.