GaryMrMets
07-04-2005, 12:13 AM
It's still Lesley Gore's party
By Jim Bessman
NEW YORK (Billboard) - So what has 1960s "girl group" icon Lesley Gore been doing ever since her last studio album, the Quincy Jones-produced "Love Me by Name," came out in 1976?
Honing her songwriting chops, as evidenced by her just-released "Ever Since," which was produced by artist/producer Blake Morgan for Engine Company Records.
Gore, 59, wrote four cuts on the album. She previously enjoyed some post-'60s songwriting success with the Academy Award-nominated "Out Here on My Own," sung by Irene Cara in the 1980 film "Fame," written by Gore and her brother Michael.
Dusty Springfield covered "Love Me by Name," which Gore penned with Ellen Weston. Another Gore-Weston composition, "Other Lady," was recorded by Bernadette Peters, while "Play Me Out," which Gore wrote with Carol Hall, was cut by Helen Reddy.
"So I've had a couple bites here and there," says Gore, who is now New York-based but turned to songwriting while living in Los Angeles in the '70s. Not surprisingly, her new songs reflect a different perspective than that of the "It's My Party" girl who had just turned 17 when her debut hit, written by Wally Gold, John Gluck and Herb Weiner, reached No. 1 in 1963.
While she notes that "Not the First" does have "kind of a '60s sensibility" (in the manner of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"), the lyric is "180 degrees" from Gore's adolescent hits.
"This is Lesley talking to a younger woman and urging her to be careful of who she's dating and what's going on in her life," Gore says. And she says the "very personal" album closer "We Went So High" is "about what my life has been like."
"Ever Since" also contains "reimagined" versions of "Out Here on My Own" and "You Don't Own Me," the protofeminist anthem by John Madara and Dave White Tricker that Gore took to No. 2 in 1963.
"It's lived in my repertoire for so many years, and I hope I bring something new to the arrangement," she says. "You can't be in this business so long without learning a few things, and I've simplified it in a way that the band bolsters my voice -- which has a lot of depth without a lot of histrionics. You still hear the old sound, but with new meaning coming through."
She notes the marked difference between the sound and that of Jones, who established himself as a producer with Gore's early Mercury recordings.
"Those '60s records came from the 'wall of sound' era where we tried to stuff in as much as humanly possible -- and this has the opposite philosophy," she continues. Jones, then a Mercury executive working with the likes of Sarah Vaughan, "put out a call to publishers" after hearing Gore's piano/voice demos.
"It was the incredible world of being able to call (Brill Building publisher) Donnie Kirshner and getting all these writers to write you songs," she recalls. "(Jones) came to the house with 200 demos and we listened to all of them, and the only one we had at the end was 'It's My Party."'
Though it's long served as her "wonderful signature song," Gore recognizes that "there is something dated" about "It's My Party."
"It's hard for people to take it seriously, and if there's a problem in my career, it's not being taken seriously," she says. "I think this album can change that perception."
Reuters/Billboard
07/01/05 18:11 ET
Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
By Jim Bessman
NEW YORK (Billboard) - So what has 1960s "girl group" icon Lesley Gore been doing ever since her last studio album, the Quincy Jones-produced "Love Me by Name," came out in 1976?
Honing her songwriting chops, as evidenced by her just-released "Ever Since," which was produced by artist/producer Blake Morgan for Engine Company Records.
Gore, 59, wrote four cuts on the album. She previously enjoyed some post-'60s songwriting success with the Academy Award-nominated "Out Here on My Own," sung by Irene Cara in the 1980 film "Fame," written by Gore and her brother Michael.
Dusty Springfield covered "Love Me by Name," which Gore penned with Ellen Weston. Another Gore-Weston composition, "Other Lady," was recorded by Bernadette Peters, while "Play Me Out," which Gore wrote with Carol Hall, was cut by Helen Reddy.
"So I've had a couple bites here and there," says Gore, who is now New York-based but turned to songwriting while living in Los Angeles in the '70s. Not surprisingly, her new songs reflect a different perspective than that of the "It's My Party" girl who had just turned 17 when her debut hit, written by Wally Gold, John Gluck and Herb Weiner, reached No. 1 in 1963.
While she notes that "Not the First" does have "kind of a '60s sensibility" (in the manner of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"), the lyric is "180 degrees" from Gore's adolescent hits.
"This is Lesley talking to a younger woman and urging her to be careful of who she's dating and what's going on in her life," Gore says. And she says the "very personal" album closer "We Went So High" is "about what my life has been like."
"Ever Since" also contains "reimagined" versions of "Out Here on My Own" and "You Don't Own Me," the protofeminist anthem by John Madara and Dave White Tricker that Gore took to No. 2 in 1963.
"It's lived in my repertoire for so many years, and I hope I bring something new to the arrangement," she says. "You can't be in this business so long without learning a few things, and I've simplified it in a way that the band bolsters my voice -- which has a lot of depth without a lot of histrionics. You still hear the old sound, but with new meaning coming through."
She notes the marked difference between the sound and that of Jones, who established himself as a producer with Gore's early Mercury recordings.
"Those '60s records came from the 'wall of sound' era where we tried to stuff in as much as humanly possible -- and this has the opposite philosophy," she continues. Jones, then a Mercury executive working with the likes of Sarah Vaughan, "put out a call to publishers" after hearing Gore's piano/voice demos.
"It was the incredible world of being able to call (Brill Building publisher) Donnie Kirshner and getting all these writers to write you songs," she recalls. "(Jones) came to the house with 200 demos and we listened to all of them, and the only one we had at the end was 'It's My Party."'
Though it's long served as her "wonderful signature song," Gore recognizes that "there is something dated" about "It's My Party."
"It's hard for people to take it seriously, and if there's a problem in my career, it's not being taken seriously," she says. "I think this album can change that perception."
Reuters/Billboard
07/01/05 18:11 ET
Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.