Everlasting Love

Trust me #26

What a song!

Starting with a frantic burst of joyous energy, it just doesn't let up! Strings, beats, the groovy bass, yearning vocals, a melody that keeps flowing, an urgent pace and feel ...

Everlasting Love, written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, was originally released in July 1967, the Summer of Love, by Robert Knight. 

The song only reached number 40 on the UK charts, but it caught the ear of David Wedgebury and John Cokell who managed the band Love Affair. The duo had access to all the imports on the Monument record label and played the Everlasting Love to Love Affair in their rehearsal space.  The band loved it and decided to cut it.

I can't find this original cut by Love Affair, I'm sure it is out there somewhere. But something didn't quite feel right to producer Mike Smith, so a new version was recorded with a 40-piece orchestra, session musicians and a choir.

Lead singer Steve Ellis was the only member of Love Affair to feature on the record. Ellis was (somewhat incredibly) only a tender 17 when he recorded and released Everlasting Love, yet the power, feeling and soul in his vocal would make you think he's lived a life.

This is 3-minutes of complete power pop perfection. The video is outstanding, a young Ellis fronts his band, staring out the camera at times, looking away at others, girls dance, there is psychedelic pop art on the walls and when Ellis sings you can't take your eyes off him. Neither can the camera, closing in to capture the performance and feeling he generates. Shot in black & white, it remains timeless when lots of other footage and videos from 1967 immediately look dated. This could easily be a new young band taking influences from the past. 

Where life really flows, no-one really knows

Till someone's there to show the way to lasting love

Like the sun it shines, endlessly it shines

You always will be mine, if eternal love

Whenever love went wrong, ours would still be strong

We'd have our very own, everlasting love

You could easily mistake Everlasting Love for a Motown number, the drive, the beats, the strings, the groove, the vocal ... 

A 25-second intro cuts to just bass and then we're in. There is only 1 verse in Everlasting Love and the band fly through it with such pace that the song, at least for me, feels like one big continuous chorus. It just doesn't let up.

I am going to add this to my Trust Me playlist and also, along with the original by Robert Knight to my cover versions playlist. This is another classic example of me only finding out the song is a cover version when I was researching the song to write about it.

In this case, although the original is very good, the power and intensity that Love Affair bring to their version just knocks it out the park.

You can listen to all the songs I've featured in my Trust Me series in a playlist by searching for Everything Flows Trust Me on Spotify or by CLICKING HERE

You can also read about the previous songs I've written about by clicking on the links below.

You'll find both versions on my cover version of the month playlist on Spotify. Or search for Everything Flows - cool cover versions.

Hearts gone astray, deep in hurt when they go

I went away, just when you, you need me so

You won't regret, I come back beggin' you

Won't you forget, welcome love we once knew

Open up your eyes, then you realize

Here I stand with my everlasting love

Need you by my side, girl to be my bride

You'll never be denied, everlasting love

From the very start, open up your heart

Feel that you're part of everlasting love

Need a love to last forever

Need a love to last forever

Where life really flows, no-one really knows

Till someone's there to show the way to lasting love

Like the sun it shines, endlessly it shines

You always will be mine, if eternal love

Whenever love went wrong, ours would still be strong

We'd have our very own, everlasting love

Need a love to last forever

Need a love to last forever

Open up your eyes, then you realize

Here I stand with my everlasting love

Need you by my side, girl to be my bride

You'll never be denied, everlasting love

From the very start, open up your heart

Feel that you're part of everlasting love

Whenever love went wrong, ours would still be strong

We'll have our very own, everlasting love

Previous Trust Me blogs

1. Something On Your Mind by Karen Dalton

1A. Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells

2. I Am, I Said  by Neil Diamond

3. Where's The Playground Susie?   by Glen Campbell

4. If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lighfoot

5. Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon

6. Gone With The Wind Is My Love by Rita and the Tiaras

7. In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans

8. The Music Box by Ruth Copeland

9. The Ship Song by Nick Cave

10. Sometimes by James

11. I Walk The Earth by King Biscuit Time

12. Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community Centre

13. When My Boy Walks Down The Street by The Magnetic Fields

14. The Man Don't Give A F**k by Super Furry Animals

15. All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Jeff Buckley and Liz Fraser

16. Are You Lookin' by The Tymes

17. A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth

18. Feelings Gone by Callum Easter

19. Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground

20. Did I Say by Teenage Fanclub

21. Don't Look Back by Teenage Fanclub

22. Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From by Teenage Fanclub

23. Belfast by Orbital

24. Clouds by The Jayhawks

25. Dreaming Of You by The Coral

Respect

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me

Aretha Franklin's barnstorming stomp through Otis Redding's Respect must surely be a candidate for the best cover version ever.

The original, released in 1965, has pounding drums and a pleading vocal by Otis who doesn't really care what his girl gets up to, a long as he gets that respect when he gets home.

The horns soar, Redding's voice is rich, soulful and stretched brilliantly to make you firmly believe that respect is what he wants and needs. The section at the end where he just vibes on the song shouting got to, got to have it and goes on to practically sound like he is frothing at the mouth with the give it to me, give it to me, give it to me baby, everything I need.....

And it's all over in just 2 minutes and 9 seconds. Sensational. If you don't own it, or if you haven't checked it out, then please do search for Otis Blue, the incredible album that this features on.

And then over to Aretha in 1967. Dear doctor, listen to her voice. The temp is higher, so is Aretha's voice and she twist the lyrics ever so slightly so there is no doubt that she is in charge. The song became an anthem for Civil Rights and Women's Rights and Redding was so impressed with Aretha's version that he introduced it as the famed Monterey Pop Festival as 'the song a girl took from me, a friend of mine, this girl, she just took this song.' Check it out below - what a performance!

Franklin certainly did. Backed by sisters Erma and Carolyn, she flies and soars through the song, barely pausing for breath. Listen to the way she sings Oooooh your kisses are sweeter than honey and then all I want you to DO for me

Franklin demands attention, demands respect, she is on fire, ripping through the song. The  R E S P E C T section is sublime, leading to the brilliant sock it to me, sock it to me backing vocals.

What a song, what a singer, what a cover version. One of the very, very best.

Previous covers of the month

1. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 

2. Going Back To My Roots

3. Nirvana play The Vaselines

4. Slip Inside This House

5. Top 10 covers by Teenage Fanclub

6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

7. Time For Livin' 

8. Sound and Vision 

9. All Along The Watchtower

10. I Am The Walrus 

11. Guiding Star

12. You’ll Never Walk Alone

13. Hurt
14. This Guy's In Love With You

15. I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine
16. California Soul
18. Wonder wall 
19. Dancing In The Dark
20. Always On My Mind
21. Ceremony
22. Heroes
23. Different Drum
24. Wild Horses

Love Power by The Sandpebbles

I recently bought a magnificent compilation album 1967 : The Year Pop Divided, out on Ace Records Author and music buff Jon Savage chose the tracks and he chose them well.

There are some magnificent songs, but you know that way when one stands out and you play it over and over? Well I got that with the stunning Love Power by The Sandpebbles.

Love Power hit number 14 on the Billboard singles chart and was the sole hit for the band. What a hit it was though!

Ringing bells and a throbbing bass are quickly followed by a powerful and soulful vocal that draws us in quickly. The extra beat that comes in with the horns and the rising vocal for the chorus just lifted me up out of my seat as I was driving along the first time I heard it.

The driving beat goes one step further when the chorus is repeated and then there is a glorious breakdown and things go even higher. The lyrics convey someone head over heels in love, being in that beautiful bubble where it feels like nothing else matters and everything is going your way. What a tune, you believe every word.

When we walk down the street

Oh, we don't care who we see or who we meet

Don't have to run (run), don't have to hide (hide)

Cause we have something burning inside

Cause we got love (love) power (power)

And it's the greatest power of them all

Oh we've got love (love) power (power)

And together we can't fall

Sometimes we're up (up) sometimes we're down (down)

But our feet are always on the ground

We always laugh (laugh), don't have to cry (cry)

And this is the reason why

Cause we got love (love) power (power)

And it's the greatest power of them all

Oh we've got love (love) power (power)

And together we can't fall

instrumental

verse 2 repeated

chorus repeated

.

All Along The Watchtower

Cover of the month #9

All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix

Most, if not all, of my blogs on cover versions to date talk about artists transforming a song - Jimi Hendrix takes on Dylan's All Along The Watchtower and takes it to another planet. Hendrix guitar playing is trailblazing. Mitch Mitchell more than matches Hendrix' guitar with his ferocious drumming. Noel Redding usually underpinned everything, but Hendrix plays bass on this recording. Online info seems to indicate Redding walked out of the recording as it was all done rather spontaneously with Hendrix shouting chord changes. Brian Jones from the Stones plays percussion. 

Dylan's version came out in 1967 with Hendrix following swiftly a mere 6-months later. Hendrix peppered his career with covers; Hey Joe being the obvious one, but he also covered The Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band on the day the album was released, shredded Wild Thing and famously interrupted a live TV performance of Hey Joe by saying 'We'd like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to Cream....' and taking off on an instrumental tribute of Sunshine Of Your Love to the band who were breaking up.

Hendrix is on fire, the breakdown at 2-minutes in and subsequent guitar solo with Hendrix yelping 'hey' goes on for a spellbinding 50-seconds before Hendrix brings it all back in.

Dylan has said of Hendrix' version: 'It overwhelmed me, really. He has such a talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using.'

Hendrix's version remains pretty true to the vocal melody (although he gives it more urgency and just sounds typically Hendrix cool) and acoustic rhythm, but his electric guitar just takes it to another dimension. The needle practically leaps of the record, it sounds vital, there is so much going on, yet like Dylan says in his quote above, Hendrix finds space and he also finds a real groove. 

Previous covers of the month

1. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 

2. Going Back To My Roots

3. Nirvana play The Vaselines

4. Slip Inside This House

5. Top 10 covers by Teenage Fanclub

6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

7. Time For Livin' 
8. Sound and Vision