P.J. Proby
Liberty LRP-3421
1965
When I bought this at Amoeba Records, the woman at the counter snickered at Proby's pageboy haircut. I could hardly argue with that, although as a teen I wanted the same haircut and never could make it work. How times have changed, Proby was once a teen heartthrob famous for splitting his pants on stage and now he's the object of ridicule for young record clerks. My interest in Proby stems entirely from his covering some obscure Beatles songs, one of which is on this album. Because of his supposedly wild stage appearances and his association with the Beatles and Elvis Presley, I assumed Proby was a rocker, but in fact he's more like a lounge singer. He has a rich deep voice, he sounds a bit like an Elvis impersonator. Unless you have a thing for big romantic pop ballads, there is only one reason to own this album, Proby's version of Lennon and McCartney's "That Means A Lot." You can hear the Beatles' version on "Anthology 2" as well as numerous bootlegs and listening to their version it is easy to see why they gave it away. To his credit, Proby's version is better than the Beatles' version which sounds blasphemous but it is true. His bigger than life voice gives drama and substance to a flimsy song aided by an elaborate arrangement from George Martin, producer of the Beatles. Martin also arranged the only other good song on the record, the soulful "Let The Water Run Down" which is also the only song that might be considered a rocker on the album. Proby's passionate vocal at least gives some evidence of why he was considered an exciting performer in his day. Most of the record consists of covers and standards. He slows down Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops" for some reason yet delivers a very emotional and raw vocal that almost makes it worthwhile. He offers a decent cover of Charlie Rich's "Lonely Weekends" although I find the big band arrangement annoying. There is also a lame cover of Jay and the Americans' "She Cried" in which his vocal is even more overwrought than the original. He speeds up "Mission Bell" and makes it work but the other standards are mostly boring. "The Nearness of You," "I Will," "If I Loved You," "With These Hands" and "Secret Love" feature corny arrangements and hammy vocals that make them a waste of time unless you are a fan of the likes of Eddie Fisher or Frankie Laine. There is no denying that Proby has a great voice, but he has such bad taste that he might as well sound like Tiny Tim. Recommended for people who prefer fat Vegas Elvis to young rocker Elvis.
Zot wrote this & only really likes Proby's renditioning of a couple of Beatles songs. Fair enough everyone has their likes & dislikes in the pop world. He then goes on to do a mass of criticising that's totally unnecessary. Proby is a fantastic singer with a whole range of different styles & interpretations of songs old & new,originals or covers.He actually makes songs his own!! He's a rocker, a crooner,a blues singer, a country singer..you name it he does it! It's now May 2014 & at the age of 75 he's still going strong & singing amazingly well. So many people love to be negative about him...totally not needed. Give the guy some credit,he's still around & still top quality. Plenty of legends couldn't even survive. He has!!
ReplyDeleteBy the way Zot in the language of Dutch means- NUTS!. You've easily lived up to your name. Try giving P.J.Proby some respect!
Sorry dude, I call 'em like I hear 'em. I said multiple times that Proby has a great voice. This is a review of this particular record not his career. Kudos to Proby if he's still going strong, but longevity means nothing to me. The Beatles lasted only ten years and none of those oldies acts out there can hold a candle to them.
Deleteronntenn has left a new comment on your post "P.J. Proby - P.J. Proby":
DeleteNice to see you regard P.J. as having a great voice. I think he has the best ever & should be rated up there with Elvis. Then again not everybody likes Elvis so in our likes & dislikes you just can't win. I agree with you & believe The Beatles are the best group ever. Some people do not & they consider The Rolling Stones or The Beach Boys the best.
Proby is now 75. I saw him do a show in Nottingham 6 weeks ago. He was brilliant & on the stage non-stop for 2 hours 10 minutes. He performed perfectly 31 songs, including some of those from the L.P. you reviewed.
To close we're all entitled to our opinions. There are some singers out there who are called "Legends" but are not really.
Hopefully P.J. will one day get the real recognition he has truly earned & deserves.
Thanks for printing my comments.
The UK version of LRP-3421 is LBY 1264. According to the chart history books neither version did well in either the UK or the U.S. For some reason "That Means A Lot" and "Let The Water Run Down" aren't on the UK version. Instead it has covers of "My Prayer" and "When I Fall In Love". It seems an odd choice to replace a new Beatles song and a cover of a recent Ben E. King release with reruns of two old standards.
ReplyDeleteProby did have singles in the UK charts in 1964 and 1965 but never found his niche in the U.S. He hit the UK ground running with the aid of Shindig's producer Jack Good and a tow sack full of (doubtful) stories about Elvis, who had never toured the UK. When P.J. Proby arrived in 1964 claiming he had been doing all of Elvis' demos...Voila!
Proby's biggest pitfall was trying to live bigger than he was. He acquired a reputation for unabashed egotism, wild spending and heavy drinking. Show promoters and managers eventually got fed up with his unreliable behavior and no-shows.
Back to this LP, in 1965 nobody I knew was interested in histrionic renditions of "If I Loved You" or "The Nearness of You". My taste may have mellowed since then but I still don't go for violin-heavy arrangements or the overemoting that was P.J. Proby's mainstay. I would personally recommend this LP to fans of Vikki Carr.
I presume "That Means a Lot" and "Let The Water Run Down" were left off the U.K. version of this album because they'd been released as singles in England. For me those two songs are the only reason to own this album. Thanks for your comment.
DeleteThis great album has easily stood the test of time. Probably suits 2014 better than 1965! Proves how advanced Proby was as a singer. As for P.J. doing Elvis demo's...well he did. Songwriters Ben Weisman & Ruth Batchelor have both said that in seperate interviews long ago. For every Elvis movie, especially in the 60's, about 1000 songs would be submitted by masses of different song-writers. About 12 were selected.Most of P.J's demos did not make it to the big screen. Go to YouTube & listen to "Fun In Acapulco" & "Slowly But Surely" by P.J. Absolutely brilliant. A famous record producer once said that Elvis imitated the singers that imitated him....so true especially in Proby's case.
ReplyDeleteIn previous postings the names of 3 great singer were mentioned....Eddie Fisher,Frankie Laine,Vikki Carr. I'm a fan of all three! Another name was mentioned Tiny Tim....well I liked him also because he was very funny. All four have my admiration & respect.All four were huge stars!!
ReplyDeleteI like Vikki Carr too. My dad was a big fan of hers and I heard her a lot growing up. I mentioned Eddie Fisher and Frankie Laine to suggest that Proby sang more like a 1950s crooner of pop standards than a 1960s rock star, but I did not mean to imply that they were not good singers. They had great voices obviously, I just not a big fan of that style of music. As for Tiny Tim, well yeah he was pretty funny but I'm never buying one of his albums. Thanks for the comments.
DeleteI have a giant vinyl & CD collection dominated by Elvis & P.J.P. in my collection I do have stuff by Vikki & Frankie L. I rate Eddie Fisher but have nothing of his in my collection. Same goes for Tiny Tim,he was very unusual & funny but he never made my turntable then or now. My other fave singers are Pitney,Orbison,Billy Fury & Gordon MacRae. My fave groups are The Beatles & The Four Seasons.
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