SUSAN COWSILL has had a long and incredible career, and despite the tough childhood outlined in the documentary about her family's band THE COWSILLS, she seems to have turned out to be a wonderful person—and is definitely an amazing singer.
She makes no secret of her love of Linda Ronstadt and possibly the best compliment I can pay her is that she’s every bit as good a singer/harmonizer. Aside from covering Warren Zevon’s Mohammed's Radio, there aren’t many similarities between them, other than singing ability—and an unerring ability to choose material that’s perfect for them.
Mohammed's Radio was on a digital single that also contains the lead off track It Might As Well Rain Until September—a GOFFIN/KING song that was written for Bobby Vee, & instead released as a Carole King single because Don Kirshner loved her demo of it. King is an intensely personal & emotional singer, & COWSILL easily matches the original on both counts.
SUSAN’s versions are as dear to me as the originals of songs a vocalist has to be fearless (or foolish) to cover like Sandy Denny’s Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Brian Wilson’s Don’t Worry Baby, & John Lennon’s Julia. Julia is a live recording with another artist I’ve given the IN THE MIX treatment; The Bangles’ VICKI PETERSON.
PETERSON is Susan’s partner in PSYCHO SISTERS—and they both seem to love to collaborate. They were both also in CONTINENTAL DRIFTERS, who are represented here by two live-in-studio tracks from an appearance on NYC’s WFUV, and two album cuts. VICKI PETERSON is married to Susan’s brother, JOHN COWSILL and the couple recorded an album of songs by his brothers Bill & Barry. SUSAN gets to the heart of Barry’s River Of Love—a song that they left alone--& one Susan started performing with her own band during the four months after Katrina that Barry was missing.
Naturally there are plenty of tracks with THE COWSILLS. Readers who haven’t dug into their catalogue (which is packed with power pop) would be forgiven for mistaking Is It Any Wonder for The Plimsouls. The hit versions of Indian Lake, & Hair, are included, as well as an incredible live version of The Rain, The Park & Other Things (on Huckabee's Jukebox). Recorded 52 years after she was added to the line-up, it proves that Susan and her brothers are the vocal counterparts of Dick Clark.
Jonder will be happy to see her duet on REDD KROSS’ Love Is Not Love—which could be a lost track by THE COWSILLS—and has become one of my favorite songs on this edition—but it has a LOT of competition.
Because of the high quality of her work, the songs on this collection could be randomly shuffled & it would still flow, but I spent much more time than usual on the track order.
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ReplyDeleteAs you can see, I’m a big SUSAN COWSILL fan—especially her work with PSYCHO SISTERS. But their lone album didn’t connect with me the first time I heard it.
Is there a record that you didn’t care for at first, that later became a favorite?
A grower, not a show-er? A "creeper" release?
Here’s the link:
IN THE MIX Susan Cowsill Edition Vol. 1
https://pixeldrain.com/u/zzxK6Kfb
I've been around long enough to remember listening to The Cowsills back in the sixties! Enjoyed their music, but only owned an album or two. In the last five years I've gone back and tracked down their back catalog and it holds up surprisingly well. With that said, I found a "lost album", i.e. one I didn't know anything about last year. That album was Global, from 1998. It's excellent and has been added to by rotation of 40 or 50 albums I listen too more often than my others currently in my collection. Every 6 months I go through and cull certain albums and replace them with others, so the rotation stays fresh. And Global has remained over this year!
DeleteMe too, Greg. My sister & I had their live album, & we played it a lot.
DeleteI was just listening to What About Love from GLOBAL--which sports THE KNACK's Berton Averre on guitar!
I also enjoy hearing about other music buffs' listening habits. I like your system.
One of the Denver Detritus mixes I've done has a Cowsills bonus track called "The Next in Line" with Susan on lead vocals, and I was immediately struck by her vocal similarity to Linda Ronstadt.
ReplyDeleteI can see that. The Next In Line's on Vol. 2, but I think it has as much in common with Karla Bonoff as Linda (another songstress that I've almost completed an IN THE MIX on),
DeleteI always forget about Karla Bonoff for some reason, but she's terrific as well.
DeletePS - anyone interested in that mix will find it here: https://pixeldrain.com/u/qrUAhPjR
ReplyDeleteOne of my many favorite Susan Cowsill songs is her duet with Jules Shear - Restaurant Scene,
ReplyDeletewhich I posted on YT 16 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJenSc13ov4
Another great one! It pops up on Vol. 4.
DeleteCheap Trick's In Color.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger, I wasn't a fan of Cheap Trick, even though I did like acts influenced by them, including Husker Du, Big Black, Red Kross and Guided by Voices.
Being a huge Big Star freak, I thought Cheap Trick's power-pop was cliched by comparison, and music written for arenas (I'm still not much of a fan of arena rock), compared to Big Star's more intimate songs. It didn't help that I grew up hearing "The Flame," not "I Want You to Want Me," on the radio (and MTV). Ooof. That song still sucks. It sounded like Journey or REO Speedwagon.
Then, one day, I bought a used copy of Rhino Records' D.I.Y.: Come Out and Play - American Power Pop, Volume 1. "Southern Girls" just hit my ear the right way, and I started to change my mind. I eventually became a fan of not just In Color, but all of their records through the early 80s (Dream Police, the "concept" record, has some great songs hidden on it - and check out Jon Brion's version of "Voices" if you haven't already).
Great story, James! Yeah THE FLAME wasn't their high point--another case of one of a band's biggest hits NOT being a "representative slice".
DeleteSince you're now a CHEAP TRICK fan, don't miss an idea Jon came up with & I executed:
Cheap Trick NOT At Budokan--a track by track recreation of their famous live release (that was actually recorded in Osaka) using the STUDIO versions.
https://jonderblog.blogspot.com/2023/11/not-at-budokan.html
James, I had a similar experience with Cheap Trick. They were ubiquitous in my teens (Milwaukee was their second home, not far from Rockford). I rediscovered them after downloading the "Albini version" of "In Color". I couldn't get enough of "Southern Girls", "Come On Come On" and "Downed".
DeleteSince you mentioned Big Star -- did you know that "In Color" was recorded at Ardent? And that it was Ben Vaughn who suggested "In The Street" as the theme song for "That 70's Show"? Alex Chilton was able to buy a house with those royalties (plus the money from the Bangles recording of "September Gurls" on their breakthrough album).
I was in high school when the Replacements' first album ("Sorry Ma") came out, and I adored it. Maybe more than any other record I'd heard up to that point, it spoke to me. It felt like they were going through the same teenage ups and downs that I was. "Hootenanny" was a bit more mature, but it still had that youthful recklessness in songs like "Take Me Down To The Hospital", the smartass "Color Me Impressed", and (my favorite) "Hayday".
ReplyDeleteWhen "Let It Be" came out in the fall of '84, I was a college freshman. I still remember that sinking feeling when I first put it on. The jangle pop singalong of "I Will Dare"? What the fuck was this? "Favorite Thing" sounded more like the Mats I loved, but the next few songs were all over the place. It seemed directionless rather than ambitious. Side 2 won me over (with the ballads "Unsatisfied" and "Sixteen Blue"), and eventually I recognized that even if they weren't the same band, they were still great -- maybe even greater than they were in '81. We were all a few years older in '84, and the Mats weren't going to make another "Sorry Ma". Even if they had, it wouldn't have hit me with the same impact. And they had already warned me in "Hayday" -- "It ain't gonna last."
Sorry Ma album was put on during one of our MN Grand Old Days festivals at my sister's friend's house across the street from the main stage where I think Golden Smog was playing later but it turned that party upside down and every way sideways such a great great album in my book too Jonder! In fact,
DeletesORRY HAVING TYPIING DIFFICULTY BUT YES THAT IS ULTIMATE PARTY ALBUM CRANKED UP! First mat's tune I heard was Mr. Whirly on the community radio station between listening to the weekly Maximum Rock 'n' roll radio show and it hooked me but never bought any thing only taped stuff back then. Well to answer the Stinky question I would have many I have bent over about and posted like Hall & Oates....simply hating them and Captain & Toekneel and Donny
DeleteOsmand's Deep Purple cover waifing from my little sister's room when she moved downstairs into my oldest brother's old room next to mine (where I would play with his matchbox cars while he made art on his drafting board and always listened to his cassettes--my first music exposure (extended listening) with Beatles & Doors & Hendrix tapes going). For H& O I happened to do that megapost right before they decided to tour again kind of like Dinosaur, Jr. decided after 5 years to tour again right after my megapost of theirs so you never know.
QUICK! Do a ROCKPILE Megapost!
DeleteLove it, Jon. I was late to the Replacement's party (because I was living in the sticks)- but I mail-ordered LET IT BE directly from Twin-Tone. It was my FIRST 'Mats album. Followed closely by HOOTENANNY! Lovelines is still one of my favorite tracks by the band.
DeleteI sound like a dinosaur. In 1967 I bought Incredible String Band 5000 Layers for the cover. It had a Beatle connection (The Fool). At first I did not know what to make of the strange voices and different pace. I was intrigued and stuck with it. First Girl I Loved is one of my all time favs.
ReplyDeleteHello there, Lemonflag! I've heard The Incredible String Band's name, but none of their music. I checked out First Girl I Loved, & liked it. They don't sound like anyone else. Thanks for broadening my horizons.
DeleteSynchronicity Moment: I'm watching Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story right now. Highly Recommend.
ReplyDeleteWorth watching! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32436064/?ref_=fn_t_1
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy story is slightly different from most here, but still related... My good friend Steve visits me here in Thailand once a year and used to bring a CD for me as a gift. One time he had asked one of his friends for advice regarding jazz artists as Steve had no idea about that genre. Sadly enough this guy recommended Kenny G highly... So Steve proudly gifted me Kenny's 1989 Live CD afterwards. Inward I cringed but put a brave face on, after all Steve had made a serious effort. Therefore I tried hard to like it, played it a few times as background music, but it never worked. Having Michael Bolton as a guest vocalist didn't improve things either. After several years I finally gave that CD away as I couldn't stand it... Many years later I watched the "Listening to Kenny G" documentary and was pleasantly surprised as the guy comes across as a dedicated musician. Even so, there's no Kenny G in my collection ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the story, Koen.
DeleteIt's strange how some artists just seem to become industry-wide pariahs. The punchline to mean-spirited jokes that musicians, & the public, resort to when they need to refer to music that is inarguably bad. Artists that it's fashionable to hate.
Yoko Ono is a good example. I'm not a huge fan of her work, aside from the tracks on DOUBLE FANTASY, but without her there wouldn't have been a B-52's, so I'm eternally grateful for her music.
No Hobart Brothers and Lil' Sis?
ReplyDeleteYe of little faith! Ballad Of Sis (Didn't I Love You) is nestled on Volume 2, Anonymous.
DeleteAs soon as Stinky told me that he was working on a Susan Cowsill comp, I recommended her collaboration with the Hobart Brothers (Freedy Johnston and Jon Dee Graham). Love that album!
DeleteCan confirm.
DeleteHaving trouble downloading the folder. Says the folder is empty. Tried several times. Hope someone can help. Huge Susan fan. Many thanks
ReplyDeleteI just downloaded it, without a problem, but ask & you shall receive, Anonymous. This link may not last long, so get it while it's hot:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mediafire.com/file/c7eoc16b99gmcbg/%2521N_%252BH3_M1_Sv%2524an__%257B%257Dws1ll_3d%2521t%2521%257B%257Dn_V%257B%257Dl_WUn.zip/file