Melanie Safka dead at 76 sang 'Brand New Key' & 'Lay Down'

[Bill B]

RIP - saw her at Maple Leaf Gardens 1970s and I can't find the listing. Can't remember the date.

70's... can't remember...

Your story checks out. LOL

 

[esimms86]

"Leftover Wine" from the Candles In The Rain album was always my favorite. And though I've never heard the live rendition on the Leftover Wine album, I suspect that that one too has to be awesome.

 

[Infomas]

She may have had the distinction of having the first box album. It was a 2 record set and you took the vinyl out and played a little origami with the cover and it turned into a box, which you could display on a shelf. Very cool. If there was anything left of the 60s age of innocence, it's gone now.

 

[barfle]

“Lay Down” was certainly one of the Woodstock anthems, and she delivered it with such passion that she never needed to do anything else to secure her place in my memory. But she did more than that, and will always be an important element in my musical environment.

76 - damn. Same age as me.

 

[H.A.L.]

I don't own any Melanie records, but I need to change that.

Robert Fripp (!) and Singleton mastered a 2 CD collection that collected her best songs -- worth acquiring if you want just one (well, two) representative Melanie CDs!

Strangely, I found the CDs to be a bit thick for my player at the time, but it worked alright.

https://www.discogs.com/release/15816110-Melanie-Beautiful-People-The-Greatest-Hits-Of-Melanie

 

[JDeanB]

Melanie was a tremendous talent with a powerful voice. She wrote great songs, but was also a terrific interpreter. For me, much of her best work came after the hits stopped coming. She put a lot of work ("sweat on the brow, blood on the lips") into her 1976 Atlantic album, Photograph. But when the comeback didn't happen, it seemed to take a toll. She continued recording regularly until her husband and producer Peter Schekeryk died in 2010. She has one of the most frustrating catalogs I can think of. Albums would be released in one country or another, then be released with (usually) alternate titles with a few tracks removed and a few new ones added. She worked with a variety of musical "directors" from David and Marty Paich to John Abbott to Paul Harris. She even recorded an album, reportedly, with George Terry, which remains unreleased. (Tapes float among the Melanie fanbase.)
Easy Action Records recently started a reissue campaign, beginning with a color vinyl single of "People In The Front Row". That release is to be followed a little later this year by the original 2 lp version of Stoneground Words (half of which ended up as Madrugada) and the 2lp set of Ballroom Streets, which was originally released on Tomato Records.
Would love to see someone mix some of her material in surround. But good luck finding the original tapes except the Atlantic recordings and the Buddah material.

 

[MidiMagic]

I got to see her concert in 1973.

Try playing "Lay down" on an RM system. It is one of those records where you feel like you are there.

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

Try playing "Lay down" on an RM system...

"The restriction modification system (RM system) is found in bacteria and other prokaryotic organisms, and provides a defense against foreign DNA, such as that borne by bacteriophages."

 

[watsontr]

Had most of her LPs and was quite a fan. Saw her live a couple of times. Some of her early recordings sound like she overpowered the mike or preamp so sound a bit distorted to me. A surround mix of Ring the Living Bell would be bliss. RIP

 

[MidiMagic]

"The restriction modification system (RM system) is found in bacteria and other prokaryotic organisms, and provides a defense against foreign DNA, such as that borne by bacteriophages."

I mean Regular Matrix - Including DY, DQ, EV4, QS, QX, and DS.

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

I mean Regular Matrix - Including DY, DQ, EV4, QS, QX, and DS.

It's OK, it was just a joke from my own ignorance. I'm a boring old fart, but with no experience of all the quad formats many started to explore in the 70s, so I'm not someone who is up on all the lingo - e.g. when you now say "DQ" I revert to "Dairy Queen"

 

[H.A.L.]

Had most of her LPs and was quite a fan. Saw her live a couple of times. Some of her early recordings sound like she overpowered the mike or preamp so sound a bit distorted to me. A surround mix of Ring the Living Bell would be bliss. RIP

View attachment 100799

What year was that?

 

[watsontr]

What year was that?

The Melanie tour was 1976

 

[ar surround]

I knew that Melanie did Lay Down but didn’t know that she did Brand New Key. Two different styles of songs. That was unusual of the formulaic style for pop artists back then (and now.). So much talent.