PETER SKELLERN
''YOU'RE A LADY''
1973
55:14
1 - You're A Lady/4:33
2 - A Sad Affair/4:04
3 - Keep In Your Own Backyard/2:52
4 - Ain't Life Something/2:49
5 - Don't It Matter Anymore/2:52
6 - Manifesto/2:40
7 - Now I've Seen The Light/2:12
8 - Apollo 11/0:44
9 - Our Jackie's Getting Married/2:51
10 - Every Home Should Have One/3:28
11 - Rock On/2:53
12 - Roll On Rhoda/2:38
13 - All Last Night/2:51
14 - My Lonely Room/4:17
15 - I Don't Know/2:21
16 - Roll Away/3:24
17 - Somebody Call Me Tonight/2:16
18 - Sleepy Guitar/3:23
19 - Goodnight/0:55
20 - Symphonion/0:58
REVIEW
By Famous Name
This is the album containing the best known single from Skellern which was a massive hit back in 1972.
A very talented and grossly underestimated Singer/Songwriter; Skellern has produced a very nice album here that will surely grow on you. Also includes the title track 'You're A Lady', with that great orchestral finale that gives you goosebumps. No-one can sing this quite like Skellern does; he has a 'gentle' and 'smouldering' voice that would set the ladies on fire. It's a 'difficult' song to sing - many have tried, a better known attempt was by Tony Orlando of 'Dawn' - but he couldn't do it...
Peter Skellern falls into that category of those few at the same time who were writing and singing all their own 'stuff'. This was at the beginning of the 70s; Gilbert O'Sullivan and Lindsey de Paul - to mention but two of them, and I've always been impressed with people who write their own material. A fine example of this comparison is the track: 'Our Jackies Getting Married' which could have easily been a Gilbert O'Sullivan title.
There are some great numbers on this, and ironically, despite his biggest hit song being placed on Side One of the original vinyl, the second side might be more appealing to some. Highlights for me are:
You're A Lady, Keep In Your Own Backyard, Our Jackies Getting Married, Every Home Should Have One, (the very lively) Roll On Rhoda, All Last Night, My Lonely Room and Goodnight. (Four more bonus tracks have been added to the CD re-issue for sale here), but sixteen fabulous tracks in total (twenty if you buy the CD) and the album closes with two lullaby types - the beautiful 'Goodnight' - and ending with a track resembling a music box: 'Symphonion'.
Not to be underestimated!
BIOGRAPHY
by Rovi
b. 14 March 1947, Bury, Lancashire, England. A composer, singer, and musician, Skellern played trombone in a school band and served as organist and choirmaster in a local church before attending the Guildhall School of Music, from which he graduated with honours in 1968. Because ‘I didn’t want to spend the next 50 years playing Chopin’, he joined the vocal harmony band March Hare which, after changing their name to Harlan County, recorded a country pop album before disbanding in 1971. Married with two children, Skellern worked as a hotel porter in Shaftesbury, Dorset, before striking lucky at the end of 1972 with a self-composed UK number 3 hit, ‘You’re A Lady’. ... Not Without A Friend was all original, bar Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Rockin’ Chair’, and another UK hit single with the title track to 1975’s Hold On To Love established Skellern as a purveyor of wittily-observed if homely love songs of similar stamp to Gilbert O’Sullivan. He earned the approbation of the ex-Beatles coterie which, already manifested in Derek Taylor’s production of Not Without A Friend, was further demonstrated when George Harrison assisted on Hard Times and the title number was later recorded by Ringo Starr. A minor hit in 1978 with ‘Love Is The Sweetest Thing’ (featuring Grimethorpe Colliery Band) was part of a tribute to Fred Astaire that won a Music Trades Association Award for Best MOR Album Of 1979.
Skellern subsequently wrote and performed six autobiographical programmes for BBC television, followed by a series of musical plays (Happy Endings) and also hosted the chat show Private Lives in 1983. A year later he formed Oasis with Julian Lloyd Webber, Mary Hopkin and guitarist Bill Lovelady in an attempt to fuse mutual classical and pop interests, but the band’s recordings failed to make a major impact. In 1985, Skellern joined Richard Stilgoe for Stilgoe And Skellern Stompin’ At The Savoy, a show in aid of The Lords Taverners charity organization. This led to the two entertainers working together on several successful tours, and in their two-man revue, Who Plays Wins, which was presented in the West End and New York.
After becoming disenchanted with the record business for a time, in 1995 Skellern issued his first album for nearly eight years. Originally conceived as a tribute to the Ink Spots, it eventually consisted of a number of songs associated with that legendary group, and a few Hoagy Carmichael compositions ‘just to break it up’. Skellern remains a popular live draw and all-round entertainer.
''YOU'RE A LADY''
1973
55:14
1 - You're A Lady/4:33
2 - A Sad Affair/4:04
3 - Keep In Your Own Backyard/2:52
4 - Ain't Life Something/2:49
5 - Don't It Matter Anymore/2:52
6 - Manifesto/2:40
7 - Now I've Seen The Light/2:12
8 - Apollo 11/0:44
9 - Our Jackie's Getting Married/2:51
10 - Every Home Should Have One/3:28
11 - Rock On/2:53
12 - Roll On Rhoda/2:38
13 - All Last Night/2:51
14 - My Lonely Room/4:17
15 - I Don't Know/2:21
16 - Roll Away/3:24
17 - Somebody Call Me Tonight/2:16
18 - Sleepy Guitar/3:23
19 - Goodnight/0:55
20 - Symphonion/0:58
REVIEW
By Famous Name
This is the album containing the best known single from Skellern which was a massive hit back in 1972.
A very talented and grossly underestimated Singer/Songwriter; Skellern has produced a very nice album here that will surely grow on you. Also includes the title track 'You're A Lady', with that great orchestral finale that gives you goosebumps. No-one can sing this quite like Skellern does; he has a 'gentle' and 'smouldering' voice that would set the ladies on fire. It's a 'difficult' song to sing - many have tried, a better known attempt was by Tony Orlando of 'Dawn' - but he couldn't do it...
Peter Skellern falls into that category of those few at the same time who were writing and singing all their own 'stuff'. This was at the beginning of the 70s; Gilbert O'Sullivan and Lindsey de Paul - to mention but two of them, and I've always been impressed with people who write their own material. A fine example of this comparison is the track: 'Our Jackies Getting Married' which could have easily been a Gilbert O'Sullivan title.
There are some great numbers on this, and ironically, despite his biggest hit song being placed on Side One of the original vinyl, the second side might be more appealing to some. Highlights for me are:
You're A Lady, Keep In Your Own Backyard, Our Jackies Getting Married, Every Home Should Have One, (the very lively) Roll On Rhoda, All Last Night, My Lonely Room and Goodnight. (Four more bonus tracks have been added to the CD re-issue for sale here), but sixteen fabulous tracks in total (twenty if you buy the CD) and the album closes with two lullaby types - the beautiful 'Goodnight' - and ending with a track resembling a music box: 'Symphonion'.
Not to be underestimated!
BIOGRAPHY
by Rovi
b. 14 March 1947, Bury, Lancashire, England. A composer, singer, and musician, Skellern played trombone in a school band and served as organist and choirmaster in a local church before attending the Guildhall School of Music, from which he graduated with honours in 1968. Because ‘I didn’t want to spend the next 50 years playing Chopin’, he joined the vocal harmony band March Hare which, after changing their name to Harlan County, recorded a country pop album before disbanding in 1971. Married with two children, Skellern worked as a hotel porter in Shaftesbury, Dorset, before striking lucky at the end of 1972 with a self-composed UK number 3 hit, ‘You’re A Lady’. ... Not Without A Friend was all original, bar Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Rockin’ Chair’, and another UK hit single with the title track to 1975’s Hold On To Love established Skellern as a purveyor of wittily-observed if homely love songs of similar stamp to Gilbert O’Sullivan. He earned the approbation of the ex-Beatles coterie which, already manifested in Derek Taylor’s production of Not Without A Friend, was further demonstrated when George Harrison assisted on Hard Times and the title number was later recorded by Ringo Starr. A minor hit in 1978 with ‘Love Is The Sweetest Thing’ (featuring Grimethorpe Colliery Band) was part of a tribute to Fred Astaire that won a Music Trades Association Award for Best MOR Album Of 1979.
Skellern subsequently wrote and performed six autobiographical programmes for BBC television, followed by a series of musical plays (Happy Endings) and also hosted the chat show Private Lives in 1983. A year later he formed Oasis with Julian Lloyd Webber, Mary Hopkin and guitarist Bill Lovelady in an attempt to fuse mutual classical and pop interests, but the band’s recordings failed to make a major impact. In 1985, Skellern joined Richard Stilgoe for Stilgoe And Skellern Stompin’ At The Savoy, a show in aid of The Lords Taverners charity organization. This led to the two entertainers working together on several successful tours, and in their two-man revue, Who Plays Wins, which was presented in the West End and New York.
After becoming disenchanted with the record business for a time, in 1995 Skellern issued his first album for nearly eight years. Originally conceived as a tribute to the Ink Spots, it eventually consisted of a number of songs associated with that legendary group, and a few Hoagy Carmichael compositions ‘just to break it up’. Skellern remains a popular live draw and all-round entertainer.
2 comments :
Thank you so much, I had almost forgotten how good this is, especially the title track.
Thanks Twil my friend.
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