JohnTem82387976

9 January 2019

Lincoln Black - Famous Last Words/ You Built Me Up So High



Fuzz guitars lead into breezy pop chorus on this early 1970 single

Label: Penny Farthing
Year of Release: 1970

Sometimes when you're record shopping, you turn up a ton of material by a certain producer or songwriter without really even looking for it. A mere one entry ago on here, I talked about Ben Findon and Peter Shelley and the latter's pre-Alvin Stardust career, and lo and behold, here they both are again with another ditty from that era.

"Famous Last Words" is yet another of those singles that fell off the production line on the cusp of the sixties and seventies, and has elements of both in its sounds. The fuzz guitars and creeping sense of menace in the intro make you wonder if we're going to get some mod pop action, but the chorus is all delightful seventies pop treacle and sounds as if it could just have easily been given to Edison Lighthouse. The vocals, however, have a rather Hollies-ish feel about their harmonies, and in all, the resulting brew is a pleasant listen, though not one strong enough that it leaves you wondering why it didn't sell in greater quantities.

This was Lincoln Black's only single, and while it received a release in numerous countries (including the USA) it obviously didn't do well enough to justify a follow-up. Once again, I'm going to make the obvious assumption that they were a studio group put together primarily to record this composition, but someone else out there may know better. 



3 comments:

Michael Alden said...

Love this song. I picked it up years ago at a record show.

Arthur Nibble said...

A perfect example (to me, at least) of what sounds like one songwriter with a set of verses, the other with a completely different sounding chorus, and they try to meld them together in the hope it pays off. Jars a bit but still perfectly listenable.

23 Daves said...

I get what you mean completely, Arthur. A notable downside of songwriting partnerships!