Flamboyant but brilliant and strangely rocking cover of the Stones classic
Label: Dawn
Year of Release: 1974
Make no mistake, "Sympathy For The Devil" was always a slightly camp track to begin with. For all its muscular grooves and guitar heroism, the very concept of Mick Jagger meeting with the smoky one for a conversation does have a faint whiff of pantomime about it. Imagine the outcomes of that scenario and keep a straight face.
Not everyone will agree with me, though, and the listeners who have been treating the track as the epitome of serious rock since the day they first heard it may not appreciate the take Linda Kendrick delivered in 1974. To my ears, though, this is magnificent and amps up the theatrical elements to a stunning degree. Beginning with a gospel choir (though the Stones were no strangers to those themselves) and then letting Kendrick run riot with the ultimate vampish performance, the entire track is renewed with a particularly Soho shade of menace. Linda's dramatic vocals are so superb it's almost impossible not to feel impish glee at the whole thing, and those sliding country guitars just add a touch of dramatic magic.
By 1974, she was no inexperienced new face, having already earned her stripes in the sixties gigging up and down the country with prime support spots to artists such as Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black, with a brace of singles on Polydor and Philips already behind her. This experience led to an acclaimed role in the long-running musical "Hair" where Kendrick's performances are still regarded favourably by those who saw them.
None of this ultimately led to any hits, however, even with material as strong as "Sympathy For The Devil", nor material donated by Elton John and Bernie Taupin in the same year ("House of Cards"). She ultimately decided to quit music altogether at the age of thirty, feeling that further chances for success would be slim.
Regrettably, her personal life was dealt some spectacularly low blows. Her first husband died at the age of 25, and their only son also passed on a mere twelve months later due to an undiagnosed heart condition. While she eventually remarried and began a new family, her own life was eventually cut short by pneumonia in 2010 at the mere age of 59. Sometimes the word "unfair" doesn't even begin to cover someone's situation, but so much of Linda Kendrick's personality fires out of the speakers during this track that you get a clear sense of what she was capable of in her lifetime.
6 comments:
Ironic to see this now. Just a couple of days ago I made myself a double CDR of her LP and all of her singles. Good singer. Now, if you could come up with her rare single from the British Eurovision contest in 1979, All I Needed Was Your Love, that would be an accomplishment. That one seems rarer than hen's teeth.
Ah yes, her Song For Europe effort which got pulled from release after a BBC strike which left the selection contest as radio only. There have been rumours over the years that those were all destroyed and never even made it out of the CBS offices - but apparently some have been spotted for sale. Never sold on Discogs, though.
She really was so bloody unlucky on so many levels.
Thank you David
Singles on the dawn label are hard to find
Greetings Albert
It appears a promo copy sold for £65 in 2013 and someone on the 45cat website says they've got a copy. Exceedingly rare, but they do exist in extinction-level numbers...
I'd like to hear "Generation (Light Up The Sky)" by Linda if anyone could oblige
Loved this obscure cover of the Rolling Stones classic. Not so sure as to which Tsar she claimed to knock off though. The line "The nation screamed in vain." Suggests Alexander II rather than Nicholas II.
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