Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest surviving works of literature, translated thousands of times into many different art forms. Its influence even extends to the world of popular music...
Look, this week's post is (appropriately) an epic. I don't expect any of you (even George) to spend all day listening to all 32 of them. Maybe just give the ones that sound remotely interesting to you a spin. Or don't. It's my time to waste, but I'd hate to become a burden on you...
THE ODYSSEY #1
We kick off in Great Yarmouth with this Mod/Psych band from 1966, led by Brindley K. Spencer, aka Ken Smart.
THE ODYSSEY #2
Next, a Los Angeles garage band who also recorded as Shake, The Clouds, The Looking Glasses and Just Too Much (!). Here they are in 1968...
THE ODYSSEY #3
Also from LA in '68, though discogs swear they're a different band (and they do sound different).
ODYSSEY #4
Our first Odyssey without the definitive article are these New York Prog/Psych dudes from 1969...
ODYSSEY #5
Funky version of the old Lieber & Stoller standard from New York City, from when the 60s became the 70s.
ODYSSEY #6
More psychedelia from 1970 in... erm... California?
ODYSSEY #7
Second runner up in the Los Angeles Battle of the Bands, 1971... and yet, their music survives...
ODYSSEY #8
The Motown Odyssey (well, they were on Motown subsidiary subsidiary MoWest) released one album in the year of my birth, 1972. Also known as Oddessey, Odissey, オディッセイ and オデッセイto spread the love.
ODYSSEY #9
Funky Memphis psychedelia from 1973...
ODYSSEY #10
AKA Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου, or Vangelis to you and me. He released one single as Odyssey back in 1974, in collaboration with Richelle Dassin and Robert Fitoussi. I doubt any of them looked like this in 1974, but I couldn't find any photos of them together. Who was later covered by Demis Roussos.
ODYSSEY #11
Jazzy 1976 Odyssey which, according to discogs, Tiger Lilly Records released as a tax scam. Saxophonist and co-songwriter Tom Saviano didn't even discover that the album had been released until 2012...
ODYSSEY #12
The Odyssey everyone knows, centred around Lillian and Louise Lopez, two sisters from the Virgin Islands... so whatever they might tell you, they're not Native New Yorkers. The Lopez Sisters (and a third sibling, Carmen) started out in 1968, but changed their name and sound to Odyssey in 1977. Various male singers have drifted in and out of the band, including Tony Reynolds, Bill McEachern and at present, Lillian's son, Steven Collazo. Sadly, his mum and his aunt have both passed away, so he keeps the Odyssey name alive with various other female vocalists.
I was torn over which song to choose (and you can guarantee I won't have chosen the one George likes), but in the end I went for this Lamont Dozier composition...
ODYSSEY #13
South African Odyssey from 1979, also known as Blush, featuring Malie Kelly, Mike Pilot, Miriam Stockley (two of whom are pictured above).
ODYSSEY #14
From sometime in the 70s, a "funky, horn-driven" cover of the Jefferson Airplane song. The b-side was a version of Killing Me Softly, so maybe this was a studio / session musician production rather than an actual band who wrote their own material...
ODYSSEY #15
New Zealand Glam Rock band from 1980... when glam was pretty much dead, right? One band member, John R. Baker, went on to become the tour manager for The White Stripes.
ODYSSEY #16
New York rock band from 1987, with a sound that screams 1987. Look, I would have bought this in 1987: don't judge me.
ODISSEY #17
French brothers of Guadeloupen descent who had a big 1988 hit in Martinique with this zouk tune...
ODYSSEY #18
Malaysian rock Odyssey from 1989...
ODYSSEY #19
Spanish symphonic rock band from 1990...
ODYSSEY #20
Thrash metal act (but I'm betting you could guess that from the photo) from Indianapolis in 1990...
ODYSSEY #21
South African metalheads from 1991...
ODYSSEY #22
90s German Eurodance project led by the Koppehele family, with vocalist Lisa Cash. Also recorded under the names O Dyssey, Oddysey, Odissey, Odysey, Odyssex... to go one better than the Motown group.
ODYSSEY #23
More 90s dance gubbins from a bloke whose real name is Curt Robotham. If I was called Curt Robotman, I wouldn't change it.
I'll admit that there were hundreds of dance acts listed on discogs that used the name Odyssey... I lost interest after the first few.
ODYSSEY #24
British drum 'n bass bloke, also from the decade that taste forgot...
ODYSSEY #25
Danish ambient trio formed in 1997...
ODYSSEY #26
Hardcore punks from Brazil in the early noughties. Some great song titles, including Come On! I Am Unbreakable, I'm Working In A Solid Non-Elitist Posi Style and (my favourite)...
ODYSSEY #27
Romanian folk-rockers from 2007...
ODDISEE #28
ODYSSEY #29
French heavy rockers who don't like putting dates on their CDs, because time is relative, man. This was uploaded to the tube of you in 2011...
ODYSSEY #30
Heavy rock stoners from Sweden in 2012. Despite the racket, I like their video.
ODYSSEY #31
Bluesy Ohio Odyssey from 2018...
ODYSSEY #32
2019 Euro-beat from the USA (tariff that!) thanks to one Jessica Stebbins.
Are you still here? Or did you just skip to the end to read the pun?
Which Odyssey is your Homer-'un?
And which just makes you cry "d'oh!"?
May take a while to get through these.
ReplyDeleteAs well as #12 I have #8's album and #4's version of Janis Ian's "Society's Child".
Not familiar with #13 but Mike Pilot was a South African one man equivalent of Chinn/ Chapman back in the day while Miriam Stockley moved to the UK and sang backing vocals on 87% of all records made in the 1980s.
I feel my loyalty to this series is being tested
ReplyDeleteErnie's up for it! You wouldn't want to let the side down, George.
Delete#3 was not bad, and I was really enjoying #4 until it lost the plot at ca. 2 mins 50 seconds with the drum solo.
Deleteso far it's #13, a great pop song.
DeleteIf it's any consolation, George, next week's edition will be much shorter!
Delete#26 proving that great song title don't guarantee great songs....
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was disappointed with that one.
DeleteMost of them up to and including #12 were listenable, and I rather like #9 as I'm a sucker for Willie Mitchell productions. After #12 it went rapidly downhill, although I must confess to skipping a few of the dance ones.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had.
Deleteup to #24, might have to complete this tomorrow, I'm not sure my partner will appreciate listening to the remaining tracks
ReplyDelete#28 - they seem to be singing to a different tune to the backing track, and the result is not pleasant to the ears
DeleteYour dedication, as always, is beyond compare.
DeleteMy work is done!
DeleteSadly, I cannot possibly go through all these but the description of #1 as a Mod/Psych band from 1966 was enough for me to listen to it so that'll do for me. Plus I have an extremely tenuous 7-degrees-of-separation type link in that I used to work with the brother of one of the Sons Of Fred...!
ReplyDelete(What a lot of work you put into this, though, Rol. I'm sorry I don't have more time to give it what it deserves. I'm relying on George and Ernie.)
So am I, C! All I can tell you is that it keeps me off the streets.
Delete