There was some confusion over the weekend about the death of pop songwriter and producer Andrew Gold. No credible news reports were found, as the only places to find any information were on blogs, or on Wikipedia. I posted a brief tribute. I've been a fan since "Lonely Boy." But then I received a message from a reader which said, "Take this down or amend it. He is not dead."
Sadly, this news has been confirmed by both his sister on her Facebook page, his mother, singer Marni Nixon, as well as a few news sources.
I listened to all of Andrew Gold's Rhino CD collection, "Thank You For Being A Friend: Best Of," yesterday, and while most us will cite Gold as a one-hit wonder thanks to the aforementioned "Lonely Boy," or the "guy who sings The Golden Girls theme," this 20 track compilation has very little filler. I'm a fan, and I was surprised at just how solid his songwriting was.
Take a look.
http://www.amazon.com/Thank-You-Being-Friend-Best/dp/B00000347A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307361657&sr=1-1
One of my favorites, from his 1978 LP, "All This & Heaven, Too," is "Oh, Urania," which always reminded me of 10CC.
OH URANIA
Of course, we can't forget Andrew's work with Linda Ronstadt, a period of her career that was arguably never equalled.
Sad day for pop music.
6 comments:
"Lonely Boy" is one of those songs I love in spite of the lyrics.
The bass line change in the verse after the guitar solo slays me every single time I hear it.
Sad indeed to lose an artist whom you enjoyed their music from yesteryear.
That CD is very good Sal, I was listening to it myself.
Oh well, life goes on, while you're in it.
As I mentioned on PP, I had a strange fascination with Wax at the time, much less so now, but American English is still a great single.
I knew him largely from "Lonely Boy," which I liked well enough, though I was never really a fan. Over the weekend, though, someone who allegedly grew up with him in CA wrote on one of the BBs I frequent that he was a session guitarist and a major Beatles fan--two things I never knew. (This guy also wrote that he struggled with weight issues all his life--something people like me who knew him only by his emaciated look in the 80s never would have suspected--and that it probably contributed to his untimely demise.) This made me curious to learn more about him and I've since listened to some of his lesser-known hits, and it made me terribly sad that I wasn't more aware of him before.
He was really pretty good, and I like some of his stuff--"Heartaches in Heartaches," "Kiss This One Goodbye," "Oh Urania" and "Can Anybody See You"--a lot more than I did "Lonely Boy." (I'm really curious to hear his Copycat album now.) All in all, it's tragic to lose someone so relatively young--and even sadder that his death went so unnoticed by the major news outlets for so long.
He is pretty much the only one matters among those "L.A. mafia" back in 70-80's.
I like his style with the mixture of Beatles/Beach Boys/10 C.C./XTC sound.
I'm sure he was always under pressure being Ernest Gold's son.
Agree with your assessment of the Ronstadt stuff. Very good. Will listen to it again tonight.
A day to ponder, and dig out some old vinyl.
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