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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

GENE PITNEY - SHE'S A HEARTBREAKER

Who would have ever guessed that Gene Pitney, purveyor of such melodrama as "A Town Without Pity" had an out and out soul JAM in him like this track??? I'm certainly not taking anything away from the man's talents, it's just that this is in a whole other country than "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", for instance.

This was actually the first thing I ever heard by Gene; in the mid-80's, there was a program that aired on TV in L.A that showed all these fantastic clips from German TV ("The Beat Club") which they called "Visions- Vintage Videos" to try and cash in some ratings from then-massive MTV. There was Gene, in a very dapper suit miming to this storming track! Just take a listen to that MASSIVE electric sitar performance!!! Producer and co-writer Charlie Foxx (brother of Inez) coaxed a phenomenal performance out of Gene on this track; too bad this particular brand of lightning only struck once.

from 1968...

GENE PITNEY - SHE'S A HEARTBREAKER

5 comments:

tut said...

too bad this particular brand of lightning only struck once.

????
are you kidding Gene Pitney ..town without pity..only love can break a heart..last exit to brooklyn..liberty valance..man this cat was COOL!!!!

Jason C said...

When I first heard that record it threw me for a loop too. When it came to Pitney, I was used to overblown melodrama. Too bad he didn't try to do anything else in that same style.

Derek See said...

Tut, perhaps you should re-read what I wrote in its entirety before making an out of context remark. Those songs you mention are NOTHING like this one and as I said, I was not knocking his talent but this song is completely like those others.

Russ said...

I have this on British Stateside, great tune.

There's also a British cover by Dave Hunter on RCA from 1968 that is well worth looking out for.

chopper said...

Wow...haven't heard this one since possibly 1968 on either WFIL or WIBG in Philly. And you are 100% right: this is completely different from the core of Gene Pitney's other work.