Reparata –Your Life Is Gone/Octopus’s Garden –Dart ART 2057 (1976)
Originally released on D’Art in 1972 as a B side, Your Life is Gone gained its rightful place as an A side on this later issue following the success of Shoes (on Dart, Polydor and Surrey International). Your Life Is Gone may be one of the best death records of all time as it’s not that over the top or schmaltzy and features some of the greatest ambulance sirens ever committed to vinyl. Apart from the appeal of its theme, Your Life Is Gone is also up there musically with some the best sides Reparata released with The Delrons on RCA in the mid 60s. It’s a fine mix of Spectorian grandeur with a great vocal performance full of pathos and vulnerability as well as featuring some neat Bijou electric sitar and those brilliant sound effects...
Enjoy the full version here:
Originally released on D’Art in 1972 as a B side, Your Life is Gone gained its rightful place as an A side on this later issue following the success of Shoes (on Dart, Polydor and Surrey International). Your Life Is Gone may be one of the best death records of all time as it’s not that over the top or schmaltzy and features some of the greatest ambulance sirens ever committed to vinyl. Apart from the appeal of its theme, Your Life Is Gone is also up there musically with some the best sides Reparata released with The Delrons on RCA in the mid 60s. It’s a fine mix of Spectorian grandeur with a great vocal performance full of pathos and vulnerability as well as featuring some neat Bijou electric sitar and those brilliant sound effects...
Enjoy the full version here:
10 comments:
Great song. Thanks a lot.
Man, you really should make a compilation album of this stuff, you know all based on that early 70s perfected girlgroup sound. Stuff like Dave Edmunds, Ronnie Spector, Dump, Ramones ?, Jerri Bo Keno, Patti and the Patettes and eh....what else ?
jos
check out cheat by Snapp on this blog another great example also the Warwick single for the updated Spectorian approach. I always felt that Dion's Let's Stick Together sounds like The Glitter Band produced by Spector
All the best
Robin
No mention of the obvious Shangri-Las (Leader of the Pack) connection?
When I first heard "Your Life Is Gone" (and ever since) I couldn't help but feel it's a rip. The opening bars are nearly identical, and certainly the drum pattern for the bridge and breakdowns are identical to LotP's. And of course the crash parts and general tone are so similar.
Too similar to be coincidence.
I always felt like the Reparata track was almost a more mature version (not in execution, but in emotion), as it's more about the feelings of losing someone than the Shangri Las one, which is more about the relationship itself. As if Reparata heard LotP and decided to do a song in the same vein, but from a more adult perspective.
I'm surprised you don't mention any of this.
Hi
Of course Leader of The Pack was the tip of the iceberb and the most famous one. You can reach back to Tell Laura I Love Her, Deadman's Curve for other obvious influences. Even The Whyte Boots Nightmare, which without resorting to automotive/bike dimension is perhas the most over the top of death disc...there's a ton of them...
Ha! Deadman's Curve is great (and scarily accurate!). I'd never heard it, but you're right, clearly also in the same vein, and released some months earlier than LotP too, I think.
And Whyteboots? Oh my word.. Talk about leaving us without a happy resolution, traumatic listening! :)
I run the Reparata and the Delrons Facebook page, where Reparata herself is a member, and I just shared this there. It's at www.facebook.com/reparataandthedelrons
And don't forget "I've got my baby back" in a compilation of worst ever song compiled by BBC's Kenny Everett. And the Everly Bros "Ebony Eyes"...
As you say, the list is long.
DJ Ken Christie
'I WANT my baby back'- Jimmy Cross- utter genius- the funniest record ever made..also, how about 'Terry' by Twinkle?
'I WANT my baby back'- Jimmy Cross- utter genius- the funniest record ever made..also, how about 'Terry' by Twinkle?
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