Return to Music Videos

I haven't done one of these posts in a while. I probably waited too long, since I was going to draw heavily for this post from a great YouTube "channel" called Munrows Retro, which had dozens, if not hundreds of cool videos of 50s-70s pop songs, mostly featuring vintage film clips of attractive white people having what appeared to me to be fun. But apparently a video was put up in which someone was naked--I missed that one--and the whole channel was taken down, and has not been put back up again. But there are a few other ones I have liked lately.


Francoise Hardy--Tous les Garcons et les Filles


I can't believe it has taken me this long to delve into the oeuvre of Francoise Hardy. She is really something else. I used to find certain American new wave singers like Debbie Harry annoying even though I liked a lot of their songs because they always had that extra gear of coolness that kept people like me at Bridge-and-Tunnel's length. But Francoise Hardy is somewhere beyond even needing to be cool. I have been gabbling a lot here lately about how great 1960s Paris was anyway, and then I find this stuff, which is a veritable compendium of everything people like me imagine that era to have been like.








Francoise Hardy--Une Fille Comme Tant d'Autres
I could do a whole post on her, but here is one more keeping with the 60s in Paris theme. I know the present is great if you understand how to engage with it (I don't), but the atmosphere they had going on back then, or at least were able to conjure up, really suits my sensibility.










The Smiths--Well I Wonder
This is the kind of video the Munrows Retro channel had with the 1950s or 60s film stock, although those were usually jollier. This is the Smiths though. I listened to them a lot as a teenager, so I can't hear most of their songs with particularly fresh ears now. However a number of the songs from the Meat is Murder album, this one, I Want the One I Can't Have, and That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, as well as Bigmouth Strikes Again, seem better to me than they did when I was younger.


Actually I can't embed this one, so I will link to it.


Walter Egan--Magnet and Steel
One of those 70s songs that sounds pretty good 40 years. Plus I like this guy's face. Most singers, to be honest, look like people I would find obnoxious, but I can imagine hanging out with somebody like this. I like the ghostly nostalgic 50s imagery slipped in at the end too. An all around crowd-pleaser.






Steely Dan--Dirty Work
Munrows Retro had an awesome video of "Hey Nineteen", which is probably my favorite song by this group, though this is my second favorite song, and this is a good video too, lots of ridiculously beautiful people, the effect of which is about the same as a full three minutes of Francoise Hardy by herself.






The KCTU Dancers


Wholesome high school kids on public access TV in Wichita, Kansas. I did at first think they were college-aged. The low production values combined with the retro sensibility and the positive energy make it appealing.





And another one






The Romantics--Talking in Your Sleep


Inexplicably, I am kind of fascinated by this song and video lately. Doesn't it have an oddly clean sound?






Barbara Mason--Yes, I'm Ready


One of those songs I heard in the drug store that got through to me, so I decided to look it up when I got home.






Obviously I haven't been listening to much variety or discovering a lot of new things (that I like) of late. I've also gotten away from seeing much in the way of older movies, and then a lot of the videos I was going to post got taken down. I need to set myself up with some kind of music program--even the classics both of high European culture and jazz I am not really that familiar with--rather than just aimlessly falling into the old ruts.


On that note I will seek inspiration in this quest by closing with another great Francoise Hardy video