The Left Banke
Weird. This band is long gone, it’s barely possible to get hold of any of their stuff, and apart from enthusiastic music fans barely anyone has heard of them.
And yet and yet and yet… Remember The Turtles? No, me neither, but they are clearly well loved amongst the actual makers of music because people keep covering them, and it seems The Left Banke are similar. Most people reading this will know Walk Away Renee, either because The Four Tops covered it or because, after a fashion, so did Billy Bragg. Or indeed because it was a pretty big hit in its own right. What I didn’t realise – yes, I know, you probably knew this all along – was that the splendid Pretty Ballerina, which I thought was a new Eels track from the Eels With Strings album, was also a cover of a Left Banke song. And it truly is brilliant.
Anyhow, I have finally managed to acquire a copy of their first release “Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina” and am really enjoying it. It’s a sort of chamber pop with heavy use of orchestration, topped off with a sort of wonderfully dreamy, quite high pitched vocal. They had a bit of classical training between them and you can really hear it in the music, and the songs below are absolutely phenomenally good. A surprise lost gem, for me anyways.
The Left Banke – Evening Gown
The Left Banke – I’ve Got Something On My Mind
And those covers:
The Left Banke – Walk Away Renee
The Four Tops – Walk Away Renee
Billy Bragg – Walk Away Renee
The Left Banke – Pretty Ballerina It’s the off-key piano that makes this, isn’t it. Genius.
Eels – Pretty Ballerina
Wow. Pretty Ballerina (the original version) is really stunning, right up there with the Zombies to my ear. A very unusual pop song. Walk Away Renee doesn’t affect me quite the same way, but it’s top notch as well. Thank’ee.
So that’s where Jens Lekman got that riff from! And I thought it was original…
And I think The Bluetones did a cover of that Pretty Ballerina as well. Not sure whether it holds up as well as the Eels one though.
Pretty Ballerina is indeed an unbelievably good song, C&B. But the Bluetones? Now that I would like to hear. Get me to the internet!
This is one of those times I wish I had a time machine so I can go back to a time when I hadn’t heard those songs. I just did not like them.
This is by far the best album that no one’s ever heard of. Jens Lekman samples these guys all the time (“Maple Leaves” and “Black Cab” both borrow from Banke songs).
Really? Ah crikey. I’ve never been a massive Jens Lekman fan, but I will now definitely have to find those songs at the very least!
Me and Mrs V were out and about last night on Toronto Island. A very talented bunch of locals were playing a free gig on a makeshift stage and had attracted a gathering of maybe 100 folk. They played a superb version of ‘Walk Away Renee’. Made me think of you sweet Toadmeister.
A fine, fine, fine song.
A very fine song indeed.
Truly, the finest of songs.
Oh yes indeed.
Hello Toad! Pretty Ballerina is indeed a gem. Speaking of Gems; Alice Cooper also did a cover of Pretty Ballerina on his latest release “Dirty Diamonds” and it is as polished as the original.
Just gone and downloaded that – brilliant spot Ozon, thanks.
Hi, I have a bunch of unreleased Left Banke demos on my website that are free to download and share. I also have videos for download too.
quite lovely. i’m really into evening gown…