Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Album of the Day #46: THRILLINGTON - Percy "Thrills" Thrillington

Title: Thrillington

Artist: Percy "Thrills" Thrillington
Label: Regal Zonophone/MPL/EMI
Year: 1977
Songs: Too Many People/3 Legs/Ram On/Dear Boy*/Uncle Albert*/Admiral Halsey*/Smile Away/Heart Of The Country*/Monkberry Moon Delight*/Eat At Home*/Long Haired Lady*/Back Seat Of My Car
Written by: Paul McCartney, except*Paul & Linda McCartney
Produced by: Percy "Thrills" Thrillington
Thoughts: There is a little known fact that McCartney allowed his RAM album to be completely orchestrated and arranged by an up-and-commer, Percy Thrillington with the help of star arranger Richard Hewson. The result, though recorded during RAM's initial 1971 sessions, did not appear until 1977 to an unfair ammount of little fanfare. Thrillington is a true work of art that holds true to the album it is based on, but tweaks the songs to fit the mold of swing/jazz tunes from the 1920's. It even twists "Eat At Home" into a slice of reggae! "Too Many People" opens the album in such a striking fashion, similar to the way it opens RAM, and "Back Seat Of My Car" is kept as an engaging closing. Simply, if you love RAM, you'll love this.
Rating: 8/10

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your blog and show on Itunes. However, looking through these older segments I could not let it pass: There was NO Percy Thrillington. He indeed was Paul McCartney using that name.

danhofstra said...

Oh, I was just kidding around. :)
Thanks for the love!