Elvis had many looks - thin Elvis, fat Elvis, army Elvis. But when you think of early 70s Elvis - the Vegas Years - you picture him in your mind's eye in that iconic white jumpsuit (with the collar turned up. Natch). A sartorial nightmare in the wrong hands, you would have thought: why, who else would be crazy enough to walk down the street in 1972 wearing a heavily sequinned all-in-one jacket/trouser combo verging on the utterly ridiculous; your chances of being run out of town on a rail would, on a scale of 98 to 100, be, well, pushing 100.
Unless, that is, you were the Osmonds. Ever wondered how many white jumpsuits you could fit on a stage at any one time? Five, seemingly. Sometimes six, though long haired (underage) lovers from Liverpool don't really count.
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When the insanely talented brothers released Crazy Horses, their fifth long player, this was, for my money, the best song on the album. And, as I found out only recently, the intro is the perfect soundtrack to brush your teeth to. I kid you not.
The Osmonds - Hold Her Tight (1972)
Ha ha - Yes indeed, identical jumpsuits for a while (until those worn by Elvis got more and more outrageous).
ReplyDeleteThey featured on Rol's Saturday Snapshots recently and I could still remember all their names and the instruments they played - Slightly scary.
One of the first songs that would have pleased the environmentalists - They were ahead of their time.
Referring to Crazy Horses of course there.
DeleteThanks for the clip though - Not obvious Osmond material.
Not scary at all, Alyson. Before I progressed to Sounds I used to devour the weeklies - Music Star, Popswop and Look In - where weekly wall-to-wall wall coverage of Osmondmania was a given.
DeleteHold Her Tight, like all the songs on the Crazy Horses album was written by them; fair play.
Ah Look In - I'm sure I had a subscription. I heard a statistic recently, the Osmonds are the most successful band in terms of record sales to get the least airplay nowadays. They have been almost erased from history - but not here obviously.
DeleteA long time favourite of mine too. Zepp's 'Immigrant Song' meets Sweet's 'Burning', fabulous.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a brilliant riff, isn't it? I love it when they all come to their mics for the opening line. And they're genuinely enjoying the moment - you can't fake that.
DeleteI always picture him in jeans and a jacket.
ReplyDeleteFrom which era, Gwen?
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