The 1981 Listening Post - Ellen Foley - Spirit of St. Louis

 Ellen Foley - Spirit of St. Louis

#113

March 1981

Ellen Foley

Spirit of St. Louis

Genre: Rock

2 out of 5

Requisite 80s cover:

Should we call “Mon Legionnaire” a cover, even though it’s a song made famous by Edit Piaf? I have never heard the Piaf version but I can’t imagine that this is better. 

On a side note, someone called “Mike the Teeth” (yes, he was exactly as that would describe him) bought me a private dance in a strip club once. I wasn’t much interested in having a stripper dance for me on a disgusting private twin bed. Instead she stood in front of me, in her shimmering bikini and sang “La Vie en Rose” for me. 

That, my friends, was one of the weirdest experiences of my life. 

And it’s better than this record. 

Ellen Foley. Background singer extraordinaire. We knew her (and Karla DeVito who ALSO had a solo record this year!!!) from Bat out of Hell a few years before.

And she popped up on the great discovery by Sorrows in 1980.

I had NO idea that she had a solo record. I had even less inkling that said record was produced by Mick Jones of The Clash. 

I had even LESS inkling that said record featured all four members of The Clash as musicians with Ellen as lead vocals. 

So, how is it?

What it exposes, to me, is the weaknesses, not of Foley, she’s fine. But, rather, of Strummer and Jones (and Simonon and Headon, to a lesser extent). Who thought these guys were songwriters outside of punk and reggae? They sure did. They convinced SOMEONE that they should not only helm this project but also, open it with a mediocre Paris sidewalk busker track. When that nonsense is over, they try to out do it with a Xylophone led “Torchlight” that could be a leftover from the Sandinista sessions because it sounded too much like someone was trying to be Heroes era Bowie and didn’t know how to do it right. 

What the actual fuck is “The Death of the Psychoanalyst of Salvador Dali”??? Is this supposed to be intriguing? Thought provoking? It’s not. It’s amateur bullshit and everyone involved should have known. 

I can only imagine that, with a better band and an orchestra, the Foley that we get on “Phases of Travel” could have put out a better spinner. 

What all this adds up to is a Clash record with Foley as lead singer and both artists hurt themselves. It doesn’t play to Foley’s strengths nor Strummer and Jones’. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/spirit-of-st-louis-expanded-edition/318751828