One of my all time favorite records is Walk Away Rene b/w Pretty
Ballerina by the Left Banke. They were billed as Baroque Rock in 1966
and that single was the only thing they ever did that really fit that
description.
The last version I've heard of Walk Away
Rene, besides the Tom Jones and the Four Tops versions was by Linda
Ronstadt and Ann Savoy and was a very pretty acoustic guitar
arrangement. I don't think I've ever heard a cover version of Pretty Ballerina except for Alice Cooper's strangely un-Alice Cooper version (HERE) but now The Tooners' old friend singer-songwriter (and smokin'
hot electric lead rock-blues player) Jerry Strull has an arrangement
that makes Pretty Ballerina all his own.
Jerry Strull making the Pretty Ballerina his bitch.
I always feel there are two kinds of cover tunes for an original
performer (as opposed to a cover band that always tries to sound like
the original artist); 1 - A song that sounds as if it could have been written by the covering artist (i.e.; a folk singer covering an old folk song) and 2 - A song that sounds nothing like what the artist would usually play but is arranged in a completely different way than the original recording such as Devo's version of Satisfaction. Jerry Strull's version of Pretty Ballerina falls into this second category. His is a refreshingly new take on a song that seemed perfect the first time.
Speaking of Linda Ronstadt, I'm very dismayed at the news of her diagnosis recently of Parkinson's Disease. Very dismayed indeed and I wish her well.
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