Liked this track a lot as a kid. It seems to have fallen down the memory hole a bit today, but back in the early '80s during my prime radio-listening days it got spun a lot, particularly on "light rock" stations. Amazingly for a song from a legacy act that had been cut almost a couple of years before it became a hit, "Laughter" not only doesn't sound dated, it wouldn't have sounded particularly out of place a few years down the road. For example, that style of sax solo became commonplace toward the end of the decade. About the only hint it comes from the early '70s rests in the sound of the cut, which strikes me as slightly rolled off in the high end and a bit muddled. Cuts recorded in the late '70s typically had a crisper sound and a little more clarity and bite, especially in this genre (but there were plenty of exceptions). If it hadn't been a hit in '75, you could totally hear Rita Coolidge having a hit with a nearly-identical cover in '78 or '79. Elton's Rocket Records was certainly getting off to an impressive start.
He said David Cassidy. Bell Records was issuing solo David Cassidy records alongside Partridge Family records. In that case, one has to be specific.
The week 'Laughter In The Rain' hit #1 another fantastic song peaked at #3. Stevie Wonder's ''Boogie On Reggae Woman', off of his Fuffilingness' First Finale' album. I've always said that this album is the most underrated from Stevie's 'Classic' 70's albums run which is ironic considering it was a #1 album and also a Grammy AOTY winner in '75. Album tracks like 'Creepin', 'Smile Please' and 'Heaven is 10 Zillion Light Years Away' stand up there with anything in Stevie's discog. and beautiful back-up vocals by Minnie Ripperton, who would score a #1 single of her own this year from an album Stevie helped produce.
I know all of that. But, it's just another case of jumping ahead, right? It confuses the entire thread. The discussion is about "Laughter In The Rain", which is what I was specifically referring to, and what was issued a whole year before his lizard-lounge remake of "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do". Like I said, i'm not going to protest about jumping ahead anymore and let you guys realize for yourselves how the thread discussion gets confused by doing it to such a degree. If you had said "Partridge Family" instead of David Cassidy, and had not stated that it was a huge hit, I would not have had that reaction. (Yeah, we all know that the Partridge Family" was technically David with his mom Shirley Jones on backgrounds, but that's beside the point.)
Five tracks of the Sedaka's Back album came from his 1974 UK Polydor LP Laughter In The Rain (the title track from which, in 1974, could only muster #15). These tracks were recorded in November and December 1973 over four sessions; they were chronicled (if not the personnel) in the Ruppli book I mentioned on the back story of this topper. The U.S. LP also featured tracks that, in the U.K., had come out on an album called The Tra-La Days Are Over, with backing by 10cc.
It made #5, but I can’t remember how long it stayed on the charts. You Haven’t Done Nothin’ peaked at #30 and Boogie On Reggae Woman made #12.
Again, about "LITR": It was recorded Nov. 6, 1973 at Clover Recording Studios in L.A. The cream of the crop of L.A. session musicians of the time (aside from saxist Jim Horn who I believe was already covered in another post on this) were assembled by Mr. Sedaka (who also played piano) and his co-producer (and engineer) Robert Appere, thus (part of the credits from his UK and US albums): - Electric Guitar: Danny Kortchmar - Acoustic Guitar: Dean Parks - Bass: Leland Sklar - Drums: Russ Kunkel - Organ: William Smith - Percussion: Milt Holland - Backing Vocals: William Smith, Abigail Haness, Brenda Gordon (later Russell), Brian Russell - Strings Arranged by: Artie Butler - Horns Arranged by: Jim Horn, Chuck Findley - Violins: Ronald Folsom, William Hymanson, Bernard Kundell, Stanley Plummer, Jay Rosen, Nathan Ross, Robert Sushel - Violas: Samuel Boghossian - Cellos: Armand Kaproff, Raymond Kelley Josephine Dapar is listed in AFM-SAG-AFTRA Fund's database for this title (from which the string section was derived, with who played what gauged from Discogs), she was apparently a copyist. They also mentioned a Robert Ross (who was also mentioned in connection with several '60's and '70's made-in-L.A. tracks), but am currently at a loss to gauge what he did on this (no album back covers mentioned him at all).
Things I like about "Laughter in the Rain": 1. Sedaka is probably my favorite of the late '50s-early '60s teen idols (although he wasn't a teenager anymore by the time he had most of his hits, stylistically he was among that crowd), and during his decade or so in the wilderness he continued to make some great records (most notably "Solitaire") that were unjustly ignored at the time. So I've always loved that he got a second bite at the apple, and unlike Paul Anka, he got it with a good song. 2. A happy song about rain is a nice change of pace. Things I don't like about it: ...Well, none, really. I don't exactly love the song, but it's a nice, well-crafted number and I've always enjoyed hearing it on the radio, although I never got around to buying a copy. A lot of the artists we think of as having been wiped off the charts by the Beatles were really already on their way out in early 1964, including Sedaka. He already hadn't had a big hit in over a year ("Next Door to an Angel" was his last one, in late 1962). At worst, the British invasion just sped up a decline that was already in the works. What's really sad is that Sedaka almost scored a comeback at the very height of the British Invasion with "It Hurts to Be in Love," but RCA wouldn't let him release it because he hadn't recorded it in their studio. Everything on Gene Pitney's version (which did hit the top ten in the summer of '64) is really Sedaka's, except for the lead vocal. That's even him playing the piano. Bobby Vinton, incidentally, did withstand the British Invation: "Mr. Lonely" topped the charts at the end of 1964.
Gene Pitney's "It Hurts To Be In Love" is one of my favorite records, so it's a real buzzkill that it was a result of RCA screwing over Neil Sedaka. Looking at the full musician credits for LITR reminds me that most of The Section is on it - Kunkel, Sklar and Kortchmar. All names I grew to know very well once Linda Ronstadt moved to Asylum ...
Did you not see that I corrected myself in a later post? Thanks to the 30 minute rule, I couldn't go back and correct the original post. And even then, your post would have still existed, which would have contradicted my correction. I'm going to take a guess that you haven't always been perfect in all your posts.
They were most visibly Linda Ronstadt's backing group after she signed with Asylum, but worked with the likes of Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon and James Taylor. They also worked extensively with Carole King, which is no doubt how they hooked up with Neil Sedaka.
No - I'm not (repeat not) jumping ahead. I was going back to 1962. The 1972 Partridge Family "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" which I referenced is a remake of the 1962 #1 Neil Sedaka hit. That arrangement. (It's not a great cover version, as others have said -- but that really wasn't the point) This has nothing to do with the 1976 Sedaka remake. I've said several times here that I've intentionally not tried to go ahead. It's frustrating when people don't connect your earlier posts together, and maybe as a result of that, give you the benefit of the doubt. Why did you assume we were talking about the 1976 remake? Did you not consider there could have been another possibility? (1962?) If you want to blow your stack because you think I was going ahead, when I wasn't, go right ahead. Sometimes people make mistakes. And sometimes it is relatively easy to figure them out (David Cassidy/Partridge Family was a case of that, I think). It might have been better to try to figure that out than blow your stack at me. Have you ever made an incorrect post, and then be unable to correct it, and have someone jump down your throat for making a mistake? Try to put yourself in my shoes, if you can. I'm probably going to take a break from this thread for a while. Some of you need to chill.
One more Carpenter/Sedaka tie-in: Neil's latter day ballad remake of "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" features strings arranged by Richard Carpenter.
So, sounds like it was serious in that he was using an art from to read the lines. I guess that’s valid, but all it does is make me laugh out loud!
Hard to believe A&M thought it would perform well as a single. For me, and okay album track, but a single? So, have to agree with you.
Well, this is sad. As a big Carps fan, I don’t even remember their version other than I know it’s on the album. I DO remember the Partridge Family version, which was done well if you like the PF. I wasn’t looking at this thread yet so I don’t know what the comments were during ITILY. That is probably worth looking backwards to! I won’t comment since I’m assuming at the rate this is going (not mean’t as a negative) it was probably five years ago!
Yes, I saw that. That's why I edited my post unter the 30 minute limit. You should have seen what I had in there before! Of course I haven't! But, since we both realize it was an error that I reacted to, let's move on. Now, about that other thing about Neil Sedaka and talking about a song that hadn't been released as a single for another year......