Ian & the Zodiacs
Listen – The Crying Game – MP3
Greetings.
I figured that for the first music post here at Iron Leg I ought to grab something out of left field (and that I already had digitized…). That selection is a rather uncharacteristic number by one of the (unjustly) dim lights of the British Beat era, Ian & the Zodiacs.
Formed in Liverpool, Ian and the Zodiacs – like the Creation a few years later – were much bigger on the continent (especially Germany) than they were in the UK.
I first got into them back in my garage punk days because of two particularly intense, punky sides, ‘Why Can’t It Be Me’ (an absolute proto-punk epic with a monumental guitar riff) and ‘Na Na Na Na Na’.
It was years later when I happened upon their version of ‘The Crying Game’, which coincidentally happens to be one of my favorite ballads. I – like most people – first became aware of the song when it was used in the movie of the same name (and rerecorded, not too shabbily, by none other than Boy George). The original hit version of the song was by Dave Berry, another Beat era cat who was fairly huge in the UK and Europe but never really hit over here in the States.
My favorite version of the tune (which I have to dig out and digitize) is a cover by Brenda Lee (I shit you not), which takes the built in melodrama of the song and ratchets it up exponentially to the point where it seems as if the turntable is about to burst into tears.
The Ian and the Zodiacs version is a little rougher around the edges than the Berry original, and actually bumps up the tempo a little, edging into slow-dance territory.
Either way it’s a great record.
A few years back there were a bunch of reissues of Ian & the Zodiacs LPs for the Star Club label, but as far as I can tell they appear to be out of print.
Peace
Larry
7 Comments
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Larry, I’d be interested in hearing those two “punky” sides that you mention in the write-up!
Classic song.
Some time back I got a Jose Feliciano album where he covers another Mersey Beat staple ‘Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying’ where he puts his all into it just like what you mention Brenda Lee puts into this.
Ciggie
I’l try to dig out the CD tis week and rip those tracks
Larry
[...] to add an edge to the anecdote above, I’m going to make good on my earlier promise to post the two punky Ian & the Zodiacs tracks I referenced in an earlier [...]
[...] Zodiacs. They too were British, so I figured covering a Dave Berry tune wasn’t at all unusual. I posted the I & the Zs version here at Iron Leg a little over a year ago, mentioned how much I loved the Brenda Lee version, and figure I’d never be able to connect the [...]
Hey thanks, man! I’ve been searching for this particular recording for, oh, about 44 years now. How about that? This version was my intro to The Crying Game. They played it on local WROV in Roanoke, VA, and other little known songs that have haunted me since. Years later I obtained the Brenda Lee version on 45 RPM, then much later the Dave Berry one on a CD compilation. They’re all great, but this is the one that captured my adolescent heart, AND I HADN’T HEARD IT SINCE. So thanks again.
[...] love the song in the versions by Dave Berry and Ian and the Zodiacs*, but once I heard Lee’s rendition there was simply no going [...]