Monday, May 16, 2016

Andy and the Bey Sisters

Artist: Andy and the Bey Sisters
LP: Andy and the Bey Sisters
Song: "Mood Indigo" 
[ listen ]
Song: "You Can't Be Mine Anymore" 
[ listen ]

Here's something pretty wonderful that I found at Bay Sound in Daphne, Alabama a few years ago. Andy and his sisters never did take America by storm, but they should have if you ask me, or if you ask whoever wrote the liner notes for the back of their 1961 debut LP on RCA. Of course the Europeans loved Andy and his sisters, but then they've always been ahead of the game. Marlon Brando has always known a good thing when he hears it too, and he loved Andy and the Bey Sisters. 

I just saw Brando last night in THE CHASE (1966), which for some reason I had thought was a comedy. It's not. Though a little heavy on the melodramatics, it's a good film about topical issues directed by Arthur Penn the year before he made BONNIE & CLYDE. It features an all-star cast, including a late-career turn by Miriam Hopkins, who you may remember from THESE THREE (1936), which was written by Lillian Hellman, as was the screenplay for THE CHASE. Hopkins also co-starred in some 'old' Bette Davis movies—THE OLD MAID (1939) and OLD ACQUAINTANCE (1943). Anyway, Brando loved Andy and the Bey Sisters. I don't know if he ever got to play them for Miriam Hopkins while they were working together, but I bet she would have loved them too.

You can read more about the fascinating and talented trio of Bey siblings here, find a 2004 NPR piece about some of Andy Bey's (relatively) recent work here, and listen to Andy perform a devastating version of Nick Drake's "River Man" here. There's also a video clip and liner notes a-plenty included below.

Andy and the Bey Sisters on YouTube:
[ "Smooth Sailing" ] 

[ Andy and the Bey Sisters ]

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