Does one song justify a career?
Well maybe but it’s not a question I have to think about because there wasn’t quite a career here.
Does one song justify an album?
Perhaps not, but in pop it has on many, many other occasions.
That song here is "Jeans On".
And it is pop. Pure pop. It was originally a TV ad jingle. Could anything be more commercial?
I recall that song in my early youth, my pre teens.
It was infectious and irresistible. And it came out at a time when "jeans" were all over the airwaves.
Neil Diamond , "Forever in Blue Jeans" (1978) went to #20 in the US, Dr Hook with their "Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk" (1982) went to #25 (US) in 1982 and in Australia the legendary Skyhooks took their ode to, and indictment of conformity, "Blue Jeans" to #12 in 1976.
And for whatever reason most of the clips for those songs, I recall, featured girls in very tight jeans. Perfect.
It kept me going until Daisy Duke turned up in her, errr, jeans in the late 70s.
Has any item of clothing been more venerated in song and popular culture?
If you feel sorry for David, then I ask "How many Lord’s do you know"?
wikipedia: "Lord David Paul Nicholas Dundas (born 2 June 1945, Oxford, England) is an English musician known for his film and television scoring, having previously had chart success in the rock genre….Dundas is the son of the 3rd Marquess of Zetland, and was educated at Harrow and the Central School of Speech and Drama. His 1976 single "Jeans On" reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart, #17 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and #1 in the German Singles Charts, where the song remained 19 weeks in the Top Ten"
It seems that Dundas’ musical "career" may have been accidental. He had actually started out as an actor. You can see him in "Prudence and the Pill" (1968) with David Niven and "Mosquito Squadron" (1969). He contributed music to some early films and then wrote TV ad jingles including as ad for Brutus jeans which became popular and metamorphed into "Jeans On".
On the success of that song he recorded two albums (this one and "Vertical Hold" in 1978) and then went on to score for film and TV in England including composing the score for the (tedious) cult favourite "Withnail and I" 1987.
He wrote his own material, was a idealised product of the 70s, and truly nailed it once with a catchy bit of pop.
That’s enough.
Tracks (best in italics)
All written by David Dundas unless otherwise noted
• Intro (Hallo) – It is what it says , an "intro"
• New York Doll – quite a bouncy little ditty which has nothing about the band of the same name. This comes over as a crazy cross between Lovin Spoonful and The Kinks. Not a bad place to be though it’s perhaps 7 years too late.
• Another Funny Honeymoon – the follow up single and another catchy tune.
• Daisy Star – written about Dundas’ child.
• Baby Face – (Harry Akst / David Dundas) – The old song from the 1920s, done by everyone including Little Richard and Bobby Darin but probably associated with Al Jolson. This is done with ukelele and tellingly recalls the Kinks who performed live as captured on their live album "Everybody’s in Show-Biz" from 1972. Dundas with his background in film must have been attracted to Davies who’s concept albums of the 70s were visual. The song here is totally charming with little concession to modernity.
• Stick on Your Lollypop – shades of McCartney, if he got cuter still. "I wanna be the stick on your lollypop" – try that line next time you are in a club and see if you pick up. Email responses to comments box.
• Jeans On – (David Dundas / Roger Greenaway) – The song originally appeared as a television advertising jingle for Brutus Jeans. The words used in the ad were "I pull my Brutus jeans on" which were replaced with "I pull my old blue jeans on". Catchy pop and a memorable hit single.
• Hold On – Soft rock of the most obvious kind.
• Where Were You To-Day- no new ideas here
• Sleepy Serena – more McCartney sounds, and none too bad.
• Out of the Darkness – a suitably grandiose ballad to end the album – as if Jeff Wayne had discovered gospel…and again not unlike Ray Davies big pop ballads of the early 70s.
• Outro (Smile On) – yes, an outro.
And …
This album is a little slight but surprisingly listenable and strangely memorable. If this had come out 5 years earlier it may have been better regarded as it exists in a auteur pop world lodged somewhere between three other Davids – Bowie, Essex and Cassidy.
So, the answer to whether I’m keeping this is …….maybe. I do have the 45 but ….
Chart Action
US
Singles
1977 Jeans On The Billboard Hot 100 #17
Album
—
England
Singles
1976 Jeans On #3
1977 Another Funny Honeymoon #29
Album
—
Clearly a hit single doesn’t guarantee a charting album.
Sounds
Intro (Hallo)
New York Doll
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_rRgsBtM-E
Another Funny Honeymoon
live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abte_ExZpaI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8g9N8nriLI
Daisy Star
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0mkzwzI-i4
Baby Face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se3rt6MTUvk
Stick on Your Lollypop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sme-bWP7his
mp3 below
David Dundas – Stick on Your Lollypop
Jeans On
live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWdcZqG02Ls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_cHUGUppk0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMiLZcT38fE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXsRHbi3ysw
more live, this one has dancers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIYM_i7IISE
the original Brutus Jeans add
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKKwXCwrUu4
mp3 below
Others
—
Review
—
Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_David_Dundas
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/david-dundas-mn0000944165
Website
—
Trivia
—
