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Post by babyzoomer on Feb 4, 2018 13:29:40 GMT
In 1979 (after Discovery was in the can) JL was working on the music for Xanadu; including the disco-beat driven "I'm Alive". As usual, he used Louise Clark to wrangle the orchestra & choir for the backing. As such, Clark was exposed JL's use of a particular doof-doof beat for the song.
Within a year or so, Clark used EXACTLY that beat in his recording (with the Royal Philharmonic) of "Hooked On Classics", which was quite a hit.
Now I'm not claiming that JL invented that beat (he didn't); nor am I claiming any kind of plagiarism (kind of) - more a kind of borrowed inspiration; but can you name anything else of Clark's output which was in any way as popular.....
On that topic, "Hooked On Classics" in all it's variants sold really well - charting in the top 10 in most countries; and yet only a year or so later Clark was on the road with ELO performing on keyboards; obviously he didn't make a mint from the record sales.
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Post by Timeblue on Feb 4, 2018 20:19:25 GMT
I like the fact that out of all the singles issued by solo members of ELO, Louis achieved the highest placing of them all (no.2 in the UK)
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Post by ShardEnder on Feb 4, 2018 23:26:04 GMT
If my understanding is correct, the three main players behind Hooked On Classics - Louis Clark, plus co-producers Jeff Jarratt and Don Reedman - all received flat fees for each new project they were involved with, as did the various musicians who performed on these. K-Tel was very much a budget label, and it speaks volumes that Lou put out the "Hooked On Christmas" single via Jet only a year after the first album's release with a disclaimer stating this wasn't part of the more popular series, which had recently grown to include a second installment. For all the success he achieved, I don't believe Hooked On Classics had much of a positive effect on Lou's bank balance...
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Post by Timeblue on Feb 5, 2018 12:43:44 GMT
If my understanding is correct, the three main players behind Hooked On Classics - Louis Clark, plus co-producers Jeff Jarratt and Don Reedman - all received flat fees for each new project they were involved with, as did the various musicians who performed on these. K-Tel was very much a budget label, and it speaks volumes that Lou put out the "Hooked On Christmas" single via Jet only a year after the first album's release with a disclaimer stating this wasn't part of the more popular series, which had recently grown to include a second installment. For all the success he achieved, I don't believe Hooked On Classics had much of a positive effect on Lou's bank balance... I wonder why it was released on K-tel, if it had been done via Jet,the team might have got more money maybe?
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Post by babyzoomer on Feb 5, 2018 12:49:56 GMT
Well SOMEBODY made some money; more importantly (and I will definitely pay credit where it is due) Louis was responsible for many millions of people being exposed to classical music, who might otherwise be totally unaware....
(I suppose many went on to be disappointed that Beethoven, Tchaikovsky etc didn't actually write works with a disco beat...)
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Post by Timeblue on Feb 5, 2018 18:20:13 GMT
It was said at the time that HOC demeaned the classical genre but like you say babyzoomer it brought a whole new generation to it and introduced them to that world...
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