Scared To Be With Dory

By Dory Previn I have in an mp3 collection: On My Way To Where 1970 (With My Daddy in the Attic, Beware of Young Girls), Mythical Kings & Iguanas 1971, Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign 1972. I had them all as vinyl at one time & replaced them eventually for better sound quality. Now, who is Dory Previn you might ask?

As as songwriter she was well established thanks to several Oscar nominations before she recorded her first solo lp. Ex-wife of Andre Previn, she came into her own when he dumped her for the ultimate groupie Mia Farrow (Mia went on from Previn to Sinatra & then, famously Woody Allen). Dory’s song Beware of Young Girls mercilessly chronicles that event.

The first lp is one of the rawest emotional recordings & puts the lyrics of many more popular ‘confessionals’ i.e. Joni Mitchell (who I like), or Don McLean, to shame. Her music & vocal style is jazz, if anything. Her voice is an acquired taste – I find it thin unlike say, Nancy Wilson. Buddy Collette’s clarinet work on Daddy in the Attic is a marvel. The other lp’s I have are good & pull no punches – ‘who do I have to fuck to get out of this picture’

Another equally raw confessional singer/songwriter is the amazing Janis Ian, so on this mp3 collection I have her Stars (Jessie), Between The Lines (At Seventeen), Aftertones, Night Rains. Check out my earlier post about her for more – https://topoet.ca/2018/12/10/janis-ian/

It seemed fitting to also add the more contemporary & equally raw emotional Adele with her 19 (Deluxe Edition) & 21. Her voice is powerful, her music is appealing & her lyrics speak to broken-hearts around the world. As much as I enjoy her sound I feel she hasn’t really progressed musically – too many songs force themselves to an emotional pitch.

Finally I rounded out this collection with Duffy’s Endlessly – after such an emotional load I needed a much lighter music approach with a throw back to her girl-group sounds of the sixties. Radio friendly & sweet in a way that is refreshing after Dory Previn 🙂