Arts Lives - Gilbert O' Sullivan

condra

Just finished watching the brilliant documentary about Gilbert O' Sullivan on RTE.

Did any of you see it? If not, keep an eye out for a rerun. It's well worth the watch.

Fascinating man. Youthful, bitter, creative, funny. I feel in some ways he is a product of the music industry itself.

Very well made documentary too. They managed to cover a lot of ground. At one point he played the infamous Biz Markie record on his turntable and talked about the legal action.

I really hope at some point this documentary finds its way onto the internet for the world to see.

Kristopherus

Yea, watched & ebjoyed it. Did'nt he do well out of those royalty disputes???

JonathanAnon

I'm a big fan of his but Gilbert (Raymond, whatever) always comes across as very bitter. Particularly about Gorden Mills.

In this documentary, he also comes across as arrogant, difficult and self indulgent. However, there is certainly no denying the man's talent and it was a fascinating documentary.

He should be more grateful for the life that music has given him, and not be complaining about the lack of recognition he gets for his recent work. The music industry has changed completely and he should be just happy that he got a buck out of it, when it was actually possible for a singer songwriter to do so.

croo

condra wrote: »

I really hope at some point this documentary finds its way onto the internet for the world to see.

It is on rte's player
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1071139

JonathanAnon

How awkward was the moment when he met Clair Mills and her mother..

Shane10

does art lives be repeated anytime soon ?

The Express

Great composer and all that, but bloody hell, has one hell of a chip on his shoulder....was pissed off that he wasn't celebrated the way Elvis, The Beatles and others are.

Chill out old son; you'll ruin your image.

JonathanAnon

The Express wrote: »

Great composer and all that, but bloody hell, has one hell of a chip on his shoulder....was pissed off that he wasn't celebrated the way Elvis, The Beatles and others are. Chill out old son; you'll ruin your image.

Liveline was alll about him today Express, worth a listen. he came on the show at the end and Joe was licking his boots, as he usually does.

Shane10, the program is up the RTE Player already.. Gonna watch it again tonight rather than sit through that chick flick they are having on RTE1.
http://www.rte.ie/player/

DublinWriter

Great programme, well worth watching.

The newspaper byline he had pinned up on his wall summed it up "A moan again, naturally".

I think his songwriting mojo left him around the time of the Southpaw album in 1977; the later songs concerning 9/11 and the death of Princess Diana as featured briefly on the documentary were mawkish and mediocre.

Perhaps he sound have taken a lead from the likes of fellow 70's superstars Leo Sawyer and Mike Batt by writing for and producing younger front acts.

Alone Again was a US #1 Billboard hit for a good few weeks in the 70's, the royalties still coming in from that alone would be very substantial.

mike65

Maybe he should team up with Peter Kay for a charridy record, that would get him some attention.

JonathanAnon

I dont think the editor of the program did him any favours either to be honest. The enduring memory from the last part of the show is showing him saying "Well they celebrate Billy Joel, but not me".. which I think he was actually saying half facetiously.

I agree with most of what DublinWriter says. Even Paul McCartney is still releasing stuff and none of HIS stuff gets recognition or airplay. He seems happy enough that he can still tour with the songs he wrote over 40 years ago. I think maybe if Gilbert was on the bread line you could understand him feeling embittered by the music industry, but he has been rewarded handsomely for his work and has a very good living standard.. Who gives a fk if a radio station celebrates your birthday (á la his reference to Billy Joel).

Worked out Alone Again on the guitar last nite ... great song. Played it live in a pub one night, fairly killed the night.. scratch one Gilbert O'Sullivan song from the set list.

rednik

mike65 wrote: »

Maybe he should team up with Peter Kay for a charridy record, that would get him some attention.

No way. He should team up with that other chip on the shoulder Johnny Logan. Maybe they could rework one of Logan's like, "Whats another chip".

condra

I like some of his early stuff in a twee sort of way. But the more recent material is naive, irrelevant, cliche-ridden, sentimental, mormon-esque tripe.

That "Are You Happy" thing..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-KZ1m2cUak
Sigh...

He should write songs for Highschool Musical or some other similarly soulless, optimistic drivel.

Nolanger

If he's so great why doesn't he enter next year's Irish Eurovision song contest and win?

Dennis the Stone

condra wrote: »

I like some of his early stuff in a twee sort of way. But the more recent material is naive, irrelevant, cliche-ridden, sentimental, mormon-esque tripe.

That "Are You Happy" thing..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-KZ1m2cUak
Sigh...

He should write songs for Highschool Musical or some other similarly soulless, optimistic drivel.

Ha that's the cheesiest thing ever, strangely enough, I like it. I think Gilbert should ask himself "Are You Happy?". He doesn't seem to be. He looks like he's taking a shít in that video.