SONGS for A MODEL GIRL by RICHARD ALEXANDER & MAREK BLACK
 |
| A serious Emma Williams - where has everybody gone? |
(with additional music and lyrics by ROBIN MILLAR, DUNCAN BROWNE, DOMINIC KING & PICKFORD SYKES / also additional lyrics by CONSTANCE HEPWORTH, used in one of the recordings, but not in the live show)
A MODEL GIRL - ACT TWO
(Press the play icon by track 17 and the tracks will play one by one, all the way through Act Two.)
- GOSSIP INTRO (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander) / CRIME IS TO BE CAUGHT (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander) 3:50
Gossip Intro / Crime Is To Be Caught
(Lead vocal: Jackie Clune / Sax: Julian Landymore)
‘Reality’ TV! DD D-lister soap-star eats five live cockroaches and simultaneously stuffs five frogs up all five of her orifices!!! Hooray for Bazalguette and the Big Brother public humiliation concept! The sets cost zero and the fat sit-at-home cretins phone in at inflated prices to vote for the biggest inflated tits on the show!!! Everyone loses out except the producers. Genius!!!!! This medley of themes seems very old-fashioned in its prudish ‘revelations’, but I rather like its shallow innocence and louche pretence. - YOU’VE GOT ME, CHRISTINE (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander & Marek Black) 4:09
You've Got Me, Christine
(Lead vocals: Marek Black, Alex Jay / Trumpet/flugelhorn: Gerard Presencer / Piano: Jon Baker)
Originally a tribute that I wrote to Marlene Dietrich, this song was then called ‘You’ve Got Me, Marlene’. (Which I once performed on the Saturday night TV equivalent of the Morecambe & Wise Show!) That outstanding ‘vintage’ recording (arranged and produced by the one and only Martyn Ford) will soon be featuring in the ‘From The Vaults’ section. Meanwhile, Richard cleverly re-purposed the lyrics of the song for ‘A Model Girl’. I was really delighted with Jon’s new arrangement and, as always, with Gerard’s invention. At Greenwich, Emma and Dale turned up the sensual heat in their more-than-suggestive interactions on the stage floor ... - SHE BRING YOU DOWN (Music & lyrics: Richard Alexander, Marek Black & Robin Millar) 4:31
She Bring You Down
(Lead vocals: Cornell John, Alex Jay / Sax: Julian Landymore)
Watch out, ladeez! Cornell’s in the house. And he’s not a happy bunny. Dat woman, she bringin’ him down. (Well, there’s a surprise!) This track’s been through several demos and masters, but this is particularly nice, in a not-so-nice way!! Alex teases, Julian blows and we all get the Motown massage. Graham’s rendition of the song in the live show brought the house down most nights. Brilliant!!! - YOU’VE GOT TO KEEP SMILE ON YOUR FACE (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander & Marek Black) 2:31
You've Got To Keep Smile On Your Face
(Lead vocals: Alex Jay, Marek Black / Whistling: Guy Fletcher)
Another song from my personal piano-and-vocal vaults, where Richard re-purposed some of the lyrics for the show. Sadly for some, it was replaced by ‘Heartbroken’ in the final running order. (Btw, there’s a master of the original ‘Heartbroken’ in ‘From The Vaults’.) The track features more delicious BVs arranged by Jon and sung enthusiastically by Jon and myself; and the supremely tuneful whistling is by the legendary Guy Fletcher. (In the end, the song appeared rather limply in the live show as an uncredited instrumental in Act One.) - GOSSIP, GOSSIP 1 (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander) 1:23
Gossip, Gossip 1
(Lead vocal: Marek Black)
A depiction of a bygone ‘town crier’ method of disseminating the hot news of the day. The ascending chords towards the end of the track are the same as the verse chords of Frightened. - INVESTIGATE (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander) 2:55
Investigate
(Lead vocal: Marek Black)
For a lot of people, this is their favourite out of all 'A Model Girl''s songs. Which is a laugh because it was left out of the final live show, dropped in favour of keeping the action moving and of keeping ‘Frightened’ in. In fact, Richard and I subsequently re-wrote the verses, with new Weill-(bodies)-style chords, a cunning arrangement by Jon B, and an Eartha Kitt delivery by yours truly. I’ll stick that version up soon. Meanwhile, I love the rhyming of ‘slept with’ and ‘contraceptive’, and, when the songs kicks off - as it were - I’m always envisaging a squad of coppers up on stage, kicking some hapless ‘culprit’ in a perfect choreography of violence! - FRIGHTENED (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander) 3:18
Frightened
(Lead vocals: Alex Jay, Marek Black / Trumpet: Gerard Presencer / Guitar: Jasper Smith / Brass arrangement: Jon Baker)
The verse tune and chords of this pivotal uber-dramatic song were written when I was at school, as part of as a song called ‘Thoughts of Gethsemane’. Pretentious, mwar? Gerard pulls out a fably crazed solo! Btw, the last line is ‘I’m not finished’ ... NOT a Gethsemane-like denial of being Scandinavian … - GOSSIP, GOSSIP 3 & 4 (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander) 0:53
Gossip, Gossip 3 & 4
(Lead vocal: Marek Black)
Check out the big C major organ chord at the end of this track … intended to lead us unto the Court Scene in most regal fashion! Well, in the show, it didn’t, cos it was, er, edited out! Still sounds impressive, though!!! - WE WANT THE TRUTH (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander) 2:34
We Want The Truth
(Lead vocals: Marek Black, Alex Jay / Gospel wail: Jon Baker / Speaking voices: Jon Baker, Marek Black)
This musical collage was also edited out at Greenwich, as the whole scene was truncated thanks to the totally justified directorial decision to avoid slowing the pace down at all costs at this stage of the show. No history lessons here, matey!! This ‘sketch’ for the scene uses the BVs line from ‘How Many Times Do You Live?’ as the main tune, and features a wild gospel falsetto wail by Mr B and also fatuous accents by Jon and myself as we ‘act’ judge and prosecuting barrister and Ward. (Is that 'George Michael presides with a face of cold granite ... ' that I can hear in verse 1?) And that weirdo sustained chord?? I wrote that as an accompaniment to some words about the colour of the carpet, the ceiling, etc, while once clamped quasi-motionless to a chair, in agony, with my neck in some God-awful rictus. “She’s a slut! He’s a pimp!” Oh yes please! - ANGEL OF MY LIFE (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander, Marek Black & Robin Millar) / CHRISTINE chorus (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander, Marek Black, & Robin Millar) 5:26
Angel Of My Life / Christine
(Lead vocal & piano: Marek Black / Ondes Martenot: Cynthia Millar)
Originally a Robin and Marek song, this was re-purposed by Richard to great effect. Starting with the ondes Martenot theme (sans strings) from the opening of album track, ‘I’ll See You In Heaven’, the track ends with more of Richard Trotter’s ‘Armaggedon’ sample (originally on ‘Dancing In The Rain’), which accompanies Stephen’s soul’s journey out of his body and into the ether. Before that ‘horror’ moment, he remembers his first feelings about his only true friend to the end, Christine, and revives the chorus of the song he sang in Act One at that particular moment in the development of their relationship. James sang this song brilliantly at Greenwich and he died ‘well’ … not a dry eye in the house!! - WHEN THE MORNING COMES (Music: Marek Black / Lyrics: Richard Alexander) 3:46
When The Morning Comes
(Lead vocal: Alex Jay)
A very Righteous song of hope, this, featuring more of Jon and yours truly having lotsa BVs fun. This and ‘Mesmerised’ were the last two new songs to be written specifically for the show. On the day of recording, Alex arrived at Miloco Studios and told us that her throat was in mega-shot shape and that her doctor had forbidden her to sing for x days. Like the total hero that she will always be, she gave the song her all, even though, in truth, it’s pitched a tone higher than it should have been for her. I loved the end of this song at Greenwich, with Emma, spotlighted on her own, singing “Where has everybody gone?”, because she’s been abandoned by all and sundry, crassly dumped and cruelly shunned. The party’s clearly over for her, as it was in real life: “That mystery world, that wide-eyed girl - they're all history now” ... so true!!! - A MODEL GIRL instrumental (Music: Marek Black) 1:20
A Model Girl (instrumental)
(Trumpet/flugelhorn: Gerard Presencer / Guitar: Jasper Smith)
I desperately wanted the music of the show (at least) to end up on an upbeat note, despite the bleak, unforgiving horror of it all. So, for this outtro, we step back in time to what is, for me, the highest ‘up’ spot of the show, both musically and emotionally, with the song where Stephen promises Christine ‘the world’ and our hearts leap along with his enthusiasm. Gerard’s playing imbues the track with a sense of poignant resignation …
And then he stops
And it’s all over.
All tracks arranged and produced by Maestro Jon Baker.
