angel eyes/this masquerade

[slide_advantage_redoux]

Has anyone ever noticed that "Angel Eyes" and "This Masquerade" are essentially based on the same changes?

Great tunes both, but masquerade was sure a victim of its own popularity.

[JSngry]

Now that you mention it...

Although, to be fair to Leon Russell, the ""real" changes to the A-section of "Angel Eyes" don't follow the minor chord w/a chromatically descending 7th pattern that "Masquerade" has. But other than that...

First time I ever heard "Masquerade" was as the B-side to a Carpenters 45 thea my kid sister had bought. This would've been 1972 or so, iirc. I remember thinking that it was a surprisingly hip tune (and arrangement) for such a treacly group. When the Benson version hit, I was pleased that such a nice song of recent vintage was becoming so popular. 30 or so years later, yeah, it's "overplayed", to put it mildly, but under the right conditions it can still be a satisfying call on a gig, which is more than I can say about most hit songs from the same era.

Too bad Gene Ammons never recorded "Masqerade". An A/B of that with his definitive instrumental reading of "Angel Eyes" (for vocal, I still gotta go w/Sinatra's on Only The Lonely) would certainly have been interesting.

Edited November 6, 2005 by JSngry

[Harold_Z]

What Jim said.

[randissimo]

Here's an idea.. Next time you play a coat & tie affair, tie the 2 tunes together like a medley.

[JSngry]

And coat the world with despair!

[DukeCity]

"Excuse me while I disappear..."

classic

[Chuck Nessa]

I made the mistake of thinking "Masquerade is Over" and wondered WTF.

In that case, Jug always wins.

[DukeCity]

I made the mistake of thinking "Masquerade is Over" and wondered WTF. 

In that case, Jug always wins.

←

For "Masquerade is Over", you gotta love Nancy Wilson and Cannonball!

[Chuck Nessa]

I made the mistake of thinking "Masquerade is Over" and wondered WTF. 

In that case, Jug always wins.

←

For "Masquerade is Over", you gotta love Nancy Wilson and Cannonball!

←

No I don't.

[AllenLowe]

hey, it's late and I'm tired - but isn't the bridge to Angel Eyes also similar to the bridge to Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? (not to change the subject) -

also, reminds me of the night a very good friend of mine, a pianist, always drunk, was playing at a club in NYC and started to play You Took Advantage of Me - now think of the bridge to that and the bridge to Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams - well, he got a little confused and basically just kept going from one song to the other, sorta AABABBBBAAAAABBB - it was quite hilarious and he, himself, too drunk to really remember the difference, began to try to see if he could lose the bass player.

the next day he had absolutely NO recollection of the incident, and about 20 years later he stopped drinking -

[DukeCity]

I made the mistake of thinking "Masquerade is Over" and wondered WTF. 

In that case, Jug always wins.

←

For "Masquerade is Over", you gotta love Nancy Wilson and Cannonball!

←

No I don't.

←

Ouch!

[JSngry]

hey, it's late and I'm tired - but isn't the bridge to Angel Eyes also similar to the bridge to Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? (not to change the subject) -

←

I believe you are correct.

[slide_advantage_redoux]

hey, it's late and I'm tired - but isn't the bridge to Angel Eyes also similar to the bridge to Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? (not to change the subject) -

also, reminds me of the night a very good friend of mine, a pianist, always drunk, was playing at a club in NYC and started to play You Took Advantage of Me - now think of the bridge to that and the bridge to Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams - well, he got a little confused and basically just kept going from one song to the other,  sorta AABABBBBAAAAABBB - it was quite hilarious and he, himself,  too drunk to really remember the difference, began to try to see if he could lose the bass player.

the next day he had absolutely NO recollection of the incident, and about 20 years later he stopped drinking -

←

I hear of players who do fine on tunes until they get to the bridge, and then they freeze up. I wonder if anyone has the opposite problem - remembering nothing but the bridges to tunes.

[medjuck]

hey, it's late and I'm tired - but isn't the bridge to Angel Eyes also similar to the bridge to Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? (not to change the subject) -

also, reminds me of the night a very good friend of mine, a pianist, always drunk, was playing at a club in NYC and started to play You Took Advantage of Me - now think of the bridge to that and the bridge to Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams - well, he got a little confused and basically just kept going from one song to the other,  sorta AABABBBBAAAAABBB - it was quite hilarious and he, himself,  too drunk to really remember the difference, began to try to see if he could lose the bass player.

the next day he had absolutely NO recollection of the incident, and about 20 years later he stopped drinking -

←

I hear of players who do fine on tunes until they get to the bridge, and then they freeze up. I wonder if anyone has the opposite problem - remembering nothing but the bridges to tunes.

←

Miles got the bridge wron gto The Lights are Low and now everybody seems to play his version rather than Benny Carter's.

I first heard Masquerade on the Leon Russell record where I presume it first appeared. I remember really liking it. The Lp got a bad review in Rolling Stone presumably because it had a song making fun of writers for that magazine.