Video Potpourri

Here’s a quintet of memorable videos I’ve “discovered” in the past few months. There isn’t any coherent theme to these other than they are all wonderful examples of music performed at its highest level.

First up is Jill Sobule from a 1996 live performance on Conan O’Brien. This is a song from the kid movie Harriet the Spy but it is anything but juvenile. Literate, witty, a nice arrangement and a really great band (with my old pal Paul Scher on Bari sax):



Next is the venerable John Sebastian redoing one of his Lovin’ Spoonful hits in this video with the MonaLisa Twins. In what might have otherwise been a creepshow, JB, obviously enjoying this musical collaboration, manages to turn back the hands of time as the song rolls to its finish. The Twins are talented and charming, of course, and that is their real dad in the cameo:



Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt made a series of recordings together in the 1970s. Here they are doing a Neil Young cover; especially notable is the presence of a glass armonica in the band:



The next video is some kind of career high point for all five of its main performers: David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Neil Young and… and… wait for it… Tom Jones!



Finally, if there was any question as to the depth of Dusty Springfield’s talent, this pairing of her with Mel Torme should silence all doubters: