FRANKIE VAUGHAN - “Tower Of Strength”
(9th December 1961)
A record that anticipates, outdoes, and sadly fails to prevent Tom Jones, “Tower Of Strength” is the pop equivalent of those great, famous old Charles Atlas ads. Hey! Wimp! Fed up with having sand kicked in your face? Well, we can’t promise you the secrets of muscle mystery, but we can slap your frustration on vinyl and let you howl along as if you did have biceps like steel cords. Frankie Vaughan’s performance is beserk - check that first verse, he bellows the lines and then ends each one - “door!”, “knees!”, “mee-eee!” - with a different kind of shriek. When he comes back for more in verse two his voice is more of a bassy gasp, and then he ends it all with a cod-opera flourish. Marcello C has called this one of the great British soul singles - I’d agree, but I think it’s helped hugely by being recorded near the beginning of soul, before its emotional lexicon had been fully compiled. In the right mood “Tower Of Strength” can harrow you, but in another mood - which also turns out to be ‘right’ - it’s an absolute hoot. Like much of my favourite British music, you can take it as seriously as you like - or need. 8
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Joe Williams on August 29th, 2005
Can’t say I agree about the quality of the record (I’ll go for 5/10) but it certainly is a mental performance. Also the first Number One written by Burt Bacharach, fact fans.
Tom on July 22nd, 2006
I thought “Magic Moments” by Perry Como was also by Bacharach?
Marcello Carlin on July 22nd, 2006
Indeed it was.
FT's Lena on May 26th, 2008
This is an overwhelming record and I can’t help but think that Billy MacKenzie heard it & absorbed it when he was but a lad…just tremendous…
wichita lineman on May 27th, 2008
Gene McDaniels’ original (from mere weeks earlier) is absolutely worth a listen. Less histrionic but just as intense and tragicomic.
DJ Punctum on May 27th, 2008
You get this idea in your head about Frankie Vaughan - the top hat n’ tails, the cane, the Tiller Girls and all that - and then suddenly he erupts into something like this. It’s an astonishing example of a singer momentarily exceeding himself and accidentally (or not) becoming something or someone greater, even if only for two or three minutes. I can’t think of many other examples of this from the British showbiz perspective (except Anthony Newley, but then he was always a law in and unto himself).
FT's SteveIson on July 21st, 2008
You can hear the joy of using a full orchestra here to create such a dramatic impact as well..Yeh,brilliant melodramatic vocal too 8
Col Berg on August 2nd, 2008
First two records I bought at about the same time. Tower of Strength by Frankie Vaughn, and Hit the road Jack, Ray Charles. I knew nothing about Blues, Jazz or what they were, I just loved those records when I heard them on the Radio. Since then I became a huge Jazz, blues and soul fan. I guess that says a huge amount about Tower of Strength.
wichita lineman on August 3rd, 2008
I think he was underused resource. Jim Lowe’s original Green Door is weak alongside Frankie’s version (at a time when this was almost never true of British covers), which sweats frustration. He wasn’t all vaudeville and, yes, he shared some of Anthony Newley’s versatility. Has anyone seen any of his films? Mid 60s FV 45s that make the grade are moody, mid-paced You’re The One For Me and a version of Wait from Rubber Soul (the only cover of it that I can think of).
wichita lineman on August 3rd, 2008
I think he was an undervalued resource. Jim Lowe’s original Green Door is weak alongside Frankie’s version (at a time when this was almost never true of British covers), which sweats frustration. He wasn’t all vaudeville and, yes, he shared some of Anthony Newley’s versatility. Has anyone seen any of his films? Mid 60s FV 45s that make the grade are moody, mid-paced You’re The One For Me and a version of Wait from Rubber Soul (the only cover of it that I can think of).