Genre: pop
Rating: ** (2 stars)
Title: Lily & Maria
Company: Columbia
Catalog: CS 9707
Year: 1968
Country/State: US
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG+
Comments: minor ring, edge and corner wear
Available: SOLD
GEMM Catalog ID: SOLD
Price: SOLD
I'll readily admit that I didn't like this album very much, but remember that it's just my lame opinion. Want to hear something even stranger? In spite of a rather critical review, not too long ago I sold a copy of this album to one of the two performers. She wanted a copy for one of her grandchildren. Guess that was my 30 seconds of fame.
This one's begun to pop up on dealer's lists, described as a great slice of lost psych ... Um, not quite.
Born in Germany, but raised in the Bronx by a pair of Holocaust survivors, Lily Fishman studied theater in her teens. By the
mid-1960s she was performing on Off Broadway where, together with friend Marie Neumann, the pair somehow attracted the attention of Columbia Records. Signed to a recording contract, 1968's the cleverly titled
"Lily & Marie" teamed the pair with producers Garry Sherman and Stanley Kahan. In terms of credits, Neumann wrote most of the
material and seems to have handled most of vocals. Here I'll actually admit to the fact
I picked up a copy of the LP given I'd seen various references describing it as being "moody psych" and "acid folk".
Chalk that description up to dealer hype. So if it ain't psych, what is it? Imagine a female Simon and
Garfunkel. Now eliminate
some of the songwriting talent; delete some of the vocal abilities; eradicate
most of that pair's limited sense of humor and for good measure add on a mix of cloying lyrics and
nauseating arrangements. Yup, that'll give you a pretty good picture of the results. Basically it's hard to decide what worse, the duo's lame stabs at making big and sensitive statements
('Subway Thoughts' and 'Ismene - Jasime'), or
Neuman's little girl lost voice. To my ears the woman can't come within a mile of hitting a song's melody. Given the album vanished without a trace, most folks (or at least the few that heard this), apparently agreed.
"Lily & Marie" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Subway Thoughts (Marie Neumann) -
2.) Everybody Knows (Marie Neumann) -
3.) I Was (Marie Neumann) -
4.) Ismene - Jasime (Lily Fishman) -
5.) They'll Be No Clowns Tonight (Marie Neumann) -
(side 2)
1.) Aftermath
(Marie Neumann) -
2.) Morning Glory Morning (Marie Neumann) -
3.) Melt Me (Marie Neumann) -
4.) Fourteen After One (Lily Fishman - Marie Neumann) -
Now here's where it gets really weird. Born and raised in a Jewish household, in the
early-1970s Fishman discovered religion - she became a Christian. Subsequently married to Joe Isaacs, Fishman-Isaacs ended up in Tennessee where she raised a family. As The Isaacs, the family tours the country as bluegrass-cum-Gospel performers.
They even have a webste:
http://poptop.hypermart.net/testli.html