The Summer That Changed

Bedsit Poets | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 13, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Bongo Beat Records
• ASIN: B000AXWHHQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,411 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. February Kisses

2. Refusing to Play

3. Reach for the Sky

4. Black Heart

5. Simple Twist of Emotion

6. The Summer That Changed

7. Far From You

8. Round and Round

9. Don't Ask Me To Be Friends

10. Little Boy

11. Let It Rain

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless Sixties Pop, October 30, 2005

By 

E. Seifert (New Milford, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Summer That Changed (Audio CD)

Richard Thompson's just released a disc called Front Parlour Ballads, and that title would have been an apt description for this collection as well. It's a near-perfect revival of British pop from the sixties. Think Peter and Gordon or Dusty Springfield-but there's a touch of American influence here, too, most notably on the Gerry Goffin-penned Don't Ask Me To Be Friends, previously done by the Everly Brothers. It's one of the highlights here, and there are more than of few of those.
The Bedsit Poets are Amanda Thorpe and Edward Rogers, though they've had some help making this record from the likes of Mac Randall on bass and guitar, Andy Burton on keyboards, and Pete and Maura Kennedy as producers.The lead track, February Kisses, is a stellar mood piece, haunting and catchy at once. Thorpe's vocals and the song's arrangement make it memorable.
Next comes Refusing To Play, one of several tunes here that sound as if they could have been written by Rogers' friend, wonderful New York tunesmith George Usher. Along with several other songs here, there's a sense of melancholia that's conveyed in a subtle rather than literal way. In most cases, the lyrics aren't nearly as sad as the feeling that you get from listening to the songs. That's not an easy thing to pull off, but the Poets do it gracefully.
There's a slight shift in feel on the CD's last track, Let It Rain On Me. Again it's Thorpe on the lead vocal, this time evoking Aimee Mann with both her tone and the song's melody.
The voices of the two principles blend well throughout, with Roger's more blunt tones lending an edge that might otherwise have been lacking. There's an interesting interplay between the two on Little Boy, where Ed's voice is a little more tender than it is elsewhere. It's another of the CD's standouts, along with Simple Twist of Emotion, where Randall's arpeggio notes fall like raindrops around the melody.
If you haven't guessed already, this is more of a Sunday morning record than a Saturday night record. Play this alongside some of the prettier Velvet Underground ballads, and you'll be transported to a similar place.
If only we could stay there.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boy/Girl 60s Acoustic Pop. Wonderfully bittersweet., September 14, 2005

By 

diodes fan "Beatnik Guy" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Summer That Changed (Audio CD)

Luna meets Fairport Convention / Pentangle soft electric folk pop.

Debut cd produced by The Kennedys (acclaimed folk duo currently hosting "Dharma Cafe" on Sirius Radio Folktown. Pete & Maura Kennedy also play on CD).

Group principals are Edward Rogers and Amanda Thorpe, two British musicians living in NYC; joined by author/music journalist Mac Randall on guitar

Edward Rogers has a solo album on Not Lame and is the producer of the popular Beat Goes On concert series in New York

Amanda Thorpe has two solo cds out and is ex-Wirebirds

Group was named by Colin Blunstone (Zombies singer)

Keyboards by Andy Burton (Ian Hunter)

Group has played NXNE Toronto and Los Angeles IPO Festival

Edward Rogers (vocals, percussion) and Amanda Thorpe (vocals, guitar, keyboards) may have burgeoning solo careers but the shimmering understated pop of their Bedsit Poets collaboration has become a surprise hit that has undertaken an exciting life of its own.

As two British musicians in New York, the duo have always shared a friendship but had never really thought of writing together until they were prompted by mutual friend Colin Blunstone (Zombies singer) who even gave them the Bedsit Poets name to get them started. With guitarist Mac Randall on board, the new band called up the production expertise of The Kennedys (good friends, who, conveniently, had a home studio not too far from Ed's apartment).

The result is their debut cd, The Summer That Changed. Produced over the course of one year; imagine Fairport Convention crossed with Belle and Sebastian, with a touch of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (in English). Haunting, tuneful, lyrically off-kilter, and stamped by the intricate warm harmonies of Edward and Amanda; it's an intimate, gentle breeze of summer. Here. Now. Forever.

Their inspired cover of "Don't Ask Me To Be Friends" (Everly Brothers) has been the unanimous audience favourite at both the NXNE and IPO festivals.

Another highlight is "February Kisses", currently on the Australian compilation Planet of the Popboomerang Vol. 2 ("...highlights are the dreamy, Marianne Faithfull like vocals of the Bedsit Poets..." - Oz Music Project ).
PRESS QUOTES:

"The reason you ought to hear them is the vocal interplay between Amanda Thorpe and Edward Rogers."

- Time Out New York

"...absolutely beautiful..."

- Amplifier

PAST SOLO PRESS

"... reminds me of the melodies and harmonies that made me love the sounds of England in 1964."

- Roger McGuinn

"...her ingenue-cum-mystic popcraft... promises to generate at least one or two tingles..."

- The Village Voice

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Does my face look pale? Yes? Thanks., November 1, 2005

By 

J. J Spina (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Summer That Changed (Audio CD)

Take the following with a wistfully shaken grain of sulk ...

A quarter of a century ago I spent a few seconds in a band-of-sorts with Ed Rogers, now half of the Bedsit Poets society of two. Back then he was a drummer with a (kenny) jones for brit rock groups ala the faces and kinks. I (rightfully) got the boot but Ed moved on through years of on-and-off groupings with an assorted host of minor New York Rockers, overcoming some physical demons on a subterranean ride that scarred his person but NEVER his persona as a supreme musical tastemaker.

He's finally found current peace and harmony with hauntress Amanda Thorpe and although there are certainly nods and assorted sods of brit-soundlings here the overall musical (vocal) effect is far greater than the 60s illusions mentioned in other reviews and solicited endorsements of the sound. Also, don't go looking for the constantly earmarked references to Serge G, Lee Hazelnut and Fran Hardy. There is nothing here of that era-specific production work. As with most modern knob-twisting this sound needs more hard-swirl and less software.

But none of that takes away from the final blend of two voices (and souls...and minds) in god-given harmony. The instrumentation is trivial at best but in a way it enhances the delicious drone of Amanda and Ed.

Their union is a tapestry of mono-chromed feelings, slight torrents of torment, sly-smiles, flirt-hesitations and a harmonic slipknot that nearly borders on incest-sans-zest. It's a butterfly kiss with no tongue of sexuality, yet all the more intense in its implied knack-of-passion.

Don't tone-arm to specific songs - the effect here is a blur of sedimental sounds and sentiments best experienced WITHOUT looking at the (I wish they hadn't printed the...) lyrics. It's not about the lyrics (though certain phrases are occasionally brilliantine) which are usually a mite-to-slick and fey-done-away but intense in the way the vocals stretch the matter through to near tone poems of frazzled emotions. This is a musical world where nothing is quite in focus and yet everything seems on the verge of lovely resolve.

A mid-period band for Rogers was a rollicking hunk of riff slop called Nico's Toys. No it wasn't a reference to THAT Nico but this Bedsit Poets is certainly the grown -out bangs of THAT Nico...listen especially to Little Boy hopefully being played at all tomorrow's parties.

Glancing references...
The black and white photography of Robert Doisneau, hair bangs as a way of life, Chelsea Boots, Vespas, stringback driving gloves, English Breakfast tea and queens-boro bobbygirls batting dramatic eyelid shadows while wearing front buttoned shirts and jackets one size too small but...fittingly just perfect.