The most unlikely comeback of the year. Dennis Lambert was one of the most successful and diverse songwriter/producers of the '70s and '80s, with hits like "Ain't No Woman Like The One I've Got", "Rhinestone Cowboy", "Don't Pull Your Love", "Baby Come Back" and "Nightshift". He had chart-toppers in almost every genre of music, and at one point four of his songs were simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a feat previously accomplished only by The Beatles. That was then. Today, he's a 60-year-old family man selling real estate in Florida. But it turns out his obscure 1972 solo album is still huge... in the Philippines. A Filipino concert promoter has been begging Dennis to tour for decades, and in 2007 - thirty-five years after the release of his album - he finally agreed. "Of All The Things" is a hilarious and touching pop/rock/country/R&B documentary that follows Dennis on his whirlwind tour as he rediscovers his passion for music -- a two-week adventure that takes him from the comforts of Boca Raton, through the remote outer islands of the Philippines, to a sold-out show at Manila's famous Araneta Coliseum for thousands of fans he never knew he had. Some lives deserve an encore.
Well, this I have to see and I'll be looking for it in the theatre or on DVD... Let me know if you see this somewhere...
2 comments:
I'm a middle-aged Filipino, and I tell you Filipinos know more about American and British music than any other country aside from US and UK themselves. During the American occupation they used to call us Little Brown Americans, and until now that is true. With the internet, this is even more correct because we have direct access to information. Lately, in the last few years, the Filipino promoters brought to the Philippines the artists that the Americans themselves have taken for granted by this time. We haven't forgotten them and their shows are fully booked. We had Toto, Cascades, Lettermen, Christopher Cross, Dione Warwick .. etc. These artists not taken for granted in the Philippines. They are still much admired. And their Filipino age group now are middle aged and have the money to
buy the concert tickets. (As teenager, they probably didn't have the money for a concert by a current pop star in the US, way back then.) The person who wrote Rhinestone Cowboy is welcome to this beautiful country! Come here Dennis Lambert!
I love all these songs. Someone misheard his title as "Ain't No Woman Like the One-Eyed Gott"!
LP, I have a book for you here with a very similar premise, "One Hit Wonderland" by songwriter Tony Hawks.
A British actor named Norman Wisdom was huge in Albania because the dictator there forbade all American movies except his. So Norman, Tony, Tim Rice and family go to Albania and Norman-mania ensues.
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