Noel Harrison (1933-2013)

[uiwangmike]

I happened to look him up a few months ago in a “Whatever became of . . . ?” moment, after listening to the Radio 2 program about Rory McEwen, with whom, together with Cy Grant, he shared the topical calypso spot on BBC TV’s Tonight. I particularly remember one edition broadcast in 1958 from the Brussels World Expo where he gamely performed in front of the Atomium with Cliff Michelmore holding up his script in a driving wind.
I suppose he’s best known for his insidious 1968 hit Windmills of Your Mind. I never heard much of his recordings apart from that, but I was interested to read that he staged a musical based on Jacques Brel songs. Unfortunately, there’s nothing of that on YouTube, but there is this version of a Charles Aznavour song (though his own singing style sounds to me to owe more to Georges Brassens, and perhaps something to Harrison Snr.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK2wfs33trk
And this, the title track of an LP I used to see in the Male Solo bins together with the usual Tims and Toms. I was always a bit intrigued by the title, but never got around to listening to until now. I find it’s rather Lightfootesque:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDVidJtmVs
And this Beatles cover, with Barbara McNair and the Byrds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SNgA_LpvEY
Windmills, at Glastonbury 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlGHtdBlpQ4

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/o ... l-harrison