Monocled Alchemist

Julie Felix – “Flowers” (Fontana STL-5437) October 1967

Julie Felix ‘Flowers’ : Album re-issued on (Contour Records 6870 507) 1972

Julie Felix looks good in pictures and looks fantastic on television. In person, she looks even better.

She is also an extremely chatty bird who thinks more than somewhat about all aspects of her career. Her career, and it’s no surprise to me, is doing exceptionally well.

Julie Felix ‘Flowers’

We talked, principally, about her LP “Flowers”, which is the sort of LP I listen to on the grounds that it nurses more ideas and thoughts and talent than a round dozen of the also-rans.

We talked through the tracks and found there was a story about most of them. Like “Gates Of Eden”, a Dylan number. Julie said:

“I’m very much in favour of Dylan. These are words that I really felt I could get inside. I love his understatement, as a singer.

But I’ve gone for a different interpretation. Not particularly better . . . . but different!”

Berlin

And she talked about “Berlin”, which she wrote herself.

She was there . . . expecting to find it a grey sort of city.

But like so many preconceived ideas she found she was wrong.

She found culture there, a-plenty.

She studied the people and as she flew out, she picked up a paper napkin and jotted down the ideas. It reflected this song, her memories of the ‘groovy people’ she’d met there.

And about Dylan’s “Chimes Of Freedom”:

“I always liked this song. Then I went to Africa and saw the refugees, the children. I realised more what a lovely song it is. Freedom isn’t a fight with weapons; it’s an inner fight. I’d been singing it for a long time.

The trouble with LP’s is that you look for new material and this doesn’t always work . . . you have songs you’ve been featuring for a long time and it is natural that you do a better job with them.”

TV series

Julie talked about her up-coming TV series in December:

“Not a folk series,” said she. “I wanted to get some interesting people and then give them the freedom to do what they wanted, without feeling the need to just stand there and plug a specific record.

We looked for a broader appeal. So the guests include Spike Milligan and the Bee Gees. Josh White and Manfred Mann.

“At first I didn’t want to do any talking but they got on to me and so I agreed. I don’t feel all that comfortable about it, but it was put to me that it was my job to link the different items.

Flower scene

“As for the flower scene . . . well, I recorded Phil Ochs’ “Flower Lady” and John Phillips’ “San Francisco” for the LP before the flower power thing got underway. But I guess there are degrees of interpretation about the scene.

Basically the idea is good. But you get the people jumping on the scene and you get people who really don’t care but just look for something to follow. A lot of it is commercialised. It’s too much for me.”

But I can tell you that I visited San Francisco recently and it’s great to see those people there really caring about each other and really helping each other.

They make a living out of making beads and carvings and this is craftsmanship. That’s good to see. Right now it’s brains and know-how that counts but I have a feeling that the craftsman, the guy who really creates something with his own talents, will take over again.

“The trouble is that there is so much criticism of the whole scene. The older folk, they say to themselves that they didn’t get so much enjoyment out of life as the kids are doing now, so they’re suspicious and they resent it. I guess this is part of human life, but it’s a negative way of thinking.”

Concert at the Royal Albert Hall

Julie, a world traveller, regards herself as an American who works regularly in Britain but who can go anywhere and think of it as her “home”. She says:

Great things have happened for me in Britain, so I have a specially strong feeling for the country. Like doing a one-woman show at the Royal Albert Hall.

We went out to have a Guinness just before the start and I stood outside that hall and watched people queuing to get in and I thought: “That’s all for me. How come I got in this position.”

“But playing to thousands isn’t necessarily harder than playing to hundreds in a night-club. At the Albert Hall I was scared for a couple of numbers, then I settled down . . . I could give all my attention to working.

In a cabaret scene sometimes you’re working specially hard just to get the attention of the audience.”

Julie has made a fine LP. And though you may not think of her as a “singles” artiste, try her new one “The Magic Of The Playground,” on Fontana. She, it and musical director John Cameron are very good. (Record Mirror)

The fact that Julie Felix has not yet dented the hit parade doesn’t blind the fact that she is a fine singer, and an interesting composer.

“Flowers,” her new Fontana LP has a beautiful sleeve which should help to sell it – but it’s the record inside that proves her worth.

Predictably, there are a couple of Bob Dylan songs, and Julie had a hand in writing: “The Great Brain Robbery” and the starkly observant “Berlin.

Altogether, an album well worth considerate listening. (Disc & Music Echo)

Related single:

“The Magic Of The Playground” / “Somewhere There’s Gotta Be Me” (Fontana TF 875) October 1967

In spite of the similarity between this title and the new Anita Harris hit, the two discs are totally different.

This has a decidedly folk flavour, as you might expect, with Julie Felix handling the thought provoking lyric with assurance and conviction.

There’s a mid-tempo beat, which occasionally breaks into a carousel rhythm. Attractive John Cameron scoring. Altogether, a very palatable disc.

Flip: A self-searching lyric, with a treatment that switches from a subdued whisper to a crashing crescendo. Considering it’s a B-side, it’s exceptionally good. (NME)

This is a tremendous song and, naturally enough, Julie invests it with the highest qualities of vocal sympathy. Simple guitar backing early on, then it builds into a mass of fine sounds.

It may not be a massive success but if there is justice it’ll register. Hear it.

Flip: A faster item, but also well worded. (Record Mirror)

Julie Felix does her usual commendable job on “The Magic of The Playground.” I remember Kay someone doing it a little while ago and it is an attractive song. But that’s all. (Disc & Music Echo)

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