This Valentine's Day... Austin Powers Urges Pickettywitch Polly to "Pucker Up Buttercup!"

COLD OPEN:

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

"That Same Old Feeling" - Pickettywitch

(June/July 1970, highest chart pos. #5 UK/#40 Cash Box/#67 Hot 100)

Kicking off the show, that was blonde Brit beauty Polly Brown

aka Polly Browne and her English pop band Pickettywitch

doing their breakthrough hit "That Same Old Feeling."

The single went top 5 at home in the UK and

brushed the top 40 stateside in the

summer of 1970. 

The video you watched was brilliantly restored through the

use of A.I. Enhancement software, making it seem like the

performance was filmed only yesterday instead of 53 years ago. 

 Allow myself to introduce..... myself. 

 I'm Austin Powers, super secret spy, 

 international man of mystery, 

 bon vivant, swinging playboy 

 and irresistible babe magnet. 

 London is my home, shag is my bag, 

 planet earth is my playground and 

 danger is my middle name, baby. 

Your regular host, Shady, couldn't be here today. Seems the chap's competing

against Vanessa Kensington, Felicity Shagwell and Foxxy Cleopatra in a

"Strip Parcheesi" tournament at Madison Square Garden. Sir Shady

asked me to sub for him again this year as host of the Valentine's

dance and to entertain you by playing "stacks o' wax."

I'm going to play devil's advocate and suggest that

phonograph records might sound a bit better.

 That's a gag, dove. Oh come on now. 

 I saw you crack a smile just then, 

 pussycat, admit it -  YEAH! 

Alright then. The place is packed with blokes and birds,

and it's time to get the Valentine party started. 

As you will hear in this special edition V-Week tribute, Polly Brown

is a witchy woman whose singing style could be described as

sunshine pop laced with a little bit o' soul. 

In the fall of 1971, Polly and Pickettywitch appeared on The Grand Prix

R.T.L. International, a music competition that was organized annually

from 1969 to 1972 and held at a theater in Luxembourg. At the show

the group performed their third hit "Baby I Won't Let You Down."  

"Baby I Won't Let You Down" - Pickettywitch

(Nov. 1970, highest chart pos. #27 UK, Oct. 22, 1971,

perf. at Grand Prix R.T.L. International 71 in Luxembourg) 

Cracking the UK top 30 in the fall of 1970, that was "Baby I Won't Let You Down"

by Pickettywitch, and you just saw them performing the song live the following year.

As you listened to Polly Brown sing, it might have occurred to you that she sounds

like two other singers, both of them American divas of soul. I'll name one of them

right now. Some people say Polly has a voice and style like that of Jean Terrell,

the singer who replaced Diana Ross as leader of The Supremes and helped

reinvent the famous Motown girl group at the start of the 70s. Listen now

to Jean's Supremes as they do their hit "Stoned Love" on Soul Train

and maybe you'll agree that Polly Brown sounds a lot like her. 

"Stoned Love" - The Supremes

  (Dec. 1970/Jan. 1971, highest chart pos. #1 R&B,

#5 Cash Box/#7 Hot 100, perf. on May 12, 1973, ep. of Soul Train) 

Now I will reveal which U.S. singer Polly Brown sounds like most of the time.

Polly usually sounds like she is singing with a head cold, but that distinctive

nasal quality sets her apart, endears listeners and invites comparisons

to America's sultry soul siren Dionne Warwick. Listen! 

"Days I Remember" - Pickettywitch

(from 1970 album Pickettywitch) 

If you're just tuning in, I'm Austin Powers... International Man of Mystery

(and Music History) hosting the Shady's Place Valentine's Week Dance

and entertaining you with a salute to pretty posy Polly and

her peerless posse Pickettywitch. (Say that 5 times fast!)

Songwriter/producer Gerry Shury described Polly Brown as "a cross between

Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick." I hear Diana in some of Polly's recordings,

but my favorite songs by Pickettywitch are the ones in which Polly channels

Dionne Warwick. The song you just heard, "Days I Remember," is one

example, and here's another, the Picketty-ditty-- "There He Goes." 

"There He Goes" - Pickettywitch (from 1970 album Pickettywitch,

released Feb. 1971 as B side of "Waldo P. Emerson Jones")

Now for the sake of comparison, here's one of Dionne Warwick's notable

recordings, the theme song from the hit movie Valley Of The Dolls.

"(Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls" - Dionne Warwick

(Jan./Feb./Mar. 1968, highest chart pos. #2 Hot 100/#3 Cash Box,

#13 R&B, from December 1967 film Valley Of The Dolls)

Now listen to the uncanny similarity in vocal quality and style as we switch from Dionne

Warwick to Polly Brown and listen to the second hit single by Pickettywitch, a record

that brushed the top 15 in the summer of 1970-- "(It's Like A) Sad Old Kinda' Movie!"

"(It's Like a) Sad Old Kinda' Movie" - Pickettywitch

(June/July 1970, highest chart pos. #16 UK, perf. on Top Of The Pops)

  The proof's in these delightful performances.

      You're a very good witch indeed, Polly Brown! 

It's last call for alcohol and the last dance of my 2023 Valentine party.

To close the show, here again is our featured act, Pickettywitch,

with an encore performance of a hit you saw them do earlier.

Once again, I am pleased to offer a video that has been

dramatically restored with A.I. Enhancement technology.

Watch 52 years vanish in a split second as Polly Brown

and Pickettywitch perform "Baby I Won't Let You Down!"

"Baby I Won't Let You Down" - Pickettywitch

(Nov. 1970, highest chart pos. #27 UK)

 I hope these super sounds put you in 

 a shagadelic mood, baby. Oh behave! 

 This is your old chum Austin Powers 

 International Man of Mystery 

 (and Music History)... 

 saying ciao for now. 

 Let's do it again real soon, baby... 

 You know you want to... YEAH!