#mink deville

[giresthoughts]

‘That world outside’, March 2018

Barite prints here

[undergroundrockpress]

Willy DeVille and Susan in NYC, 1978.

[soupy-sez]

Toots and Willy DeVille backstage at a club in Los Angeles, July 1977

[legendarytragedynacho]

Willie DeVille - Mink DeVille

[queen-of-the-scene]

with Thanksgiving being tomorrow now (and everyday) is a great time to remember and recognize native musicians!

Sesu Coleman from Magic tramps of the Mohawk Tribe!

Link Wray who inspired some of the most iconic musicians such as Jimmy Page and Iggy pop, of the Shawnee tribe!

the beloved Willy Deville 💋

Debora Iyall from Romeo void, of the Cowlitz tribe!

Beautiful Jeneda Benally from Blackfire of the Navajo tribe! 💋

[serpentinesheldonserpentine]

No, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do, just to walk that little girl home.

[lisamarie-vee]

[stoogeaohlic-11]

Willy DeVille of Mink DeVille with his wife Toots backstage at CBGB's on May 14th,1977 in New York City. (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Getty Images)

[musickickztoo]

Willy DeVille 

August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009

[mywifeleftme]

105: Mink DeVille // Return to Magenta

Return to Magenta Mink DeVille 1978, Capitol

Not many more aptly named acts of the late ‘70s than Mink DeVille—they absolutely sound like the most plushly-upholstered ride in creation. Though it would ultimately become a solo vehicle for lupine crooner Willy DeVille (born William Paul Paul Borsey, Jr.), the early Mink DeVille was a genuine band, and a wonderful band at that. They were one of the main draws at CBGBs during the prime years of NYC punk, but drew from the same well of classic romantic R&B sources Springsteen did (e.g. The Drifters, The Shangri-Las), delivered with a louche New York swagger reminiscent of Lou Reed. Still, there was a sympathy between Mink DeVille’s music and that of the Ramones, who were fellow Spectorphiles, and Patti Smith, who was transforming staples like “Land of a Thousand Dances” and “Gloria” into incantatory raveups. ‘70s New Wave was in part a revival of the chaotic energy and adolescent joys of pre-British Invasion rock ‘n’ roll, and no band embodied that tradition like Mink DeVille.

Both their 1977 debut, Cabretta, and 1978’s follow-up Return to Magenta are close to my heart, and I’d place them on a similar tier to the landmarks of their generation at CBGBs (Rocket to Russia, Marquee Moon, ’77 etc.). Cabretta has the higher highs (namely “Spanish Stroll” and “Venus of Avenue D”), but they don’t make more pleasurable start-to-finish listens than Return to Magenta. On Cabretta, producer Jack Nitzsche held back on the iconic string arrangements he’d brought to his work under Phil Spector, but here he dresses the band’s Latin-spiced ballads in gossamer threads. Listening to “Guardian Angel” and “Just Your Friends,” I can hear what everyone from Nitzsche to Doc Pomus to Mick Jagger heard in their music: a thru-line back to the first music the first rock generation had driven to, slow-danced to, kissed to. Amid all the triumphs scattered across 83 minutes of The River, Springsteen never wrote a ballad as stylish or elegant as “I Broke That Promise.” Bruce, though his love of the sounds of his youth was deep, wanted to do something rambling and new with it, as his idol Dylan had with folk music; Willy DeVille wanted something more timeless, to be the eternal slicked-back crooner with a switchblade in his pocket and a burning in his heart. And that he was.

105/365

[spilladabalia]

Willy & Toots (& Alan Vega)

[giresthoughts]

’That world outside’, 2018, ph Erik Gigengack

[undergroundrockpress]

Willie DeVille, 1985.

[soupy-sez]

Willy DeVille with his wife Toots in New York City, April 17th, 1977, © Ebet Roberts

[juliesandothings]

American singer / songwriter - Willy DeVille from the band Mink DeVille (c. 1985)

[singles-bar]