When Microsoft released their indows 95 operating system not only was it a groundbreaking development from their previous Windows 3, but it also shipped with a companian CD Rom containing some multimedia samples. This was way cool at the time and it was there that I first heard the music of Edie Brickell. The video for “Good Times” from the album ‘Picture Perfect Morning’s’ was the track in question and here it is.
In 1985, Brickell was invited to sing one night with friends from her high school in a local group, New Bohemians. She joined the band as lead singer. After the band was signed to a recording contract, the label changed the group’s name to Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. Their 1988 debut album, ‘Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars’, became a critical and commercial success, including the Top 10 single “What I Am”. The band’s follow-up album, Ghost of a Dog (1990), was a deliberate effort to highlight the band’s eclectic personality and move away from the pop sensibility of their first record.
In 2010, Brickell became a founding member of new band The Gaddabouts, consisting of Steve Gadd on drums, Edie Brickell as lead vocalist and guitar, Andy Fairweather Low (of Amen Corner fame) on electric and acoustic guitars and background vocals, Pino Palladino on bass and guitar. Her next venture was a collaboration with comedian Steve Martin (noted banjo player) and an album ‘Love Has Come for You’ was released in 2013.
I had been aware of much of this as I occasionally came across her music on You Tube or when listening to her albums, however there was an interesting musical fact of which I was completely oblivious. I thought you might find it interesting too. Brickell married singer-songwriter Paul Simon in 1992. Brickell was performing on Saturday Night LIve in November 1988, when she noticed Simon standing in front of the cameraman. “Even though I’d performed the song hundreds of times in clubs, he made me forget how the song went when I looked at him. We can show the kids the tape and say, ‘Look, that’s when we first laid eyes on each other.'” Here they are playing together.
