Search - Genevieve Waite :: Romance Is on the Rise

The Best Album You've NEVER Heard!

Mark W. Kane | New York, NY USA | 09/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Its been 30 years since this was last available. And what a tragedy that is! For those in the know, this is probably John Phillip's last great stand. It has all the grandeur and humor of his earlier work. Genevieve has quite a way of putting a song across. Its certainly nothing you would expect. And you might be amazed. Nearly every song is a small, equisitely shaped gem...and some are knock outs. Production is top notch.



If you're up for it, this will knock your silk stockings off. Go ahead, be brave!"

WOW

T. A. Swan | Sonoma County, California | 08/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"WOW again! I've been looking for this album for years. My wife only knows about it from my memory (even though she was a record exec in the 70's).I bought it new in 1974 then bought 10 more and gave them away. Alas, as a sign of the times, by 1978 I ended up without the album.



So I was elated when I saw it re-released! Then it took weeks & weeks to receive and I wondered if it would live up to the years of "drum-roll"!



It far exceed it!!! It plays playfully thru my mind during the day! My wife loves it!!! We play it in our design studio over-n-over. It's too unusual to say much about the music you've got to hear it. She couldn't been a big star, BUT.....a tragity (career wise) of the times!!!





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South Africa's Betty Boop

Mike B. | 04/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Genevieve Waite was the third wife of John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas, and he produced and wrote all the songs on this - her only album. The sole non-original is Irving Berlin's "Slumming On Park Avenue". Waite had a highly distinctive voice, sort of a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple. She's as squealy and girly as Betty Boop!



This delivery works for her and the cabaret/showtune-type material Phillips tailored for their act, which they'd perform at elite showcases like Reno Sweeney's in New York. The 1970's had a very cool and hip cabaret scene that flew under the radar of the dominant rock scene. These artists didn't just sing the old songbooks of composers like Cole Porter - they would also feature newer material. Karon Bihari would cover the Kinks' "Celluloid Heroes" in concert, and Genevieve would sing the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale". They stylishly gave these songs an intimate twist for the cabaret crowd.



Genevieve was born and raised in South Africa, but moved to London after college. There she caught the eye of director Michael Sarne, who cast her in the lead role of his 1968 film "Joanna". She played a girl about town in London who becomes pregnant by her black boyfriend. This inter-racial romance caused it to be banned in her homeland, but the controversy made it a big British success. There's a great finale where Genevieve is dressed as Charlie Chaplin and tap-dances down a train platform past everyone in her life. Sarne would next direct "Myra Breckinridge". Waite then had a small part in the Elliott Gould movie "Move" (1970), in which she is mostly remembered for appearing topless.



Her stormy marriage to Phillips started in 1972 and lasted 13 years. They hung with the Warhol crowd in New York and his rock star friends in L.A., and took up heavy drug use. Phillips wrote about this in his explicit 1986 autobiography "Papa John". They had 2 children together - Tamerlane and Bijou.



Apart from the two films and this one album - that's all the world got from Genevieve Waite. She's never been heard from again. Too bad. She was a unique entertainer and a whole lot of fun. This CD is fantastic (it's also available for downloading). I still hope she'll do something else someday.



P.S. - Do yourself a favor and "enlarge" the picture of the album cover, taken by fashion photographer Richard Avedon. Is that great or what?

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