The Legendary Marvin Pontiac: Greatest Hits

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The Legendary Marvin Pontiac: Greatest Hits
Studio album by John Lurie aka Marvin Pontiac

Publication
(s)

April 11, 2000

Label (s) Strange and Beautiful Music

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

Blues , world music , fusion , contemporary R&B

Title (number)

14th

running time

51:37

The Legendary Marvin Pontiac: Greatest Hits is an album released in 2000 by the fictional blues musician Marvin Pontiac , who wasinventedby John Lurie . The supplement to the album CD contains a biographical note about Pontiac, which meant that the media and listeners were initially convinced that they actually had to do with the authentic work of the tragically deceased and lifelong underestimated musician.

history

The short biography enclosed with the album contained detailed information about the alleged creator of the music. According to the on Allmusic published biography Pontiac was on March 30, 1932 in Detroit under the name Marvin Touré, the son of one of Mali coming African-American and American Jewish born origin. As a child he lived with his father in Bamako , only to move to Chicago at the age of 15 . Due to conflicts with his publisher, his music was never published during his lifetime. Towards the end of his life he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He died in 1977 after being hit by a bus.

Thanks to Lurie's personal relationships, the album insert also included quotes from a number of well-known musicians - including David Bowie , Angélique Kidjo , Leonard Cohen , Iggy Pop and Flea - who stated that they had known and inspired Pontiac's work before. An indication that this was a fictional story, however, was provided by the list of musicians involved in the recording, some of whom were not yet alive or were just children when Pontiac was supposed to have recorded his music.

reception

The release of the album as an alleged work by a fictional person has been widely criticized. Some reviewers thought that Lurie was damaging his career. He himself stated in a given interview in 2008 that he expected attacks because of the claim that Pontiac was black, whereas the critics seemed to be more concerned about his portrayal as mentally ill.

Track list

  1. I'm a Doggy (3:30)
  2. Small Car (5:48)
  3. Now I'm Happy (3:49)
  4. Power (4:05)
  5. Runnin 'Round (3:41)
  6. Pancakes (4:34)
  7. Bring Me Rocks (3:34)
  8. Ruby (3:36)
  9. Wanna Wanna (4:50)
  10. Sleep at Night (3:25)
  11. Arms & Legs (2:44)
  12. She Ain't Going Home (3:14)
  13. Little Fly (1:42)
  14. No Kids (3:05)

Participating musicians

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Behind the Legend of the Legendary Marvin Pontiac: A Conversation With John Lurie ( Memento from December 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Pontiac's biography at AllMusic (accessed July 25, 2013).
  3. ↑ Review on AllMusic (accessed July 25, 2013).

Web links