With a staggering resumé well-known to those versed in New
York’s downtown music scene of the ‘70s and ‘80s—which includes DNA, The Golden
Palominos, and The Lounge Lizards—“skronk” guitarist Arto Lindsay formed
Ambitious Lovers with keyboardist and long-time collaborator Peter Scherer in
the mid ‘80s.
Although much more pop and radio-friendly than anything in
Lindsay’s past, the Lovers’ hybrid of funk, new wave and Brazilian music
(Lindsay often sang in Portuguese) never took off with mainstream audiences despite
being under the auspices a major label. And, sadly, the band’s plan to name each album after the
seven deadly sins stalled at three—Envy [Virgin-1984], Greed [Virgin-1988]
and Lust [Elektra-1991]—with the Lovers' breakup.
In keeping with their origins, Ambitious Lovers often featured fellow New York-based musicians Joey Baron, Bill Frisell, Melvin Gibbs, Vernon Reid, Marc Ribot and Nile Rogers, among others. These days, Lindsay maintains an active career as a solo artist, collaborator, producer (particularly in Brazil: Carlinhos Brown, Adriana Calcanhotto, Vinicius Cantuária, Gal Costa, Marisa Monte, Caetano Veloso, and Tom Zé are some of the artists he's produced) and often working with Scherer on various projects.
This particular tune, "It Only Has To Happen Once", is an old favorite from the Greed album.
