The amazing David Surkamp died yesterday, aged 73; the voice of PAVLOV'S DOG, who shattered the universe with “Julia” and other classics, has dissolved in silence. A lot of people couldn’t stand his vocals; a multitude loved them. Almost everyone adored songs Surkamp wrote or co-penned, and it’s hard to believe David could compose the likes of “Theme From Subway Sue” so quickly and easily.
“It’s just the way my art is, the way I think. I don’t do very much stuff that’s premeditated,” he told this scribe ten years ago. “I can pick them like antenna: I guess there are songs out there and I just grab them out of space and time.”
Surkamp never ceased to surprise his listener. Being from St. Louis, there was little American, let alone Southern, in PAVLOV’S DOG music, as both 1975’s “Pampered Menial” and 1976’s “At The Sound Of The Bell” – the ensemble’s solid-gold albums – had a distinct European air about them, although David’s later works, such as "Dancing On The Edge Of A Teacup" from 2006, had a whiff of country. Add to that the funny facts that the band’s debut – produced by the BLUE ÖYSTER CULT studio team, saw the light of day on two major labels and that the group’s third offering became a well-bootlegged apocrypha, and it’s impossible not to be astonished. Then, there was HI-FI, a pure pop project that he concocted with Iain Matthews of FAIRPORT CONVENTION fame as if to defy expectations of his prog-rock followers, and PAVLOV’S DOG again, from 2005 up to now, with "Prodigal Dreamer" and last year’s “Wonderlust” almost recapturing erstwhile magic.
Led by David and his wife Sara, this incarnation could roll further, yet the good lady, the collective’s soul, passed away in November, and now the great singer – who still had a lot of plans, after the ensemble played their first album live in its entirety this summer, with Matthews being a special guest on their shows – has left this mortal coil too. He will be sorely missed.
