MoodieToonz

WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS!!

2007-04-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

I just this very night got the word that the hard drive that puked got restored, and all the archive files, as far as I can tell, are intact! So, this means that you now can peruse all the musical files you thought were gone forever. Don't feel bad, I thought they were gone, too.

A Great Big Shoutout goes to Duane & Diane for getting the drive restored intact... Duane is the connection between myself and the hosting site, and Diane is a veritable wizard when it comes to network and site admin. Massive Blessings to both of you for the assistance!

The bad news: I am back on the night shift for 6 weeks, so new material may be slow to happen, but there'll be some great stuff coming! I have boxen and boxen (inside joke) sitting in here....

And to all of you, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE, as well as thanks for your kind offerings on the PayPal front.

Cheerios!!!

HOSTING SITE DOWN!

2007-02-12T08:39:00.000-08:00

If you're wondering where everything went, the box that hosts all of the pic and sound files has taken a massive POOP and will be down for a while. I don't know when it will return, but it should some time soon.

Pray that it wasn't the hard drive....

A Holiday Prezzie for y'all

2006-12-19T21:16:00.000-08:00

OK kids, you have been VERY patient and waiting for some postings here. I don't have albums of Mantovani or anything like that, this is a Yule compilation CD that I burned for a couple of friends, and NOW I get bombasted with "I WANT IT TOO!"

sigh.

Anyways, here's the comp. It's garnered from my library, some other comps I have laying around, and some other strange stuff. it'll all fit on one CD - BARELY - so, be warned! It runs damn near 80 mins.

But, I hope that you enjoy it, and all that tommyrot.

Seriously, may you have a Blessed Holiday Season, whichever one(s) you celebrate, and Prosperous New Year. Me? I'll be celebrating the Pagan New Year by freezing my ass off at a "Drum Up the Sun" ceremony at first light on Friday morning (Solstice is 1721 local time the previous evening)....

So, here ya go! Have a Whacked-Out Yule 2006.

A Quick Note

2006-10-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't gone away, my work schedule has kicked most of my spare time out the window... I should have some more posts up for you in the coming weeks...

Patience is the virtue that will be rewarded, grasshopper! :)

The Four Dimensions of Andre Previn

2006-09-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

Andre Previn has always beenone of my favorite musicians. The fact that he is a great composer (he was working at MGM when he was 18), arranger, and conductor, just makes it all so much sweeter. I have somewhere in here some of his jazz piano stuff on Contemporary Records (GREAT trio jazz!), and every once in a while I'll throw it on the turntable, or on the playlist in the computer, or on the CD player, depending on where I'm at.

This is kind of a slice, or a group of slices, of his film work, From the Overture to "Gigi" to a suite of light pieces from "Invitation to the Dance" to the heavy orchestral themes from "The Four HOrsemen of the Apocalypse" to the jazz score of "The Subterraneans", this LP shows Mr. Previn is comfortable in any mode of composition.

This is great stuff from a 1963 MGM LP I picked up in the thrift store, I only wish that it had been the stereo release, but beggars can't be choosers for USD$0.99... this is one of those records I am not gonna blather on too much about, because the music speaks volumes on its' own.

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back (good liners, worth reading!)

Enjoy The Four Dimensions of Andre Previn.

RCA sampler - Taken From the Top

2006-09-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

A double shot of LP goodness today!

Got for you an RCA VIctor sampler form 1962, with all live performances. Unfortunately this was only available in mono, but the quality is so good, I ripped it at my "really good shiznat mono" setting, that being 160/44 FHg.

Lots of goodies here, from Al Hirt to Jan Peerce... waitaminnit, JAN PEERCE? What's an opera singer doing on a pops LP? A damn fine job of "September Song" actually... and we get to hear how cloyingly cute Ann-Margaret was. Also great performances by the likes of Della Reese, Jonah Jones, Lena Horne... it's a great set list of live performances.

...all, of course, to get you to buy the full LPs, Victor marketing ain't no dummies!

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back

Sit back, and enjoy some GREAT live numbers, Taken From the Top.

The Mason Williams Ear Show

2006-09-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Let's take a little break from the lounge & light music to turn to a brilliant songwriter and one of his best efforts at musical art.

Mason Williams, creator of the great hit tune "Classical Gas", followed up that LP ("The Mason Williams Phonograph Record") with this one, which has some (relatively) newer compositions, plus some things that had been lingering in his briefcase. There are some great pieces that he did for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in here, even a little ditty he did for Bank of America in the 60s, that they paid for but never used.

So, you say, this is just a bunch of STUFF. Yes, but it is a GREAT bunch of stuff. And, to my knowledge, it's not currently in print on CD.

One interesting piece on here is one of the first uses of the Moog Synthesizer, aside from Wendy Carlos' "Switched-On Bach"... and the liner notes go through how long it took to get 2 minutes and 45 seconds of tune. The rest of the rear liner notes makes interesting reading as well, including the full list of performers.

Even though this is a collection of stuff, it's a great view into a composer's mind, as well as showing off some of his portfolio.

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back

The Mason Williams Ear Show.

Mantovani- Gems Forever

2006-09-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

Here's another wonderful sounding London FFSS 'Blueback', this time of Mantovani & his Orchestra. Unfortunately, this was a later pressing, but the jacket still has the goofy "StereoPhonic" bit on the upper right, so it was an earlier blueback recording, but a later pressing... the little grey blotch on top I think gives it away as a later press, that plus the "7E" in the matrix number...

It's still a nice set of mood musics, typical lush Mantovani string arrangements, something to chase the chill away on the autumnal evenings (which we are getting now here... the aspens are starting to turn colors, which means that we're gonna have some snow flying soon in the Rockies)...

Not much else to say about this, I'm gonna leave all the "Man-to-van-i, the F F S S Treat" (sing it to the Rice-A-Roni Song) jokes aside, and leave you with the music and the cover scans.

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back

Light up the fire, grab your hunny-bunny, and offer her some Gems Forever.

You're Hearing George Shearing

2006-09-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

This is an EP that I really wish I had a copy of in better condition than the one I have to post for you today. Why? Because, this EP shows George in a very transitional phase between 'just a jazz pianist' and where he would end up 8 to 10 years later, as a phenominal arranger & composer. This EP shows the beginnings of where the lounge classics that we all know and love... the ideas were percolating in his head for all those classics on Capitol... just listen to his solo rendition of "Summertime" on this disc and you'll see what I mean.

George goes solo on a couple of cuts, the remainder is his quintet, and the arrangements are all lush and in the Shearing Style.

I think that some of these may have been released on 78, because I distinctly remember a couple of cuts here... and there are none of the dynamic acrobatics from the mixing console that really impaired his recordings on Discovery in 1958-9... those were really really over-engineered... none of that here!

I got to meet Mr. Shearing in 1973 when he was on tour and played at my high school, such a gentleman, and he has HUGE hands! Now you know how he was able to achieve all those wonderful chord voicings!

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back (with some very nice liner notes by Leonard Feather, including a little history of George's transition between the UK and the US in the late 40s).

Relax and celebrate, for You're Hearing George Shearing!

Bongos / Reeds / Brass (Vol. 2)

2006-09-03T01:32:00.000-07:00

OK, time to get back into the lounge groove thing... with a little ping-pong stereo to boot! Here we have a Life label (from HiFi Records) record from the early 1960s, with some very interesting percussion arrangements, along with a LOT of low register reeds... this'll give the subwoofer a workout... the tunes are pretty stock, but done in an interesting manner... no Hugo Winterhalter here!

I have included the 2-page inner-jacket scans in here, because they show some interesting pics and descriptions (and prices!) of recording equipment in the early 1960s...

The tunes are great, the recording is wonderful, even though the disc was a little bit trashed, CoolEdit did its' thing.

Remember, leave comments if'n you like it, so I know more of what to put up here... and also, if you feel so moved, drop a few shekels into the donation box... please.

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...
The first part of the inside...
The other part of the inside...

Check out these nifty Bongos / Reeds / Brass!

Frank Chacksfield - Immortal Serenades

2006-09-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

I had a request for some more Frank Chacksfield back from the run of UK Decca stereo stuff, so here is one to keep you going.... because I found ANOTHER stash of euro-Deccas and RCAs on LP!

Here we have Frank doing serenades, both from operas as well as light classical pieces, and all of them with the quality of arrangements and performance we associate with Frank Chacksfield. This is another London "blueback", noted for excellent recording qualities and fancied by collectors... but you get the goodies! Fer nuttin'!

Seriously, this is some very fine light classical music, very enjoyable, with the promise of more to come in the future.

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...

Get serenaded by Frank Chacksfield!

Renato Rascel con l'Orchestra Kramer

2006-09-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

I found a couple of Italian 10-inch EPs a few months ago, and in the process of moving things around to put tup the new shelves for the reel to reel tapes, these got unearthed. I posted the other one over on AudiOddities, but since apparently not as many of you go there, I'll post the other one here.

I know even less about Renato Rascel than I do about Marino Marini, except that Rascel was apparently a HUGE cinema star in the 50s in Italy.... I looked at a couple of sites, all in Italian, and even saw in the search bar something called "Dracula Cha Cha Cha"... Born in 1912 and died in 1991, he was also something of the comic actor, but from what I saw, he had a screen 'charm' that a lot of people went for... this is making me curious to see some of his work now, I'm sure that there are snippets of it up on YouTube and other places...

Anyways, this is a 1955 EP, released on Italian Odeon, and it is very pleasurable listening, indeed! You can hear some of the comic element in a couple of the songs, and there is a VERY nice version of "Arrivederci Roma" on here, backed (on all tracks) by l'Orchestra Kramer. Nice stuff, this!

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...

Bon giorno, Renato Rascel!

Pearl Bailey - Come On Let's Play...

2006-08-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is one heck of a FUN LP! PEarl Bailey, queen of the racy burlesque and double-entendre songs, did this set with a kicking band, led by her husband, drummer Louis Bellson. It tries to pull off what she would have done in her night club routine, not just the songs, but the patter in-between as well. Sure, she talks through some of the solos, but hey, it's just like having your own private show!

I have an earlier Pearl Bailey LP that I'm trying to find and put up, but I think this one is a little better because of the fun she's having in this session. If you listen closely to the lyrics, it gets even better.

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...

Come On Let's Play with Pearly Mae.

Administratia... and announcing a new blog!

2006-08-30T20:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I have done it, I created ANOTHER audio sharity blog... The Reel Deal. I have populated it with the reel-to-reel posts from here (except for the Buddy Rich one because that album is still in-print), and will be adding it to the link lists here shortly...

I'll leave the reel posts up here, but from now on, anything on reel will go there, and vynil and cassette stuff will go here. That includes any 8-tracks I get and can dub off. Yes, I have a GOOD 8-track deck, one that will even do discrete quad... except I don't know how to make an audio file that will PLAY BACK in discrete quad.... if anyone has any suggestions on how to get CoolEdit to do that, or the Nero SOund Suite to do it, let me know in the comments section, PLEASE.

Also, I have had to do the PayPal donation thing, but I won't be TOO obnoxious about it, just remember, if the coffers are more than empty, I can go scour eBay for more cool things like the American Airlines tapes! THOSE AIN'T CHEAP!!! :)

So, I'll be posting to all four blogs, thanks for your consideration and support, and let's have some fun!

- the Impaler

Si Zentner - Desafinado

2006-08-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

Bossa Nova & Si Zentner, an explosive combination. On the back of the box, the liner notes say that "bossa nove" translates into "new wrinkle", which has a bad connotation when dealing with tapes (or the faces of pretty women, but that's another matter entirely!)...

This is a Liberty stereo tape that has SIZZLING audio, nice charts, and other really good stuff. Si knows how to swing it, definately. I think the tape is from around 1965 or 66, again I'm not sure...

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...

Without further ado, I present for you some definately UN-WRINKLED bossa nova in the form of Desafinado.

Now, a note on further postings...

I have had some requests for more tapes, including those that would fall outside of the scope of the otherwise loosely defined genre of this blog... should I start another share site that is exclusively reel tapes? I have a BUNCH of classical material, including some WFMT airchecks that are absolutely WONDERFUL as far as audio quality goes... those would be easy to put up as a bunch of them (there are 80 reels in all) are already encoded.

Now for the other shoe... if I do start up a new tape share site, I will be putting up a PayPal donation link, as I will need to subsidize server space as well as media acquisition cost... what say you, faithful fans... post comments & let me know.

Rest assured, I have a bunch of material on LP for moodietoonz, so there would stil be postings here either way, it is just that I am reluctant to put full classical stuff on a lounge/tiki/jazz site...

Lionel Hampton - Here's Gates!

2006-08-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

Here is an LP of Lionel Hampton transcriptions of (I believe) airchecks that I had started when I uncovered the boxes of reels... not wanting to leave anything half-finished, I decided to do this up and get it posted so it is in the 'completed' shelf, instead of sitting on the pile somewhere in the studio. Yes, I need to organize stuff. I also need to build a bunch of shelves for the reels, now that I'm actively doing encoding off of them again...

The releasing company was a company called Camay (not the soap, I hope), click here for a full size scan of the label... I do however have some personnel info for this disc, compliments of 78-L member Julian Vein:

[H1089-4] Lionel Hampton
Here's Gates:
Quincy Jones (tp,arr) Benny Bailey, Ed Mullens, Leo Shepherd, Walter Williams (tp) Jimmy Cleveland, Al Grey, Paul Lee, Benny Powell (tb) Bobby Plater, Jerome Richardson (as) Gil Bernal, Johnny Board, Curtis Lowe (ts) Ben Kynard (bar) Lionel Hampton (vib,vcl) Milt Buckner (org) Billy Mackel (g) Roy Johnson (b) Ellis Bartee (d) Similar pers unknown female (scat vcl-1), poss Betty Carter (vcl)

Los Angeles, c. September 1951

T.V. special Camay CA3019, New World (E)NW5019
Midnight sun - -
Cobb's idea (1) - -
Vibe boogie - -
Beulah's boogie - -
Who cares ? [So long as you care for me] - -
Bongo interlude - -
Air mail special - -

The sessions are swinging, to be sure, and note that QUINCY JONES is in there with 'em!

Cover scan is here... the back cover contains adverts for more Camay LPs...

Here's Gates!

You asked for it: Sheer Stereo Delight!

2006-08-28T23:27:00.000-07:00

You asked for more, so here is more!

This one is earlier in the string, this is Popular Program number 10 (W-10 to be exact), with the 'sponsor' being 20th Century Fox Records. Someone posted in the comments section that there may be some Art Tatum, but, alas, no Art is to be had here. There ARE some nice performances by Andre Previn and Lena Horne, along with some good crooning by Tony Martin and Al Martino, and some very surprising jazz vocals by Joya Sherrill. You also get a couple of things from "Zorba the Greek" and "Those Magnificent Young Men In Their Flying Machines"... all in all it is a pretty good set, just right for that extra-dry martini as you cruise across the plains in your comfy seat (remember those?) with the legroom (remember that?) as you are pampered with smiling service by your flight attendant (remember THAT??).

I would probably put this tape at around 1964 or 1965 (there's no date anywhere on the thing, so I'm guessing), "...exactly as heard on American Airlines Astrovision." These are showing up occasionally on eBay, which leads to my next little bit... if you want more of these, I may have to set up a PayPal donation thingy, as these are NOT cheap... I was fortunate to snag these in the thrift shop, but any more of the popular ones are gonna cost me some serious buck-age :(

This tape runs out at about 92 minutes per side, I split out all 65 tunes on this and put them into three archives, each running about an hour.

Here are the three archives:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...

This will be the last one of these, the Command/Westminster tape is a Classical programme, so I won't post it, unless there is a HUGE demand for it... I have a huge stack of reels to do up so that'll keep you occupied for a little while....

Coffee, tea, or milk?

A tribute to Loronix

2006-08-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

As a tribute to one of the coolest sites for Brasilian music, loronix (see sidebar for the link), I found this Bola Sete set in the pile-o-reels that I'm doing up for your listening pleasure.

Recorded at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966, Bola cuts loose with a great, albeit WAY too short, musical adventure into sonido Brasilero. His sidemen, Sebastian Neto on bass and Paulinho on drums, I can't say enough! Herb Wong, on the liner notes, says "This is a MAGNIFICENT album!" and I heartily agree with him.

Bola had been playing a lot of gigs with a lot of different combinations of players in the San Francisco Bay area, and had been with Vince Guaraldi for some time before this appearance. The current personnel, he had been with for about a year before the appearance at Monterey.

This was released in 1966 on Verve, and was produced by Creed Taylor (and thankfully, NOT overproduced!)... heck, I'm gonna shut up, now, RACK THE TAPE!!!

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...

What else can I say? enjoy Bola Sete at the Monterey Jazz Festival!

Music with a Touch of Heaven

2006-08-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Up now is something of a sub-culture colletor's thing... starting in the early 1960s, American Airlines began to make available recordings of their in-flight audio program to the public. I don't know if these were sold via retail, or if you had to buy them from American, but they are pretty sought-after tapes. Each side runs 92-3 minutes, so you have a little over three hours of music to soothe the savage frightened flyer. Each program was 'sponsored' by a particular record company, this one being Kapp records. Even though they were recorded at 3 3/4 ips, the audio quality on these was really really good, even if the music wasn't 'cutting edge' for the times.

Since Kapp was the 'sponsor', we have a mixture of late Louis Armstrong, some early Burt Bacharach, some Jack Jones, some Hugo Winterhalter, and a LOT of Roger Williams (as he was a Kapp 'feature artist'). The mixture is pretty darn good, thouth, and somewhat harkens back to the day of the mid 1960s 'Beautiful Music' format one would hear on FM stereo broadcast stations in the USA at the time.

This tape, from 1966, is Popular Program No. 16 in the series, "...exactly as heard on American Airlines Astrovision."

I am going to admit something right here and now... I am a lazy sod. This tape runs over 93 minutes per side, and there's no way I am going to break out all the tracks... all 67 of them!
(ADDENDUM)
I changed my mind... I went ahead and split out all 67 tunes, tagged them using my bulk tagger, and now they're in three archives of 30-some songs each. So, no complainin' outta any youse! You can split them up however you want to, make CDs or just chucnk it on to one big MP3 CDR with the other stuff (like I do for commuting).

Here are the three archives:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...

I have a couple more of these, let me know if there is an interest and I'll post them... one I know of has Command and Westminster as the 'feature labels', so you KNOW there's gonna be some Enoch Light and Dick Hyman on THAT one!

Martini and a pillow, sir?

Louis Armstrong - I Love Jazz

2006-08-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

Next up is a tape that kind of scares me... as you can see from the rear scan, it says "enhanced for Stereotape..." YIPE!

What we have are some recordings taken between 1950 and 1958 of Louis playing with several different groups... the personnel are on the back scan, along with recording session dates and locations.

What scares me is that I am looking at the waveforms and this is NOT mono, so someone has doinked with the recordings... I summed the 2 channels (post-recording) and it really doesn't sound that good in mono, so I did a little tweaking and left them as stereo files. At least these aren't treated like the crummy Capitol DuoPhonic process (BLEAH).

There are some good performances in here, and good sidemen, like Trummy Young, Peanuts Hucko, Barney Bigard, Charlie Shavers, Earl Hines, Cozy Cole, and Jack Teagarden to name a few. Give it a listen and see what you think.

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...

See why Satchmo says: I Love Jazz!

Herbie Mann - Today

2006-08-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

Ah, the rites of cleaning and the joys of unearthing stuff I forgot I had... I was tasked by She Who Must Be Obeyed to find a certain Rod Stewart album that I thought I had on vinyl. No, sir, no LP there, so I have this bright idea: dig into the rack of boxes covered up by several sleeping bags and about 500 lbs of cables... the boxes that hold the reel-to-reel tapes. I found said Rod Stewart album, dutifully ripped it and burned a CD for her, then went back in and dug out a BUNCH of reels that were in there, undiscovered for well over 2 or 3 years. This will give me some great material for you for the next few postings (interspersed with the usual vynil goodies, of course!).

First one up is a Herbie Mann album from 1966, with arrangements and combo conducted by Oliver Nelson. Why Herbie needs a conductor for a small group, I know not... but it has some good stuff on here. With compositions ranging from David & Bacharach to Duke Ellington to Lennon & McCartney, there is grist for the mill, as it were, and it is handled quite well.

The personnel are listed on the back cover, so I won't re-post that here, as the full size scans are available.

So, off we go, with the first of a bunch of nifty reels for your pleasure... no having to thread up the reel deck, no worries about splicing a broken tape, just enjoyment!

Cover scans are here:
The front...
The back...

Rack up Herbie Mann - Today and press the play button!

Michel Legrand - Vienna Holiay on 45

2006-08-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I hope that I made up for the silliness of the demo record with this little bit of Michel Legrand.... his vignettes are great listening, his innovation (some would call that a nice word for it) with orchestrations are certainly eyebrow-raising, but all in all, Michel Legrand usually cones up with some very very tasty bits, and this is one of them.

Yes, I know, I just DID a Vienna-theme piece, but this is much different in scope, and more towards the mood music genre than the light-classical tone of the earlier RCA posting.

The interesting thing here, is that this set was released on 3 extended-play 45-rpm discs in an album, somewhat like what RCA was trying to do with their box sets. This was definately close to post-78rpm era, becasue if you look inside one of the gatefolds, there is a list of recordings available in the EP format. I didn't scan that, but I did scan the other gatefold, which holds the liner notes, and some other available sets at the time. See it here. If you want a full size view of the front photo, click here.

The music is well recorded, but there are a few noisy places where I had to roll off the top end a little because of the narrow groove pitch (damn Microgroove pressings!), but overall, a nice sonic capture, at least for microgroove 45rpm discs on cheesy polystyrene that Columbia loved to use at the time. Be aware also that M. Legrand takes occasional liberties with the length of the songs... this may be his doing, or it may be that, since this is a 45rpm EP set, Columbia had a nasty habit of making some albums "abridged". I hope that this is not the case here....

Without any further ado, let's go on a Vienna Holiday!

Columbia Stereo Demo LP....

2006-08-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

WHY, oh WHY do I DO THIS????

I must be absolutely NUTS to subject you to this disc... but there's really nice liner notes in it (including a primer on how stereophonic LPs are made, including pictures of the process, in the liner notes archive available here.

So, what's so special on this thing? There are some really interesting lounge & mood tracks on here, including a track recorded by Duke Ellington especially for this sampler (if you can get past the train going from one side of the room to the other...), there are some nice little classical excerpts, and there are 2 tracks at the end that are kind of cool... one is a field recording done at an airport in the late 1950s (those ain't jets you hear, bunkie! Twin-engine propellor airliners, and no sign of the TSA Security goonies in sight!), and a speaker balance test track. Nifty, huh.

This set was a demo given out with Columbia stereophonic phonograph systems in the late 1950s (I even have the operating manual, and can scan it if anyone wants), again, for people to have something to play on it and impress all their friends and neighbors.

Actually, it IS pretty cool, considering... and I'm a SUCKER for demo discs of any kind.

So, if you want to experience a stereophonic experience, check out Listening In Depth... and watch out for the train!

Howard Roberts - All-time Great Instrumental Hits

2006-08-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, one of my favorite guirat players... Howard Roberts.
This guy just plays so so so tasty, I can't help picking up any of his stuff at the thrift stores. Such a smooth player, and he got so very little recognition... I liken his playing to early George Benson (which I have some and may put up later).

This outing, Howard takes on instrumental hits of the 60s, and takes them on he does! The only complaint I might have is this... if you have a subwoofer, it'll be dancing!

I'm not gonna say too much more, except this: I'll let the music do the talking here... I have a couple more HR LPs, when I dig em up, I'll post 'em. Enjoy!

Fullsize scans of the jacket, front, and back.

All-Time Great Instrumental Hits are there for the taking...

...and I fixed the link, too!

Roland Kirk - Left & Right

2006-08-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Here's some great orchestral and small-group jazz by a great player, Roland Kirk (now known as Rashaan Roland Kirk). Released in 1969, Left & Right shows just how brilliantly this man composed as well as played. I should say plays, as he is still, to my knowledge, with us.

Brilliant reed work, and his cutting humour shows from the very first track!

If you want fullsize scans of the jacket, here's the front, and here's the back.

And so, without further ado, enjoy Left & Right!

A Quick Commercial Message...

2006-08-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

I know, keeping up (kind of) three shares blogs is a lot of work, and I think I get a couple of you that check out one or two of the other blogs, but please take a moment and check out my other two sharesites, you may find something you like!!

The Shellac Shanty site has lots of pre-vynil-era 78rpm goodness, mostly jazz and swing, but sometimes some classical and other fun stuff, and the AudiOddities site has.... well.... stuff that doesn't fint any real genre. I usually put up strange stuff there, and occasionally, some home recordings on disc. It is different!

As usual, comments are always welcome, and if you link to any one of the blogs, your link will show up in all three of the audioshare blogs.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programme....

Jackie Gleason scans

2006-08-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

I promised that I would get the scans up for Lovers Portfolio.... and here they are!

These are the full size scans, so they're in an archive, which you can download here...

In case you didn't get the original post, here's the 2 discs:

Disc 1
Disc 2

Big surprise coming up! 5 discs' worth!

George Russell Sextet - Strasusphunk

2006-08-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

OK, here's one I have already encoded some time ago, so it's a blast from the past, I guess... so much of a blast I don't even have the jacket for it!

This is a bit more bop-ish than what I usually groove to, but I liked it when I got it, and still don't know much about the group or any personnel. All I do know is this... it swings. It be gome good jazz that Riverside released in 1960... personnel listed on the label are:

Al Kiger - Trumpet

Dave Baker - Trombone

Dave Young - Tenor Sax

George Russell - Piano

Chuck Israels - Bass

Joe Hunt - Drums

SO, all youse, it's kind of a grab-bag, I know, but hey, it's Stratusphunk-y.

The Ahmad Jamal Trio

2006-08-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

Good keyboard players... how I love 'em! And, how I absolutely love to find their works in decent shape in a thrift store!

This is Ahmad Jamal with Israel Crosby on bass and Ray Crawford on guitar, with the beat being laid down by..... a drum machine! How retro...

But, this was Ahmad's first full LP for Epic, having cut an EP and several singles (I think I have even seen some Ahmad Jamal on 78rpm discs!), so his stylings were great. I think so, anyway.

Note in some of the solos that the players will make sure you're paying attention by dropping in a hook from some unrelated song during their solos...

I think this was done in 1960 or thereabouts, there's no real date on the jacket or the disc, but the catalog number was LN 3212 and no mention of it being available in stereo.

So, for a late night posting, here's nice music for a late evening... performed very adeptly, by The Ahmad Jamal Trio. No oops here :)

The Swinging Sounds of Bill Doggett

2006-08-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

Let's switch gears a little... no, a LOT. This is the first of the next stack-o-stuff unearthed in the cleaning of the studio, and we got a winner here!

Bill Doggett is one of the unsung Hammond players out there in the music world. Unsung, because he doesn't feature himself that often! His big hit, "Hony Tonk", didn't feature him! The version here really doesn't either, but there are a couple of his solos on this LP. By the way, the version of "Honky Tonk" is not the original, it is a bit faster, in two parts, and in true stereo. But I digress...

Having worked with Lucky MIllander, the Ink Spots, Louis Jordan, and Ella Fitzgerald, his piano and organ chops, as well as his arranging skills, are on excellent display here. This is a great little LP. 30 minutes of Twistin', house-rockin' fun.

The title of the LP comes from one of the songs on it, where the guitarist, Floyd Smith, did something and said "Oops!"... thus was a title created. This LP is anything BUT Oops, but it says Oops, so...

From 1962, I give you Oops!

Uno, dos, tres a Ros!

2006-08-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

Edmundo Ros, boy am I beginning to really dig on this gentleman and his arrangements of standards into a quasi-latin beat.

This one, "Ros on Broadway" kind of wraps up the bunch of european pressings I have been putting up of late, as it keeps the theme of film and stage tunes, only this time, adapted with that Edmundo Ros 'touch'.

While not truly the exotic rthythms of South America, these are just the thing for the evening of dancing, or playing through the iPod as you travel down the road on a sunny afternoon with the windows and/or top down, and that lovely lady in the passenger seat.

A fine Decca stereo disc from 1958, great tunes, great arrangements, kind of makes me want to jump into the Wayback Machine (or the TARDIS, if you so prefer), set the dials to 1958 London, don the dinner and nightclub attire, and spend an evening at Edmundo Ros' Club. I have a feeling that the orchestra would make for a very entertaining evening!

This is the last of the bunch, so I guess I need to rummage through the shelves for more wonderful items for you to listen to... let me know how you like what's been posted so far!

Download and enjoy Ros On Broadway!

By Request: More Decca Chacksfield

2006-08-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

This post is by the request of Mel, via the comments on the Love Letters post... I think I may actually have some more pre-Phase 4 Chacksfield on London "blueback", I'll have to dig through the racks to see if any more can be unearthed.

Another Decca Frank Chacksfield Decca LP from 1959 (although on the label it says "originally published in 1958"), this time featuring songs that have won the Motion Picture Academy of America "Best Song" award, from 1934 to 1945. Very nice arrangements of all the songs, which are presented in annual order. There is talk of a second album, with songs from 1946 to 1955, but I don't have it, nor have I seen it.

It is interesting to note that, according to the liner notes, when "The Continental" won the award in 1934 there were only ELEVEN awards given out... 1934 was the first year of the award for Best Song. The liner notes go on to say that at the time of this record's release, the catagories had expanded to "...over two dozen." Now, it is what, three days, if you count all the Technical Awards that are given out the day before the actual awards ceremony? Amazing how some things were simpler in the 50s...

This LP has the usual lush arrangements, but still quite tightly arranged, and wonderfully performed, and the pressing quality is pure UK Decca. Again, this was one of the stereo discs that the doofus collector passed on because it WASN'T a US London release. These are all pretty standard tunes, but the arrangements make them a treat for the light music afficionado.

I'd like to thank the Academy for giving Frank the inspiration to record these Academy Award Songs!

Waltz Time! Hey Walt, what time is it?

2006-08-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

Another 1958 Telefunken-Decca West German pressing of an RCA Living Stereo release, this one recorded in the USA... Chicago, to be exact. The always awesome Chicago Symphony Orchestra, this time under the baton on Fritz Reiner, giving us a six-track program of... waltzes!

I know, this is more of a mood music blog, but once in a while, a little light classical is not a bad thing. I promise, no opera (well, maybe a little bit...)...

I see this LP a lot in the thrift stores, usually beat all to poo, so it was a surprise to see the German TelDec pressing that LOOKED to be in pretty good shape. Looked to be, but really wasn't, so you may hear a couple of pops in here, for which I apologize. And, I do NOT know WHY TelDec INSISTED on using their narrow groove pitch... the grooves are deep-cut, so with the correct stylus (different than the usual .07 mil elliptical one sees on most systems today) one SHOULD get a decent playback off of these... but I'd rather spend the USD$100 on things like... food, or the mortgage than on a stylus that I'll use... what... once a month on average?

NOT!

If I knew the specs of the stylus, I would be on the net tomorrow ordering one up for the Stanton.

Does that make me an audio-geek? I guess so :)

These are the usual typical Vienna waltzes, nothing new or exciting, but well performed and well-recorded by the lads at RCA. Nice heavy vynil disc too.

This is good light classical fare, so enjoy this little trip to Vienna!

Chacksfield - Love Letters in the Sand

2006-08-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

Here's another one of those Decca Stereo LPs that goomus-the-purist passed over...

Frack Chacksfield's orchestra was one of many 'mood' orcehstras that Decca had in their stable in the late 1950s. This effort from 1958 has Frank returning to more COntinental fare than on his previous effort ("In the Mystic East"). I MUST give you this excerpt from the liner notes on the rear of the jacket, as they are brilliant...

Until recent years, of course, you could not have heard light music played with the immaculate artistry that is displayed on this record. In earlier days it was very much the province of tea-room trios and overworked pit orchestras. Like Frank Chacksfield, they played a very wide range of music, but unlike him, they played it all uniformly badly; they unhesitatingly mangled the Sugar plum fairy and Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road into strikingly similar shapes.

Thank you Mr. Peter Clayton. I couldn't have said it better myself.

It is interesting that the British call this "light music" when the more appropriate listening environment is with a Particular Someone that one would make woo with, in a dimly lit (if lit at all) room!

The market for 'light music' was great during the Eisenhower Era, as I guess it would have been a great way to not worry about the Great Red Menace... unfortunately, when I was beginning to listen to music and radio, this type of thing was relegated to elevators, dental office parlors, and "Beautiful Music" FM radio stations, of which there was all of ONE in the town I grew up in. And this is what they played. Over and over and over.

But, now that I am all 'mature' (suppoedly), I find this music very comforting, the lush strings, the occasional trumpet solo taking the melodic lead, the image of a young damsel in evening gown sitting across from me in a dimly lit room as she slowly takes off her gloves and sips gently upon her martini with the sparkle of expectation of things to come...

Ahh, simpler days... where's my smoking jacket, Jeeves?

Love Letters in the Sand

Edmundo Ros, again! a Hi-Fi-esta!

2006-08-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

I did a later Edmundo Ros a few posts ago, but there are these two wonderful Decca stereo LPs I got in this current bunch that are really nice examples of Edmundo's work and arrangements, so I'm gonna post 'em.

An interesting story with these... when I got them in the thrift store about a year ago, there was this other really hyped up collector pawing through the bins looking for London 'blue-back' LPs. London stereo LPs sold in the US in the late 50s and early 60s, and are considered to be some of the best recordings out there for their time, and are quite sought after by audiophiles. The reason they are called 'blue-backs' are that the back side of the LP jacket was not off-white, but a very light, robin's egg blue, on which was printed the usual information.

So this guy was chucking all of these Decca Stereo LPs in his 'reject' pile... not realizing that these would be the EXACT SAME LPs, only they were the ones sold in the UK! He thought that only the London ones were the primo stuff... I quickly snatched up all of his rejects (he had bought a couple of London 'blue-backs' but they were in very very ratty condition...), took them up front to pay for them, and as I was finishing with the cashier, I mentioned that these were exactly the same as the London LPs he so furiously sought out. You should have seen his face go white, then red, then green... he stomped off to his car, enraged.

My point: if it has to be 'just-so', be prepared for some disappointments, especially when you go into the stores not knowing what to look for. This guy hopefully has learned his lesson, that not all things are as USA-centric as he wised, I guess.

Anyway, I got the LPs, and here I share them with all you kind folk out there.

This one, is interesting. Edmundo kind of transposed rhythmic ideas and songs with an interesting result. There are a couple of very hot tangoes in here, and even a popular march done in a samba feel. Edmindo's club in London was still the going thing, even more so when this was recorded (ca. 1958) as opposed to the later Phase 4 that I posted a while back. Personally, I think the arrangements and performances are snappier with this one than with the later one, but I'll leave it for you to decide.

This would be, probably, a good LP to dance off the dinner that you had with the Melachrino Strings, it certainly is peppy enough!

Dance the night away to a Hi-Fi-esta!

A Dinner Date with Melachrino

2006-08-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

George Melachrino... a mainstay of the RCA "Living Stereo" series, and a very lush arranger and composer. The music here is very much background dinner type stuff, but is still very very nice to have around when you have that certain lady over for a romantic repast.

What ever happened to casual dinners with good wine, and ladies wearing gloves, and men in suits, and dinner music such as this... the last time I was in an upper-scale dinner restaurant (a VERY nice steak-house for a romantic dinner), there was some cudgel-brain a couple of tables over in short pants and a polo shirt. If I have to wear a suit and tie, then, by golly.....

I guess it is a sign of times gone by, then, maybe that makes me an old poop... but every once in a while, I still like having a REAL dinner with REAL music and REAL manners.

Sigh...

Anyways, this is a 1958 RCA recording, recorded in England, and pressed by Telefunken-Decca GmbH in (at that time) West Germany. THe recording is brilliant, but the TelDec pressings have a VERY close groove pitch, which almost necessitate a different stylus (narrower than the usual stylus used for stereo groove playback) to get the stylus well into the groove. If I stil had my very skinny stylus for US Victor microgroove 45s and EPs, maybe I could have gotten an better encode... this one is good, but there were a few more groove pops than I would have cared for.

On the inner sleeve, which is from the UK, there is an interesting bit, which I'll repeat for you here:

NOTE: When held at certain angles the surface of this Stereophonic record looks different than that of a monaural disc... it may even appear to be worn. Of course, this is only an illusion caused by the unusual way in which the grooves of this record are cut.

It's still good for the dining music though, Music for Dining with your favourite Someone.

The Stars in Stereo

2006-08-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

It is football season, which has absolutely NOTHING to do with the topic of discourse on this post.

The reason I mention football season is that it is time to un-bury all the control cables and remotes for the satellite dishes so I can watch my home-area football team, the Seattle Seahawks.

Oh, ok, for those of you not in the US, it's my hometown GRIDIRON team.

In the moving of stuff to get the dishes operating, I found a stack of British-pressing stuff, which I'll encode up and share with you in the coming days.

This one is basically a sampler of Capitol stereo stuff, circa 1957, recorded in the US and pressed and distributed in the UK by EMI. There are some goodies on here, and some blah-ness... but overall, it's an enjoyable little way to sample the buffet of great lounge stuff that Capitol had available in the late 50s. Plus, the pressing of this LP is the usual UK greatness, good high-quality vinyl, and was gotten from the thrift store in pretty pristine shape. Frank Sinatra, Harry James, Les Baxter, Nat Cole, Jackie Gleason, Les Brown, Fred Waring, Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, and Stan Kenton all add their touches to this star-studded stereophonic salute to sonorous sensuality.

Thake THAT, all you wanna-be PR mavens! (grinning wide)

Download Stars in Stereo!

The Billy Vaughn Sound....

2006-08-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra, best known for a couple of hits and a distinctive sound in the early 60s, as far as big band goes. So, here I am at the thrift store that NEVER has reel tapes, and I see this one. "Blue Hawaii".... ooo, and it's on BelCanto, too! 'bel canto' is the correct way to note this, that label always put out a brilliant recording, even though some times the material is poop.

So, I get home, finish up a stack of 78s and decide to encode this as I watch the UK 'terror crisis' on CNN-international and Sky News (courtesy of those terror-mongers at CNN and FOx News). The only comment I have to say about that is that the last time in 1995 that this type of deal was 'attempted' it was a joint CIA-MI6-Mossad operation to try and ratchet up the level of fear. If it was the "real deal" as Scotland Yard & the Met are putting it, then you can rest assured that it was concocted by the CIA and MI5.

Nuffa-dat.

I'm encoding away, and I realize that there are seven tracks listed on the back of the box, and only SIX tracks on the first side. oops. THEN I look and see that it is an original Dot recording. double-oops. Sho'nuff, it's that typical Billy Vaughn sound, nothing exotic here, move along....

It's a nice encode of a nice recording of some (my opinion) dreck-y material. But, I'll share it with you as an example of Billy and his sound, so you know what you'll get if you see it in the charity shoppes or boot sales.

Cheers, and remember, the only REAL terrorists are the ones behind the big desks in the ivory towers.

Blah Hawaii

But Where's Tommy Newsome??

2006-08-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

Today, I have for you a nice NICE set of big band tunes from none other than Doc Severinsen, leader of the NBC Orchestra, otherwise known as the house band for "The Tonight Show" when hosted by the late Johnny Carson. Recorded for Grand Award/Command in the mid 1960s ("Sunny" and "Up Up and Away" would date this at around 1966 or maybe 1967), this was done right after Doc took control of the Tonight Show band, and many of the players there are here, such as Snooky Young, Sy Berger, Tom Newsom (on WOODWINDS! see, I thought Tommy was another trumpet player... silly me...), and Ed Shaughnessy. Joining DOc are some killer players like Bucky Pizzarelli, Tony Mottola, and Clark Terry, just to name a few. The arrangements by Dick Hyman and Marion Evans are choice (when AREN'T they?), the pressing is typical nice Command (even though this is an ABC effort)... this is just a neat neat record for the summer.

This is another example of just how infouential people like Dick Hyman and Enoch Light were to the music industry... unsung heroes to the mainstream... heck, most people only think of "The Minotaur" when they hear Dick Hyman's name, well, in the musical sense anyway.

Enjoy Doc, as he shows off the Tonight Show band in its' early days. It swung. Always did. Up to the end.

Heyyyy-yoooo!

Persistent Percussion. You read it right.

2006-08-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

Well well well, what have we here... looks like a red vynil RIPOFF of the Command "Persuasive Percussion" series! This was recorded in July of 1960, and actually has some names of people one might know on the sessions... people like Curtis Counce on bass, Frank Rosolino on trombone, Richie Kamuka on tenor sax, and a guy credited as "Kess" on guitar. Three guesses as to whom THAT is.

Oh yes, the orchestra is just listed as "All Stars".

This was released on Kent records, the label and pressing looking like a Crown knock-off, but actually recorded pretty well. There's the usual 1960s stereo ping-pong effects, lots of percussion, but there's also some good arrangements in here, and the band swings quite well. The pressing is a little bit noisy, so please excuse the occasional "Frutzz" in the grooves... I got out as much as I could without destroying the audio quality.

This thing I actually picked up at the thrift store today, I wasn't going to buy anything, but I saw this thing, and HAD to get it and encode it. Turns out, I'm glad I did.

Enoch Light, eat yer heart out.

(Seriously, I wonder if this was some kind of lawsuit bait, since the cover is almost an EXACT ripoff of the Command cover....)

Get Persistent!

Jacques Denjean - The Tough Touch

2006-07-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know too much about this composer/bandleader, except that apparently there are a couple of cuts here that became theme songs for popular radio programmes on Europe No. 1 and France-Inter Jeunesse ("Dans le vent" and "La route", respectively). The band apparently got noted in 1961 according to a mention on the jacket, stating "A new big jazz orchestra was born in France!" (an A. Destombes of "Telemagazine" said that)....

The cover has a release date of Feb 1964, but the disc, a German Polydor, has a press date of 1963, so, it is safe to say that this is early 60s jazz. No personnel credits, of course, but there is a mention that this was basically a "pick-up" orchestra, composed of studio players and amateurs, from both Paris as well as the countryside. It comes together, though, in a French 60s kind of Austin Powers-y way, and isn't too bad. Quite listenable, actually.

Most of the cuts are originals by M. Denjean, but there are a few covers also in here (guess which one is the Holland & Dozier piece, credited to Holland Dozier)... including one of the BEST covers of "Watermelon Man" (which is credited to Herbie Hancock... am I wrong or wasn't that a Mongo Santamaria tune?) I have heard, ever.

The disc was a BOOGER to get encoded, but, once again, CoolEdit shines! THere may be a few pops left in the tracks, but rest assured, there were a ton more before the noise pass was begun.

The Tough Touch.

Before I go, I have linked to a few more of my fave sites... if I have grabbed a share from it, I have posted a link to the site. Great stuff out there, grab, share, play, enjoy!

Ronnie Aldrich on Decca Phase 4

2006-07-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

After all the picture-taking (I wrested the digital camera under penalty of no-TV-for-a-week... not to worry, the kids are off to camp tomorrow morning, so it's no TV for a week ANYWAY), as you'll note there are now scans on most of the posts now (and a bunch of pics over on the Shellac Shanty of the studio). Also, there's a stream of Tiki stuff going on, just look over in the sidebar for Tiki Radio. It'll be up most of the time, except for when I am doing some encoding work or the server needs the bandwidth.

So, tonight's share: Ronnie Aldrich and His Two Pianos. On Phase 4. DECCA Phase 4. I found this in the thrift store, took it home, and it plays brilliantly. Decca Phase 4 releases didn't have (at least this one didn't have) the gatefold deal with all the technical bits inside, just the front and back cover. It DOES have a date of recording on it, though, that being 1962. The label is just like the usual London Phase 4 seen in the US, but it has the big DECCA logo on it, and a little roundel saying "33 1/3 rpm" on the bottom.

Enough of the drivel, on to the record. It's one with tunes based on classical themes, played by Ronnie with a nice combo backing him (uncredited, of course). Very tasty stuff, indeed. A nice after-word (or extension) of the Jackie Gleason post, but without the drink recipes. Heck, you should kow how to make the drinks by now! With some of the A-B stereo panning going on, you may not need them...

Anyways, here it is, Ronnie Aldrich. Enjoy!

Jackie Gleason's Lover's Portfolio

2006-07-27T23:10:00.000-07:00

OK kids, here's a treat... I think...

Jackie Gleason was a very talented individual, and he would have been the first one to tell you so, and you would have laughed as you agreed with him. Seriously, I like Jackie. And I like his orchestral stuff.

This, however, is an extremely interesting 2 LP set, that Capitol released in an actual portfolio-type briefcase! And the liner notes, WOW (which I need to get scanned)!

Basically, this is a 4-sided seduction piece, with music for Sipping, Dining, Dancing, and...... stuff. The liner notes even go so far as to suggest what kinds of drinks (WITH RECIPES!) to serve your paramour-ette (object of your affections, dinner date, whatever).

We start with Side 1, an 18 minute solo piano medley (with occasional Bass and Drum), for the casual conversation as your date comes in and slips off her gloves. Nicely and tastefully done, yes, sir, and it is called "Music for Sipping". This was all one track, and the titles contained are in the MP3 ID3V2 tag. I'll post them here, too... they are:
Some Day I'll Find You
I Can't Get Started
I Remember It Well
I See You Face Before Me
Allez Vous En
Lovely To Look At
The Touch Of Your Hand
What Is There To Say
I'll Follow My Secret Heart
If I Didn't Care
Someday I'll Find You (reprise)

So, now it is on to the dinner. For that we have Jackie's Dixieland Orchestra and "Music for Dining", with a few numbers to help the digestion, and to lighten up the mood, but not TOO light, nudge nudge.... That would be Side 2.

Side 3 is for "Music for Dancing", and we get a 15 minute mish-mash medley I guess that one could dance to... it's again one single track, so here are the titles (also in the ID3v2 tag):
I Could Have Danced All Night
Love Is Here To Stay
C'est Magnifique
Mad About The Boy
It's All Right With Me
Just In Time
How High The Moon
Easy To Love
I Concentrate On You
All Of You
Our Love
On The Street Where You Live
I Love Paris
Come Rain Or Come Shine
It All Depends On You
So In Love
A Foggy Day
By Myself
The Party's Over

See what I mean? But it is nicely performed by the "Society Dance Orchestra", whomever that may be (probably whomever was in studio that day...)

Now, Side 4, the "Music for Loving" (actually, drop the final 'g' on all the Music For...). These are ALL Jackie Gleason compositions, and are performed by Jackie's "Music for Lovers" Orchestra. Now THIS is the Jackie Gleason sound we're all familiar with. Lush lushness of strings, and not a clanker or blatt in the bunch. I guess that 16 or so minutes was the expected time to do.....stuff back then, or at least 16 minutes was supposed to be enough to prepare for..... doing stuff. Seems like an awfully short evening to me. But, hey, what do I know... with all the drink recipes in the liner note booklet, maybe the amorous couple would have passed out after 16 minutes of Music for Lovers...

Anyway, I split this into 2 archives, sides 1 and 2 are here... and sides 3 and 4 are here.

I'll have the liner notes up in a couple of days, believe me, they're worth the wait.

Cheers, and remember, always practice safe...... stuff!

Edmundo Ros, the Latin King?

2006-07-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

Calm down, all you Tito Puente fans, it's only the title of the LP... Edmundo will never have the fire that "El Rey del Mambo" had, but he was a pretty popular band leader in the UK in the 50s and 60s, and had some pretty dance-able stuff.

This here share is from an OOP (later vintage of) London Phase-4 LP, found in a thrift store, and in pretty grungy condition. This one looked like it had been backed over by something... but I was able to get a halfway decent rip of it (CoolEdit ROCKS). Maybe it had something to do with the OTHER Edmundo Ros LP inside the jacket (on UK Decca, and in even WORSE shape)?

Anyways, you get to hear some pretty latin-esque (in a proper British sense, I guess) dance numbers, plus, Edmundo 'graces' us with his singing on a few of the cuts. Antonio Benedetto he ain't, but neither is he a male version of Florence Foster Jenkins (a truly painful experience, listening to FFJ... shudder!).

The rip came out fairly clean except for a couple of cuts towards the end of the LP sides... you can hear the crispness turn to mush (which almost NEVER happened on earlier Phase 4 pressings) somewhat, but there's still enough there to enjoy.

As per current, I'll have scans when I can FIND the digital camera... and, if I get energetic (or masochistic) I'll try and rip the other Decca LP that 'came with' this one. No guarantees, except for these two:

(1) Rabidshare will not delete this archive, because it ain't there, and...

(2) None of these tracks have shown up on a Wyncote LP (that I know of)..... if anyone finds a Wyncote LP recorded by "El Kaiwaza"..... RUN!

Here's The Latin King...

Something ain't right here....

2006-07-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, now that I have recovered from a computer that had a wheezing power supply (note: don't expect a 385 watt supply to keep a machine with 5 drives, a DVD burnerm and a CDR burner happy...), I can get down to encoding and posting a few more things. Actually I ordered up a 600w one and a 580w one, the 600w unit was dead out of the box (and is getting returned to ComputerGeeks.com), but the 580 watt unit is merrily soldiering on. Yay-ness!

Tonight's posts are a couple of different things. I found another couple of Wyncote LPs, and have included one of the for your amusement. I say "amusement" because it is another bunch of Hawaiian stuff. "Hawaiian Holiday" by "Kaiwaza". Okay, all good and well. BUT, when you unwrap the archive, you'll notice a couple of things...

(1) Some of the tunes are BRILLIANT Tiki material. I mean, these are NICE! Right up there in Tiki-ness with Lyman, Denny, and the rest. Which brings me to...

(2) If you look at the list of titles on this LP as opposed to the other Wyncote LP I posted, you'll notice that some of the track names are the same. No problems. BUT, when you play the tracks, THEY'RE THE SAME DAMN TRACK! "Hawaiian Holiday" and "Hibiscus Blossom" are the same tracks as on the other Wyncote LP! I checked with a very concentrated ear, and it sounds like these are even the same exact takes! Which brings me to...

(3) Wyncote. These guys must be the budget arm of something like Command or another company... they gather together a bunch of rejected takes or audition takes from somewhere, then throw them up in the air. The 10 that land closest together go on to an LP issue. This SEEMS like how they do it. Obviously, Wyncote is budget label, fronting someone's reject takes, but I guess the lesson here is this: in every pile-o-poop there can be brilliance.

So, is it "Kaiwaza"? Is it the "Hawaiian Islanders"? Or is it the "Mystery Haoles of Kahenoe Bay"? Unless someone has Wyncote notes or info, we may never know.

Oh well, enjoy "Kaiwaza"...

On a second note, I got some responses to the package of 7-inchers I posted the other day... I'll have to look at the off-centered-ness of the Si Zentner stuff, and maybe re-rip them.

Here's an archive of more orchestral stuff, some big band, some sweet-swing, but all in all, not too bad. Again, please excuse the quality of the rips, these are a bit older than current, and I was in a hurry to get these together for a "Music of your Afterlife" parody show.

Included in this batch are:

Glen Gray & His Casa Loma Orchestra:
- Night Train
- Swingin' The Blues

Harry James:
- Cherry
- Trumpet Blues

Les Elgart & His Orchestra:
- Beat Junction
- Let Me Call You Sweetheart
- Love For Sale
- Sidewinder
- The Touch Of Your Lips
- When You Were Sweet Sixteen

The 'New" Glenn Miller Orchestra:
- I Could Have Danced All Night
- Peg O My Heart

Ted Heath:
- Bag's Groove
- Cherokee
- Doodlin'
- Exactly Like You
- Night Train
- Wailin' Boat

Warren Covington & The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra:
- An Occasional Man
- Nunca
- Sweet and Gentle
- Tea For Two Cha Cha No. 2

Will Kennedy & His Orchestra:
- Give Me the Night Life
- I'm In A New World
- My Heart's Gone Crazy
- You're Not Fooling Me

As before, most are stereo, off of the 7-inch pressings from various labels. I have more of these laying about if anyone wants them... a lot of them swing pretty nicely, actually.

Download more 7-inch stuff!

So there you have it, I'm kinda caught up now... I found some Colombian stuff at my thrift store, supposedly the Colombian equivalent of either James Last or Peggy Lee... we'll just have to wait and see how good (or bad) it is...

Until next time, keep the Tiki torches lit for me!

A Batch of Mini-Exoti-Tiki

2006-07-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

You need to take a long shower after that last post? I don't blame you. So, here's a little freshener, an archive of 7-inch stuff I had laying around. The rips aren't the best, some are stereo, some are mono, but these are not to doggone bad.

In the early 1960s, Goddess knows why, Liberty, London, Decca, Command, and others released a bunch of seven-inch singles, some in stereo, pressed on a variety of material, some at 45 rpm, some at 33 1/3 rpm, some wide groove pitch, some at narrow groove pitch (think RCA Victor 45 rpm EP microgroove-from-hell groove pitch).

What I culled here are the more tiki-esque of the lot, I'll save the Big Band stuff for a later release (maybe after another Wyncote piece of garbage).

Dick Hyman's Trio gives us four cuts:
- Dancing Tambourine
- If I Had You
- Sleep
- We're In The Money

Then there is a Ferrante & Teicher (sorry, no prepared pianos):
- Devotion
- Sands of Time

Followed up with four cuts by Los Amiradores on the Command label:
- Birth of the Blues
- Golden Earrings
- Makin' Whoopee
- My Funny Valentine

Next some Si Zentner:
- Belle of the Ball
- Boogie Woogie Maxixe *
- Lover
- Paradise
- Shadrack *
- The Sweetest Sounds
- Waltz in Jazz Time
- Willow Weep For Me
(the ones with an asterisk are from a mono 45, the rest are from a 6-song 7-inch EP)

And finally for your listening pleasure(??) is a single from Timi Yuro (the one that recorded "Hurt"):
- Are You Sure
- She's Got You

Hope this is a decent enough Alka-Seltzer for the gastric badness of the previous post.... but rest assured, I CAN up the ante for Exoti-crap if need be (evil wide grin)......

Download all seven inches!

A Challenge (or: "Exoti-blah, anyone?")

2006-07-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

OK, here's the deal. I know some of you bloggers out there with huge collections of Tiki, Exotica, Jazz, what-have-you... I know you're looking at this blog, because every once in a while I get some comments! I like comments! So, to spice up the summer (or winter, in the Southern Hemisphere), I offer this little challenge...

We all know that there is some abso-FARKING-lutely BRILLIANT Tiki-zotica out there on the blogs & shareblogs. GREAT stuff. Pride of the collection and all that. Things that make the blog-poster smile all the way to the hard drive when they get one of these jewels at the thrift store. Agreed? Ok.

Here's the challenge. What is the WORST piece of exoti-drek you have in your library. Klangers. Klunkers. Things that make you wince in abject terror. Really really REALLY bad stuff. Something that goes beyond boring or mediocre. A piece of crap. Something that deserves to be made into an ashtray (almost).

Got one? Post it up on your blog! Let me know where it is and we can all judge it.

I did a "Klanker of the Week" over on the Shellac Shanty blog and it got quite a few comments, because there wre some real screechers made on the 78rpm shellac. And I doggone good and well KNOW that there are some screechers in the thrift store piles.

Here's my ante for this little shindig: "Hawaiian Paradise" by the "Hawaiian Islanders". 10 cuts of barf-on-vinyl. This thing is on the wonderful Wyncote label and has the AUDACITY to have the big "35mm stereo" banner on the jacket. This must have been sold in grocery and drug stores in such tropical places as Kansas, Arkansas, North Dakota, and southern Illinois. The musicians aren't credited (and it is a good thing), and there are no composer credits on the label, either. There is a steel guitar player, but I betcha he was yanked off the unemployment line in Nashville, because he sure sounds country... no other redeeming things about any of the other musicians, either.

What moves this LP from "boring" to "drek" is the sparse liner notes on the back jacket:

"Hawaiian music has long been at the top of the music list "most popular" with Americans.

In this album, the distinctive Hawaiian flavor instills fresh memories of that Hawaiian dancer... that unforgettable trip to the islands; or, maybe that paradise recluse for undisturbed dreamers.

Most of your favorites are in this album. However, the other selections are sure to become your favorites also. For, each song in this album is Hawaiian music as you like it... Authentic island style using the traditional combination of the ukelele, the steel guitar, and native percussion.

For each of you, this album will bring to life the distant and romantic beauty of the Hawaiian Islands... the dreamer's paradise!"

Excuse me while I go chunder....

Download (if you dare)!

A Little Bit of Reeds from Rugolo

2006-07-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight's interlude ain't Tiki, but it is pretty good jazz from L.A. Jazzman (and Mercury Recording Director when this LP was cut) Pete Rugolo. I found this sitting on top of a box of reel tapes buried (literally!) beneath about 500 pounds (literally!) of audio cables. So, since I didn't have anything really in line to encode (except for a Patti Page LP that had great backing instrumentals but her voice sounding like she was in a muffled closet... oh yea, THAT was on the Mercury label as well...), I did this one.

It's some very orchestral jazz, no brass, only reeds and saxes and flutes (and rhythm section), with the occasional solo by Andre Previn on piano and Barney Kessel on guitar. Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Dave Pell, and Chuck Gentry have solos peppered (bad pun) throughout the tracks as well. It swings in places, it lounges in places, it even stretches the musical wings a bit (case in point: "Polytonal Blues").

Pressing quality is good, I only had to remove a few wompies in the celeste opening of the first track and do the usual noise reduction pass on the rest. Godess be praised for CoolEdit :) The result is another 320/44 Fraunhoffer rip in rar format for your enjoyment.

The kids are still on the Great Opus of the Kitty from Hell vs. the Beanie-Baby Armada, so no scans until I forcibly remove the digital camera from their grasps. Or give them another bag of Mexican candy (which may have started this cinematographical binge in the first place!)....

Reedy Rugolo!

Lawrence Welk Exotica???

2006-07-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

O-o-o-o-o-ka-a-a-a-y.... well I wasn't too convinced, but this was in a batch I ended up getting at one of the thrift stores in bulk, and I was really really really hesitant to play the damn thing.

But I did.

Wow.

Aside from the incessant scratcher, this AIN'T HALF BAD. George takes some of the Tiki Standards and merrily screws with them ("Now Is The Hour" in 3/4 time?? "Hawaiian War Chant" as a cha-cha??). One of the featured players is Buddy Cole on the Novachord ("...sometimes as a string section, other times as part of the percussion effect..."), and the lead female vocal is none other than (are you sitting down?) Norma Zimmer. Yes, THAT Norma Zimmer your grandpappy had the hots for every time Larry fired up the bubble machine. Another notable player is Alvino Rey on one of the steel guitars (no spoken stuff this outing though), and Milt Holland "in the percussion section".

The pressing is on Dot from some time in the early 60s, and it is quite clean. I didn't have to doink with the noise reduction too awful much, and, as usual, this is encoded in Fraunhoffer 320/44 true stereo MP3.

So, there you have it. I am gonna do the rar archive thing again, so download this little surprise here!

Again, my apologies for no scans, the kids still have the damn digital camera (something about Barbie, Godzilla, and the Kitten from Hell).

Mainland Billy May

2006-07-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

Orkey-dorkey, I fell out of the Hawaiian groove there... now that my night job that runs 9+ hours plus a 60 mile each way commute is DONE, I will have a little more time to devote to My Three Blogs (insert TV theme music here).

First up, I am in a quandry... all the OTHER blogs I see that are sharing full LPs are doing one big rar archive for the LP. Should I do this also, even though I'm not using Rapidshare? I'll see, as I have rar'ed up this LP into one big archive.

Today's treat? A Billy May LP from the Time Records library. It's self-titled, so I used the "Process 70" as the album name. Nice swing stuff on here, plus the music is very well recorded! The LP was another thrift store find, and was in pretty ratty shape, so excuse the pops that remain.

Project 70 was apparently a "I got more fidelity than you" deal to go up against the Command 35mm process. It looks like they used 70mm wide TAPE, as one of the big things in the liner technical blah-blah was that the recording material kept constant tension against the heads, as opposed to being pulled across with film sprockets. Once I get the scanner up and running I'll scan the liner notes, it's a good laff.

The tunes are well performed too, and Billy manages to run some humour into the tracks (check out the incidental vocals in "Road to Hong Kong").

So, what are you waiting for? Download the archive!

Picture will be posted when I get the damn digital camera back from the kids.

How about a nice Hawaiian Punch!

2006-06-13T01:32:00.000-07:00

Again with the Hawaiian stuff! But, it's good though... this is a 1961 release from RCA Victor, on their Living Stereo (thankfully NOT StereoAction) moniker... VERY nicely performed & recorded, and a good catch for a buck at the thrift store. Unfortunately, no obligatory half-naked come-hither female on the cover (I'll post it soon), but the music makes up for it.

The liner notes are almost apologetic, but they do drivel a little about the Mauna Loa Islanders being a Hawaiian group of some reknown (at least in the Islands), but, alas, no performer credits. The only credit given was that this was recorded in New York City. Whee.

But, enough of the crabbing. Here's the cuts, enjoy!

Mauna Loa Islanders - Hawaiian Punch - RCA Victor LSP-2295 (1961)
Hawaiian Punch
Drifting and Dreaming (Sweet Paradise)
Hawaiian War Chant
Bali Ha'i
Malihini Mele
A Song of Old Hawaii
Blue Hawaii
Enchanted Island
Ka-Lu-A
Hawaiian Sunset
I'll Weave a Lei of Stars For You
Now Is The Hour (Maori Farewell Song)

OK, not as exotic as Martin Denny or Esquivel, but still some pretty darn nice Hawai'ian kine.

I'll try and post something non-Hawaiian soon, promise.

The Martin Denny Went Bye Bye

2006-06-04T03:06:00.000-07:00

OK, I blew it again... the Martin Denny post I had went bye bye.

Here's the pic:

Here's Side 1:
Opening Announcements
Rain
Hilo March
Hawaiian Wedding Song
Volga Boatmen
Black Orchid

Here's Side 2
Pretty Maui Girl
Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai
Lei Aloha Lei Makamae
On The Beach At Waikiki
Ol' Man River

Quick review: Not as tiki, but some very serious swinging jazz here... lots of innovation, and done live, too! The announcer on side 1 is [Honolulu radio station] KPOI's Tom Moffatt, and the gig was recorded on-scene at Duke Kahanamoku's in more-or-less downtown Honolulu. Released on Liberty Records in the early to mid 1960s, and I don't think I have ever seen this on CD, it beats bad poi and spoiled coconut milk, definately!

Sorry about the truncated post, and we'll be back with nore stuff later!

A pair of 10 inch...records

2006-05-29T17:34:00.000-07:00

While we're on the Hawaiian thing, I ran across a couple of "tourist-y" 10-inch records. I'll let you decide which of these are better than the other...

The first one, "...recorded on the beach at Waikiki..." (with the surf sounds between each song to prove it...) is Webley Edwards presents Hawaii Calls (with Al Keahola Perry). It is on a Capitol 10-inch disc, and the tunes are....passable, I suppose... nothing to write home about, but they would pass for suitable tourist-y rememberances, I suppose for the early 1950s...

Na Lei O Hawaii (Song of the Islands)
Ta-Hu-Wa-Hi-Wai (Hawaiian War Chant)
Lovely Hula Girl
Imi Au Ia Oe (King's Serenade)
Ke Kali Nei Au (Hawaiian Wedding Song)
The Hawaiian Cowboy
I'll See You In Hawaii
Aloha Oe (Hawaiian Farewell Song)

Comments: You'll note that the Hawaiian Cowboy is indeed the one written by Sol K. Bright. I need to get that version up on the Shellac Shanty. It's much better than this one. Overall, this one is a yawner. This whole ALBUM is a yawner. Bleh. Consider it as the MoodieToonz Clanker.

Now, then, we come to the SECOND 10-inch record on this post, one which has the potential to be MUCH worse than the Hawaii Calls thing. Released on Royale (a division of Record Corp. of America), which was another budget label like Pontiac, is this collection of Polynesian and Hawaiian Music, performed by Bernie Kaai & His Hawaiians. This was released in, I think, 1954, but the tracks sure sound like they may have come from 10-15 years earlier. Royale had a reputation for scouring the outtake bins of other labels and releasing stuff that the big boys would have dumped, usually from the shellac era. This is how the folks-at-home got a lot of music, cheaply. Most were drek-ords, but there were the exceptions, and this here 10-incher is one of them!

Polynesian Rhythm
Hula Lullabye
Steel Guitar Boogie
Kuuaina Aliha (My Beloved Homeland)
Halihi (Native Hula)
My Purple Lio (My Crazy Horse)
Lee Aloha (Flower of Love)
Aloha and Goodnight

Wow. I sure was surprised at this one. Granted it is pressed on some of the worst polystyrene one can imagine (hence the occasional click and pop, which I will re-master out later), and there are engineering faults a-plenty (levels all over the place), but if you suffer through the imperfections, you'll hear some very nice swinging Hawaiian music from the 40s in here, along with some very capable Hawaiian electric steel guitar.

Now watch, someone is gonna say that this was a bunch of guys in a studio in East Hackensack, New Jersey wearing floral shirts....

Listen anyways, I think it is worth it, and a little bit of mid 20th Century Hawaiian culture stuff never hurts, even if it is second-hand bargain label stuff from the thrift store bin.

Make Mine a Mai-Tai! Mahalo!

the Impaler

PS - Pics will be put up when I wrangle the digital camera away from the daughters...

Tommy Garrett's 50 Gee-tarrzz

2006-05-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

Ahh yes, another crap picture from my unsteady hand on the digicam. I really need a tripod, huh.

Anyways, tonight we have a Liberty Premier series LP of Tommy Garrett, specifically "The 50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett", doing some very nice latin-mexican flavored goodies.

Tommy Garrett was a guitar player (duh!) but he liked to get all these OTHER guitar players together and make albums like this one. He called (according to the sparse liner notes) Laurindo Almeida, Barney Kessel, Howard Roberts, Al Viola, Bob Bain, Tiny Timbrell, Bill Pitman, Jose Barroso, and "...many others whose exclusive contracts do not allow their names to be included..." to get in the studio for three days and produce this. Well, actually, Felix Slatkin produced this. Which is why it sounds so.... Slatkin-y I guess.

Liberty Premier series discs had the black printing on the gold labels, and were suppoed to be their 'audiophile' series of stereo LPs. I have yet to find a sonically bad one, and they're usually good for decent lounge music from the early 60s. You can usually find some good'uns at the thrift stores...

Here are the cuts, for your El Martini pleasure...

Guadalajara
Come Closer To Me
Frenesi
Be Mine Tonight
Adios
La Virgen de la Macarena
Besame Mucho
You Belong To My Heart
La Bamba
Perfidia
South of the Border
Granada

Oh, on the La Bamba cut, don't expect Ritchie Valens, it's a whole lot more like mariachi-without-horns. Like this LP. But it's nice.

Enjoy!

Buddy Rich at the Chez - 1966

2006-05-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

In the batch of reel tapes I got was this album:

Yep, someone dumped this off in the middle of a bunch of very easy listening music tapes. Lady Domi asked that I post it, so I will honor her request, but I must tell you that this is STILL IN PRINT ON CD (albeit with extra tracks), and that if you like it you should go and buy it. I am VERY reluctant to post this after finding out that it still is in print... but to give you an idea of just how freakin' great Buddy was as both a drummer and a band-leader, I'll post it. BUT GO BUY THE CD IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR!!

Buddy had just left a VERY high-paying gig with Harry James in 1966 and decided to go forth and form his own band. His initial backers pulled out because the charts weren't 'rock-y' enough (they basically STUNK), so Buddy got a couple of new writers and arrangers and proceeded to blow the doors off of any venue the band played. This band set the standard in 1966 for how to swing and swing hard. In the liner notes, Stan Kenton noted that he was skeptical of Buddy's new adventure, but was hooked after the first hearing.

So, here are the original tracks as found on LP (or on this source, a Pacific Jazz open reel tape)...

Readymix
Basically Blues
Critic's Choice
My Man's Gone Now
Up Tight
Sister Sadie
More Soul
West Side Story Medley

As I stated earlier, go buy this damn thing, there are 8 extra cuts on the CD from the same performance at the Chez in Santa Monica, California, I have heard them and they kick just as much as these original 8 cuts do.

The Wild World of Reel-to-Reel Tape

2006-05-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

After the Tony Mottola LP, I found some VERY nice reel tapes at the ARC store. This is one of them, Les & Larry Elgart's "Warm & Sensual" album.

Just Friends
Soon
Goodbye Is A Lonely Word
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
Here's That Rainy Day
Bermuda Concerto
Ill Wind (You're Blowing Me No Good)
Harlem Nocturne
Hush-A-Bye
Bluesette
Soldier In The Rain

This was produced (mostly, with the exceotion of a couple of cuts) by the legendary Teo Macero on Columbia Stereo Tape, and it shows the smooth-as-silk values he used. I thought this was gonna be just-another-loungey-buncha-tones, but there's some real meat in here! Larry Elgart's Alto Sax, featured in most of the cuts, sails through the material quite nicely. A neat little surprise, even if it is more appropriate for Martini Time than The Swingin' & Stompin' Show....

And the cover... another topless lady with the "Come hither!" expression (don't worry, she covers herself.... sensuously...)...

So.... what else did I find at the ARC store...

Frank Chacksfield & His Orchestra! Ooo! Playing music from Meredith Wilson's "Here's Love"! Ooo! On London Stereo Tape! Ooo! Mastered by Ampex... eww.

Yes, folks, Ampex screwed this one up ROYALLY. The right channel is gloriously brilliant, but the left channel sounds like someone sprayed hairspray on the record head. I managed to remaster SOME of the top end back into it, but boy-howdy, I really want to find this on LP to see how bad Ampex screwed the pooch on this one.

Anyway, here are the cuts...
Here's Love
Look Little Girl
That Man Over There
My Wish
Expect Things To Happen
Dear Mister Santa Claus
Love, Come Take Me Again
The Big Clown Balloons
The Bugle
My State, My Kansas, My Home
Pine Cones and Holly Berries
You Don't Know
Adeste Fideles March

Yes, kids, it's a musical about the winter holiday season... but it's May! Consider this a bit of air-conditioning (it has been over 90 degrees the last few days here) for you.... no cover scan available on this one, sorry, but the mandatory female IS cute...

Sorry about the lousy pic, I'll post a better one when I can figure out this damn camera.

Enjoy the douple-play, and if you ask nice, I'll post the Buddy Rich tape I also got in this batch.

Cheers!

Tony Mottola, lounge or jazz?

2006-05-18T00:33:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of uploading the first side of the Tony Mottola Project 3 LP entitled "Warm, Wild, and Wonderful", produced by Enoch Light, recorded in 1968. I can't really put a shot of the cover here, because it is almost softcore porn (as if other lounge LPs of the late 50s weren't??)... but I'll describe it: a young vixen with a blonde afro and yellow eyes with a sarong not-quite-covering her.... hmmmm... breastal appendages? Something that Star Trek could not have gotten away with in 1967? The cover art is signed by a Hilary Knight, the lady is holding an acoustic guitar, and is kneeling next to a leopard. Fun, huh. But not as funa s the actual cover! Lounge-o-philes, you may know this one, and if you do, I see those smiles!

Anyway, here are the cuts, it is a nifty LP, very jazz-like, and this may be what evolved into early Smooth Jazz.

Side 1:
This Guy's In Love With You
"Hey, after this martini, would you like to come up to my pad and see my etchings?"
Do You Know The Way To San Jose
A very lounge-y treatment of the Dionne Warwick hit, even with the vocal background adding 'effect'... the finger cymbals are a nice little touch... mellow horns too. Boom chick a boom chick chick CHAAAA...
Dream A Little Dream Of Me
I absolutely LOVE the treament that Tony gave this, from the Twinkle Twinkle opening to the lazy swing rendition of a Gus Kahn tune, revitalized by Cass Elloitt.
With A Little Help
The vocals are interesting adds to this rather standard standard... sure isn't Joe Cocker-ish at all!
Scarborough Fair
Patchouuuuuuliiiiiiii... a lounge madrigal!
Watch What Happens
A nice mellow guitar intro leads into an almost-samba, worthy of a cool drink on a tropical beach somewhere... mellow-ness...

Side 2:
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Your typical easy-listening, MoR format stuff... but it'll work at 3 in the morning on US 93 between Wickenburg and Wikieup (two forgettable towns in Arizona between Phoenix and Las Vegas)...
Kites Are Fun
Why nobody has picked this up for a music bed for a summertime car commercial, I dunno... visions of young, carefree people in their cute little compact convertible, picnics on the green, la la lalala la...
Cry Me A River
This cut is one of the best, most soulful versions of Julie London's hit (besides Julie's own version) that I have EVER heard. Nothing gets in the way (too much) of TOny stretching this one out. THIS is DEFINATELY good cocktail jazz.
Goin' Out Of My Head
Okay, we're back to the Lounge cheese here now... have some fondue.
Love In Every Room
Muzak! Muzak! Muzak! A sitar (played by Bucky Pizzarelli!) and a lounge groove that BEGS an acid jazz remix!
I Found Love
It's just so darn HAPPY!!! But it manages to swing just enough to leave the insulin on the shelf.

So far, my favorites are "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" and "Cry Me A River"... definately somewhere between lounge and smooth jazz (and something you would have heard on the 'Beautiful Music' FM radio station in 1968...). And, yes, you DO hear Dick Hyman doing keyboard chores in a few of the cuts.

Pass the olives, gorgeous!

Enjoy!

Infringing on Vintage MY(P)HAE?

2006-05-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to take a break from the 78s and do a few 45s for this blog. At the risk of infringing on Lee's MY(P)WHAE, I dug out three 45s, each with its' own attraction...

The first one is from a local Minneapolis, Minnesota record company, SOMA Records. It has a bunch of Minnesota boys called The Underbeats, covering a classic soul/doo-wop song, Book Of Love. Yes, it's the song originally made famous by the Monotones. And, it's an interesting cover, if I don't say so myself. I like finding stuff like this at the thrift store, all banged and boogered up... one cleans it off, one throws it on the turntable, one does the CoolEdit voodoo (that he do so WELL), and one gets rewarded... well, MOST of the time anyway.

The B-side isn't too badly done either... Darling Lorraine is a bit more, how shall I say it, Wonder-bread-ish? It still has that nice pop feel to it, and I think it might be a nice little B-side... which, of course, it is.

Next up, I found this in the same pile as the Underbeats 45... it is The Reflections on a local Detroit, Michigan label, Golden World, doing (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet. Okay, I think, this is a cover, right? WRONG! I think this one is the REAL DEAL! Holey moley! It's GOOD too! If anyone knows if this is the real deal and not a cover, PLEASE let me know! Comments are welcome! I'll have to go dig through Goldmine magazine to see if Golden World was the original producer of this song.

The B-side is a great tune as well... Can't You Tell By The Look In My Eyes. Neat harmonies, nice arrangement, good 60s doo-wop.

I also noticed that this disc was pressed at a Columbia pressing plant (hence the Columbia-style matrix numbering)...

Now for a REAL Columbia 45... I don't know why I grabbed this one off the pile, but I'm glad I did! Duke's New Sound Band sounds like it was supposed to be a clone of The New Vaudeville Band maybe... at least on this cut, originally written by Buffy St. Marie, entitled Don't Call Me Honey When Your Mother's Around. Holy acid flashbacks, Batman! This is a VERY cute little pop thingie, probably warehoused by Columbia when the fad of tunes like "Winchester Cathedral" went poof. That lasted all of what, 15 minutes?

(sarcasm mode off now because I LIKE "Winchester Cathedral"!)

The B-side, Where Did I Go Bad is a bit more 'pedestrian', but it still is a nice little pop number. Isn't it neat when you can look back 35 years and say "Gee, that was a nice record, how come it didn't get any airplay?" Well, it gets unearthed, right here on MoodieTunez, just for your musical enjoyment!

Right now, I'm working up some Tony Mottola stuff from the 60s, recorded on Enoch Light's Project 3 label, which I'll have for you in a few days, but in the meantime, have a nice stroll down the almost-top-40 Memory Lane!

The Other Side of I Want To Live!

2006-05-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the second side of the LP... sorry that no scans are done yet, hopefully this weekend.

Trio Convicted
Trip To Corona
Peg's Visit
Gas Chamber Unveiling
Nightmare Sequence
Preparations for Execution
Letter Writing Sequence
The Last Mile
Death Scene
End Title

I Want To Live!

2006-05-02T00:41:00.000-07:00

Heh, time for some new stuff... well not quite NEW, mind you, it's from 1959, but relatively new for me, since it was in one of the more recent thrift-store acquisitions... It's a United Artists stereo LP of Johnny Mandel's Great Jazz Score For "I Want To Live!"

OK, so I have never heard of it either.

It starred Susan Hayward, or so the front of the jacket says, but what's on the BACK is MUCH more interesting. Here's the Personnel list...

Personnel:
Jack Sheldon - Trumpet
Al Porcino - Trumpet
Ed Leddy - Trumpet
Frank Rosolino - Trombone
Milt Bernhart - Trombone
Dave Wells - Trombone, Bass Trumpet
Vince De Rosa - French Horn
Sinclair Lott - French Horn
John Cave - French Horn
Dick Parisi - French Horn
Harry Klee - Piccolo, flute
Abe Most - Clarinet
Joe Maini - Sax, Bass Clarinet
Bill Holman - Sax, Clarinet
Marty Berman - Bass clarinet, contra-bassoon
Chuck Gentry - Bass Sax, Contra-bass clarinet
Red Mitchell - String Bass
Pete Jolly - Piano
Al Hendricksen - Guitar
Shelly Manne - Percussion
Larry Bunker - Percussion
Mel Lewis - Percussion
Milt Holland - Percussion
Mike Pacheco - Percussion
Kathryn Jule - Harp
Johnny Mandel - Arrangements

Johnny Mandel's Great Jazz Score for "I Want To Live" UAS-5005

WOW! Now THAT'S almost a who's who of San Francisco& Los Angeles scene players! To expound the 'percussion' listing, the liner notes sayeth:
Shelly Manne - standard drums
Larry Bunker - rhythm logs, cowbells, claves
Mel Lewis - scratcher, cowbells
Milt Holland - chromatic drums, cowbells, Chinese and Burmese gongs
Mike Pacheco - bongos, congas

sounds like the list of players on "The Intro and the Outro" by the Bonzo Dog Band...

Mel Lewis on scratcher.... sigh.....

ANYWAYS, here's the first side, if there's any interest, I'll post the second side in a few days, after I encode it.

Main Theme
Poker Game
San Diego Party
Henry Leaves
Stakeout
Barbara Surrenders

This is some real nice stuff, and well recorded too. I've not seen this on CD anywhere, so relish in an 'unearthed' remaster of some jazz that was, I believe, consigned to the dustbins... unless someone else found this and made a few bucks off of the re-release... oh, heck, enjoy it anyways! Whee!

Andre the K welcomes you to MoodieToonz!

2006-04-23T21:52:00.001-07:00

Three music blogs.
Three music blogs.
See how they play!
See how they play!
I've got a collection as big as can be,
One for shellac, one for strange stuff, and this one makes three,
My brain is exploding as you probably can see!
Three music blogs.
Three music blogs.

Seriously, I had this idea for a third blog kicking around ever since I posted the Synthesis stuff over on AudiOddities. It will, I am sure, make Lee pull out his hair and drive Lady Domi nuts to have to go to three blogs to get a musical fix, but what the hey, if one has a HUGE collection (well over 20,000 LPs alone), it is good to share, especially when a lot of this stuff is well out of print.

Speaking of out of print, I've got some Andre Kostelanetz (otherwise known by me as 'Andre the K') for you! These are on an early Columbia stereo (before they had the 'Six-Eye' logo) LP, which was part of a 6-LP set that, I think, was given out to the buyer when they purchased a Columbia stereophonic phonograph. Actually, there were TWO 6-LP sets, one was 'popular' and one was classical. Both of them I got at a thrift store for 2 bucks each, and both are in fantastic condition.

Here I have for you some of Andre the K's interpretations of two theater musicals, or at least a suite of the musical numbers. The first, Cole Porter's "Anything Goes", features the following tunes:
You're the Top
I Get a Kick Out of You
All Through the Night
Blow, Gabriel, Blow
Nice stuff this, and some very nice stereo recording, too.

The second suite is from "Music in the Air", by Jerome Kern. The tune list here is:
I've Told Ev'ry Little Star
There's a Hill Beyond a Hill
We Belong Together
The Song is You
Coda
A little more orchestral, but still pretty darn nice stuff.

I'll post more occasionally, since LP stuff takes longer to encode and the files are bigger. But, I think they're worth it, and I hope you do too. Enjoy!