The CD Project

Nick Heyward - Tangled (1995)

2012-02-24T06:31:00.004-06:00

UK Import (album inexplicably never released in US)

This record has been described both as Oasis-lite and great lost Britpop music of the mid-’90s. I think it sounds like Oasis with better songwriting; ofttimes you shouldn't confuse popularity with quality. I've been a fan of Heyward since he was with Haircut 100, and while he has adapted his styles to current trends, his singing and songwriting have been consistently strong (his low point was in the late '80s, but made a strong comeback in '93). I've already reviewed two CD singles from this release (here and here), and while there are tracks I like better than others, I listen to this CD often. Heyward is one of those few artists whose music I always buy before ever hearing it. Unfortunately, he hasn't done much lately except for a Haircut 100 live reunion album (yes, you know I've got it and will blog about it later). I don't know if he doesn't have a label or he's just not writing anymore. Shame. An expanded edition of this album was released in 2011; not sure there's enough new stuff to warrant a purchase.

Tracks: My favorite track is the opener, Kill Another Day followed closely by She's Another Girl. Other highlights are Believe In Me, along with the Beatleseque tunes She Says She Knows and The Breadwinner. The other tunes are solid; I don't skip any tracks.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I wasn't working in 1995 (by choice) and this album was just what I needed at the time.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Stars In Her Eyes (1998)
Today (1997)
A Hard Days Nick (1996)
The World (1995)
He Doesn't Love You Like I Do (1993)
I Love You Avenue (1988)
Postcards From Home (1986)

Various Artists - Baseball: Original Soundtrack Recording (1994)

2012-02-23T06:43:00.006-06:00

Baseball season is gearing up, so I figured this is as good a time as any for this CD. Ken Burns is a master filmmaker and I've enjoyed all his work that I've seen. But I didn't buy this as a souvenir of the Baseball series. This CD was purchased solely because it has Branford Marsalis and Bruce Hornsby performing our national anthem. I prefer the Star-Spangled Banner to be performed in a straight ahead manner with little ornamentation, which has become more and more rare. But for unconventional performances, it doesn't get any better than the Marsalis/Hornsby version. If only they'd had mp3 purchases back in '94.

Tracks: 31 tracks including 6 versions of Take Me Out To The Ballgame, 3 versions of the Star-Spangled Banner, 8 spoken word tracks (quotes and famous radio calls), and numerous period pieces from the early and middle parts of the 20th century. Other than the Marsalis/Hornsby track, the only piece that makes me want to listen to it more than once is a wonderful solo piano rendition of The Minstrel Boy performed by Jacqueline Schwab.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: When my sons were very young (maybe ages 9 & 5), they put together a baseball field in our front yard complete with bases, pitcher's mound, and a very complex set of ground rules. They played out there all the time. One day, I walked out the front door and they had a game going with some of the neighborhood boys. On a nearby bench, they had placed a CD boom box and this CD was providing background music for their games. Adorable stuff like you've never seen. Disney screenwriters couldn't have drawn it up better.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome (1984)

2012-02-22T08:13:00.010-06:00

Embarrassingly juvenile disco/arena rock with lots of covers. I love it (every so often). I didn't own this album in the '80s, but I dubbed a cassette copy of a friend's 2 LP set. I'm sure the group members must have contributed something during the recording, but this is a Trevor Horn album from start to finish. From what I can tell, the backing band were really studio aces from Horn's camp, including Art Of Noise bandmates Anne Dudley and JJ Jeczalik, and two former bandmates from Yes: Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin. As a result, it closely resembles an Art of Noise album. The group was a much bigger deal overseas than in the US. Only the single Relax cracked the US Top 40, so I guess you could call the group a one-hit wonder. My CD is the 2000 issue with 2 bonus tracks and excellent liner notes.

Here's info that I've cobbled together concerning the band's unique name: Singer Holly Johnson claims the group's name was derived from a page from The New Yorker magazine, featuring the headline "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" and a picture of Frank Sinatra. In actuality, the magazine page Johnson referred to was a pop art poster by the late Guy Peellaert.

Tracks: I like the originals Welcome To The Pleasure Dome, Relax, Two Tribes and Wish The Lads Were Here. The covers are good because they're all so campy: War, Born to Run and Do You Know The Way To San Jose? The band had a power ballad-type hit in the UK with The Power Of Love, but that song (like most power ballads) doesn't do anything for me. The rest are filler and average filler at that. Skip the bonus tracks.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This reminds me of early 1985 and college friends, particularly Buffalo Tom and Larry, who were roommates in the dorm room next to mine. The hype surrounding this group was rather limited in the US and I would imagine even more so in rural East Texas, but we got caught up in it a little bit. I didn't have a "Frankie Say Relax" t-shirt, but I still own a button (below) which is beginning to show some age.

Around that time, in a Freshman English course, we were assigned to read Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan" which begins:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree

I'm sure that was just serendipity because I doubt the professor was listening to FGTH and had probably been assigning that poem for 20+ years. (I'm giving myself bonus points for a Xanadu reference)

Lee Ritenour - Festival (1988)

2012-02-21T06:21:00.004-06:00

This was Ritenour's second album on acoustic guitar, and, as such, it's more or less a sequel to 1979's Rio. This is one of those rare cases where the sequel is better than the original. The most obvious difference is the inclusion of Portuguese vocals on three of the nine tracks, provided by MPB veterans João Bosco and Caetano Veloso. Ritenour put together an all-star crew for his backing band here: Ernie Watts on saxophone, Dave Grusin or Bob James on keyboards, Marcus Miller or Anthony Jackson on bass, Omar Hakim on drums, and Paulinho Da Costa and Carlinhos Brown on percussion. If you're looking for highly polished, Latin-favored jazz featuring acoustic guitar, you could do much worse. I find it, along with Rio, a very relaxing pairing.

Tracks: For me, the better tracks are Night Rhythms, Waiting For You, Linda, and The Inner Look. Rio Sol and New York/Brazil, while somewhat enjoyable, are the only tracks that sound dated.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Larry & Lee (1995)
On The Line (1983)
Rio (1979)

Tom Petty - Highway Companion (2006)

2012-02-21T05:28:00.005-06:00

Contrary to the title, this is not music for driving on the highway. For me, anyway. One critic described the album as "reliable" which isn't exactly a compliment. I was hoping for Full Moon Fever again or, at least, a great highway single like Runnin' Down A Dream. I need something more upbeat for driving. You're better off buying Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' 1993 greatest hits package. Awesome cover art by Robert Deyber, though. Curiously, a "special edition" of this CD with 4 additional tracks was released in 2007, less than a year after the initial release. Classy move, Warner Bros.

Tracks: The opener, Saving Grace, is promising, but things gear down quickly. There are a couple of good songs scattered throughout: Down South and Jack. I also like Night Driver, not because it's a great road song, but because it sounds like a Zero 7 track. The rest? Reliable, just not very memorable.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I was on the road much more than usual in the fall of 2006, so I bought this CD literally as a highway companion. I think I listened to it once in the car before putting it away, unsatisfied.

Jon Nakamatsu - Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (1997)

2012-02-20T07:21:00.005-06:00

I recently watched a 2008 documentary about the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, entitled They Came To Play. The competition is hosted by the Van Cliburn Foundation and often uses past Van Cliburn medalists as adjudicators. In this context, Nakamatsu appeared in the documentary and reminded me of this CD, which consists of recordings from his performances in the 10th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held in Ft. Worth, May 23 - June 2, 1997.

Tracks: There's no need to comment on performances that won a Van Cliburn gold medal, so I'll just say that my favorite selections are the Brahams Sonata in C Major, Op. 1, and, even though I'm usually indifferent to Chopin, the Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise in E-Flat major, Op. 22. The final tracks are William Bolcom's Nine bagatelles, commissioned for the competition. The competition has required competitors to perform a newly-composed work since its inception in 1962.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In 1998, I hosted Jon as he played in Bay City for the now-defunct Festival Arts Association. I've never met a nicer professional musician. The night before the performance, he wanted to practice for a few hours and asked if that would be possible. I couldn't get him to the Steinway he would be using for his performance, but I did offer him use of a baby grand in my church's sanctuary. Even though I'm sure that piano was far below his standards, he thanked me and got about his work. I told him he wouldn't be disturbed and he wasn't, but I have to confess to sneaking into the church balcony and just listening to him practice without his knowledge. Imagine a private performance by a Van Cliburn winner. What a wonderful experience. The next evening he gave a beautiful public performance. Sadly, there were only about 200 in attendance.

Up until he won the Van Cliburn competition, Nakamatsu was a high school German teacher. Being a teacher myself, I was aware of how time-consuming that job can be. I asked him how he managed to be a teacher and still practice 5-7 hours a day in preparation for the competition. His reply: "I didn't get a lot of sleep for about a year." He probably played 100 dates that year and most likely doesn't even remember Bay City, but I fondly remember his two days there. My autographed CD isn't just a souvenir from that time, it's one of the best classical CDs I own.

George Benson & Al Jarreau - Givin' It Up (2006)

2012-02-20T06:01:00.007-06:00

Not only a first-time collaboration between Benson and Jarreau, they bring along friends such as Herbie Hancock, Chris Botti, Marcus Miller, Jill Scott, Patti Austin, and Paul McCartney. The album is mostly covers with some originals. Instead of letting Jarreau simply sing, some arrangements lean heavily on him trying to sound like Bobby McFerrin which often sounds just like low groaning, not scatting. That's the only downside to the album, though. Benson sounds great, as always. A better-than-average crossover album.

Tracks: The disc starts off with the duo redoing two of their signature songs, Benson's Breezin' and Jarreau's Mornin'. Breezin' fares better than Mornin', and while neither comes close to the originals, they're enjoyable enough. The stand out tracks are All I Am, and the covers of Seals & Croft's Summer Breeze, John Legend's Ordinary People, and Miles Davis' Four. I've never enjoyed Every Time You Go Away (let's blame Paul Young) and the cover here makes me want to hit the skip button, but it's the material, not the performance.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
George Benson - Best Of: The Instrumentals (1997)
Al Jarreau - L is for Lover (1986)
George Benson - 20/20 (1985)
Al Jarreau - High Crime (1984)
The George Benson Collection (1981)

Boston - Greatest Hits (1997)

2012-02-19T10:50:00.005-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

Most Boston music sounds the same and that's fine if you like that music. Great writing guitar playing by Tom Scholz and incredible singing from the late Brad Delp, who had one of the best rock voices in history. I know there's lots of drama and infighting in the band's history and I could care less. Growing up in the '70s, these songs were all over the radio. 40 years later, these songs are still getting a lot of playing time on the classic rock stations. Since they didn't include We're Ready, the only song I liked from the band's third album, I probably would have been better off just buying the group's first two albums instead.

Tracks: There are three new tracks (four if you count the two versions of Higher Power) and none are any good. The best songs are the ones you've heard many, many times: More Than A Feeling, Peace Of Mind, Don't Look Back, Party, Foreplay/Long Time, Rock & Roll Band, and Smokin'. I'm really not interested in much of the later stuff, including Livin' For You and Amanda. The completely unnecessary rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner offends me both as a musician and as a US citizen.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Anytime I hear Boston music, I'm back in Odessa in the '70s: Winwood Mall, UTPB, summers at the country club pool, Permian football games, the Ector movie theater, etc. The picture below is of my childhood home, taken in August 1978, weeks before my family moved from West Texas to the Gulf Coast. That's my mother's 1975 Pontiac Catalina in the carport.

James Taylor - Greatest Hits 2 (2000)

2012-02-19T06:57:00.009-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

Even though this is more of a "best of" compilation than a greatest hits CD (only 4 of the 16 tracks cracked the Top 40), it's still a good overview of Taylor's career from 1977-1997. There's not many artists who can release 2 completely different greatest hits albums 24 years apart. Those that don't like adult contemporary music need not bother, but I've always enjoyed listening to Taylor's voice. In spite of his battles with depression and addiction, he's aged gracefully and in that regard should probably be grouped with singer/songwriters like Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald.

Tracks: My favorites here include Your Smiling Face, That's Why I'm Here, Only A Dream In Rio, Never Die Young, and the covers of The Drifters' Up On The Roof and Buddy Holly's Everyday. It's one of those things I can't explain, but I just can't stand Taylor's 1977 hit, Handy Man. I've never liked that song.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: a few brief memories today: 1) I bought this CD very soon after it was released at the then-new Best Buy on the SW Fwy in Sugar Land, 2) When Up On The Roof was being played regularly on the radio in 1979, I had a strong desire to climb on the roof of my family's house at night and stargaze (that never happened), and 3) the song Your Smiling Face was included on the soundtrack to the 1978 movie FM ("A now movie with now music!"). Some junior high friends who lived down the street had that soundtrack (which is better than most '70s music compilations you'll find) and we would listen to it at their house. Even though that soundtrack has 20 tracks, it is usually that JT track that makes me think of those good times.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Greatest Hits (1976)

Erasure - Pop! The First 20 Hits (1992)

2012-02-18T07:13:00.004-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

There's absolutely no irony in that bold title. 20 of the band's singles in chronological order of their release, almost every number a Top 40 placer at home, more than half hitting the Top Ten. The duo, refugees from the groups Yaz and Depeche Mode, have an enjoyable synthpop sound, but, judging from the few full-length releases I've heard, they are definitely a singles band. Because of that, this is easily the best Erasure album I own and I'm really not feeling the need to pick up anything new at this time. The liner notes are minimal. Don't these guys know any writers to write the obligatory self-promoting essay? (In the future, guys, give me a call. I'm available and my rates are reasonable).

Tracks: My all-time favorite Erasure tune is Sometimes. Other top Erasure songs for me are Who Needs Love Like That, Chains Of Love, A Little Respect, Stop!, Chorus, and the cover of Take A Chance On Me. The other tracks are easy enough to listen to, although I'll usually skip The Circus and Am I Right? and Breath Of Life.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Songs from the band's 1988 album, The Innocents, remind me of driving around the Hurst-Euless-Bedford area during that long, hot summer. Earlier on the blog, I named the summer of 1988 as "The Lost Summer" for reasons too petty to get into here.

I remember playing this greatest hits CD constantly in my Ford Explorer once I purchased it (that Explorer was my first car with a CD player in it). My oldest son should know all the lyrics to these songs since they were among the first he ever heard in his life as he listened to this CD while strapped in an infant car seat in that Explorer.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Other People's Songs (2003)
Cowboy (1997)

Prince - The Hits 2 (1993)

2012-02-17T10:01:00.004-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

I was Prince fan early on because my friend Jim had the 1980 album, Dirty Mind. This album covers material from those early days right through his heyday in the mid and late '80s. In my opinion, if you've got this compilation and the Purple Rain album, you've got all the Prince you really need.

Tracks: 18 tracks. My favorites are Controversy, Dirty Mind, I Wanna Be Your Lover, Head, I Would Die 4 U, Raspberry Beret, Kiss (although I much prefer the extended version), U Got The Look, and Sexy MF (which would make an attention-getting ringtone fo sho). I usually skip Do Me Baby, Little Red Corvette, and If I Was Your Girlfriend.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: There's quite a few, but today I'm reminded of a end-of-year crawfish boil I helped host one year for some of my students and their parents (2003, maybe?). We had music playing and I just had a funk mix going when I suddenly heard the opening measures of Sexy MF. I bolted to the stereo and skipped the track as quickly as I could. I was in my mid-30's, but I don't think I've ever moved faster.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Musicology (2004)
N.E.W.S. (2003)

Pearl Jam - Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003 (2004)

2012-02-17T06:09:00.004-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

I have no idea why I have this compilation. I'm not much for grunge, much less two disc's worth. I never owned any of the band's albums and have only heard 6 or 7 of the 33 tracks here. I'm not saying it's a bad album (I've read nothing but good reviews with occasional valid complaints about compression/clipping), it's just not my thing. I can tell you that the liner notes are nonexistent, which is inexcusable for a greatest hits compilation.

Tracks: I like most of the songs I remember from the radio in the '90s: Alive, Even Flow, Jeremy, Daughter, and Betterman. Some I remember, but I'm not wild about, including Yellow Ledbetter and the cover of Last Kiss.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but for some reason, I want to watch Singles again (was that movie really released 20 years ago?!?).

Al Green - Greatest Hits (1975)

2012-02-16T05:59:00.005-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

Note: this CD is the 1995 reissue containing 5 bonus tracks.

This compilation is consistently listed among the best greatest hits albums in history (e.g., Yahoo #6), even placing at #52 on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the Greatest Albums of All Time. I would imagine that there are many people that are on this earth as a result of this album. The music is smooth, romantic, and showcases Green's strength: he isn't belting out these songs at the top of lungs, he's almost whispering to the lady laying beside him in bed. Sure the songs are all mid-tempo and formulaic, but when you've got Green singing, they aren't redundant or derivative, they're consistent. On today's listen, I've been drawn to his amazing sense of phrasing - just listen to how he takes the Temptation's I Can't Get Next To You and completely transforms it into an Al Green southern soul song.

Tracks: They're all great, but the stand outs for me are Tired Of Being Alone, I'm Still In Love With You, Love And Happiness, and, of course, Let's Stay Together. But don't you dare skip any tracks. Let's Stay Together easily earns a spot of my list of top ten songs of the '70s.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Not specifically related to this particular album, but I was in Memphis last December and, on a rainy Sunday morning, drove by Royal Studios where these songs were recorded. Originally the Royal Theater at 1320 S. Lauderdale St., that stretch of Lauderdale was renamed "Willie Mitchell Boulevard" in 2004 in honor of studio owner and Green's long-time producer, Willie Mitchell (1928-2010).

Previously revisited for the blog:
Everything's OK (2005)
I Can't Stop (2003)
Greatest Gospel Hits (2000)

Thompson Twins - Greatest Hits (1996)

2012-02-15T05:48:00.005-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

Given my confessed love for '80s synthpop, I'm sure many of you are surprised that I have only a greatest hits compilation for this group; you were expecting that I had their entire '80s catalog on CD. I had cassette copies of 1984's Into The Gap and 1985's Here's To Future Days and those were mixed bags at best, so I bought this CD instead of replacing those albums. I think Tom Bailey has a very distinctive voice and the production is good (bump that up from "good" to "great" when you talk about their recordings with Nile Rodgers). The songwriting is a little uneven, with the band trying to adopt world music styles which really didn't have much place in British synthpop. To be honest, I quickly lost interest in the band after 1985 so I'm not familiar with any of their music after that time, but I still enjoy their early '80s stuff. Fortunately, 13 of the 16 tracks here are from the years 1982-85. Overall, a better-than-average compilation from a mostly forgotten band.

Tracks: The first song by Thompson Twins I remember hearing was Lies when the bizarre video came on MTV. I'm not much of a fan of that song, so I'm surprised that I stuck with group. My favs here are In The Name Of Love, If You Were Here, Love On Your Side, Hold Me Now, Doctor Doctor, Lay Your Hands On Me, and King Far A Day. I usually skip We Are Dectective, The Gap, and the final three tracks.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Any child of the '80s associates If You Were Here with the final scene of Sixteen Candles and hearing it today makes me want to pull out my Sixteen Candles DVD for a viewing. That's a great song and John Hughes knew how to use it.

Songs from Here's To Future Days always take me back to my dorm room in Berry Hall during my sophomore year in college. Somehow I talked my parents into paying the extra $100/month so I could have a private room that year. That was the group's best album and I'd probably buy a CD copy if I saw it cheap in a used bin.

The band is named after bumbling detective characters from the Tintin comic strip/books (below). I've been a fan of Tintin ever since my parents bought me the book The Shooting Star on a trip to the UK in 1973.

The Allman Brothers Band - A Decade of Hits 1969-1979 (2000)

2012-02-14T05:42:00.005-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

If I'm in the right mood, I like Southern rock, I just can't take it for extended periods of time. Bret Adams, writing for allmusic.com, states that "no self-respecting rock & roll fan should be without a copy" of this disc. That may be stretching it a bit, but there's still some great blues-based rock music here. I'm not ready to go out and buy Lynyrd Skynyrd or Molly Hatchett CD's; when it comes to this genre, I'll stick with the Allmans. They seem to blend in more elements of pop and jazz than most Southern rock bands (Duane was often known to listen to Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue as inspiration). Maybe they were simply better songwriters or performers. If geography really had anything to do with this kind of music, I should be a die hard fan - I was born in the Mississippi delta and have lived in the South all my life.

Much to my surprise, I discovered that this band only had 2 Top 40 hits in the decade covered by this compilation: Ramblin' Man reached #2 in 1973 and Crazy Love (which I honestly don't remember) peaked at #29 in 1979. My favorite Allman Brothers tune, Midnight Rider, was never released as a single but you wouldn't know it from the airplay it continues to get on classic rock stations.

On a completely unrelated note, wasn't Gregg Allman married to Cher for a while in the '70s? And didn't that put an end to the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour? I'm sure that upset me at the time.

Tracks: Of the 16 tracks compiled here, my favorites are Statesboro Blues, Ramblin' Man, Midnight Rider, Melissa, the full 7+ minute version of Jessica (a good cover has already made an appearance on this blog), In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed, and Whipping Post. There's nothing worth skipping - most of the songs would be a welcome addition to a lengthy "hot-summer-night-by-the-pool" playlist.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I bought this CD after hearing the song Melissa used in an AT&T/Cingular television ad 6 or 7 years ago.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Live at Fillmore East (1971)

ZZ Top - Greatest Hits (1992)

2012-02-13T07:15:00.005-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

If you grew up in the Houston-area in the late '70s/early '80s, you know all these songs from "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". I did and I do with the exception of songs from 1990's Recycler album, which I was unaware of until I bought this compilation. Of course, I did live in the Dallas area at the time of that release. This is great blues-boogie-rock. Sure, most of the band's stuff from 1983's Eliminator and 1985's Afterburner all sounds the same, but it sounds great.

Tracks: 18 tracks and, with one exception, I like everything here from the years 1973-85. I'm not fond of Rough Boy; this band is not suited to power ballads. I'm guessing the decision to record a power ballad was made by the band's label. The "newer" (post '85) stuff, including the two previously unreleased tunes, is okay, but I'm unfamiliar most of it except for their version of Viva Las Vegas which is a decent enough cover.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: As a musician in college, I would often have to wear a tuxedo to performances. A friend in adjoining dorm room (who we called Buffalo Tom), would see me dressed in the tux and always quote from Sharp Dressed Man: "Looking sharp, looking for love." I've said that to my sons when they dress up, but of course they don't get it.

When I hear the band's '70s music, I'm taken back to my junior high days. That campus (pictured below) closed this past year, but I have many fond memories from my time there.

Eurythmics - Greatest Hits (1991)

2012-02-13T05:38:00.007-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

I owned all Eurythmics releases between 1983 -86, including their soundtrack to the movie 1984. I think that's a total of 5 albums, so I feel confident when I tell you that the band was a singles band, not an album band. They had a lot of filler in their releases. However, they were fairly reliable during the mid-80's, turning out at least a hit a year. It was both fascinating and frustrating to hear them slowly move from keyboard-driven technopop to guitar-driven rock/pop. Dave Stewart is a chameleon as a musician, but let's be honest, the star here is Annie Lennox's voice.

Tracks: 14 tracks here. To have owned all those albums, I'm not wild about many of these songs. Hands down, my all-time favorite Eurythmics track is Would I Lie To You? I also like Sweet Dreams, Love Is A Stranger, and There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) which features a wicked harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder that might be the best 30 seconds on the disc. The rest I can do without. Liking only 4 out of 14 tracks, I don't think this was the smartest buy I've made. I would have liked the inclusion of Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four), but I'm apparently in the minority since I actually like that dance track.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: When I see pictures of a suit-wearing Lennox from the early '80s with her short hair, it reminds me that she, along with Boy George, really schooled me on the subject of androgyny. I wonder if there were any social scientists during that time who researched the affects of MTV on the adolescent mind? If only I had graduate assistants to hunt down such things for me...

Genesis - Turn It On Again: The Hits - The Tour Edition (2007)

2012-02-12T10:25:00.008-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

An expanded two-disc edition of the group's 1999 greatest hits package, subtitled The Tour Edition, was released to promote the Turn It On Again reunion tour. My interest in Genesis extends only from 1980-1986, not including their music from 1983's self-titled album. In other words, I'm a casual fan at best and, with the exception of the title track from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (not included here), I'm not really interested in the Peter Gabriel years. Admittedly, a two-disc set may have been overkill for me.

Tracks, disc 1: 17 songs.
Songs I like: Turn It On Again, Invisible Touch, Tonight Tonight Tonight, In Too Deep, Throwing It All Away, Abacab, and No Reply At All
I'm indifferent: No Son Of Mine, I Can't Dance, Hold On My Heart, Jesus He Knows Me, Land Of Confusion, and Illegal Alien (which is offensive on so many levels).
I dislike: Mama and That's All ("Dislike" isn't the right term for That's All. I can't stand that song. It would easily make my list of the worst songs of the '80s, possibly topping that list, although any Cyndi Lauper song might give it a run for that spot. I'd rather listen to my Aqua album again.)
Don't remember hearing before today: Tell Me Why and The Carpet Crawlers.

Tracks, disc 2: 17 songs.
Songs I like: Paperlate and Duchess
I'm indifferent: Keep It Dark, Misunderstanding, and Follow You Follow Me
I dislike: Man On The Corner
Don't remember hearing before today: tracks 7-17

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Purchased for a long trip across the state in 2008, before I had the luxury of satellite radio. I'm sure I skipped many of the songs on that trip, making this the first time both CDs have been listened to in their entirety.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Duke (1980)

Every Great Motown Hit of Marvin Gaye (2000)

2012-02-11T07:16:00.010-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

When compiling lists of music that you would take with you to the hypothetical desert island, greatest hits compilations are usually forbidden. However, I would gladly break that rule to take this with me. Long time readers of this space know that my soul music tastes usually lean toward Stax/Muscle Shoals Southern soul, but these smooth tunes are the tops of the Motown catalog. IMO, Gaye and Stevie Wonder were the best that Motown had to offer. Gaye sings pretty good for a drummer ;-) This disc is subtitled "17 Spectacular Performances" and this is one of those rare times when the music lives up to the hype. I'm going to stop there before I gush all over this blog. I think you get the point.

Tracks: 17 tracks here, including 4 duets with Tammi Terrell, and I love all of 'em. If I had to pick some favorites, I'd choose You're All I Need To Get By, What's Going On, Mercy Mercy Me, Let's Get It On, and Got To Give It Up (Part 1). The only track I'm even to tempted to skip is I Heard It Through The Grapevine, not because it's a bad song, but because it has been so overplayed that maybe I've reached my saturation point (sending out an eyeroll and a big, sarcastic "thanks a lot" to The California Raisins and The Big Chill).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember buying this on a rainy day in Victoria, but listening to almost any Motown recording makes me want to re-watch Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, an excellent documentary about The Funk Brothers.

While I had heard of Marvin Gaye all my life, my curiosity was piqued as a teenager when I saw a copy of Marvin Gaye's Super Hits (1970) in a photo on the inner cover of Joe Jackson's 1982 album, Night And Day, which I've already gushed about.

Living Colour - Super Hits (1998)

2012-02-10T07:10:00.009-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

A budget-priced compilation of this funk/heavy metal band that was most popular in the late '80s/early '90s. Discovered by Mick Jagger at CBGB's, this band showcased the skills of Vernon Reid. I was never a big fan of the group, but I liked three of their songs, so when I saw this CD in the budget bin at Wal-Mart, I picked it up. Other than those three songs, this music doesn't get any playing time around here. The group probably should have hit it bigger than they did, there's just not much market for funk metal bands, I guess. A live bill of Living Colour, Fishbone, and 24-7 Spyz would be an awesome show, wouldn't it?

Tracks: The three tracks that I've ripped to iTunes are Cult Of Personality, Glamour Boys, and my personal fav, Open Letter To A Landlord. Another tune I'm liking this time around is Type.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see Decade from earlier this week.

Lenny Kravitz - Greatest Hits (2000)

2012-02-09T05:46:00.008-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

I've owned a couple of Kravitz's early releases on cassette and I've heard most of his catalog, so I feel comfortable saying that he's more of a singles guy than an album guy. If that's true, then a greatest hits album by Kravitz should be great. This is. I guess you could try to categorize his music as psychedelic rock or funk rock, but to me, this is simply rock music and this CD is one of the most solid rock albums in my collection. I don't think I'm alone in my opinion: this is Kravitz's best selling album, having sold over 10 million copies. Kravitz always impresses me not only as a songwriter, but also a complete instrumentalist and producer. I usually listen to this in my truck, but this morning I've got my headphones and I've become aware of how Kravitz uses stereo sound like they did back in the '60s, putting certain instruments in the left channel, others in the right, some in the middle. You just don't hear that anymore. He's a master of the studio, but I'd like to see him live at some point.

Interview with Kravitz about this greatest hits compilation

Tracks: Kravitz has included a healthy 15 tracks here. Artists sometimes add a new single to their greatest hits packages and they're normally not very good. Here the single, Again, is one of the strongest cuts on the disc and won a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. The only songs I normally skip are Can't Get You Off My Mind and Stand By My Woman. Stand out tracks include the aforementioned Again, plus Are You Gonna Go My Way, Fly Away, Always On The Run (with a guest appearance by Slash), Believe, Let Love Rule, and Black Velveteen.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This CD probably owns the record for most time spent in my truck. Perfect music for driving around.

Previously revisited for the blog:
It Is Time For A Love Revolution (2008)

Huey Lewis & The News - Greatest Hits (2006)

2012-02-08T05:37:00.006-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

When we received yet another sub-par performance of our National Anthem at the big football game this past weekend, I thought of this group, which I remember giving fantastic a capella versions of the SSB back in the '80s. (It's probably on YouTube. They still might do this from time to time, but I haven't seen them in a while.) In any case, HL&TN was a West Coast bar band done good who made it playing their updated version of '50s rock, complete with power chords, incredible harmonies, and cheesy lyrics about love and girls. If you're my age, then you know most of the songs here and sing along when they come up on your iPod's shuffle. In the words of Patrick Bateman, "these guys are the best American band of the 1980s on this or any other continent - and it has with it Huey Lewis, a vocalist, musician and writer who just can't be topped." (Huey's song, Hip To Be Square, plays an important role in Patrick's movie.)

Tracks: 21 tracks clock in at about 80 minutes so you definitely get your money's worth, although some people might complain that these are the single edits, not the album tracks. I'd consider myself a casual fan, so I was surprised to be familiar with 18 of the 21 songs prior to purchasing this compilation. I honestly don't remember the band's top 40 career lasting that long. I enjoy most of the songs here, with the exception of Stuck With You, Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do, But It's Alright, and Huey duetting with Gwyneth Paltrow on Cruisin'. Because of her idiotic statements in the past few years, I've lost all respect for Paltrow (she named her kid Apple, for crap's sake), but she's never had any business covering Smokey Freakin' Robinson. Of the songs I hadn't heard before, I've come to like Small World which has a saxophone solo by bossa nova king, Stan Getz. Somehow, that combination actually works.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I never purchased any of the band's albums back in the '80s, but remember "borrowing" a friend's cassette of Sports for about a year. I'm embarrassed to say it, but I guess I have to admit I was that guy: the guy that was terribly slow in returning things. I like to think I'm not that guy anymore.

I also have a very special memory connected to one of the songs on this disc, but I think I'll keep that one to myself this time.

Duran Duran - Decade (1989)

2012-02-06T06:42:00.007-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

This CD is certainly in the running for ugliest album cover art. How do you go from the sublime Rio art by Nagel to this mess by fashion designer Stephen Sprouse? In any case, this was an early CD purchase for me and got a lot of playtime in the early '90s, bringing back great high school memories. This album was later rendered obsolete with the release of the 1998 compilation, Greatest, which included all 14 songs from this album, plus New Moon on Monday (one of my fav DD tunes) and four singles from the '90s.

Tracks: I've already covered most of these songs here, which makes me wonder why I've kept this CD in the collection. This compilation gives you the familiar radio edits and mixes. The later tunes which aren't on the singles box set are Notorious, Skin Trade, I Don't Want Your Love and All She Wants Is. I can do without any of those four, particularly Skin Trade. I guess when they switched from New Romantic to funk lite, I lost interest (although I still have great respect for producer Nile Rodgers).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: My first year as a public school teacher, I took some students on an overnight trip to Corpus Christi. Some knuckleheaded students brought a full component stereo on the bus that they somehow had rigged up to a car battery for power (I guess I should give the credit for their problem solving skills). The only songs I remember them playing before I had them turn down the volume were Living Colour's Cult Of Personality and Duran Duran's Wild Boys, either of which could have easily been that group's theme song.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Astronaut (2004)
The Singles 81 - 85 (2003)

Bill Withers' Greatest Hits (1981)

2012-02-06T05:44:00.003-06:00

GREATEST HITS FORTNIGHT (FEBRUARY 6-19, 2012)

Withers is an underrated soul singer/songwriter although his biggest #1 hit, 1971's Lean On Me, probably continues to supply him with a steady income. He was a staple on '70s radio (at least where I lived) and this CD contains the 5 songs of his that I remember from the '70s. I've heard good things about his 1973 live album and the 2009 documentary film about his life, Still Bill. I should check those out (I just added Still Bill to my Netflix queue).

Tracks: At 10 tracks, 36 minutes, this is a brief compilation, but includes two fantastic songs: Just The Two Of Us and Lovely Day, either one of which I could hear multiple consecutive times and not mind a bit. The version of Just The Two Of Us (with saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr.) included here is the shorter radio edit, so it's only 4 minutes instead of 7½. I also like the 1972 hits Use Me and Who Is He (And What Is He To You)? I was unfamiliar with I Want To Spend The Night With You and Hello Like Before, but they've got an enjoyable soft pop sound to them. I know Ain't No Sunshine and Lean On Me are classics, but I've tired of them because they've been overplayed over the past 40 years.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:I barely remember Lovely Day from the radio in '77 when it peaked at #30. However, it was used in a TV ad about 10 years ago (for Gap khakis if memory serves) which prompted the purchase of this CD. I've reached that age when a person just automatically wakes up early in the morning, but if I used an alarm clock, I'd use Lovely Day to wake up to.

Adam Ant - Friend Or Foe (1982)

2012-02-05T11:45:00.007-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD. Mine is the original CD reissue, not the 2005 reissue that included 12 bonus tracks. I hope the liner notes are better on the 2005 edition because the ones here are horrible; they didn't even give us lyrics.

This release is much different than 1980's Kings Of The Wild Frontier. Gone are the tribal beats and, for the most part, the drum-sticks-on-concrete percussion. In their place are a bunch of pretty good tongue-in-cheek pop songs with over-the-top production. I listened to this album a lot in '82-'83 because I liked it but also because I thought listening to New Wave music by post-modernist Brits made me cool (it didn't). Unfortunately, this was Ant's last decent release. I bought and quickly sold 1983's Strip and didn't even bother with 1985's Vive Le Rock. I'll pull out this disc every now and then whenever I feel a twinge of nostalgia, but still prefer Kings Of The Wild Frontier.

Tracks: Favorites include the title track, Desperate But Not Serious, and the big hit single, Goody Two Shoes. My least favorite tracks are Something Girls and Cajun Twisters. The cover of The Doors' Hello I Love You isn't as good as it could have been, but the rest are entertaining enough.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This is the first album for which I knew the actual release date ahead of time. On the October Tuesday of its release, my friend Jim and I anxiously drove to the nearest mall record store (40 miles away) and each purchased an LP. I can't remember if we took my jalopy or his. [note: Jim has contacted me and claims we rode in his "compressed rust Pontiac Astre"]

My friend Brett went to see Ant on his tour in support of this album. INXS opened. What a double bill; I shoulda been there. At least Brett brought me a sleeveless concert shirt.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Antics in the Forbidden Zone (1990)

Najee - Just An Illusion (1992)

2012-02-05T05:49:00.004-06:00

Definitely a product of its time. Heavy on synth bass and drum programming, this doesn't sound as smooth today as it probably did twenty years ago. On this release especially, I find myself liking Najee's soprano playing more than his tenor playing and much, much more than his flute playing. However, the multiple attempts at hip-hop/jazz fusion fall flat and make this my least favorite Najee album.

Tracks: I hate myself for enjoying the cover of Color Me Badd's I Adore Mi Amor. I also like Noah's Ark and Until We Meet Again. I'm not wild about the title track, Breezy, Burn It Up, and Here We Go. The other tracks are innocuous.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Morning Tenderness (1998)
Share My World (1994)
Najee's Theme (1986)

Everything But The Girl - Amplified Heart (1994)

2012-02-04T08:01:00.003-06:00

I don't remember ever sitting down and figuring out a top ten list of albums from the 1990s, but should I ever do that, I'm fairly confident this album would make the list. This is a nice collection of laid back, self-pitying songs that sound like your favorite soft rock of the '70s. However, if these songs had been released in the '70s, one of them would have appeared in a Wes Anderson movie by now. The simple instrumentation relying mainly on acoustic instruments with understated production appeals to me. This was the first EBTG album I ever heard and it remains my favorite even though it is only 36½ minutes long.

Tracks: I like all 10 and never skip any of 'em. The big hit was a Todd Terry remix of Missing, but that's not really representative of the songs here, although the original mix of Missing is one of the better tracks here.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I purchased this CD when it was released based on the strength of Missing. Soon after buying it, I listened to this CD constantly one weekend as I painted my living room. This is one of those rare CDs that after you give it a first listen, you immediately listen to it again. In fact, I think that's what I'm going to do today.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Missing (1995)
Acoustic (1992)

Wynton Marsalis & Ellis Marsalis - Joe Cool's Blues (1995)

2012-02-01T07:23:00.007-06:00

Wynton Marsalis takes a run at Vince Guaraldi? Taken at face value, this seems like an album I'd really like, but this isn't one of my favorite Marsalis albums. Father Ellis Marsalis' trio performs six of Guaraldi's classic Peanuts tunes while son Wynton and his septet cover one Guaraldi tune and seven originals. I'm guessing these originals were intended to be tributes to Guaraldi, but they sound like any other Wynton charts from that time period. I rue the day in the late '80s that Wynton added screeching clarinet and growling trombone to his timbre palette. The playing is all top-notch, but the production is very poor with discernible attempt at balance. Everyone seems to be playing at equal volume. A much better tribute album is George Winston's or, better yet, stick to Guaraldi originals.

Tracks: The Ellis Marsalis Trio contributions (tracks 3, 5, 7, 9, & 11) are all decent covers and worth checking out if you like Guaraldi's music. The Wynton originals are all okay, the best cuts being Little Red-Haired Girl and Joe Cool's Blues (Snoopy's Return). You'll want to skip Wright Brothers Rag.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Two Men with the Blues (2008)
Uptown Ruler: Soul Gestures in Southern Blue, Vol. 2 (1991)
Crescent City Christmas Card (1989)
Baroque Music for Trumpets (1988)
J Mood (1986)
Trumpet Concertos (1983)

Holst - The Planets (1987)

2012-01-31T06:55:00.003-06:00

Charles Dutoit conducting the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

This is a wonderful orchestral suite written in the years 1914-1916. Coming in at the end of the Romantic Era, Holst had a knack for writing (or adapting) beautiful melodies. This is music you can hum along to. If you grew up on Star Wars music like I did, you might listen to this suite and think that Holst ripped off John Williams' scores to those movies. Obviously, it was the other way around: Holst heavily influenced Williams and, by extension, hundreds of movie scores.

This suite, especially the Mars and Jupiter movements, is very popular in the advertising world, right up there with Orff's Carmina Burana and the Mozart Requiem. Arrangements for marching bands/drum corps and '70s prog-rock bands are popular as well. I understand that Holst also wrote a two piano arrangement of the suite. I'd like to hear that.

Released 25 years ago, this recording still enters conversations about the best interpretation of this suite. The playing is clear and the conductor confident in his reading. The recording production is warm and clear, with just the right amount of dynamic contrast. I listened for some nits to pick, but couldn't really find any.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I heard this music quite a bit in college and think I bought the CD when I was in college or very soon thereafter. The fact that I heard it so much back then (and its ubiquitous presence in advertising) explains the fact that I rarely pull out this disc.

The Brandford Marsalis Quartet featuring Terence Blanchard - Music From Mo' Better Blues (1990)

2012-01-30T07:42:00.007-06:00

A soundtrack album as inconsistent as the film itself. There's some filler here, but it's mostly modern hard bop by an all-star band - in addition to Blanchard and Marsalis, there's Kenny Kirkland, Robert Hurst, and Tain Watts. This band (minus Blanchard) would go on to be members of The Tonight Show Band when Jay Leno took over in '92. Of course, the best music in the movie is John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, but that masterpiece will have to wait for its appearance on this blog. Rumor has it that Coltrane's widow, Alice, denied Spike Lee the use of the title "A Love Supreme" as that's what Lee wanted to call the movie.

Tracks: There's a nice take on Harlem Blues with vocals by Cynda Williams. The Marsalis originals Say Hey and Beneath The Underdog are also solid. Spike Lee's father, Bill, composed and contributed two good tracks: the ballad Again Never and the catchy, bluesy title track. The filler tunes are Pop Top 40 (featuring a raps by Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes) and Jazz Thing, which features the hip hop duo Gang Starr. To be fair, Jazz Thing isn't really a bad track, it is just terribly out of place on this album.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. It's been a while since I've watched this movie. I should probably see it again. If I recall, Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes did a pretty good job of looking like they could actually play their instruments.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Terence Blanchard - Let's Get Lost (2001)
Branford Marsalis - I Heard You Twice The First Time (1992)
Branford Marsalis - Romances for Saxophone (1986)

Art Of Noise - The Seduction of Claude Debussy (1999)

2012-01-26T05:41:00.007-06:00

More than ten years after the Art of Noise left Trevor Horn's ZTT label to record on their own, original members Anne Dudley and Paul Morley reunited with Horn plus 10cc's Lol Creme to record another album, organized around the work of French modernist composer Claude Debussy. The group describes the album as “the soundtrack to a film that wasn’t made about the life of Claude Debussy.” While I hear remnants of what the groundbreaking group once was, I just can't get into the drum & bass and electronica sounds they've got working here. I suppose every group needs to grow and their sound must mature, but I was hoping for more of the Trevor Horn Beat Box-esque material that made me a fan back in the '80s. It seems that Anne Dudley (an Oscar winning soundtrack composer for The Full Monty) has more influence over the group's sound now.

Tracks: The album is obviously meant to be heard as a whole, a sort of electronica tone poem. This makes picking out individual favs difficult, but there are a few that stand out to me: Dreaming In Colour (which is later reprised as Continued In Colour), The Holy Egoism Of Genius, and Out Of The World (Version 138). But the rest isn't for me. As mentioned in the album's review in Entertainment Weekly, this is a "flawed cultural casserole."

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. This is probably only the second time I've listened to the disc in it's entirety. Disappointed. I must not be the only one that's disappointed: this CD is currently available on eBay for 2¢. I'll stick with the group's Best Of CD.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Best of The Art of Noise (1988)
In No Sense? Nonsense! (1987)
(Who's Afraid Of?) The Art Of Noise! (1984)

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Under The Covers, Vol. 1 (2006)

2012-01-25T06:10:00.007-06:00

Covers? I love covers! Bring 'em on! Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs singing their favorite songs from the '60s and '70s? Sounds great! Waitaminute. You mean they just sing straight-ahead covers without reinterpreting or messing with the arrangements or tempos? Oh. Never mind. Those aren't covers, they're reproductions. At least it sounds like they're having fun recreating these songs.

Sweet and Hoffs created alter egos for this release, calling themselves "Sid and Susie" after playing together in Austin Powers' house band, Ming Tea. That alter ego stuff is an all-around bad idea, just ask Chris Gaines or Sasha Fierce.

Tracks: Since they're reproductions, the best songs here are the well-written ones. Those include covers of The Marmalade's I See The Rain, The Beatles' And Your Bird Can Sing, The Beach Boys' The Warmth Of The Sun, and The Zombies' Care Of Cell #44. Other songs would have been better left off the setlist - this group doesn't have the requisite power to pull off The Who or Neil Young.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I bought this used at a store in Houston when I was in grad school there. It's nice to hear Susanna's voice again. And, if the liner note photos are any indication, she is still stunningly beautiful. (Love ya, Susanna, call me!)

Various Artists - Valley Girl: More Music From The Soundtrack (1995)

2012-01-24T05:29:00.006-06:00

Follow up to 1994's Valley Girl: Music From The Soundtrack. Lots of New Wave music. According to the liner notes, songs fall into one of three categories: 1) song in the movie and included on the original 6 track "mini-album" official soundtrack release, 2) song in the movie but not on the original soundtrack, and 3) music not in the movie, but popular in the early '80s.

Tracks:

Girls Like Me¹ - Bonnie Hayes With The Wild Combo: A fun high energy song heard over the opening credits. One of the better songs in the film.
Eaten By The Monster Of Love² - Sparks: Not a great song, but it is funny to hear the backup singers yell "Don't let it get me!" every time the monster of love is mentioned.
Mickey³ - Toni Basil: previously heard on Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the '80s, Vol. 5. Here's what I wrote then: Not bad for a choreographer in her late 30s. This painful now even though I liked the song back in '82. Surprisingly, I never heard any controversy related to the lyrics, "So come on and give it to me anyway you can. Anyway you want to do it, I'll take it like a man." Maybe I'm reading too much into that?
Zero Hour (Original Version)³ - The Plimsouls: This group made an appearance in the movie as a club band, but this song did not. This sounds like typical early '80s indie power pop.
He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'² - Bananarama: I don't remember song this from the film, but that doesn't mean anything. It's typical fun Bananarama silliness.
In The Name Of Love³ - Thompson Twins: The T-Twins are one of my '80s guilty pleasures. This song should have been a bigger hit in '82. I think it was remixed and re-released later in the decade.
The Earthquake Song³ - Little Girls: a bad Beach Boys knock off with some of the most horrible lyrics I've ever heard. Ex: "There's a building chasing me." There's nothing quite like a bouncy pop song about a natural disaster. [eye roll]
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me² - Culture Club: I want to dislike Culture Club because Boy George is a mess, but I can't help but like this smooth pseudo-reggae hit.
Cool Places³ - Sparks & Jane Wiedlin: previously heard on Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the '80s (1994) Vol. 9. Here's what I wrote then: I only heard this song once or twice back in high school, but was reintroduced to it through this CD. Fun stuff. Right up my alley, I can't believe I didn't buy the album back in '83.
Town Called Malice² -The Jam : I love this song. I normally wouldn't think that a heavy British accent would work over a Motown groove, but it does.
I Eat Cannibals³ - Total Coelo: another cut also on Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the '80s (1994) Vol. 9. Here's what I wrote then: Another Banarama knock-off. Horrible lyrics include such lines as "We are what we eat/you're my kind of meat." I just lost my appetite.
Time To Win² - Gary Myrick & The Figures: Move along. Nothing to hear here.
Voo Doo³ - Rachel Sweet: previously heard on Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the '80s, Vol. 8. Here's what I wrote then: Was unfamiliar with this group and song until I heard it on this CD, and I was okay with that. Not a bad song, just not very memorable.
Marina Men³ - Valley Girls: Answer song to Frank Zappa's Valley Girl. Harry Shearer is featured as the marina man! Hilariously bad. It's so bad, I encourage you to take the time to listen to this disaster:
Pocket Pool³ - Killer Pussy: subtle.
Shelly's Boyfriend¹ - Bonnie Hayes With The Wild Combo: embarrassingly catchy New Wave. This track and Girls Like Me are available for free download from Bonnie's website.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. There's a lot of crossover between this CD and the Just Can't Get Enough series because they are all released by Rhino. Normally this would upset me, but I'm such a fan of Rhino's compilations and re-releases, that I'll give them a break.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Valley Girl: Music From The Soundtrack (1994)

Nick Heyward - He Doesn't Love You Like I Do (1993)

2012-01-23T06:41:00.005-06:00

CD Single, UK Import

He Doesn't Love You Like I Do was the lead single from Heyward's 1993 release From Monday To Sunday. It didn't chart in the US and only reached #58 in the UK. Still, there's something about Heyward's songwriting that's I've always liked.

Tracks: The single is good, the second track (is it still called a "b-side"?) is just okay. The true gems on this single are the acoustic versions of Blue Hat For A Blue Day and Whistle Down the Wind which are songs originally from Heyward's wonderful 1983 album North Of A Miracle.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This single was one of my first discoveries on that newfangled thing called the Internet around 1996. I had no personal income at the time, so the discovery of import CD websites was probably not a good thing.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Stars In Her Eyes (1998)
Today (1997)
A Hard Days Nick (1996)
The World (1995)
I Love You Avenue (1988)
Postcards From Home (1986)

Bruce Woolley and The Camera Club - English Garden (1979)

2012-01-23T06:00:00.006-06:00

I bought this CD for two reasons: 1) I wanted to check out the original version of Video Killed The Radio (that's right, kids - the Buggles version is a cover), and 2) the keyboard player is a young Thomas Dolby (credited as Tom Dolby). A blend of glam rock and the emerging New Wave sound, this understandably got no airplay as the disco era was coming to an end. The album is uneven, but it's more than just a curiosity. Normally, I would have just listened to the original version of VKTRS and called it a day, but the other material is good enough for an occasional listen. I guess I like it because it sounds like an album I would have owned in high school.

Tracks: The best track is VKTRS, but only one is worth the trouble of skipping: Get Away William. But with 13 tracks in under 40 minutes, it's easy enough to take the whole thing in one gulp.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Earl Klugh - Midnight in San Juan (1991)

2012-01-22T06:00:00.005-06:00

Latin and Carribean flavored light jazz from the master of the understated acoustic guitar. Nice contributions from harmonica player Toots Thielemans and pianists Richard Tee and Eliane Elias. When I picked this up, I was expecting something more along the lines of the wonderful Late Night Guitar. This isn't as good as that album, but it has few good cuts on it.

Tracks: For a jazz artist, Klugh has a remarkable ear for melody. The title track is good, as is She Never Said Why, Jamaican Winds, and Take You There. I skip Every Moment With You because of the horrible arrangement.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This is yet another Klugh CD that I picked up from the used CD bin. It would seem that not everyone likes Klugh's sound as much as I do.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Volume One (1991)
Soda Fountain Shuffle (1985)
Two of a Kind (1982)
Late Night Guitar (1980)

Quincy Jones - Back On the Block (1989)

2012-01-21T06:16:00.006-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD.

Wow. Q assembeled one helluva group of musicians here, including Ray Charles, Joe Zawinul, Chaka Khan, Take 6, Bobby McFerrin, Miles Davis, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Barry White, and on and on. Also, Jones was one of the first A-list musicians to fully recognize rap as a viable music genre, so this album also includes rappers Ice-T, Kool Moe Dee, Big Daddy Kane, and Melle Mel. Surprisingly, no Michael Jackson. The music is a mix of hip-hop, pop, world music, R&B and may be the first attempt to link rap to jazz. Unfortunately, the production (admittedly cutting edge at the time) hasn't aged well, so this album hasn't had the staying power that some of Q's other albums have. I really don't want to see musician credits include "Kick and Snare Sound" - what does that even mean? Even the real horns and bass are produced to sound like synths. Still, in 1989, this was commonplace in the market. Illustrating that fact, this album won seven Grammy awards including Album Of The Year.

Tracks: Nothing I'd rip to iTunes, but at the time of the album's release, I liked the tittle track, Wee B Dooinit, Setembro, and the covers of Weather Report's Birdland and The Brothers Johnson's I'll Be Good To You. For me, the Birdland cover is the highlight of the disc even with its overproduced synth sound. I hadn't heard these tunes in a while, so it was fun to hear them again. After watching Law & Order: SVU for years, it's now amusing to hear Ice-T rap. Obviously, this CD doesn't get much play around here these days.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I'm reminded of the few months, immediately after our wedding, that my wife and I lived in the Dallas area.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Dude (1981)
Explores the Music of Henry Mancini (1968)

Take 6 (1988)

2012-01-19T05:44:00.005-06:00

The group's debut album, to me, is still their best. I had never heard anything like it before. I've never heard anything like it since. Surely the first a capella album I ever purchased, it's also the first gospel album I ever bought. This album won Grammys in both jazz and gospel categories. The group then went on to experiment with adding instruments to their sound (they were trying to grow, I get it), but I prefer their straight-up a capella sound.

Tracks: It's too short - 10 tracks in under 37 minutes, but I never skip a track. Ever. My favorites are Spread Love, If We Ever, He Never Sleeps, and Let The Words.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I bought this CD after seeing the video for the song Spread Love on VH1 in 1988 (didn't they have a "jazz brunch" or something similar program back then?). I was fascinated with the a capella vocal harmonies and listen to the CD several times the day of purchase. At that time, I would wake up in the middle of the night and all I could hear in my mind's ear were these harmonies. I didn't mind. In fact, I wish that would happen again. These days, when I wake up in the middle of the night, needless thoughts of my job enter my mind and disturb my slumber.

When I think of what I was listening to in 1988, it ranges from Top 40 to dance to indie to neoclassical to fusion to jazz to Take 6 and everything in between. I was much more open-minded about music back then and I was excited to try anything and everything new. I'd at least give new music a chance before dismissing it. I don't do that anymore and that bothers me. I'm getting old and set in my ways, but regarding new music, I'd like to return to my 1988 mindset.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Standard (2008)
Brothers (1996)
He Is Christmas (1991)
So Much 2 Say (1990)

Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets (1998)

2012-01-18T07:27:00.007-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD. This may have been the last prerecorded cassette I ever purchased. At the time, I was driving a black 1998 Chevy Cheyenne C/K that had a cassette player instead of a CD player.

The band's third studio album, produced by Steve Lillywhite, is the studio album that sounds the most like the band's live albums: lots of jamming and improvising for 7 or 8 minutes at a time. I know that appeals to the band's loyal followers, but it doesn't do too much for me because relying solely on grooves and riffs doesn't leave much room for good melody and lyrics. So, like all DMB albums, this one is hit or miss with me.

Tracks: I like the one-two punch of the album openers, Pantala Naga Pampa which segues into Rapunzel. I also like Stay (Wasting Time) and Pig. I usually skip The Last Stop while Don't Drink The Water and Spoon suffer from the squawking of Alanis Morissette. The CD has the dreaded hidden track at the end. I'm glad that trend was short lived; it really has no place in the land of iTunes, especially if you shuffling your tunes as much as I do.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Riding to and from my house to Sugar Land in the summer of 1998 for grad school classes in what was basically an office park near the old city hall.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Weekend on the Rocks (2005)
Stand Up (2005)
Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado (2002)
Crash (1996)

Peter Gabriel - So (1986)

2012-01-17T05:44:00.007-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD.

I'm not a huge Peter Gabriel fanatic and I won't pretend that I understand what's going on in his head, but I really like this album, the only Gabriel recording I own. It's a strange mix of African, art rock, soul, with heavy, dark synths and moody production from Daniel Lanois. Music from this album was everywhere back in the '80s: radio, my stereo, claymation videos on MTV, incidental music on Miami Vice, and allegedly on Lloyd Dobler's boombox in the movie Say Anything... (although I understand that it was originally a Fishbone tune, not In Your Eyes). The album placed at number #14 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of Top 100 Albums of the Eighties. That may be a bit high for my tastes, but it was definitely one of the better albums of the latter part of that decade.

Funny Gabriel cartoon that closely mirrors my experiences with the man. Don't click if you are easily offended.

To hear a true Gabriel fan dissect the album, check out the podcast from my friends over at Stuck In The '80s.

Tracks: I'm good with the first 7 tracks, even though I usually skip In Your Eyes because I just got tired of it and I still hear it on the radio a few times a year. We Do What We're Told is OK but just reminds me of Miami Vice (I can picture the Wellcraft 38 Scarab KV bouncing over the waves of Biscayne Bay in slow motion). The final track, This Is The Picture, wasn't on my vinyl copy, so, even though it is a decent collaboration with Laurie Anderson, I don't think of it as being part of this album.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Even though this was released in May 1986, I didn't pick it up until around Christmas of that year. That makes this a "winter CD" in my book. It got a lot of turntable time at my place in the early part of 1987. I remember buying Gabriel's 1992 release, Us, on cassette and being unimpressed with that music except for the song Steam which was essentially a rewrite of Sledgehammer. That tape is long gone.

Chuck Mangione - Land Of Make Believe (1973)

2012-01-16T09:06:00.006-06:00

I love that album cover because it is pure '70s. Back then, a musician riding in a hot air balloon with a bunch of kids was innocent.

Recorded live in concert in Toronto, this album attempts to merge latin, pop, classical, and jazz styles and almost succeeds. It's no Sketches Of Spain, but you can tell Mangione was very familiar with that work. Later in the decade, he would be more successful with his big-thinking orchestrations with his Hollywood Bowl and Tarantella albums. Taken as a whole, this album is diverse to the point of being unfocused. Mangione isn't the best player, but his writing and arranging can make up for it. The recording quality is bad, but I guess for Canada in '73, it is as good as could be. This doesn't get much playing time around here; I'd much rather listen to the Hollywood Bowl CD (I'll get to that one later).

Speaking of the 1981 Tarantella album, I'd love to get my hands on a digital copy of that thing. I lost my cassette long ago. I may need to find another and convert it myself. It's been too many years; I'd like to revisit that set.

Tracks: The highlights are the title track, Legend Of The One-Eyed Sailor, and El Gato Triste. I could do without the other three tracks, even though guest vocalist Esther Satterfield has a great voice.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Because of its simplicity, the title track is a very popular marching band piece and I was very familiar with those arrangements before ever hearing this original recording. Needless to say, the fact that it had vocals threw me for a loop.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Everything For Love (2000)
Feels So Good (1977)

Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1981)

2012-01-16T07:54:00.004-06:00

Leonard Slatkin conducting the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

I have a love/hate relationship with this brief album. I purchased it when I was in college because it included Grainger's Irish Tune From County Derry and Barber's Adagio For Strings, which was a popular classical piece at the time because of its masterful placement in the 1986 movie Platoon. However, I quickly found the true stars of this CD are the Vaughan Williams and Pavane, Op. 50 by Fauré. The Grainger and Barber are just OK: the Barber has some pitch problems while the important inner voices in the Grainger are all but ignored. The orchestra shines on the Vaughan Williams and Fauré, making these my favorite interpretations of these works. That's the love part. The hate part follows.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: During my first semester in college, my advisor signed me up for a self-paced biology class. This class did not have set meeting times. Instead, students were to read a textbook, listen to a recorded lecture, then take a Scantron test for each chapter. This would be a bad learning experience for most anyone, but it was a particularly bad idea for an incoming college student still trying to adjust to the structure of college life. The recorded lectures had intro and outro music on them. For ALL lectures it was the same piece of music: Satie's Gymnopédie No. 3. So since that time, I've always associated that piece with a horrible experience. As I listen to this recording today, more than 25 years later, I still get a bad feeling, almost like someone has hit me in the stomach. I know that's a strong reaction, but that should tell you how bad my biology class experiences were. I made a C in that course and probably deserved less. Sam Cooke could have been singing about my college experience when he sang

Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took.

Various Artists - Garden State: Music From The Motion Picture (2004)

2012-01-14T07:58:00.005-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

An impulse buy, but one with good results. If nothing else, this popular, mellow compilation introduced me to the music of Nick Drake and Zero 7. This is one of those cases when the soundtrack is actually better than the movie. That Scrubs guy is either hipper than he appears or someone gave him a copy of Ultra Chilled 02. Zach Braff did an admirable job gathering these songs, but the result of his enthusiasm is the same as any teenager who believes in his heart that he's made the greatest mix CD ever - it's hit or miss.

Tracks: Zero 7's song, In The Waiting Line, isn't just my favorite song on this album, it is one of my favorite songs of the past decade. In addition to the Nick Drake and Zero 7 cuts, I enjoy Colin Hay's I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You, Lebanese Blonde by Thievery Corporation, and The Only Living Boy In New York City by Simon & Garfunkel. In the movie, when the Natalie Portman character says, "You gotta hear this one song. It'll change your life, I swear," I think she's talking about a song by The Shins. They've got 2 tracks on this CD and neither do much for me. Sorry, Natalie. The rest of the songs are just ok. They sound like something you'd hear on a rerun of old WB shows like Dawson's Creek or Felicity.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Purchased while I was in grad school (yay for student loans!), this CD saw some playing time on long trips to Houston. Obviously, this purchase led to further purchases by Zero 7, Nick Drake, and Colin Hay.

Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (1960)

2012-01-13T10:11:00.006-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

I fully acknowledge Miles Davis as a musical genius and his playing here is spectacular, but I just don't listen to Sketches Of Spain as much as I probably should. I'm a fan, but I have to be in exactly the right frame of mind to listen to it properly. And even then, it must be listened to at a relatively loud volume with headphones in order to catch all the subtle nuances. A modern masterpiece, it has placed on many top album of all time lists since its release. Groundbreaking stuff, typical Miles.

Tracks: Concierto De Aranjuez is my favorite track with Will O' The Wisp a close second.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember buying this at a Plano-area CD store around 1990 and thinking how hip I was for buying Miles Davis instead of Wilson Phillips.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Panthalassa: The Remixes (1999)
This Is Jazz, Vol. 8: Miles Davis Acoustic (1996)
Live Around The World (1996)
Music from Siesta (1987)
Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall (1961)
Milestones (1958)

Various Artists - Leonard Bernstein's New York (1996)

2012-01-13T09:04:00.006-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

Bernstein wrote many musicals, movie scores, and ballets based in New York City. This compilation pairs cabaret and stage singers, including Mandy Patinkin and Audra McDonald, with The Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by Eric Stern. We get selections from On The Town, Wonderful Town, Fancy Free, On The Waterfront, and, of course, West Side Story. This CD doesn't get much play time around here because when I want to listen to West Side Story, I listen to West Side Story. Still, the performances are top-notch and these great works are a good introduction or tribute to Bernstein's theater works. Sadly, it also illustrates how far American musical theater has fallen in recent years. I've heard nothing new in years that can compare to even the weakest song here. There's an accompanying DVD for this CD, but I've never seen it. Doubt I'll get around to it soon.

Tracks: The stronger material is from West Side Story, especially One Hand, One Heart. I also enjoy Ain't Got No Tears Left, which was inexplicably cut from On The Town, Come Up To My Place, and the all-hands-on-deck finale of New York, New York.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. I think I got this CD for 1¢ on eBay not long after it was released.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Chichester Psalms, Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
New York Philharmonic Debut
On The Town - Studio Cast Recording

Ahmad Jamal - Pittsburgh (1989)

2012-01-12T11:38:00.004-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

Not your typical jazz piano album. While there are two tracks with solo piano, the other 6 have wonderful, soaring strings and horns. Richard Evans' orchestrations are tasteful and elegant without overshadowing Jamal's unique playing; they just fit. I usually listen to this CD as background music and it is perfect for that, but Jamal really deserves better. Jazz critic Stanley Crouch writes that no single artist since Charlie Parker has been more important to the development of fresh form in jazz than Jamal. That's evident with his sound on this work. I've got nothing else that sounds remotely close to this album in my collection.

Tracks: I like the title track, Mellowdrama, and Fly Away. I find the two solo tracks, Foolish Ways and Apple Avenue, to be quite relaxing. The 6th track, Cycles, is the only cut not to my liking. It's a little too fragmented for me.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Back when eBay was more like a garage sale than an online mall, I would search for "jazz cd lot" and find sets of 4 or 5 CDs for $10 or so. This was in one of the lots I purchased. While it isn't something I would have searched for, I'm glad I came across it.

Toots Hibbert - Toots in Memphis (1988)

2012-01-12T05:36:00.007-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

This has become my favorite reggae album, rivaling Uprising, and one of my favorite cover albums. Mark Deming over at allmusic.com describes it best:

"Of all the great singers of reggae's golden era, Toots Hibbert of Toots & the Maytals was always the one most profoundly influenced by American soul music, so when Jim Dickinson brought Toots to Ardent Studio in Memphis to cut a set of '60s soul classics with a band anchored by reggae's greatest rhythm section, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, and fleshed out with the cream of Memphis' session talent (including Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns and guitarist Eddie Hinton), it seemed like a foolproof no-brainer. And, for a change, the no-brainer idea really worked; Toots in Memphis finds Hibbert in typically strong voice, jumping into these songs with full-throated passion (his take on 'I've Got Dreams to Remember' makes him sound like the greatest Otis Redding fan the island of Jamaica ever produced, and is alone worth the price of admission), and the band finds a middle ground between reggae, funk, and soul that's sensual and entirely satisfying. Though Toots never quite takes these tunes away from Otis Redding, Al Green, James Carr, or any of the other masters who first recorded them, he never fails to put his own stamp on the material, and the result is one of the great cross-cultural party albums of all times. In 1976, Toots Hibbert cut an album called Reggae Got Soul, and on Toots in Memphis he proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt."

My 2005 "limited edition" from Hip-O Records is in a cardboard sleeve just like an old LP. It also has an inner sleeve with no liner notes and that's as frustrating with CDs as it was with LPs.

Tracks: Don't skip any tracks. My favorites are I've Got Dreams To Remember, Love And Happiness, Love The Rain (a reworked version of Ann Peebles' I Can't Stand The Rain), Freedom Train, and Hard To Handle. I'm guessing The Black Crowes never heard Toot's version of Hard To Handle because if they had, they wouldn't have bothered with their cover.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Surprised I hadn't heard of it earlier, I came to this wonderful album only in February 2011, but this disc has spent a lot of time in my truck's CD player in the past year. Also, I visited the legendary Ardent Studios on a recent trip to Memphis. In addition to Toots In Memphis, much good music has been recorded in those walls: Big Star, ZZ Top, The Replacements, REM, Led Zepplin, The White Stripes, Cheap Trick, and on and on...

Previously revisited for the blog:
True Love (2004)
Best Of Toots & The Maytals (2001)

Asia (1982)

2012-01-11T05:58:00.010-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD.

Take some prog-rockers from the '70s, form a supergroup, get the producer of Queen and Journey on the boards, tell the band not to noodle and to write pop-rock songs, and this is the result. Put a Roger Dean picture on the cover, package it, and sell it to millions. The album was #1 for most of May - July 1982 and was the best selling album of the year, so I guess somebody liked the formula (me included). To me, the only things that are prog-rock about this album are the album cover, the coda of Cutting It Fine, and the Middle Earth lyrics that probably appealed to the teenagers who thought a trip to the local Renaissance Festival was the best day of their lives. I doubt it will ever happen, but this CD could use a new remastered version. The sound on this CD isn't as good as it could be. Maybe they'll release a 30 year deluxe edition with remastered sound and the b-side Ride Easy included.

Tracks: This album got a lot of playing time in my life during 1982, so I have a difficult time separating the music from the nostalgia. I can't really tell anymore if the songs are any good because I've listened to them so many times. However, my favorites haven't changed in the last 30 years: Heat Of The Moment, Wildest Dreams, and Here Comes The Feeling. Here's a humorous review of the album from the LA Times: http://yesmuseum.org/AsiaPomp1982.txt

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In spite of being a New Waver, I became a huge Asia fan in the spring of 1982 when I first heard a cassette tape on a friend's Walkman (having a Walkman was a HUGE deal at that time). Within a week, I had purchased the album, which had yet to hit big. Soon I had a concert poster on my bedroom wall (like the one below) and buttons on my shirts (which I still have). Looking back, I really geeked myself out.

When I finally saw the band in Dallas in 2008, most of the songs from this album were in the setlist (below). That made me happy.

Daylight
Only Time Will Tell
Wildest Dreams
Never Again
Roundabout
Time Again
Steve Howe - Solo
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (acoustic)
Ride Easy (acoustic)
Voice Of America (acoustic)
Open Your Eyes
Fanfare For The Common Man
Without You
An Extraordinary Life
Court Of The Crimson King
Video Killed The Radio Star
The Heat Goes On
Heat Of The Moment
Don't Cry
Sole Survivor

Previously revisited for the blog:
Phoenix (2008)
Fantasia: Live in Tokyo (2007)
Alpha (1983)

Lyle Lovett - Live In Texas (1999)

2012-01-10T08:17:00.005-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

If this isn't my favorite live album, it's certainly in the top 3 (I'm not sure I can place it above Stop Making Sense). Lovett is a great songwriter and his band is top-notch. Even though I don't listen much to lyrics, I always enjoy Lovett's sense of humor (ex.: "And the preacher said,/ 'I pronounce you 99-to-life./ Son, she's no lady, she's your wife.'"). The sequencing leaves the album a little slow in the second quarter, but it picks up later and finishes strong. Overall, a fantastic introduction to Lovett's best genre-bending songs in a relaxed setting by outstanding musicians.

Tracks: It's a solid album throughout, but my favorite tracks are Penguins, That's Right (You're Not From Texas), She's No Lady, M-O-N-E-Y, You Can't Resist It (with a bass line straight from Tears Of A Clown), Church, and Wild Women Don't Get the Blues, which features an unforgettable performance by vocalist Francine Reed.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: My copy of this CD came from my friend Jim. In June 2002, he and I saw Lovett in concert at the Concrete Street Amphitheater in Corpus Christi. That performance included most, if not all, of the songs on this CD and the personnel was the same. Lovett is a true entertainer. Even though he had to sit throughout the concert because of a broken leg, he was the most gracious performer I've ever seen. When he says "Thank you" at the end of a song, you get the feeling that he is truly sincere.

Norman Brown - West Coast Coolin' (2004)

2012-01-10T05:59:00.004-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

Not a bad urban jazz CD, but certainly not a great one. More than half of the tunes have Brown's vocals on them and I find myself thinking, "Shut up 'n play yer guitar" (apologies to Frank Zappa). The vocal tracks are an obvious attempt at getting radio play, so are more neo-soul than jazz. Brown does much better when he's getting in touch with his inner George Benson because when he plays guitar, it's fantastic. However, I recommend listening to the samples before purchasing this one (I'm looking at you, Krista).

Tracks: The album gets off to a bad start with the first track, but quickly redeems itself with Up 'N' At 'Em and the title track. Jerry Hey makes a tasty contribution to Missin' You on flügelhorn. For the most part, the instrumental tracks are better than the vocal tracks, but a few of the vocal tracks are good including Let's Play, Right Now, and the cover of What's Going On. Skip the tracks Angel and Come Over.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This music has kept me company in my office more times than I could count.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Celebration (1999)

Various Artists - Sleepless In Seattle: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1993)

2012-01-09T06:06:00.008-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

A hit-or-miss soundtrack compilation of romantic pop standards and old c/w tracks sung by everyone from Jimmy Durante to Carly Simon to Tammy Wynette. Beware! Sleepless In Seattle: The Musical is premiering this summer: http://www.sleeplessinseattlemanagement.com/

Tracks: The CD is unforgivably short: 12 tracks, 36 minutes. The highlights are:

A Kiss To Build A Dream On, performed by Louis Armstrong
In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning, performed by Carly Simon
Bye Bye Blackbird, performed by Joe Cocker
A Wink And A Smile, performed by Harry Connick, Jr.

You'll recognize the remaining tracks, but they don't do anything for me. By all means, skip the final track, an otherwise decent arrangement of When I Fall In Love destroyed by Celine Dion's caterwauling.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I have no idea why I bought this CD nor why it has remained in my collection. Maybe, deep down, I'm a hopeless romantic? That's crazy talk.

Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert (1975)

2012-01-08T19:34:00.003-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

I realize New Age-ish piano music isn't for everybody, but I love this CD. However, I'm glad I didn't hear it for the first time until I was in my 30's because I don't think I could have appreciated it. Full-on improvisation at its best. I don't think my explanation would do it justice, so I'll leave it to The Wall Street Journal and Allmusic.com.

Tracks: The recording is in three parts: lasting about 26 minutes, 34 minutes and 7 minutes respectively. As it was originally programmed for vinyl LP, the second part was split into sections labelled "IIa" and "IIb." The third part labelled "IIc" was actually the final piece, a separate encore. That's why it works so well as a CD instead of vinyl; the music flows so much better.

Just let it play, man.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: One of my favorite late night CDs. In fact, I don't think I've ever listened to this CD in the daytime. When I was in high school, anything on the ECM label seemed a little too "out there" for my limited tastes. I'm glad I got over that bias.

Basia - London Warsaw New York (1989)

2012-01-08T05:51:00.006-06:00

GEOGRAPHY WEEK (JANUARY 8-14, 2012)

In the late '80s, I enjoyed listening to Basia. Now? Not so much. I couldn't tell you the last time I heard this CD, although I listened to it so much when it was released, the songs are immediately identifiable. With my love for '80s music, I'm surprised that my tastes have changed regarding this album. Looking back after 20+ years, it seems that Top 40 pop music was quite the wasteland in the late '80s (Paula Abdul, Milli Vanilli, Will To Power, Boy Meets Girl, Roxette, New Kids On the Block, etc.). On this album, the pop songwriting is solid, but the dated arrangements and production aren't. Ah, well, I guess it is just a product of its time. For example, the ballad Brave New Hope is a decent song, but the heavy-handed production overshadows the melody. It doesn't help that Basia yells as much as she sings - just because you can hit high notes doesn't mean you should. Also, scat-singing should never ever have overdubbed harmonies. Still, despite all this, I can't get these melodies out of my head. Basia released her next album in 1994, but I had long moved on to other things by then.

Tracks: The stand out track is the cover of Stevie Wonder's Until You Come Back To Me. The material is so strong even the synth bass can't drive me away. I still like the bossa-flavored Baby You're Mine and the cheesy filler track Not An Angel as well.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Time and Tide (1987)

Aerosmith - Big Ones (1994)

2012-01-07T07:30:00.006-06:00

I'm probably way off in my memory, but here's how I remember Aerosmith: a bunch of Rolling Stone wannabes from Boston had some classic hits in the '70s (Walk this Way, Sweet Emotion, Toys In The Attic), then faded away in the latter part of the decade. In the mid-80's, they had a comeback of sorts when Run-DMC covered Walk This Way and was gracious enough to include the band. That led to their bigger comeback in the late '80s - early '90s, which I'll call their "Alicia Silverstone" era. Admittedly, it was one of the most remarkable comebacks in rock & roll history. Their biggest hit, I Don't Want To Miss A Thing, came around in 1998. It was from the movie Armageddon and wasn't written by the band. After that, the band had the occasional single here and there, then lead singer Steven Tyler, not wanting to age gracefully, became a judge on a game show.

Long story short (I know it's too late for that), this is the greatest hits compilation from the Alicia Silverstone era and it's the only Aerosmith CD I own (although I do own the Guitar Hero: Aerosmith video game if that counts). I shoulda bought their 1980 greatest hits compilation instead because their best stuff was in the '70s. Sure they were Rolling Stones wannabes, but they were really good Rolling Stones wannabes.

Tracks: I like Love In An Elevator and Janie's Got A Gun, the latter being their best post-1980 song. I can tolerate Rag Doll, Dude (Looks Like A Lady), Livin' On The Edge, and Eat The Rich. I'm not a fan of power ballads, so I really take a beating on this disc with 7 of the 15 tracks being power ballads (What It Takes, Cryin', Amazing, Blind Man, Deuces Are Wild, Crazy, and Angel).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I'm reminded of driving a black Ford Explorer down Jones Maltsburger Rd sometime in 1994.

Eastman Wind Ensemble - Works by Husa, Copland, Vaughan Williams, & Hindemith (1989)

2012-01-06T08:34:00.005-06:00

Conducted by Donald Hunsberger.

According to the liner notes: "The Eastman Wind Ensemble, America's Premier Wind Band, is comprised of undergraduate and graduate students at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester." I'm not a part of that world anymore, so I'm not sure if that's still true, but it certainly was at the time of this release. I was familiar with most of the music on this disc, having performed it at one time or another. While the performances are first-rate, the nuances of recording the performances seems to have been beyond the capability of the recording engineer. Maybe it was the equipment or the recording venue, but there are some missed opportunities here. Even though his name is prominently displayed on the cover and CD spine, Wynton Marsalis' only contribution here is the trumpet solo on Copland's Quiet City.

Tracks: I've enjoy listening to Vaughan Williams' Toccata Marziale and Copland's Quiet City. The three other pieces, Husa's Music For Prague 1968, Vaughan Williams' Variations For Wind Band and Hindemith's Konzertmusik Für Blasorchester, Op. 41, are, well, let's just say they're more fun to perform than to listen to.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I taught band junior and senior high band classes for ten years and, to be honest, the last thing I wanted to listen to after work was more band music. As a result, this disc hasn't received much play. Purchased in '89, I bought this disc mainly because it was what I thought I should be listening to at the time.

I have particular bad memories of participating in a sub-par performance of the Husa piece, so this listening is somewhat cathartic for me. (That performance was April 27, 1987 in Commerce, Texas. Be glad you weren't there.)

Dave Samuels - Natural Selection (1991)

2012-01-05T07:14:00.008-06:00

Samuels is a percussionist, specializing in playing the marimba and vibraphone. He's played with Spyro Gyra and The Caribbean Jazz Project, plus his backing band for this recording is the Yellowjackets. So if you like those groups, you'll find this CD enjoyable.

Tracks: It's all easy listening smooth Latin-flavored jazz. I think the better tracks are Spring High and A White Rose. I enjoy Bruce Hornsby's contributions on Between The Lines; it sounds like he's having fun. I don't particularly care for Mossoro's Motion, Knots, or the title track.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, although I think I saw Samuels live with Spyro Gyra around '84.

Sting - ...Nothing Like The Sun (1987)

2012-01-04T12:33:00.004-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as a 2 LP set, later replaced by a CD.

At the time of this release, Sting rightfully took some heat for putting 55 minutes on 2 LPs at the same time Def Leppard put 63 minutes of music on a single LP with Hysteria. Why? The list price for double album sets was more than the list price for a single album. Recently, Sting's arrogance has annoyed me to the point of not listening to his music very much, but I have to admit there are some good tunes on this album. I don't like it as much as Dream Of The Blue Turtles, but I may be in the minority. The songwriting isn't quite as good, but at least Sting had the good sense to keep Kenny Kirkland and Branford Marsalis in his backing band. Where Dream Of The Blue Turtles was an abashed attempt at some sort of jazz-pop fusion, this lacks a true identity, not knowing if it wants to be jazz-pop, reggae, rock, world music, or Tin Pan Alley.

Tracks: Of the 12 tracks here, I like Englishman In New York, Fragile, the cover of Little Wing, The Secret Marriage, even the pretentious They Dance Alone and the filler track, Rock Steady. I usually skip Be Still My Beating Heart, History Will Teach Us Nothing, Sister Moon, and the first single from the album, We'll Be Together, which amazingly peaked at #7 on the charts.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember one of my college roommates and his girlfriend trying to dance the song Straight To My Heart, which is in 7. As they soon discovered, it is difficult to dance to a song in 7. I found their attempt entertaining, though.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Sacred Love (2003)
Roxanne 97 (Puff Daddy Remix) (1997)
Mercury Falling (1996)
Ten Summoner's Tales (1993)

Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85 (1985)

2012-01-03T10:33:00.007-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD.

I think of this album as a "winter album" and the disc has been recently spending some time in my truck's CD player, so I figured I'd go ahead and blog about it. I would call this a guilty pleasure, but I think it's a really good synthpop album (if you think "good synthpop album" is an oxymoron, you're at the wrong blog). I've never known much about the group, most likely because I bought the cassette, not the LP. For me, liner notes in cassettes weren't read because the music was played in the car, not at the house. I'm also guessing the group didn't get much written about them in Rolling Stone magazine, my go-to music publication at the time. The singer/group leader Green Gartside has a thin voice, but it doesn't really detract from the otherwise strong, bubbly material and production. I guess I like the tunes so much that I'm able to overlook the dated Fairlight CMI synths and drum programming.

Tracks: They're all so different and I like 'em all, bonus tracks included. For an in-depth retro recap, I defer to Thomas Inskeep at the now defunct Stylus Magazine.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Purchased on the strength of the single, Perfect Way, I remember this cassette getting heavy play in the Markmobile during Christmas break my freshman year of college when I was working at the local plumbing supply house. Aren't the 5 week winter breaks in higher education wonderful?

Also memorable is the fun Miles Davis cover of Perfect Way from his 1986 Tutu album.

Various Artists - William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet: Music From The Motion Picture (1996)

2012-01-02T11:24:00.003-06:00

I probably haven't listened to this CD since the mid '90s and I don't think I listened to it much then.

Tracks: Most of this is forgettable mid-'90s alt-rock b-sides, but on this listen, I'm liking Gavin Friday's Angel, The Wannadies' You And Me Song, and Radiohead's Talk Show Host. The hit from this soundtrack was Lovefool by The Cardigans which is a great song, but easily becomes an earworm. Given my love for disco music, it should come as no surprise that I also like the remake of Young Hearts Run Free by Kym Mazelle (originally by Candi Staton). I was never a fan of Butthole Surfers and their contribution here does nothing to change my mind.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember travelling with my high school friends Roy and Scott from Galveston to Houston to see this movie. We played 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon for the duration of the trip. In our defense, that game was just becoming popular at the time. (For the record, if you count stage acting and TV shows, there are only three degrees of separation between Mr. Bacon and myself).

Various Artists - Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the '80s, Vol. 1 (1994)

2011-12-29T08:15:00.006-06:00

This is the 1st volume of a fantastic 15 volume set released in the mid-'90s by the always wonderful Rhino Records. Contrary to the CD title, songs on this volume are from the years 1977-1979, strengthening my argument that eighties music really began around 1978 with The Cars and ended sometime around 1988 (I can't in good conscience consider Paula Abdul an eighties artist.)

Tracks:

Ca Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand: A wonderful Belgian song that combines the three blues chords of punk with the bouncy bass of new wave. Released in 1977, I guess there wasn't any room for this single on the radio because it is sung mostly in French and it isn't disco. The title is best translated as "everything's going well for me" and it's a fun, happy song.
Warm Leatherette - The Normal: The group was, of course, anything but normal. This experimentation with tape loops and a drum machine might have been considered groundbreaking at the time, but now is just grating.
One Way Or Another - Blondie: You know this one. It's a wonderful new wave rocker about a stalker. I usually bash the Rock Hall of Fame, but they got it right when they inducted Blondie in 2006. The band was very influential and one of the first new wave bands (along with The Cars) to have Top 40 hits. This single peaked at #24.
Hey, St. Peter - Flash & The Pan: If only this single was as great as the band name. To call this new wave is a bit of a stretch. To me, it sounds like '70s Elton John.
Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe: 3.5 minutes of hip, pure pop bliss. I loved this song in '79 and still enjoy listening to it today.
Too Young To Date - D-Day: Amateurish power pop from an obscure Austin band that wounds a lot like The Waitresses or Toni Basil. Released in 1979, it might have been a hit in '81 or '82.
Local Girls - Graham Parker: Parker is in the group of pop singer/songwriters that never got their due. (Also in that group: Nick Lowe and Marshall Crenshaw). Critics darlings. Hearing this single, it's hard to understand why Parker didn't find more success. Sort of a cross between Jackson Browne and Elvis Costello.
Rock 'N' Roll High School - Ramones: Of course, this tune has stood the test of time even though it wasn't a huge hit at the time. What's funny is that I thought the Ramones were "too hard" for me as a teenager. Now they seem tame. This isn't new wave, it's just good ol' rock 'n' roll.
My Sharona - The Knack: Maybe the first #1 new wave song. Also included on Rhino's Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 22. Here's what I said in that review: A great song from a great album (which I'll get to later on the blog). I like to tell people that my wife's nickname is Sharona and that the song was written about her. Apparently, the real Sharona is a real estate agent in L.A.
Girls Talk - Dave Edmunds: A great song in the vein of Nick Lowe and Paul Carrack. This song was written by Elvis Costello, whose early albums were produced by Lowe.
Video Killed The Radio Star - Buggles: It was love at first hearing for me and this song. Even though I've heard it thousands of times, I never skip it or change the radio channel when it comes on. Previously on this blog: versions by Erasure, Asia, and Bruce Woolley, the latter of which is the original version.
I Do The Rock - Tim Curry: Riding the wave of his success in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Curry released 3 albums. Didn't know that? Me, either. This song sounds like it could have come from the soundtrack of Rocky Horror. It's a weak attempt to start a dance craze - how does one "do the rock"?
Dirty Water - The Inmates: A cover of the garage band classic. This sounds like The Stones to me. What's it doing on this compilation?
I'm A Believer - Tin Huey: a forgettable cover of Neil Diamond's song made famous by the Monkees. Again, not very new wavish, although you can hear the beginnings of what would become the Akron sound.
Gidget Goes To Hell - Suburban Lawns: A Suburban Lawns poster is seen in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, hanging on the wall in the bedroom of the character Damone. That was probably the career highlight of these Devo wannabes from Long Beach.
Money (That's What I Want) - The Flying Lizards: there's something about this quirky cover of a soul classic that I can't resist. Maybe it's the amateurish banjo-sounding synth or the vocals by the girl with an accent. In any case, it's just weird enough to be an awesome cover.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: To call these songs "hits" is a bit much, Rhino. I can remember hearing only 3 of the 16 on the radio back in the late '70s: One Way Or Another, My Sharona, and Cruel To Be Kind.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 5
Volume 8
Volume 9
Volume 12
Volume 14
New Wave Xmas
New Wave Dance Hits

Talking Heads - The Best Of (2004)

2011-12-28T07:25:00.007-06:00

I'm not an all-out Talking Heads fan because I didn't start with the group until about their third or fourth albums and lost interest after Little Creatures (have you seen the movie, True Stories? No? Well, don't). So while I don't have all their individual albums on CD, this compilation fills in the gaps. Even though they don't measure up to Rhino's usual standards, the liner notes are good. Some people might tell you that this CD is a great introduction to the band, but I think the best intro to Talking Heads will always be Stop Making Sense (both the DVD and CD, take your pick).

Tracks: I certainly wouldn't skip any of these 18 tracks, but if I had to pick a few favorites, they would be Love → Building on Fire, the cover of Al Green's Take Me To The River, Found A Job, Once In A Lifetime, This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), Burning Down The House, And She Was, and Road To Nowhere.

Take Me To The River is certainly on my top 10 list of covers. As Kate Pierson of the B-52's says in the liner notes, "It's a rare thing that a band can do a cover song and make it their own. Simply put, they made Al Green's 'Take Me to The River' into a Talking Heads song."

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Purchased at a Best Buy in Corpus Christi, this disc kept me company on travels around the South Texas/Gulf Coast region in my little Toyota Corolla .

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982)

Wynton Marsalis - Crescent City Christmas Card (1989)

2011-12-23T07:45:00.009-06:00

Not my favorite Marsalis album, but not my least favorite, either. However, it isn't something I pull out every December and give a listen to. Up until the time of this release, I had listened to Marsalis with his quintets and quartets, so this was my first exposure to his music with a 9 piece group. The clarinet, alto sax, and soprano sax are all scored so high in their ranges, that the screechy neo-bop meets Dixieland arrangements just don't appeal to me. It's a shame because there is some good playing by pianist Marcus Roberts and good soloing by Marsalis. Not my bag. In 2009, for his 78th release(!), Marsalis released another holiday album, Christmas Jam Jazz, but after being disappointed with this earlier release, I just don't have it in me to even check out the samples.

Tracks: The best track is Winter Wonderland, which is played by only a quartet. A close second is O Come All Ye Faithful, a tasteful piano solo by Roberts. Of the remainder, the better tunes are We Three Kings and Let it Snow. It's nice to hear Jon Hendricks sing Sleigh Ride, but Diva Kathleen Battle's wide vibrato seems oddly out of place on Silent Night. Between the unpleasant harmonies and screeching woodwinds, the version of Little Drummer Boy is downright painful. This may be the first time I've finished the final track, a reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas with a disjointed musical accompaniment.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Bought in '89, this was one of the first Christmas CD's I ever purchased.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Two Men with the Blues (2008)
Uptown Ruler: Soul Gestures in Southern Blue, Vol. 2 (1991)
Baroque Music for Trumpets (1988)
J Mood (1986)
Trumpet Concertos (1983)

David Sanborn - As We Speak (1982)

2011-12-22T06:22:00.003-06:00

While not a Christmas CD, I was thinking of this album the other day because it contains a song titled Rain On Christmas, which, if current weather patterns hold, is a distinct possibility here this year. Although this music is more like instrumental pop music, Sanborn is considered a smooth jazz artist, wailing over R&B and funk rhythms from a fantastic set of studio musicians, anchored by Marcus Miller on bass and Omar Hakim on drums. Not the best Sanborn album, but one of my favorites nonetheless because I it was part of my teenage introduction to this type of music.

Interesting note: I was over at the Amazon website to check out the current price of this CD. I was expecting the cost to be about $8, but it was $13.98. I mistakenly thought maybe the CD had been reissued with bonus tracks, but a little more reading found the following:

"This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media."

Never seen that before. The music is not available for download, so it looks like CD-R is the only option for now. That's a step backwards, isn't it?

Tracks: The best song on the disc is Straight To The Heart. Other favorites are Port Of Call, Over And Over, the title track, and the aforementioned Rain On Christmas. Two poppish songs, Back Again and Love Will Come Someday, feature vocals by Michael Sembello who you may remember from his 1983 hit, Maniac. Sembello also wrote three songs on this album. I'm so used to listening to this thing straight through I normally don't skip tracks. However, I'm not terribly fond of Better Believe It or Rush Hour.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In high school, I dubbed a copy of this album from a LP borrowed from one of my band directors. That cassette had this album on one side, Voyeur on the other. That tape got a lot of playing time.

For some reason, the simplistic cover art has always appealed to me. For about 18 months during college, I lived in small house that had several album covers that had been reproduced on the walls by previous tenants. This album cover was one of them. Having cover art reproduced on your walls sounds like a fun, wacky idea until you realize that you are stuck with an 8 foot amateurish reproduction on your bedroom wall and it's the first thing you see everyday.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Best of (1994)
A Change of Heart (1987)
Backstreet (1983)
Voyeur (1981)

Eric Clapton - The Best Of (2004)

2011-12-21T06:42:00.005-06:00

This compilation focuses on Clapton's work in the '70s, with 9 solo cuts and 2 tracks from Derek and the Dominoes. Almost, but not quite, a reissue of Clapton's 1982 compilation, Timepieces. The sound is sometimes muddy; I don't think there was any remastering done for this release. All in all, though, this is good enough for a casual Clapton fan like myself.

Tracks: Layla is one of my all-time favorite songs, so it is easily my favorite on this compilation. I also like After Midnight, Wonderful Tonight, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Cocaine, and Bell Bottom Blues. I'll skip Promises and Let It Grow.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: The coda from Layla now reminds me of the movie Goodfellas which was robbed of the Best Picture Oscar in 1990 by Dances With Wolves (ed. note - Dances With Wolves?!? Seriously?). Cocaine (the song, not the drug) reminds me of high school "victory dances" held at the BC Service Center after home football games. It seemed normal, even expected, at the time, but now it seems a strange choice since Cocaine isn't much of a dance song. Any teenagers that were using cocaine in high school wouldn't have been at a victory dance.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Me and Mr. Johnson (2004)

Stevie Wonder - Someday at Christmas (1967)

2011-12-20T06:17:00.004-06:00

Note: this edition is the 2004 reissue with 2 bonus tracks, retitled The Best of Stevie Wonder - The Christmas Collection: 20th Century Masters

A better than average Christmas album, released when Stevie was only 17. Sure the arrangements and production are dated; that's part of the charm. Stevie's harmonica playing always brings a smile to my face. I'm wondering why they didn't title the album "The Wonder of Christmas"? Too obvious?

Tracks: My favorites are Someday At Christmas, Silver Bells, The Christmas Song, What Christmas Means To Me, and Everyone's A Kid At Christmas Time. I usually skip the out-of-tune Ave Maria, the depressing Bedtime For Toys, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Me.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Talking Book (1972)

Merry Christmas from Doc Severinsen and The Tonight Show Orchestra (1991)

2011-12-18T05:59:00.005-06:00

I was expecting an in-your-face, swinging big band Christmas album. What I got was a handbell choir, a brass octet, a children's chorus, pipe organ, and strings. Doc is fantastic, of course, but this is just average easy listening Christmas music.

Tracks: Most tunes are simply Mantovanian string arrangements, and several tracks don't even have Doc or the band playing. The better tracks include Let It Snow, March Of The Toys, and Jingle Bells.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I bought this disc with no preview, solely on the recommendation of a Houston radio DJ. I learned my lesson.

Billy Joel - 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert (2000)

2011-12-16T06:56:00.009-06:00

Recorded in Madison Square Garden, New York City, December 31, 1999.

Not a great live disc, this serves purely as a souvenir for me (see below). Joel's voice wasn't strong that night, which is to be expected at age 50, countless concerts, and plenty of cocktails. I can even forgive him for lowering the keys of several of his songs to accommodate his voice. However, I never figured Joel would become a Vegas act with all the trappings: using Beethoven's 9th Symphony as entrance music, self-promoting patter, John Wayne impression, augmented band with backup singers, overblown arrangements, and drunken screams, whoops and hollers (from Joel, not the audience). These are things I can almost forgive in a live show, but not on a live album. Joel has a catalog of fantastic songs and they deserve better treatment. I will give Joel some credit for his song selection for a New Year's Eve concert: instead of sticking strictly to a greatest-hits approach, he chooses songs with lyrics about either beginnings, endings, or transitions. The recording/production is great, the actual performance is disappointing. Joel's best live album remains Songs in the Attic. I love ya, Billy, but I'm going to stick to your releases from the '70s and '80s.

Liner notes? What liner notes? Obvious rush job.

Tracks: Over 2 hours of music and jibber-jabber over 2 CDs. Quite a few hits are here, along with a Rolling Stones cover (Honky Tonk Woman), a Sly Stone cover (Dance To The Music), and the obligatory, seemingly unrehearsed Auld Lang Syne at midnight. For me, the highlights are Allentown, Prelude/Angry Young Man, Big Man On Mulberry Street (the one tune that fits the size of the band), and Scenes From An Italian Restaurant. While none of the versions here come close to the studio versions, I particularly don't care for We Didn't Start the Fire and River Of Dreams with its inexplicable inclusion of a verse of Land Of Thousand Dances.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: On this date 12 years ago, my wife and I saw Joel's concert at Houston's Compaq Center (the former Summit, now Lakewood Church).

Here's the setlist for the Houston show I attended, which is different from the concert represented on this CD, which was recorded only two weeks later:

Only The Good Die Young
Movin' Out
This Is The Time
Prelude/Angry Young Man
2000 Years
Pressure
My Life
Goodnight Saigon
Allentown
The Ballad of Billy The Kid
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)
River Of Dreams
Uptown Girl
Purple Haze
Good Times, Bad Times
Don't Be Cruel
We Didn't Start The Fire
Still Rock 'N' Roll to Me
You May Be Right
Encore: Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
Piano Man

Previously revisited for the blog:
To Make You Feel My Love (1997)
The Bridge (1986)
Songs in the Attic (1981)
Glass Houses (1980)
52nd Street (1978)
The Stranger (1977)

Heaven 17 - Retox/Detox (1998)

2011-12-15T06:51:00.008-06:00

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. With this remix compilation, Heaven 17 rounded up some DJs (whoever was popular at the time) and had them remix some of the group's songs. The result is a hot mess: if you're a Heaven 17 fan, you're disappointed; if you like techno music, you're disappointed. Overall, the mixes are not very good, and they do nothing to enhance the original songs. In many cases, the original song is MIA. I was going through my "dance music phase" in 97-98, but even then, this didn't get regular play.

My favorite part of this CD is this quote from the back of the case:

That's disturbingly hilarious.

Tracks: 23 tracks on 2 CDs -the first CD titled Retox, the second, Detox. That might be clever if I knew what they meant by retox and detox. The Detox disc is the better of the two, but the only tracks worth hearing more than once are Ski's remix of Crushed By The Wheels (Of Industry) and the Rhythm Masters remix of Temptation. But not even those two remixes have been ripped to my iTunes.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Before After (2005)
Bigger Than America (1996)
Endless (1986)
Penthouse and Pavement (1981)
B.E.F. - Music for Listening To (1981)

Have Yourself A Looney Tunes Christmas (1994)

2011-12-15T06:08:00.004-06:00

I think the title says everything you need to know. For those of us that grew up hearing Mel Blanc doing all the voices, the poorer imitations are noticeable. The Bugs voice is passable, as is Yosemite Sam. Pepe Le Pew, Foghorn Leghorn and Tweety are pitiful. But Taz is good and Daffy and Sylvester are spot on. The music is over-produced and a little too perfect. I haven't listened to this in 10 years, at least, but it's harmless fun. I'll admit that I have laughed aloud a few times while listening to this disc today.

Tracks: 12 tracks in a thankfully brief 32 minutes. There are some traditional Christmas songs sung by Bugs, Duffy, etc. along with a few originals. A bit of what's here: Christmas In Paree, Christmas Chopsticks, and, The Halle-Looney Chorus [groan].

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember buying this at a On Cue store for my young sons. I think On Cue was eventually purchased by Best Buy or Sam Goody. In any case, our local store closed after a few years. When the boys were little, they loved this CD. Their dad? Not so much.

Chris Botti - December (2002)

2011-12-14T07:36:00.004-06:00

Most Christmas albums are hit-or-miss, with usually less than half the tracks worth listening to. That's not the case here. This is one of the few Christmas albums I can listen to all the way through. Great playing of quality low-key, downbeat arrangements. Very contemplative and moody. Recommended for a quiet night by the fire.

Tracks: Great Christmas classics, plus a great cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (an interesting choice, but without the lyrics it seems to fit). There's one original, Perfect Day (written by Richard Marx and his wife) which is forgettable, but doesn't ruin the CD. Botti sings on that track and he doesn't have the greatest voice. He also sings on Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. He should stick to playing trumpet, but I guess he wants to be Chet Baker when he grows up. My fav tracks are Let It Snow, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Winter Wonderland, and I'll Be Home For Christmas. The "Miles-Davis-In-A-Silent-Way" take on The Little Drummer Boy seems slightly out of place, but I like it anyway.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This may have been the only Christmas CD I listened to in 2002. I gave a copy to a friend and colleague and he loved it, too. In fact, he said he had almost bought the CD the week before I gave him a copy.

Previously revisited for the blog:
When I Fall In Love (2004)
A Thousand Kisses Deep (2003)
Slowing Down the World (1999)

Squeeze - Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti (1985)

2011-12-14T06:09:00.002-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD. My edition is the original release, not the 1997 reissue with 2 bonus tracks.

When Squeeze reformed in 1985, in took them a few albums to get back up to speed. The production on this album was odd in '85 and hasn't aged well. It's like the band wanted to sound more like XTC than Squeeze. The distorted bass is strangely forward in the mix and there are some unusual choices in regard to synth sounds. Still, there are a few songs where the old Difford & Tilbrook magic is evident. Fortunately, the band's releases got steadily better until the mid-'90s. Because of problems with the A&M label, it took me a long time to find a copy of the CD. But I can't say I really blame the label - why produce CDs that probably won't sell? Because of quirky melodies and chord progressions, most Squeeze music requires several listenings before they can be fully enjoyed. As a result, I listened to this record over and over, allowing the music to sink in. Honestly, if I listened to this album for the first time today, it probably wouldn't get another listen for a while. But since that wasn't the case back then, I still know every word.

The band has said the album title "merges the titles of two highly important pieces of music - Mozart's comic opera Cosi Fan Tutte and Little Richard's Tutti Frutti." It bears no resemblance to either.

Tracks: Dated production aside, the good tracks are King George Street, Hits Of The Year, Break My Heart, and, if you ignore the bizarre intro, Last Time Forever. The final track, I Won't Ever Go Drinking Again (?), is probably the best hangover song ever recorded.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This album reminds me of my sophomore year in college when I started dating the girl I would later marry. Being a complete idiot when it comes to talking with women, I would sometimes use song lyrics in a lame attempt at being romantic. I'm fairly certain that I copped some lyrics from this release. The results of that plagiarism were as bad as you might think. It amazes me that my wife put up with that and married me anyway.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Domino (1998)
Some Fantastic Place (1993)
Babylon and On (1987)
Difford & Tilbrook (1984)
East Side Story (1981)
Argybargy (1980)
Cool For Cats (1979)

Various Artists - A Contemporary Jazz Christmas (1997)

2011-12-13T19:57:00.005-06:00

That is some bizarre cover art. This Christmas collection is a sampler featuring various GRP artists playing Yuletide favorites. There are better jazz Christmas compilations, but there are a few good tracks here.

Tracks:
The Good:
B.B. King - Merry Christmas Baby
Tom Scott - Feliz Navidad
Spyro Gyra - I'll Be Home For Christmas
Lee Ritenour - White Christmas

The Bad:
George Howard - The First Noel
Phil Perry - The Christmas Song
Chick Corea Elektric Band - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Russ Freeman - Hark The Herald Angels Sing

The Rest:
Nelson Rangell - Let It Snow
David Benoit - Christmas time Is Here
Diane Schuur - I'll Be Home For Christmas
Dave Grusin - Some Children See Him

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Nick Heyward - I Love You Avenue (1988)

2011-12-13T18:43:00.004-06:00

I'm a big fan of this British singer/songwriter and have most if not all of his albums and singles, but this is probably his worse release. Pure late '80s saccharine synthpop with all that entails. The writing isn't always terrible, but the production of the time doesn't really serve the material well. To give you an idea of the overall sound of the album, you should know that some of the mixing here was done by John Hudson, who also worked with a-ha and The Dream Academy. The CD is out of print but it is available inexpensively online via eBay. As of this writing, the album is not available on iTunes, but all of Heyward's other albums are.

Tracks: Not too many memorable tracks on this one. The best track is the ballad Traffic In Fleet Street. I also like You're My World, This Is Love, Tell Me Why, and the title track. The weaker tracks include Hold On, Pizza Tears, Change Of Heart, and August In the Morning.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Heyward's first solo album, North Of A Miracle, is one of my all-time favorites. After it was released, I never heard another thing about him and just figured he'd quit recording. Then I came across this disc in '89 or '90 at the huge Dallas Half Price Books on Northwest highway near Central Expressway. The store has since changed locations, but its new location is just as big. I knew immediately that this disc wasn't as good as North Of A Miracle, but I was so happy to have new music by Heyward that it got plenty of playing time for a while.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Stars In Her Eyes (1998)
Today (1997)
A Hard Days Nick (1996)
The World (1995)
Postcards From Home (1986)

Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach - Painted From Memory (1998)

2011-12-13T08:39:00.005-06:00

I'm not much of an Elvis Costello fan, but occasionally I'll pick up a Costello release because I sometimes think I should like him. Thankfully, it turns out that this isn't much of a Costello disc at all - the star of this disc is Bacharach's songwriting which is as strong as any of his writing from the '60s. And it's quite a solid return to form, at that. From the production to the string arrangements, this entire project was written within the parameters of Bacharach's most successful work. Even though a song from this disc won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals and the entire album was met with critical acclaim, the album wasn't a commercial success. This music is not of its time, which explains why it peaked at #78 on the album charts. I guess it just couldn't compete with the soundtrack to Titanic. That's a shame, because it means that a lot of people are missing out on this treat. Great music for a rainy day or quiet night.

This disc was recorded and released around the same time the duo made a cameo appearance in the second Austin Powers movie. I think they performed I'll Never Fall In Love Again.

Tracks: It's hard to pick favs on this disc because the more you listen to them, the more you like them. I've always though the best song on the disc is Toledo. As of this listen, I'm also liking In The Darkest Place, I Still Have That Other Girl, Such Unlikely Lovers, My Thief, and the title track. Track 8, The Long Division, sounds like an '80s tune. Normally, you'd think I'd like that, but it just doesn't seem to fit with the sound of the other songs.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: (almost the same as Seal - Human Being) This album was released in September 1998. In December of that year, I rode on a charter bus from Bay City to Irving and back with 200 high school students. That particular Saturday we were headed to Texas Stadium for the Class 4A, Div 1 state football championship game between Bay City and Grapevine (final score: Grapevine 22, Bay City 0). I listened to this CD on that trip. For that reason, I consider it to be a fall/winter CD that can't be listened to in the spring or summer.

One of my dream jobs is to play flugelhorn with Burt Bacharach.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Very Best Of Burt Bacharach (2001)
Bill Frisell - The Sweetest Punch (1999)

Sounds of Blackness - The Night Before Christmas: A Musical Fantasy (1992)

2011-12-13T07:12:00.009-06:00

Sounds of Blackness is a 40-person choir and ten-piece band that combines traditional African music, urban soul, and gospel music. I was introduced to this group through their contribution to the soundtrack for the movie The Apostle. I liked their gospel sound on that disc, so when I came across this Christmas offering, I picked it up. The group got the hottest urban music producers of the time, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, to be "executive producers" on this album (whatever that means). That duo's influence is heard throughout. So, instead of sounding like the gospel album I had hoped for, it sounds more like an early '90s Janet Jackson album with lots of synth bass, dance beats, and hip-hop rapping. Maybe that was the sound of contemporary gospel music back then - I have to plead ignorance on that count. Nowadays, I'll listen to the online samples before purchasing a disc to avoid this sort of situation, but that wasn't available way back in the '90s. The disc isn't bad for what it is and I'm sure there's an audience for this uplifting music, but I was looking for more of a traditional gospel sound.

Tracks: I don't listen to this disc very often, but when I do, I'll listen to Soul Holidays and Away In A Manger. I want to like the group's high energy take on Children Go, but the wonderful vocal harmonies are pushed so far back in the mix, all I can hear is the derivative accompaniment tracks. O Holy Night is to be avoided.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Boney James - Sweet Thing (1997)

2011-12-12T07:22:00.007-06:00

As far as smooth jazz goes, this isn't bad. James is ten times better than Kenny G. I picked this up for $1; it is easily worth twice that. Now that I listen more to Pandora at work, my purchase of used smooth jazz CDs has come to a screeching halt.

Tracks: Most are R&B lite and good for background music. The songs that catch my ear are the title track (a cover of a 1975 Rufus song) and After The Rain. I don't care much for Words (Unspoken) or, despite guest vocals from Al Jarreau, the plodding I Still Dream.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Body Language (1999)

Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What (2011)

2011-12-12T05:53:00.005-06:00

Simon has called this album "the best work I’ve done in 20 years.” I wouldn't know if that's true or not since I haven't heard any of his music since Graceland. There are musical influences from around the world, but it isn't a world music album. Albeit brief, this is a good, melodic pop release. Most of the tracks wouldn't be out of place on Graceland, which is fine with me. Released earlier this year, the album is now getting placed on a few "Best of 2011" lists, including (not surprisingly) Rolling Stone's list, coming in at #3. These songs about mortality from an aging musician are perfect for an aging hipster like myself.

Tracks: Only 10 tracks in 38 minutes. I don't skip any tracks, but my favorites are Getting Ready For Christmas Day, The Afterlife, Rewrite, and Love And Hard Times.

Bonus DVD: The DVD contains 3 selections. The first is a 8 minute "making of" vignette, the second is the music video for Getting Ready For Christmas Day. Both of these are readily available on YouTube. The final selection is an audio-only recording of a studio rehearsal of the title track, which isn't terribly different from the CD version. I'm glad I didn't pay extra for this "Deluxe Limited Edition" or I would have been greatly disappointed.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I went into Hastings with the intent of buying the new releases from The Smithereens and The Cars, but found this disc on sale instead. It was an impulse buy that worked out for me. This CD kept me company during some travels around Texas in May of this year.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Graceland (1986)
The Concert in Central Park (1982)

Handel - Messiah (1985)

2011-12-11T06:57:00.004-06:00

Sir Georg Solti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed by Handel in 1741 with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. The work is divided into three parts: the first deals with the birth of Christ, the second with Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, and the third with the final victory over sin and death and the acclamation of Christ. Around this time of year, there are many performances of the oratorio which usually consist of Part 1 to which the Hallelujah chorus from Part 2 is added at the end. Of course, every conductor has his/her own preferences.

There is no such thing as a definitive musical text of this work. This recording uses the John Tobin edition, which subdivides the 3 parts of the work into 16 scenes, which consist of 47 movements (the recitatives are not numbered). Admittedly, I'm partial to the choruses. My favorites are:

No. 1 Symphony
No. 4 Every Valley Shall Be Exalted
No. 7 And He Shall Purify
No. 11 For Unto Us A Child Is Born
No. 21 Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs
No. 22 And With His Stripes
No. 30 Lift Up Your Heads
No. 39 Hallelujah
No. 42 Behold, I Tell You A Mystery
No. 43 The Trumpet Shall Sound

When I purchased this CD in the late '80s, I practically worshiped the CSO and Solti, so I bought this recording without doing any research. It's a good interpretation, but not great and certainly not definitive. The tempos are slightly fast and many notes are a clipped attempt at staccato, but all-in-all the orchestra and continuo performs well. The soloists here are the big problem, mainly because they were opera stars so they sing this baroque work like they are singing Wagner. Te Kanawa, in particular, slides in and out of notes as if she couldn't be bothered to make this recording. Even though I'm not a big fan of choral works, I'm very open to recommendations for better recordings of this work. I should note, however, that these liner notes are very thorough and include the complete libretto.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: My earliest memory of the complete work concerns my parents forcing their pre-teen son to travel 70 miles each direction to hear a community orchestra and chorus perform this oratorio one Sunday afternoon. I was way too young to appreciate the work. I'm fairly certain I took a nap.

I've performed portions of this work, having learned both the tenor and bass parts. For the record, I prefer singing bass, but truth be told, I'm not a good enough singer to pull off either part. However, at a recital during my senior year in college (April 1988), I performed No. 43 The Trumpet Shall Sound. I played the piccolo trumpet while a friend sang the aria. Piccolo trumpet isn't easy to play, but I don't think I embarrassed myself. Much to my chagrin, the student worker in the music office who typed up the program chose to title the work The Trumpet Should Sound. I don't know who did it or whether it was an intentional slight, but I was plenty upset at the time. 20+ years later, I think it's rather funny.

Down To The Bone - The Urban Grooves (1999)

2011-12-09T07:00:00.008-06:00

I always enjoy DTTB's acid jazz blend of jazz, funk, and '70s soul. This is one of the group's better releases. The "grooves" mentioned in the title refer to more than the feel of the music, it also alludes to grooves in a vinyl LP. The cover and the liner note pics are all about record stores and record sleeves. Heck, even the CD itself is designed to look like a vinyl LP (see below). Even though the soloing is top-notch, this music isn't old school Blue Note vinyl, but you can hear those old school influences against a heavy dance beat. Warning: this music has been known to cause office chair dancing in certain bloggers.

Tracks: Like most of the group's music, I like all the tracks. Sure they all sound the same, but if you dig that sound, what's the problem? I'm slightly partial to Yo Man It's Herbie because of its use of a Hohner Clavinet sound, which immediately takes you back to the '70s.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, DTTB simply provides me with quality background music.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Supercharged (2007)
Cellar Funk (2004)

Various Artists - Christmas in Soulsville (2007)

2011-12-08T05:35:00.014-06:00

Of course, my recent trip to Memphis included a trip to the site of Stax studios (originally the old Capitol movie theater on East McLemore at College). The abandoned studio was torn down in 1989, but the Stax Museum of American Soul Music was constructed at the site and opened in 2003. A replica of the original building, the Stax Museum features exhibits on the history of Stax and soul music in general, and hosts various music-related community programs and events. The museum includes a gift shop in what was once the Satellite Record Shop which was converted from the old refreshments counter into a record store. That gift shop is where this compilation was purchased.

Tracks: Mostly soul and blues originals here. Of the 15 tracks, I'm partial to Otis Redding singing Merry Christmas Baby, Rufus Thomas' I'll Be Your Santa Baby, Booker T. & The MGs' rendition of Winter Wonderland, and The Temprees covering The Christmas Song. We're treated to two versions of the wonderfully crude blues song, Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin', one by Albert King, the other by the song's composer, Mack White. The Rance Allen Group offers up what might be the slowest version of White Christmas ever recorded. The Emotions offer a beautiful soul song, What Do The Lonely Do At Christmas? and Isaac Hayes delivers with Winter Snow. The only problem with these two songs are the depressing lyrics.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I've only owned this CD for 4 days. It was in the CD player as I left Memphis and headed west towards Little Rock.

The Essential Fishbone (2003)

2011-12-07T08:17:00.006-06:00

In honor of The Roots playing Lyin' Ass Bitch for Michelle Bachmann as she came on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon a few weeks ago.

Fishbone's music has been described as ska, alternative, rock, funk, and soul, but really they're just a party band. This greatest hits compilation is a solid introduction to the six piece band, covering recordings from 1984-93. It usually just stays in my truck in case I need some party music as I drive to/from campus.

A recent documentary about the band, Everyday Sunshine, is getting good reviews.

Tracks: My favorite tracks are Cholly, A Movement In The Light, Bonin' In The Boneyard, Everyday Sunshine, Change, Lemon Meringue, the aforementioned Lyin' Ass Bitch, Sunless Saturday, and a nice cover of Curtis Mayfield's 1972 song, Freddie's Dead. If I skip any songs, I might skip It's A Wonderful Life or Fight The Youth.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: My buddy Blake is a true Fishbone soldier, but I was unfamiliar with the band until I met Blake in 2004. Based on his recommendation, I bought this CD without ever hearing the band. That decision turned out to be a good one.

Christmas with Babyface (1998)

2011-12-06T19:12:00.003-06:00

I don't know what I was expecting, because this CD sounds exactly like you think it would. Babyface was certainly a hitmaker in the '90s, not only for himself, but also Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, TLC, etc. This album has some enjoyable mellow R&B grooves, but, to me, it's just not very Christmas-y. Maybe it's because not all songs lend themselves to a New Jack groove, especially Christmas standards written prior to 1950.

Tracks: This CD doesn't get listened to very often and none of the 10 tracks have been ripped to my iTunes. If I had to pick a favorite track, I'd go with I'll Be Home For Christmas. The worst track is the pseudo-reggae version of The Little Drummer Boy. It's also a bit disturbing to hear Silent Night sung like a romantic ballad. The sole original track, You Were There, has no lyrics about Christmas (or winter, for that matter). It was part of the soundtrack for the movie Simon Birch and I have no idea what it is doing on a Christmas CD.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Various Artists - A Very Special Christmas 2 (1992)

2011-12-01T06:34:00.006-06:00

The Very Special Christmas Series (currently at 7 volumes), is an ongoing series of compilation albums that has raised over $100 million to benefit Special Olympics. So while not even half of this CD is outstanding, at least it was put together for a worthwhile cause. Each compilation consists of Christmas standards and originals by popular artists from a variety of genres. I had the first (superior) volume on cassette tape and now own volumes 2 & 3 on CD. I've lost interest in the series mainly because of the inconsistency of the quality of music. I love the cover art by the late Keith Haring, but I'm a fan of all his work.

Tracks: 19 tracks including 5 original tunes. Highlights include Luther Vandross singing The Christmas Song, Frank Sinatra and Cyndi Lauper duet on the swinging Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Jon Bon Jovi covering Please Come Home for Christmas, and Bonnie Raitt and Charles Brown duet on Merry Christmas Baby. There's also a nice jazz waltz arrangement of What Child Is This? by Vanessa Williams. I encourage skipping Paul Young butchering What Christmas Means To Me, Michael Bolton's version of White Christmas, and Ann & Nancy Wilson covering Blue Christmas. The only one of the 5 originals that is worth my time is Tom Petty's jangly-pop song, Christmas All Over Again.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In 1992, I didn't own many Christmas CDs, so this disc was played a lot around that time.

Tears For Fears - Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92) (1992)

2011-11-30T06:12:00.004-06:00

I was never a die-hard T4F fan, but I usually enjoyed their music when it came on the radio or MTV. I owned their most popular release, the 1985 album Songs From The Big Chair, on cassette and I think my buddy Jim gave me his copy of their debut album, 1982's The Hurting, but the debut didn't really resonate with me other than the manic single, Change. I considered just purchasing a Songs From The Big Chair CD, but I like the psychedelic title track from the 1989 album Sowing The Seeds Of Love, so I opted for this compilation instead. It was good decision. The band apparently split in 1991, but I had already moved on to other groups by then.

Tracks: My favorite tracks are Sowing The Seeds Of Love and the 5 tracks taken from Songs From The Big Chair, except I Believe which has always seemed a little off to me. I can now appreciate the earlier songs from The Hurting. I can't say why I didn't like them back in the '80s - I must've been in a bad mood when I listened to the album for the first time (A teenager in a bad mood? What are the odds?). Not a fan of Woman In Chains or Advice For The Young At Heart.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: One spring day in 1990, I was teaching in a Dallas suburb when a Dallas radio station van pulled up outside my classroom right before school was out for the day. The DJ had dropped by without school permission to do a hit-and-run promo and give out about 100 free tickets to the upcoming Tears For Fears concert. I let my small group of students run out and get their tickets before the bell rang. I'm wondering why I didn't go out and get some tickets myself.

Stanley Jordan - Magic Touch (1985)

2011-11-29T06:13:00.007-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD.

There's no denying Jordan is a technical wizard on the electric guitar (you can probably check him out on YouTube). He tunes his guitar in fourths (EADGCF instead of the standard EADGBE) and uses a finger tapping technique where produces a note using only one finger by quickly tapping his finger down behind the appropriate fret. He's certainly not the first to do these things, but his technical expertise gives him the ability to play polyphonically on the guitar (as if it were a keyboard) or two guitars at a time. This record is his major label debut. Jordan quickly became one of the hottest things going in jazz in the mid-'80s. In the '90s, he became frustrated with the record industry and became a musical therapist. I believe most of his recent music is directed towards therapy. I don't know for sure because this is the only album of his that I've owned. It's an enjoyable album, but you tire of the technique early on and then it isn't as interesting. It also straddles the fence where genres are concerned - this music isn't smooth jazz, but it isn't quite straight-ahead jazz, either. I guess it's ultimately a showcase for Jordan's technique. I probably wouldn't have replaced my cassette with this CD if I hadn't seen it on clearance at the used CD store.

FYI: I don't recommend doing a Google search for "magic touch" - there's some weird products and sick people out there.

Tracks: This is a mixed bag. Some solo performances, some group performances with a backing band. 4 of the 10 tracks are originals, the rest covers. Of the originals, the best is All The Children. Better are the covers of Freddie Freeloader, The Lady In My Life, Angel (you just knew there would be a Hendrix cover, didn't you?), and A Child Is Born. I don't remember the song New Love being on the cassette. Either I've got a bad memory or this is a CD bonus track. My least favorite track is Return Expedition which tries, and fails, to be a piece by the fusion group Return To Forever.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I saw Jordan in concert in Dallas in 1987 at the Arcadia Theatre on Greenville Ave. Sadly, the Arcadia burned down in 2006. Jordan's opening act was Bobby McFerrin (just before Don't Worry be Happy hit big). After a high-energy performance by McFerrin, seeing a solo guitarist noodle around on stage for an hour was sort of a let down. Not that Jordan wasn't impressive; he was. It's just that the sequencing seemed backwards.

The Reverend Al Green - Everything's OK (2005)

2011-11-28T06:45:00.006-06:00

In preparation for my trip to Memphis this weekend, I'm turning my attention to one of the city's most famous residents, The Reverend Green. Green made a secular comeback of sorts in 2003 with the back-to-basics release, I Can't Stop. This is more of the same, with Willie Mitchell producing recordings made at his Royal Studios in Memphis. Even though Green uses his honorific on this release, it is not a gospel album. It is great classic soul music with a lush, updated sound. Green is still in great form. As Tim Sendra writes: "Green hasn't lost a step vocally. In fact, it sounds like he has gained a step somehow; his crazed screams, hollered interjections, and whoops of joy seem more assured and his falsetto is clear and strong." Because this release is very similar to I Can't Stop, comparisons are inevitable. I just can't make a decision as to which is the better CD.

Tracks: Of the 12 tracks here, my favorites are the title track and Be My Baby. I was skeptical when I saw that Green was covering the classic ballad, You Are So Beautiful, but his performance makes it sound like that song was written just for him. While the music is all very similar, there's nothing worth skipping. My only complaint would be the large number of slow tempo tracks included here.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, this is a recent purchase.

Previously revisited for the blog:
I Can't Stop (2003)
Greatest Gospel Hits (2000)

Michael McDonald - The Christmas Collection (2004)

2011-11-28T05:52:00.005-06:00

Strangely, this album was originally released in 2001 as In the Spirit: A Christmas Album, then re-released 3 years later as a "best of" collection. Same songs, same sequence. (Contractual problems, maybe?) Of the 11 tracks, only 3 are traditional Christmas tunes. The rest are originals, so this plays almost like a traditional release instead of a Christmas release. If it's approached with that mindset, and if you normally like McDonald's music, it's one of the better Christmas albums you'll hear. Guest appearances from Kirk Whalum and James Ingram.

Tracks: The best cut is the great R&B/gospel take on the spiritual Children Go Where I Send Thee which is a song we never get to hear enough around the holidays. The original songs like To Make A Miracle, Every Time Christmas Comes Around, and World Out Of a Dream sound like McDonald's usual retro soft rock/blue-eyed soul. Also included is a beautiful original ballad, Peace. If you're looking for something a little different this holiday season, you should at least preview some of the tracks I've mentioned. There are a few tracks that seem a little contrived, like the arrangement of White Christmas/Winter Wonderland and the original House Full Of Love.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Ultimate Collection (2005)
The New York Rock And Soul Revue - Live At The Beacon (1991)

Harry Connick, Jr. - When My Heart Finds Christmas (1993)

2011-11-27T19:46:00.009-06:00

Up to this point in his career, Connick focused on his stride piano playing and jazz. Here, he focuses more on his vocals, being backed by a big band or orchestra. No jazz and very little piano playing. Even though it is weak in the middle, I do like most of the big band numbers here.

Tracks: My favorite big band numbers on the CD are Sleigh Ride and Let It Snow. The CD closes with one of my favorite renditions of What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? 2 of the 4 original compositions are good: the NOLA-flavored (It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus and I Pray On Christmas. The weakest cuts are Ave Maria, What Child Is This?, and O Holy Night.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: (It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus is a family favorite. I'm pretty sure there was a TV special that accompanied this release in '93. For some reason, I remembering Carol Burnett in it, but I could be way off base on that one.

Previously revisited for the blog:
She (1994)
20 (1988)

U2 - Live: Under A Blood Red Sky (1983)

2011-11-26T07:04:00.004-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD, later replaced by the 2008 Deluxe Edition with DVD.

CD: recorded in Boston, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, and Sankt Goarshausen Germany, May-August 1983.
DVD: recorded on June 5, 1983 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado.

U2 will go down as one of the best live bands in the history of rock and roll. In November 1983, the band released what they called a "mini-LP" live album for a "special low price" - 8 tracks, 35 minutes, $5.99. I'll go out on a limb here and call this U2's best album. Back when the band was in their early 20s and before Bono developed his God complex, they could really rock. U2 has always been about sound rather than songs and they sound really good here. I was a fan of U2 from 1983's War through 1987's The Joshua Tree. I really haven't had much use for them since then. I lost all respect for Bono when he tried to teach BB King about the blues in Rattle and Hum. This is the only U2 release I currently have in the collection.

Tracks: All 8 tracks are good, but I'm partial to Gloria, The Electric Co., "40", and the definitive version of Sunday Bloody Sunday.

DVD: Fun to watch if only for the clothing and hair styles in the audience. There are some problems with light streaking, but those aren't too distracting. The sound is good enough that I should take the time to rip the audio to mp3 files. I like that we are treated to a live version of one of my favorite U2 songs, Two Hearts Beat As One. Seeing the band live here reinforces my belief that the real musical force behind U2 is The Edge. He moves effortlessly between guitar, keyboards, bass, and vocals. When do we get a solo CD from The Edge?

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: My original cassette (which I still have) never left the Pioneer car stereo in the Markmobile in December of 1983. Around that time, in an effort to woo a girl named Gloria, I gave her a copy of the cassette and told her to listen to the song titled Gloria. Even back then I knew that was a lame idea. Needless to say, that effort didn't work.

Steely Dan - A Decade of Steely Dan (1985)

2011-11-25T08:14:00.009-06:00

In "honor" of Black Friday (the song Black Friday from the 1975 album Katy Lied is track 2 on this compilation). This one is dedicated to all the store employees having to work today. I hope you're getting paid at least double time.

A "best of" compilation CD. When I bought this CD in 1988, it was the only Steely Dan CD I owned. I've since purchased others, duplicating many of the tracks here, but this album is still needed in the collection for the inclusion of the non-LP track FM (No Static at All). If you haven't seen the 1978 movie FM, check it out the next time it's on some obscure cable channel - it's a cheesy time capsule of what the radio industry was like in the late '70s.

Tracks: I'm a fan of the group. This is a great compilation. What's not to like? I'm partial to the later stuff from Aja and Gaucho, but the earlier stuff is good, just different. Of the 14 tracks here, the only one I usually skip is the unnecessary cover of Duke Ellington's East St Louis Toodle-oo.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: One of the first CDs I ever purchased; it's easily one of the oldest in the collection. Also one of the first compilations designed for CD, so it was intended to showcase digital sound as much as the music itself. "Digitally remastered from the original first generation masters." Remember when that statement was exciting and new? I still have my first CD player, a Sony D-160, purchased January 1988:

Previously revisited for the blog:
Two Against Nature (2000)
Alive In America (1995)
Aja (1977)

Chris Isaak - Christmas (2004)

2011-11-25T07:27:00.003-06:00

-in which Chris Isaak does his best to release an Elvis Presley Christmas album. Unfortunately, it sounds like 40 minutes of music for TV commercials for The Gap. In addition to Isaak's usual rockabilly, we get a little Farfisa ska, conjunto, Hawaiian slack key guitar, honky-tonk piano, and of course, moody ballads. This release is only for serious Isaak fanatics (that's not me).

Tracks: The only worthwhile tracks are Have Yourself A Merry Christmas and Let it Snow. Of the 16 tracks, 5 are originals by Isaak and they are quickly forgotten. Avoid at all costs: Pretty Paper, which sounds like something from The Lawrence Welk Show and the original Gotta Be Good which contains an inexplicable, disturbing Buster Poindexter imitation.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In the 1990's, I got in the habit of picking up 1 or 2 new Christmas CDs every year. That tradition continued until the purchase of this album. I just didn't want to take the gamble anymore.

Def Leppard - Adrenalize (1992)

2011-11-24T07:06:00.006-06:00

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD. My edition is not the 2009 Deluxe Edition.

The album opens with Joe Elliot asking "Do you wanna get rocked?" and you find yourself answering, "Hell yeah I do!" I'm guessing this album is titled "Adrenalize" because "Testosterone" would have been a little too obvious. This album takes a lot of heat because it was the highly anticipated follow-up to the multi-platinum Hysteria. It's certainly no Hysteria, but it rocks and Mutt Lange was involved, so it's good for what it is. Rolling Stone magazine says what we have here "is a seemingly unending string of energetic, hook-heavy, gosh-we-luv-'em songs about girls. A perfect Def Leppard album, in other words." Considering all the personal problems going on in the band at the time (I won't go into those here, look it up online if you're interested), it's amazing they were able to record any album, much less a good one.

Cracked.com says "there's simply no excuse for including a word in your band's name that means you can't hear sounds." Click here and scroll down to #19 for more. Funny article.

Tracks: I find myself liking some of the filler as well as the hits. My favs are Let's Get Rocked, Heaven Is, Make Love Like A Man, Personal Property, I Wanna Touch U, and Tear It Down. I usually skip the power ballads Tonight and Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad. They're not necessarily bad songs, I'm just not a fan of the power ballad in general.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: The reason this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape is because my brand new '92 Ford Explorer (black, 4 door, XLT package) had a cassette player. Like all Def Leppard releases, this album was best heard in a vehicle at loud volume, driving fast with the windows down.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Tales From The Sparkle Lounge (2008)
Pyromania (1983)

The Manhattan Transfer - The Christmas Album (1992)

2011-11-24T05:57:00.004-06:00

I don't love it. While the group's trademark tight harmonies are enjoyable here and the quartet sounds great, the arrangements, for the most part, are just too slow and schmaltzy. Who wants a maudlin arrangement of Let It Snow? I was hoping for something a little more lively. When the group sings the lyrics "sleep in heavenly peace," you want to take them up on the offer.

Tracks: There are a couple of swinging big band medleys that are enjoyable: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town/Santa Man and Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season. The remainder of the 11 tracks are just boring. Even guests like Tony Bennett, Pete Christleib, and Jack Sheldon can't save them. The sole original tune here, A Christmas Love Song, written by songsmiths Alan & Merilyn Bergman, sounds like something from the soundtrack to An American Tail #18: The Christmas Treasure. And, you guessed it, it's slow.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. Except for the two medleys mentioned above, this disc gets absolutely no playing time 'round here.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Brasil (1987)
Bodies and Souls (1983)

Michael Bublé - Christmas (2011)

2011-11-23T19:36:00.006-06:00

Just picked this up - let's check it out. First, a little background: I've been aware of Bublé, but this is the first of his CD's I've purchased and I'm guessing I'll enjoy it more than I would Justin Beiber's new Christmas CD. On first listen, it would seem The King of Retro Easy Listening has delivered exactly what you would expect. But since half the fun of Christmas is remembering past holiday seasons, old school might be just what's needed. While this CD, like most Christmas albums, is hit-or-miss, I'm impressed by Bublé's vocal chops. Not all of the tracks will get ripped to iTunes, but it looks like about half will.

Tracks (Remember these are first impressions): The better songs are the versions of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, I'll Be Home For Christmas. I'm unfamiliar with the Puppini Sisters, but I'm digging their Andrew Sisters-type harmonies on Jingle Bells. Bublé's melancholy piano version of All I Want For Chirstmas Is You is much better than Mariah Carey's original. The original tune offered here, Cold December Night, sounds like the recent Bublé pop stuff I've heard on the radio. It's enjoyable, but only time will tell if it will become a Christmas standard. I'm guessing it won't, but I've been wrong before. Tracks not as successful are the versions of White Christmas, Santa Baby, and Feliz Navidad, a duet Latin star Thalía. I was liking the arrangement of Silent Night until the children's choir came in.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. Duh.

Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

2011-11-23T13:10:00.004-06:00

Perfect.

Tracks: The jazzed-up carols (O Tannenbaum, What Child Is This, The Christmas Song) and Peanuts originals (Christmas Time Is Here, Skating, and the classic Linus and Lucy) create a joyous and festive meditation for the season. Heck, even listening to the kids belting out Hark, The Herald Angels Sing or "Schroeder" playing an excerpt from Beethoven's Für Elise reminds me of the TV special and puts me in a good mood. If this isn't my favorite Christmas album, it's certainly in the discussion. In this house, this CD is required listening every year.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Cold winter nights in West Texas in the late '60s/early '70s, eagerly waiting for the one night each year when A Charlie Brown Christmas was broadcast on CBS. I know I can buy it on Blu-Ray now, but it's just not the same, is it?

A quick shout out to my best friend from childhood, Charlie Brown. That's me on the left and Charlie on the right, 1972.

Earth, Wind & Fire - The Eternal Dance (1992)

2011-11-22T13:55:00.009-06:00

A 3 CD "dump the vaults"compilation box set. In addition to all the band's hits, also included are previously unreleased tracks, live cuts, b-sides, and demos. Arranged chronologically, it is interesting to hear the progression from a soul group to a top-notch funk/R&B band to, unfortunately, a synth/drum machine studio project. Not for the casual fan, but essential for people such as myself. 55 tracks over nearly 4 hours. Big booklet included with lots of good photos and some essays about EWF, but not enough info about the tracks.

Tracks:
Disc I (1971-1975) 18 tracks. Highlights: Mighty Mighty, Reasons, and That's The Way Of The World. We also get two versions of Shining Star. While the "previously unreleased alternate version" is worth a listen because the horn parts are better, it is obvious that the band ultimately released the right version.
Disc II (1975-1977) 18 tracks. This disc begins with 4 live tracks that I could do without, but then things get much better. Highlights: Can't Hide Love, Sing A Song, Getaway, Fantasy, Serpentine Fire, and Beijo.The disc ends with what could possibly be the greatest cover of all time: Got To Get You Into My Life. The EWF version is every bit as good as The Beatles' original. I'll forgive the fact that the reason for its existence is that awful 1978 Sgt Pepper movie; the band took a Beatles song and made it a EWF song - that's a great cover.
Disc III (1978-1989) 19 tracks. Highlights: September, the tracks from I Am, And Love Goes On, and Let Me Talk. Also included is an untitled demo (track 9) that is good enough as it is, but I would have loved to have heard a full-blown version of it. Most of the post 1983 material doesn't flip my ship.

My top 5 EWF songs:

September
Got To Get You Into My Life
Shining Star
Fantasy
After The Love Is Gone

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: A fan of the group in the late '70s and early '80s, I thought set would be a good way to introduce myself to the band's early and later periods. I think I got this box set on the cheap (less than $10) from eBay around ten years ago. I suggest you do the same.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Illumination (2005)
I Am (1979)

The Earl Klugh Trio - Volume One (1991)

2011-11-22T06:12:00.005-06:00

Klugh usually records smooth jazz, but here he turns up his chops and puts out a great set of straight-ahead jazz. Mostly standards, but also some Latin and show tunes as well. It's a nice change of pace for Klugh. I was unfamiliar with bassist Ralph Armstrong, but he proves he's a great player on these tracks. Everything here is well done: tasteful playing, good material, quality arrangements. If you like acoustic guitar trios, this music is sure to be a hit at your next cocktail party.

Tracks: The album opens with a fun take on the theme song from the TV show Bewitched. Don't skip any tracks, but pay particular attention to I'll Remember April, I Say A Little Prayer, Night And Day, Lonely Girl, and One Note Samba.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: If I see a Klugh CD in the used bin, I pick it up. I found this one earlier this year at Half Price Books. I'll be buying Volume Two when I see it.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Soda Fountain Shuffle (1985)
Two of a Kind (1982)
Late Night Guitar (1980)

Take 6 - He Is Christmas (1991)

2011-11-22T05:23:00.002-06:00

When this CD was released 20 years ago, I was excited to hear a Christmas album from my favorite gospel group. However, it is too brief (10 tracks in 35 minutes) and too inconsistent for me to recommend. The tight harmonies are fantastic, as always, but more care should have been used when selecting the material. The group released a second Christmas CD in 1999, but I've never heard it because I'm afraid it will be disappointing like this one.

Tracks: My favorite tracks are the two simple, traditional Christmas carols sung with nontraditional, a capella harmonies: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and O Come All Ye Faithful. There's also a good take on the gospel classic, Amen. I appreciate that the group chose to include Sweet Little Jesus Boy because you rarely get to hear that song. Avoid The Little Drummer Boy and 'Twas The Nite.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Once I purchased this CD, I took it to the middle school where I worked at the time and played it as 12-year-old students entered the room. I'd like to think that I expanded their musical tastes, but they probably just thought I was a crazy old man listening to weird music. Of course, those same students were digging on Color Me Badd and C+C Music Factory around then, so what did they know?

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Standard (2008)
Brothers (1996)
So Much 2 Say (1990)

Squeeze - East Side Story (1981)

2011-11-21T20:27:00.008-06:00

Note: this release was originally given to me as an LP, later replaced by a CD.

This album is generally considered to be Squeeze's best and it's hard to argue with that, even though this is probably the most uneven album the band recorded. You've got blue-eyed soul, rockabilly, psychedelic, delicate ballads, pop, ska, and country/western all represented somewhere in these 14 tracks. Rolling Stone magazine, which famously called Difford & Tilbrook new wave's Lennon & McCartney in its review of this album, placed this release at #82 in its list of the 100 Best Albums of the Eighties. That's far too low, guys.

Tracks: It's all good. I've already documented that Tempted is one of my all-time top ten songs. In addition to Tempted, the best tracks are In Quintessence, Piccadilly, Is That Love, Someone Else's Bell, Vanity Fair, and Messed Around. Admittedly, some tracks are an acquired taste: There's No Tomorrow, Heaven, and F-Hole. But even these tracks grow on you after a few listens.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Given this album by my friend Jim, it received many, many plays on my bedroom's turntable. By the time I figured out what the band was doing, I was in love with the album. And then I was a life-long Squeeze fan.

I've been told that Tempted should be listened to three times consecutively at a very loud volume.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Domino (1998)
Some Fantastic Place (1993)
Babylon and On (1987)
Difford & Tilbrook (1984)
Argybargy (1980)
Cool For Cats (1979)

Terence Blanchard - Let's Get Lost (2001)

2011-11-20T06:01:00.004-06:00

Terence Blanchard is undoubtedly one of the top jazz performers of our time, regardless of instrument. However, I don't care much for his original material. I much prefer releases in which he interprets other writers' works (e.g., 1994's The Billie Holliday Songbook and 1996's The Heart Speaks). This album is a tribute to songwriter Jimmy McHugh, a pillar of Broadway and Hollywood throughout much of the first half of the 20th century. This CD is outstanding not just in the interpretations, arrangements and production (all are flawless), but Blanchard has surrounded himself with four very well-known female vocalists to help him pull it off: Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves, and Cassandra Wilson. They appear on two songs apiece — except for Krall, who leads off the album playing piano and singing only on the title track. The best of these are Wilson and the young Monheit, who has a voice perfectly suited to the material. Blanchard's tone, as always, is pure, clean and sweet. I was introduced to several McHugh songs that I hadn't heard before. This is one of my favorite late-night CD's.

Tracks: Although a little inconsistent in the middle, it's a good album as a whole and should be listened to from start to finish without skipping. The standout tracks, though, are Too Young To Go Steady, Don't Blame Me, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, and On The Sunny Side Of The Street.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Around the time of this release, I took members of the high school jazz band to hear Blanchard's Quintet at the University of Houston. That field trip was probably the last time I ever did anything like that.