Larry Carlton - Discovery (1987)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a CD which was either sold, stolen, traded or lost, then replaced by another CD.

I owned this CD in 1988 when I was trying to finish up my undergraduate studies and recently finding another copy in a used bin was like reconnecting with an old friend. Back in '88, I didn't have many CDs so the few that I had were played quite a bit and this was one of those few. The album features Carlton on acoustic guitar and he receives a lot of support from Kirk Whalum on saxophone and Terry Trotter on keys. There's also a few of Carlton's fellow "West Coast sound" stalwarts in the credits, including Jerry Hey, Rick Marotta, and David Pack. The single released was a cover of the Doobie Brothers' Minute By Minute, which hit #25 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and received a Grammy award in the category of Best Pop Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist).

Reviews/ratings:

• CashBox: "bright and melodic fusion date"
• Billboard: "On some past albums, Carlton was seduced by the rock side of fusion, but this leans heavily the other way."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #180
• Billboard Contemporary Jazz: #1
• R&R Jazz Radio National Airplay Chart: #2
• CashBox Jazz: #4

Tracks: It's a smooth listen from top-to-bottom, but my favorites haven't changed since 1988. Of the nine tracks (7 Carlton originals, 2 covers), my top picks include the aforementioned Minute By Minute plus Hello Tomorrow, My Home Away From Home, and a cover of Knock On Wood.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see above

Previously revisited for the blog:
Fingerprints (2000)
Larry & Lee (1995)
Collection (1990)

Various Artists - Blues Masters, Volume 15: Slide Guitar Classics (1993)

Today marks the 15th anniversary of The CD Project and I looked around, saw this CD had a "15" somewhere on the spine, shrugged, and figured just go with it. This blues compilation is Volume 15 in an extensive blues series of CDs from Rhino which is slowly finding its way to my collection. Very similar to the slide guitar disc featured a few weeks back, this one focuses on blues tunes from 1928-1987. Like all the compilations in this series (so far), this one has some known tunes and artists while introducing me to others. As the liner notes by Cub Koda state:

This volume of Rhino's Blues Masters series features slide-guitar greats from a wide variety of times, places, and blues styles, covering a span of more that 50 years. Some of the names and tunes included here will be familiar, while others are truly the unsung heroes of the genre. Either way, it's some of the best slide playing you'll ever hear. Get the barbecue ready, the party's just starting.

Silly Cub, the barbecue is always ready in this house.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

	Song	Artist	Year
1	Dust My Broom	Elmore James	1965
2	Honey Bee	Muddy Waters & His Guitar	1951
3	Taylor's Rock	Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers	1971
4	Maxwell Street Medley	Robert Nighthawk & His Flames Of Rhythm	1980
5	Too Much Alcohol	J.B. Hutto & His Hawks	1966
6	Dark Was The Night - Cold Was the Ground	Bline Willie Johnson	1928
7	Dynaflow Blues	The Johnny Shines Blues Band	1966
8	Treat Me The Way You Do	Joe Carter & His Chicago Broomdusters	1976
9	Homesick's Shuffle	Homesick James	1965
10	Deep Feeling	Chuck Berry	1957
11	Chicken Stuff	Hop Wilson & His Chickens	1958
12	I Am The Black Ace	Black Ace	1961
13	Is You Ever Seen A One-Eyed Woman Cry	Earl Hooker	1969
14	Shake Your Money-Maker	The Paul Butterfield Blues Band	1965
15	Rollin' And Tumblin'	Canned Heat	1967
16	Mean Town Blues	Johnny Winter	1969
17	Statesboro Blues	The Allman Brothers Band	1971
18	All Shook Up	Ry Cooder	1987

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Brisket & sausage sandwich with extra pickles.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Volume 2: Postwar Chicago Blues (1992)
Volume 3: Texas Blues (1992)
Volume 7: Blues Revival (1993)
Volume 8: Mississippi Delta Blues (1993)
Blues Masters Sampler (1993)

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First post, 2010: Paul Simon - Graceland (1986)
1st anniversary, 2011 (post #378): Electric Light Orchestra - Time (1981)
2nd anniversary, 2012 (post #694): Seal (1994)
3rd anniversary, 2013 (post #948): Fun Boy Three - Really Saying Something: The Best of Fun Boy Three (1997)
4th anniversary, 2014 (post #1127): Ultravox - Quartet (1982)
5th anniversary, 2015 (post #1231): Soul Hits of the '70s: Didn't It Blow Your Mind, Vol. 5 (1991)
6th anniversary, 2016: no post
7th anniversary, 2017: no post
8th anniversary, 2018 (post #1461): Pat Metheny - Watercolors (1977)
9th anniversary, 2019 (post #1524): Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever (1989)
10th anniversary, 2020 (post #1594): Various Artists - Windham Hill - The First Ten Years (1990)
11th anniversary, 2021: no post
12th anniversary, 2022 (post #1800):Talk Talk - 12 x 12 Original Remixes (1999)
13th anniversary, 2023 (post #1901): Soul Hits of the '70s: Didn't It Blow Your Mind, Vol. 13 (1991)
14th anniversary, 2024 (post #2000): The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen, Vol. II (1987)

Today's post is #2149.

Old And New Dreams - Playing (1981)

It's difficult to read with the small font, but printed underneath the picture of the empty soccer net is "The kicker suddenly started his run," a translated line from German novelist Peter Handke’s 1970 novel, The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick. I'll leave you to your own interpretation and its relation to the music on this album.

Recorded live, June 1980, Theater am Kornmarkt, Bregenz, Austria

As all members of this quartet played with Ornette Coleman, this live set from Austria is set squarely in the Coleman school of avant-garde/free jazz. The band’s on fire, the crowd’s buzzing, and half the tunes were written by Coleman (because why wouldn’t they pick something that dares you to keep up?), and it all just seems to fall together. What makes it fun is how easy they make it all sound. Not because it’s simple because it’s definitely not, but because they’re consummate pros who know exactly what they’re doing—and aren’t trying to prove it every two seconds. It’s jazz without the ego trip. About as good as it gets. To be honest, though, I don't listen to this stuff often because 1) there's a lot going on here that is beyond my comprehension, and 2) the music demands focused active listening, which, while rewarding, is mentally draining.

Don Cherry - trumpet, piano
Dewey Redman - tenor saxophone, musette
Charlie Haden - bass
Ed Blackwell - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "embody the spirit of the avant garde in its broadest and most engaging sense"
• CashBox: "almost a study in mental and musical telepathy as the foursome juggle and exchange ideas with an awesome grace and ease."
• Stereo Review: Recording of Special Merit
• Musician: "one of the year's best albums"
• DownBeat (★★★★★): "To hear this music almost guarantees tapping the feet, tickling the brain, and vice versa."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000):★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: My top picks are Mopti and Broken Shadows. Your mileage will most definitely vary.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

The Nylons - Happy Together (1987)

Because I'm a sucker for an album I heard a couple of times in college, especially when it's sitting in a clearance bin marked 50¢.

The most successful album released by the Canadian vocal quartet and most likely my first exposure to the group. Heck, they had a video getting played on MTV or VH1 and one of those channels was constantly on the house TV as background noise until something caught our ear or eye. A capella groups were rare back then, so this sort of stuff caught my ear. 7 originals - sort of updated doo-wop - and 3 covers done with expert precision forgoing autotune and other production gimmicks. (I can forgive the electronic percussion. It was the '80s.) If you appreciate vocal talent, it's still worth a spin every now and then.

For what it's worth, I discovered this album is one of only seven albums released on the Open Air label (four of those seven by The Nylons). More on that history here: Open Air Records on A&M Records.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "New tunes have appeal, but biggest draws will be the three '60s songs."
• CashBox: "a clutch of classic remakes joins a fistful of tasty originals."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music (1997): ★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #43
• Billboard CD: #25
• Rolling Stone: #30

Tracks: As both Billboard and CashBox suggest, the hits were covers and rightly so. Kiss Him Goodbye was the group's only US Top 40 hit, peaking at #12 on the Hot 100 and #10 on the adult contemporary chart. But I prefer the title track (#75 pop, #16 AC). The other '60s cover is track 4, Sam Cooke's Chain Gang. Of the originals, my picks are Dance Of Love, Face In The Crowd, and Crazy In Love.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I don't remember anything more than hearing this music at the house I rented during the my junior and senior years in college. I'm guessing one of my roommates - either Randy or Eric - owned this album. My money is on Eric.

Previously revisited for the blog:
One Size Fits All (1982)

Journey - Escape (1981)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by the 2006 CD reissue which includes 4 bonus tracks.

In 1981, between my disco era and my New Wave/New Romantic era, I was just a "normal" 14/15 year old white boy listening to much the same music as my peers: mainstream album oriented rock. When I think of rock albums released that year, I always think of Tattoo You, Foreigner 4, Freeze-Frame, Paradise Theater, and, of course, Escape. Sure, there's many others (Shake It Up, Queen's Greatest Hits, etc.), but for whatever reason my mind groups those 5 albums together. I owned all of them on cassette with the exception of Tattoo You, which I had on vinyl.

The Stereo Review write-up (see below) puts it best: "Journey is a good example of rock's youth fetish...they've let themselves settle comfortably into playing for kids." Can confirm and, as a member of that target audience, the 15 year old version of myself appreciated the group's efforts. I prefer earlier Journey singles such as Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin', Any Way You Want It, etc., but there's no debating the addition of keyboardist Jonathan Cain took the band to greater commercial heights. I definitely didn't appreciate Steve Perry's high flying vocals as much as I should have in 1981, but I eventually came around.

I listened intently to this album for many months before gradually sliding into my next music phase mid-1982, summarily declaring album oriented rock artists as sell-outs, and becoming an intolerable music snob at my high school - "You listen to who? April Whine? REO Speedwhat?" - while continuing to buy Asia and Def Leppard albums. Such is high school teenage reasoning and posturing. Go figure. So, after several decades, the purchase of this CD had more to do with simple nostalgia than the music itself and, as such, was easily worth a couple of bucks. And as for being an intolerable music snob, I've outgrown all that. Kinda sorta. Maybe.

There's no liner notes to speak of, but there's plenty of photos of the Escape tour and a complete listing of tour dates. I was at home in my rural town at the time, but the band played two dates in nearby Houston in early November 1981, recording them for eventual release on video (the bonus tracks on this disc are also from those dates/recordings). Following the concert, the requisite concert jersey started making appearances around my high school.

Speaking of 1981 rock albums, on March 21, 1981, Billboard magazine started publishing separate charts for both rock albums and rock tracks based not on sales, but radio airplay. For more info, please visit: Billboard Rock Albums & Top Tracks, March 1981 - September 1984

Press of the time:

• CashBox:"Great rhythms, brilliant hooks"
• Record World: "Journey is poised for its greatest success yet."
• Stereo Review: "decent enough as kid stuff, but rock should reach higher"
• Billboard: "arguable the best thing they've done both artistically and commercially."
• Rolling Stone (★★): "a veritable march of the well-versed schmaltz stirrers."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #1 (1 week)
• Billboard Rock: #1 (3 weeks)
• CashBox: #1 (3 weeks)
• Rolling Stone: #5

Tracks: Plenty of hits here; half the album hit at least one Billboard chart.

Title	Hot 100	Rock	AC
Who's Crying Now	4	4	14
Don't Stop Believin'	9	8
Open Arms	2	35	7
Still They Ride	19	47	37
Stone In Love		13

While I enjoyed the singles back in '81 and '82, I've heard Who's Crying Now and Open Arms enough for one lifetime and Don't Stop Believin' enough for three lifetimes. But from the get-go I've thought Stone In Love was the best cut on the album and I'm not alone in that opinion. It was good to reconnect with the rockers Keep On Runnin', Escape, Lay It Down, and Dead Or Alive. Still They Ride still bores me.

Bonus tracks: a prog-rockish b-side and fairly rote live versions of the three overplayed tracks mentioned above. Makes me want to hit the eject button and escape this particular journey. (bad puns most definitely intended)

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This album reminds me of cruising on Friday and/or Saturday nights during my sophomore year of high school. The cruising drag in our small town started at the Dairy Queen, then headed west about a mile on state highway 35 (7th Street) turning south downtown at the county courthouse, then travelling another mile down state highway 60 (Avenue F) to the shopping center that contained Bay Cinema 4, the local movie theater. Turn the car around and retrace the same path. Repeat ad nauseum. I didn't have a drivers license, so I had to pester older friends to take me cruising with them. Regardless of whose car we took, Escape was played on nearly every trip.

I didn't have an Atari 2600, but I was close friends with two brothers who owned one. I was with one of them when they bought the Journey Escape video game and I remember the both of us being disappointed in the thing after only a few minutes and then quickly going back to playing Pitfall or Pac-Man. Don't think we ever gave the thing a second chance. What a waste of $30 (adjusted for inflation, that's $100 in 2025).

Finally, I will confirm that girls at my school seemed to enjoy having Open Arms sung softly in their ear while slow dancing. I didn't have many moves in high school, but I had a good voice, so you gotta use the tools at your disposal. Also worked well with Chicago's Hard To Say I'm Sorry and any Lionel Richie ballad.

William Walton/Leonard Bernstein - Belshazzar's Feast/Chichester Psalms/Missa Brevis (1989)

Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, recorded in Symphony Hall, Atlanta on April 25-26, 1988 & May 15, 1989.

I inherited this CD from my father and I'm guessing he bought it as a fan of Chichester Psalms. I'm not much of a listener of classical choral works, but Telarc was the premiere classical CD of the time and Shaw was the dean of choral conducting, so it makes sense that he chose this version. Let's see what the choral aficionados over at Amazon have to say about this one:

• "a magnificent performance of a too-often overlooked 1931 oratorio"
• "If you are looking for a top-notch recording of this Walton masterpiece, look no further than here."
• "Marvelous music, with the best choral director of the 20th century, Robert Shaw, and excellent Atlanta Symphony Orchestra."
• "this is truly the definitive edition"
• "A wonderful reproduction of an inspiring work."

So it's good stuff and well-recorded, just not in my wheelhouse.

1. Belshazzar's Feast by Sir William Walton is a cantata that premiered in 1931. I appreciate the energy brought to the performance and enjoy the bombastic brass throughout.
2. Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein (written in 1965), I like the first movement and the finale. He really had a thing for mixed meter.
3. Missa Brevis (brief mass) by Bernstein was written in 1988 for Shaw to mark Shaw's retirement from directing the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus. It turned out to be Bernstein's last complete choral work as he died in 1990. This CD contains the world premiere recording.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

Leonard Bernstein's New York	On The Town, Fancy Free, On The Waterfront Suites
Leonard Bernstein Conducts West Side Story	1812 Overture/Capriccio Italien/Romeo & Juliet
Chichester Psalms, Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
New York Philharmonic Debut
On The Town - Studio Cast Recording

Ike Quebec - Heavy Soul (1962)

Edited blurb from the Blue Note website:

There may not be a more apropos album title in all of recorded music than tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec’s classic Heavy Soul. The session marked a comeback for a crucial player in Blue Note history. Quebec had recorded a series of 78s for Alfred Lion in the 1940s and also served as a talent scout who encouraged Lion to record important figures of the emerging bebop scene including Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. After a difficult period through the 1950s, Lion began to reintroduce Quebec’s music to jazz fans in 1959 with a series of 45 jukebox singles that were well received and inspired Lion to put the saxophonist back into the studio for a full album session. The resulting 8-song set is a soul jazz masterclass with Quebec’s robust tenor conjuring a variety of moods...

All they needed to say was "soul jazz masterclass" and I was all in. Quebec was a fantastic leader in that he allowed others in his band to share the spotlight. On his album Blue & Sentimental, Quebec steps aside and lets guitarist Grant Green shine; on Heavy Soul, the honors go to Freddie Roach on the B-3. There's a nice variety of tunes - from swinging originals or moving ballads - plus I just love Quebec's tone. The blurb above describes it as "robust" while reviewers use the adjectives "vital," "strong," and "fresh," but the word that always comes to my mind is "meaty."

Quebec - tenor saxophone
Freddie Roach - organ
Milt Hinton - bass
Al Harewood - drums

Original liner notes by Leonard Feather.

This particular 1995 reissue was part of Blue Note's short-lived, mid-1990s line, The Connoisseur Series, which were limited editions of classic hard bop albums on both CD and vinyl with promises of "rare photographs," "bonus tracks," and "Super Bit Mapping." The purchase of this CD from the used bin was the first I'd heard of the series. And now I'm down that rabbit hole.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "strong, vital sound"
• CashBox: "one of the most listenable tenor men currently wailing"
• Stereo Review: "this is a very good record, and there is some excellent saxophone playing on it"
• High Fidelity: "fresh and vital"
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★½
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Of the above mentioned "swinging originals," I dig Acquitted and Que's Dilemma. But I enjoy the ballads even more: Just One More Chance, Brother Can You Spare A Dime, I Want A Little Girl, and the all too brief Nature Boy. Track 5, The Man I Love, gives us the best of both worlds, starting as a ballad then swinging about 3½ minutes in before slowing things down again at the end.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Blue & Sentimental (1963)