Since September 2010, this blog has recorded the journey of this music junkie as I attempt to listen to all the music in my CD collection. CDs revisited in their entirety from start to finish - no skipping tracks, no shuffle. Compact Discs only - no vinyl, no tapes, no files.
Yeah, I was an avid fan of the nighttime soap Melrose Place, especially in the early seasons. So many beautiful people to look at! (I was very much crushing on Marcia Cross at the time.) It was appointment television for my wife and I back in the nineties. During the show's fourth season, characters named Jake and Jo opened a jazz club called Upstairs Jazz Club; so named because it was located above Shooters, the popular bar and hangout spot on the show. This compilation CD was released during the show's sixth season.
Several smooth jazz artists appeared on the show, including Kenny G., Hugh Groove, and Vanessa Williams. However, you won't find their music on this CD. This "soundtrack" is simply a curated compilation of smooth jazz and jazz vocalists put together by the Windham Hill Jazz label, so there's no overlap with onscreen performances. Go figure. Nevertheless, it includes a wide variety of jazz and jazz-adjacent music and is a fairly accurate representation of smooth jazz/new age/soft R&B of the time and includes several of my favorite artists, such as Tom Scott and Earl Klugh.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see above. I wouldn't dare watch an episode of the show these days. Sometimes it's best to live with the memories we have rather than trying to recreate them.
I'll let the band's press release handle the heavy lifting on this one:
Young Gun Silver Fox’s fifth album, Pleasure, sees the West Coast Yacht Rock duo of British singer songwriter Andy Platts and American multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee continuing to mine their love for the breezy, sunny, roof-down strains of ‘70s California pop-rock-soul, channeling the likes of the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Earth, Wind & Fire, Pablo Cruise, Ned Doheny and others.
I've been a fan of the band since the get-go and they never disappoint. Analog-ish production, songwriting, and performances are all spot on. While the above description suggests this is strictly a neo-yacht band, the music here relies not only on those influences but also others heard back in the late '70s/early 80s. For example, track 8 on this album, The Greatest Loser, sounds like classic-era Little River Band and they name drop the likes of Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone on the lead track.
Simply put, this album feels like summer. And, like summer, it doesn't last nearly as long as I'd like.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: Only 38 minutes in length, so play 'em all from top-to-bottom. I'd like to hear more of this kind of stuff, so please support the artists over on bandcamp: younggunsilverfox.bandcamp.com
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but the album will be getting its share of spins poolside over the next couple of months.
When they sent my CD, they included a guitar pick. Interesting merch idea and I'm digging the logo design.
I've been a fan of State Cows for over a decade, so I'm surprised this is their first appearance on the blog (I'll promptly contact the proprietor about that oversight). Here's a little bit about the Swedish duo, taken from their website:
STATE COWS is one of very few modern yacht rock / westcoast / AOR bands that creates new original music. This project started out as a Steely Dan tribute called THE SECOND ARRANGEMENT. They soon transformed the Steely Dan tribute into the band STATE COWS and started writing an album of brand new yacht rock songs. Smooth guitar lines, half-time shuffles, funky bass lines, slick harmonies, real Fender Rhodes, tight horn sections and some California sunshine ... it's all in there!
So, yeah, it's derivative, but so very good and very smooth. Goes down easy. If you tire of the limited and questionable playlist on the yacht rock channel on SiriusXM, but still want a little Doobie Bounce in your life, this is just what the doctor ordered. The duo leans into the "yacht rock" nomenclature and musical vocabulary while creating neo-yacht music for the dad rock (or granddad rock) crowd. My only complaint is the sound is often over-produced, particularly in the odd treatment of the backing vocals. Overall, the songwriting on this album is much better than on their previous release, 2022's High And Dry.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: My pick for top tune is track 4, Marina Town, but the whole album is pleasure to hear. Lonely Road has a great flugelhorn solo; On And On is a wonderful instrumental duet featuring only bass and piano; and the chorus of Summer Cloud is gorgeous.
Bonus track: The Japanese CD came with a bonus track, a cover of The Beatles' Ticket To Ride. I had my doubts, but the clever, bouncy arrangement actually works.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but the sound sure takes me back to the '80s real quick.
It's sort of a running joke here at The CD Project that, despite my best intentions, any mention of Monkey House contain a comparison to any number of bands that influenced the group. However, in this blog's previous MH post (Remember The Audio, back in 2022), I wrote "Monkey House have fully realized their very own unique sound" and today I'm going to double down on that statement. Here is a beautiful series of adult contemporary melodic pop songs that are immediately recognizable as Monkey House, complete with bandleader Don Breithaupt's characteristic cadences, instrumentation, and production. And those close vocal harmonies throughout? Goosebumps. It goes without saying that performances by the band and guests are first-rate from start to finish.
My initial reaction to the album was that it had too many midtempo tunes and ballads. I thought it needed a few more upbeat, grooving tunes such as 2019's Shotgun or 1999's North, the latter being one of my all-time favorite Monkey House tunes. But as I spent more time with the music and let it simmer a bit, I started to appreciate it more and more - repeated spins proved worthwhile.
If you're a morning person like me, you know it's rare to stay up past 9 or 10 PM. But on certain nights, the wife and I go to a concert or for a three hour dinner or late night cocktails or some such. On these occasions, I've usually caught my second wind, get home between 11 PM and midnight, and am too wound up so I can't get to sleep until after 1 AM (first world problems, I know). Anyhoo, on such a night recently, I was making the trip from downtown and happened to play this album and found it to be well-suited for winding down after an evening out. I fell asleep immediately upon returning home although the mezcal old fashioneds I slurped up might have had something to do with that. But the album's sequencing is perfect, ending with a ballad that's unlike anything I recall hearing from from the band. Chef's kiss.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: Normally I give MH albums a track-by-track breakdown, but that usually leads to group comparisons. So to avoid that temptation, I'll countdown the album's twelve tracks according to my personal preference. Note: a low ranking does not mean that I dislike the tune - there's nothing skippable here.
Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em
Someplace On Madison
Bring The Stars Down
Chasing The Muse
Feeling You Breathe
Friday Night Jam
Crashbox
What's Left Of This World
Sundaying
Return Of The Mayfly
You Just Don't Know It Yet
Disappear In Plain Sight
Today I'm nominating Disappear In Plain Sight as possibly the best thing Monkey House has recorded. Ever.
I pre-ordered the album so I could get a bonus track, Moving In Time. Sadly, said bonus track was download only and not included on the CD. So I don't offer any opinion on the tune other than to comment that I'm totally opposed to download only tracks. [insert my usual rant about anti-physical product bias here]
In 1984, Capitol/EMI hired record exec Bruce Lundvall away from Elektra/Musician to be in charge of two major undertakings: 1) the launch of the Manhattan label, and 2) the resurrection of the legendary Blue Note jazz label, which had gone dormant in the 1970s. As far as the Blue Note relaunch, Lundvall had three goals: reissuing classic releases from the Blue Note heyday, releasing older music from the record label's vaults, and new releases from both established and emerging acts. This release was one of the latter.
As a fan of both Burrell and Washington (and all the other players, for that matter), I had high hopes for this album, but it just doesn't do much for me. The playing is surberb in this all-star, top-shelf session; so I guess it's the material that lets me down. Judging by the reviews below, I'm in the minority.
So I'm celebrating the Fourth of July holiday by spinning this Canadian disc I inherited from my father. It's heavy on marches but light on information. No dates, no performance/production credits, just titles and playing times. Heck, John Philip Sousa doesn't even get the courtesy of being listed by his full name much less his nickname of "The March King." Plus, in what little info we're given, there's a few typos. And don't get me started on the sloppy performances and production. Bottom line: there's many other march compilation discs that are much, much better than this one. Still, the thing leads off with Stars And Stripes Forever - the national march of the United States (36 U.S. Code § 304) - and that's patriotic enough for me this morning. It's getting me primed for the local July 4th parade and televised hot dog eating contests later today.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks, with links to program notes from the USMC:
Sousa's most popular marches are here (tracks 1, 2, 5-7, 11-14, 16, 17) along with some which are rarely performed (3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 18). There's a common saying among band directors: "Obscure Sousa marches are usually obscure for good reason."
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: As a former "band guy" (over 25 years as a performer/conductor/composer/arranger) I am familiar with most of these marches and very familiar with a few of them. Liberty Bell, in particular, was one of my go-to marches to help teach young players about playing in a 6/8 time signature. I also have specific memories of playing Stars And Stripes Forever in high school and King Cotton & U.S. Field Artillery (a.k.a. The Caissons Go Rolling Along) in college. All told, I probably played at least two-thirds of these tunes at some point between the years of 1978-2004.
[This spot was filled with angry ramblings about the path I was forced to take while pursuing a music education degree, but I decided that sort of bitterness ultimately served no real purpose. Have a nice day.]
During my second year of teaching, another director in the same school district decided it would be a good idea to play the 1915 Sousa march, The Pathfinder of Panama, for a regional band contest. I was completely unfamiliar with that tune and that was when I first heard the "obscure" quote mentioned above.
Paul Weller's group after The Jam disbanded, this new group with a fantastic band name was active until 1989 and then Weller would begin releasing solo albums. The Style Council blended soul, jazz, pop, and R&B, often with socially conscious lyrics. Like their sophisti-pop contemporaries Simply Red, the group released music that is heavily polished and strongly influenced by '60s Motown. The group was much better received in their native UK than in the United States.
I completely missed The Style Council back in the '80s as I was listening to more jazz and classical music at the time when I was pursuing a music degree. That's a shame because 20 year old Mark would have loved this stuff.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart (#3 in UK)
