Various Artists - The Alligator Records Christmas Collection (1992)

Every year I swear I'm done buying Christmas CDs and every year I break that promise at some point in October or November. And if lying to myself puts me on the naughty list, I guess I'm going to take up permanent residency there. I've been listening to this wonderful blues collection of mostly uncommon Christmas tunes since it hit my mailbox in mid-October. Good stuff. Pairs well with An Austin Rhythm and Blues Christmas.

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

Tracks:

	Song	Artist
1	Merry, Merry Christmas	Koko Taylor
2	Christmas Time In The Country	Kenny Neal
3	I'm Your Santa	Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials
4	Deck The Halls With Boogie Woogie	Katie Webster
5	Please Let Me Be Your Santa Claus	William Clarke
6	Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'	Tinsley Ellis
7	Boogie Woogie Santa Claus	Charles Brown
8	Lonesome Christmas	Son Seals
9	Christmas On The Bayou	Lonnie Brooks
10	Santa Claus	Little Charlie & The Nightcats
11	The Little Drummer Boy	Elvin Bishop
12	One Parent Christmas	Saffire - The Uppity Blues Woman
13	Christmas	Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown
14	Silent Night	Charlie Musselwhite

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This year, we spent Halloween putting up our Christmas tree to bring a little joy to this year of national uncertainty. This disc was the soundtrack to that annual event, even though it occurred a wee bit early.

The Vince Guaraldi Quintet - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973/2023)

Originally recorded for the 1973 CBS special of the same name, this soundtrack didn't receive an official release until 2023. The show itself is quite bizarre when viewed through an adult lens but I certainly enjoyed watching it every year as a child. Plus, the show won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children’s Programming. Sadly, it left broadcast television after its 2019 airing on ABC and is currently streaming exclusively on Apple TV+. Now on to the music presented in this "50th Anniversary Special Edition" package.

Don't come around looking for A Charlie Brown Christmas Part 2. This offering adds a horn section, Fender Rhodes electric piano, and a Clavinet to Guaraldi's traditional piano trio instrumentation. The difference is a 'modernizing' of the Peanuts sound. The music is definitely of its time and that's fine with me. The only downside is that, to fill out the album, the label chose to include all the alternate takes, brief cues, and other studio shenanigans. Nevertheless, the album is worth the price, especially the first half.

Liner notes written by Sean Mendelson, son of Lee Mendelson, the executive producer of many of the Peanuts animated specials.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Kids: #1
• Billboard Traditional Jazz: #6
• Billboard Jazz: #6
• Billboard Tastemakers: #13 (since rebranded as "Indie Store Album Sales")
• Billboard Soundtrack: #19
• Billboard Top Album Sales:#34 (pure album sales)
• Billboard Top Current Album Sales: #26 (same chart as Top Album Sales, with catalog titles removed)

Tracks:

I just love the Thanksgiving Theme, a fantastic jazz waltz plus the electric piano adds a nice touch. Track 4, Peppermint Patty, starts off nice enough, but it really takes off at about the 1:45 mark with a different groove and flute solo. It seems as if Guaraldi was asked to write a modern pop tune for as a theme for the Woodstock character and he listened to a few Blood, Sweat & Tears records before coming up with Little Birdie, another highlight of the album. Finally, the take on the Linus & Lucy theme is fantastic, updating the familiar tune with some syncopated rhythms, new harmonies, and adding horns (including a tasty trumpet solo) to the arrangement.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None with this particular CD, but I always liked watching a Charlie Brown TV special during the Guaraldi years (1965-1976) because that was one of the few times jazz music was heard on broadcast TV, especially in children's programming. Tragically, 47-year-old Guaraldi died suddenly of a heart attack on February 6, 1976, several hours after completing the soundtrack for the 15th Peanuts TV special, It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown.

Maybe I need to host my own Friendsgiving meal this week and soundtrack it with this CD. The menu? Popcorn, pretzels, jellybeans, and toast, of course. And now I'm craving Zingers for some reason.

Previously revisited for the blog:
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
From All Sides (1965)

I Am A Lineman For The County: Glen Campbell Sings Jimmy Webb (2024)

UK Import

From the CD's back insert:

The matching of Glen Campbell's voice to Jimmy Webb's songs created some of the most evocative, widescreen American music ever made. Their association won Grammys, and unlikely fans from Frank Sinatra to Isaac Hayes. This collection explores the duo's work beyond their classic trilogy - "By The Time I Get To Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," "Galveston" - and includes every Webb/Campbell recording from 1967 to the turn of the '80s.

So while all the Campbell/Webb hits are here, this compilation is mainly deep album cuts, including several that probably should have been singles. Webb's tunes are beautiful, the florid arrangements are spot-on, the Wrecking Crew is present, and Campbell had a fantastic voice that wasn't afraid of the upper register. There's traces of Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson at times, but it's all undeniably Webb and undeniably worth a listen.

Liner notes include a biographical essay and detailed track notes written by Bob Stanley.

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

Tracks:

	Song	Year	Hot 100	AC	Country
1	By The Time I Get To Phoenix	1967	26	12	2
2	Wichita Lineman	1968	3	1	1
3	Galveston	1969	4	1	1
4	Where's The Playground Susie	1969	26	10	28
5	Didn't We (Live)	1969
6	Honey Come Back	1970	19	4	2
7	Just Another Piece Of Paper	1970
8	MacArthur Park	1970
9	Just This One Time	1974
10	You Might As Well Smile	1974
11	Wishing Now	1974
12	Ocean In His Eyes	1974
13	The Moon's A Harsh Mistress	1974
14	I Keep It Hid	1974
15	Adoration	1974
16	It's A Sin When You Love Somebody	1974
17	Christiaan No	1976
18	This Is Sarah's Song	1977
19	Early Morning Song	1977
20	Highwayman	1979
21	Love Song	1979
22	In Cars	1981
23	I Was Too Busy Loving You	1982

Wichita Lineman is easily my favorite song on here, but I also have fond childhood memories of Didn't We from Campbell's 1969 "Live" album. New-to-me favorites are Just Another Piece Of Paper, Ocean In His Eyes, and I Keep It Hid.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: This CD was purchased on a whim last year after listening to Wichita Lineman about 10 times back-to-back. In 2012, Webb came to my small college town to play at the university where I worked. And I didn't go see him or take advantage of my contacts in the School of Music to spend some time with him. What a missed opportunity. This post would have been much better if it included a picture of Webb with his arm around me. Regrets, I've had a few.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Live (1969)

Albert Collins/Robert Cray/Johnny Copeland - Showdown! (1985)

Note: The CD I own is the original 9 track release. It has since been reissued several times in several formats which include a bonus track.

Don't be misled by the album title, this isn't a competition at all; it's a historic, house-rockin' modern electric–blues collaboration. Cray was up-and-coming at the time, but still fits right in with the other established two legends. Collins brings the Texas blues, Copeland brings the Chicago blues, and Cray somehow bridges the two plus adds some silky vocals. This album continues to be one of Alligator Records' best-known releases and helped usher in the late '80s blues revival. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album, the 1986 W.C. Handy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and was later inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall Of Fame. Top notch.

Original liner notes by album producers Bruce Iglauer & Dick Sherman.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "No clear winner in this showdown, but plenty of fine playing and singing"
• Musician: "if you still have doubts about Cray's credibility, here's where you'll lose them, once and for all."
• DownBeat (★★★): "reveals an underlying unity in their three quite individual styles"
• Robert Christgau (B): "Collins gets top billing not just because he's Alligator's man but because this is his album."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #124

Tracks: 3 originals and 6 covers, all worth your time. I prefer the upbeat tunes like Lion's Den, Albert's Alley, or Black Cat Bone, but like I said, it's a collaboration, not a competition.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. I was listening to a lot of music back in '85, but was just beginning my foray into blues with the purchase of SRV's Soul To Soul. Looking back, I find it rather odd that I was surrounded by musicians and academics constantly during those college years and not a single person was into the blues (other than my odd flirtations every now and again).

Shadowfax - Shadowdance (1983)

Note: The disc I own is the made in Japan-for-US market pressing in a smooth sided jewel case.

For whatever reason, I didn't jump on the Shadowfax train when it passed my station in the '80s, but this CD was in the clearance bin and I thought I'd take a chance on some relaxing, acoustic Windham Hill New Age music. While there's some of that here, there's also a bit of electronic jazz-rock that took me by surprise. Maybe in an effort for more commercial success? And even though I'm not crazy about the timbre of an electric jazz violin, I like this album even more than I thought I might. In my little world, this sort of stuff is more appropriate for background music than active listening, but the CD is worth more than the 50¢ I shelled out for it.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "taps enough rock, jazz and Third World elements to straddle more conventional commercial jazz formats"
• CashBox: "exotic and accessible enough to penetrate the mainstream"
• High Fidelity: "quite a departure from the music of the acoustic soloists who dominate [the Windham Hill] roster."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★

The group and album were also featured in the December 1983 issue of DownBeat magazine.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #145
• Billboard Jazz: #13
• CashBox: #170
• CashBox Jazz: #9

Tracks: It's an ethno-fusion mixed bag of acoustic, electric, Western, Eastern, upbeat, ballad, odd meters, etc., but the writing is generally good, and overall, relaxing and enjoyable. My top picks today are Distant Voices and the cover medley of Don Cherry's songs Brown Rice & Karmapa Chenno.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I probably heard this album as a college undergrad as some of my peers were into Shadowfax at the time, particularly the 1984 album The Dreams Of Children.

Various Artists - Soul Hits of the '70s: Didn't It Blow Your Mind, Vol. 2 (1991)

Volume 2 of a 20 volume Rhino series.

Tracks, with Billboard chart peaks:

1. The Bells - The Originals (1970, #12 pop, #4 R&B)
   Produced by Marvin Gaye and backed by The Funk Brothers, this lush ballad is heavy on the harmonies and orchestration and I don't mind a bit.
2. Love Or Let Me Be Lonely - The Friends Of Distinction (1970, #6 pop, #13 R&B, #9 AC)
   With that verse over a ostinato verse, a double time chorus, tasty horns licks, and tight vocal harmonies, this thing is catchy as all get out and a great blend of soul and sunshine pop.
3. Girls It Ain't Easy - The Honey Cone (1969, #68 pop, #8 R&B)
   Great tune; it's the lyrical content where there's a problem. Written by Ronald Dunbar and “Edyth Wayne” (pseudonym of Holland-Dozier-Holland), this strong vocal trio delivers lyrics clearly penned from a male perspective about the emotional pressures placed on women to keep their man. As they say on the social medias, this hasn't aged well. The music is great, though.
4. Viva Tirado (Pt. 1) - El Chicano (1970, #28 pop, #20 R&B, #10 AC)
   A Chicano instrumental featuring a drawbar organ, this minor crossover hit meets at the intersection of soul, jazz, and rock. I dig it.
5. Turn Back The Hands Of Time - Tyrone Davis (1970, #3 pop, #1 R&B)
   In which Davis wants to mend his broken heart using time travel and an irresistible groove. 
6. Love On A Two-Way Street - The Moments (1970, #3 pop, #1 R&B)
   I first heard this song via the faithful Staci Lattisaw cover back in 1981. Lattisaw was 15 years old and 5 months younger than me but that's neither here nor there. Songs like this make heartbreak feel so good while the falsetto vocals are devastating.
7. Compared To What - Les McCann & Eddie Harris (1970, #85 pop, #35 R&B)
   Possibly the protest song with the best soul/jazz/funk/R&B groove. Tragically, the lyrics are just as salient today as they were in 1970. The song was the lead track on the album Swiss Movement, which was in the top ten of the Billboard Jazz Album charts from December 20, 1969 until November 21, 1970, including thirteen consecutive weeks at #1. Sock it to me.
8. Love Land - Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (1970, #16 pop, #23 R&B)
   This group gives us a relaxed, mid-tempo vibe with an arrangement that includes horns and strings, but really doesn't have the hook I'm looking for.
9. O-o-h Child - The Five Stairsteps (1970, #8 pop, #14 R&B)
   The best track on this disc. Classic.
10. Band of Gold - Freda Payne (1970, #3 pop, #20 R&B)
    The second best track on this disc. Payne's pleading over incessant downbeats is a relentless exhortation about getting left high and dry on her wedding night. (Also credited to Dunbar & Wayne, see track 3).
11. Are You Ready? - Pacific Gas & Electric (1970, #14 pop, #49 R&B)
    A gospelish tune that borrows its feel (and title?) from The Temptations tune Get Ready, but includes an electric guitar solo. Good, not great.
12. Maybe - The Three Degrees (1970, #29 pop, #4 R&B)
    A remake of an early 1958 hit for The Chantels, this gets bonus points for the spoken word introduction, but despite outstanding performances, doesn't do much for me.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. Singles included on this volume charted 1969 - 1970, years when your humble blogger had yet to start his formal education.

Previously revisited for the blog:

Volume 5	Volume 13
Volume 6	Volume 14
Volume 12	Volume 15
	Volume 18

Fuse One - The Complete Recordings (1989)

"These tunes are heard here for the first time on compact disc, in brand-new direct-to-digital remixes prepared specifically for this release by Creed Taylor."

Creed Taylor put together this collective for his CTI label, so it's basically an ad hoc supergroup recording session. As Taylor writes on the back CD insert:

Fuse One is conceived as a forum in which major contemporary musicians perform according to their own musical disciplines and interact without the constraints that accompany leader responsibilities. Each player brings in new compositions and ideas.

And while the pedigree is impeccable (production from Taylor and engineering from Rudy Van Gelder), the product is usually less than the sum of parts. In any case, this 1989 compilation on the Musicmasters label purports to be "The Complete Recordings," but there was a third album that Taylor and Van Gelder had nothing to do with, so we'll just conveniently ignore it exists for the purposes of this post.

I get a chuckle from the fact that, while he appears on only one of the eleven tracks, George Benson receives top billing on the CD cover. Because you know I'd design it the exact same way.

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FUSE ONE (1980)
7 tracks, 36 minutes

Enjoyable, but fairly generic, smooth jazz. In other words, 15 year old me in 1981 would have loved it. The material is 'over-arranged' in sharp contrast to Taylor's suggesting that the artists play without constraints. The lack of originality could be the reason why the album was largely ignored by critics other than a cursory Billboard review.

Joe Farrell - saxophones & flute (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6)
John McLauglin - guitar (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Larry Coryell - guitar (tracks 2, 5, 7)
Ronnie Foster - keyboards (1, 3, 5)
Jorge Dalto - keyboards (track 2)
Victor Feldman - keyboards (tracks 3, 4)
Don Grusin - keyboards (track 6)
Jeremy Wall - keyboards (tracks 1-6, arrangements tracks 1-7)
Hugh McCracken - harmonica (track 7)
Stanley Clarke - bass (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7)
Will Lee - bass (tracks 2, 5)
Lenny White - drums (tracks 2, 7)
Leon "Ndugu" Chancler - drums (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5)
Tony Williams - drums (track 6)
Paulinho DaCosta - percussion (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Roger Squitero - percussion (track 2, 7)

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #9
• CashBox Jazz: #14
• Record World Jazz: #14

Tracks: Two compositions each from Clarke and McLaughlin, one each from Foster and Wall, plus a Latin arrangement of a tune by 19th century Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. The better tunes are Grand Prix (written by Foster), Sunshine (Clarke), and Double Steal (Wall).

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SILK (1982)
4 tracks, 34 minutes

This second album utilized arrangements by Leon "Ndugu" Chancler and the resultant R&B sound found more commercial success, yet was again ignored by the critics (except, of course, Billboard again). I enjoy this album more than the previous one.

Stanley Turrentine - tenor saxophone (tracks 8, 11)
Tom Browne - trumpet (tracks 8, 9, 11)
Wynton Marsalis - trumpet (tracks 9, 10)
Dave Valentine - flute (tracks 9, 10)
Eric Gale - guitar (tracks 8-11)
George Benson - guitar (track 11)
Stanley Clarke - bass (tracks 8-11), musical direction (tracks 8-11)
Marcus Miller - bass (tracks 9)
Ronnie Foster - keyboards (tracks 8-11)
Todd Cochran - keyboards (track 8)
Leon "Ndugu" Chancler - drums (tracks 8-11), arrangements (tracks 8-11)
Sammy Figueroa - percussion (tracks 8-11)
Manolo Badrena - percussion (tracks 9, 10)

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #139
• Billboard Jazz: #14
• Billboard R&B: #44
• CashBox: #175
• CashBox Jazz: #16
• Radio & Records Jazz Radio National Airplay: #15

Tracks: Only four tracks here, all a bit longer than what was found on the previous album (7-9 minutes each). I'd rank them 1) Silk, 2) Sunwalk, 3) Hot Fire, and 4) In Celebration Of The Human Spirit.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but I really wished someone would have turned me to some Tom Browne albums when I was a teen.