Various Artists - Best Of Buddha (2002)

UK import

"Bar de Lune - The most sexy label in the world presents a new album for the mind, body and soul."

I'm guessing this 2 CD set is another world beat chill-out compilation from our friends at Buddha Bar, but the bar isn't mentioned anywhere on the packaging so it may just be a coattail rider. In any event, it's the same kind of stuff - repetative background music for your next cocktail party. I bought a CD lot of Buddha recordings after a visit to the French Caribbean in 2025. This set is the last of that lot.

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

Tracks:

CD1
	Artist	Title
1	Moby	Another Woman
2	Gotan Project	Last Tango In Paris
3	Fila Brazillia	Soft Music Under Stars
4	Kevin Yost	7th Heaven
5	Da Lata	Binti
6	Radar	Running Away
7	Fragile State	Song Of Departure
8	Bonobo	Terrapin
9	Christophe Goze	Barcelona (Faze Action Mix)
10	Al-Pha-X	Mi Corazon (Smokers Mix)
11	Dust	Dead Cowboys
12	Nitin Sawhney	Homelands (Joe Claussell Mix)

CD2
	Artist	Title
1	Nitin Sawhney	Bengali Song (Extended Mix)
2	Alex Gopher	The Child
3	Delerium	Silence (Album Mix)
4	Al-Pha-X	Blue Jay (Zape Vala Sojk Pitcha)
5	Christophe Goze	Manana
6	Al-Pha-X	Hojar
7	Christophe Goze	Sirocco
8	Kinobe	Slip Into Something More Comfortable
9	Badmarsh & Shri	Sajanaa
10	Dust	I'll Take You There (Chris Bowden Remix)
11	Fragile State	The Barney Fade
12	Moby	Porcelain

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: See my first Buddha Bar blog post.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Buddha Lounge (2002)
Buddha-Bar IV (2002)
Buddha-Bar III (2001)

Ultravox - Vienna (1980)

European Import

Note: this release was originally purchased as a UK import LP, later replaced by the 2 CD 2018 Remastered Definitive Edition containing a bonus disc with 11 bonus tracks.

The group's fourth studio album, but the group's first release with Midge Ure as a member. Ure was able to focus the band's efforts and provide a template for an overly-polished synth rock sound. It yielded commercial results in the group's native UK, but only one track saw any US chart action (Sleepwalk, #24 dance). There's plenty of stylish gloom but also memorable melodies and great beats, somehow balancing atmosphere with accessibility. If I want to lean into hyperbole, I could say the album laid the groundwork for the New Romantic movement, showing that synths weren't just cold, futuristic, novelty tools, they could also be commercially successful. I've put off buying a CD version of this album and I have absolutely no idea why. It's a nostalgic trip back to the early '80s for me as the album remains a fascinating document of a time when overwrought synthpop musicians became convinced that indifference equaled cool sophistication. At the time, adolescent me attempted (unsuccessfully) to join them in that attitude. Good times.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "futuristic, electronic based songs, several with a hard rock edge."
• Record World: "Ultravox has been making pop music longer than most other groups in the genre"
• CashBox: "Ultravox may do for electronic music what Jimi Hendrix did with the electric guitar."
• Smash Hits (8 out of 10): "Synthesizer music with backbone and muscle."
• Rolling Stone (★★): "overblown arrangements, familiar and banal electronic effects."
• Trouser Press: "Ultravox is attempting to reconcile synthesizer lessons with more accessible forms - a move that should bring them the larger audience they deserve."
• Robert Christgau (C): "dance music for the locked pelvis"
• New Musical Express: "an album of gaudy, sometimes magnificent, but mostly hollow edifices"
• Record Mirror (+++½): "electronic rock songs which are beautifully executed but never inspiring."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #164
• CashBox: #154
• Rolling Stone: #59

Tracks: The album contained four UK singles and all charted there: Vienna (#2), All Stood Still (#8), Sleepwalk (#29), and Passing Strangers (#57). I like those four and also the instrumental lead track, Astradyne. However, I've always been captivated by Mr. X, a haunting noir piece with definite Neu!/Kraftwerk influences plus some bizarre spoken word, provided by the group's drummer/drum machine programmer, Warren Cann, and a disjunct solo on electric violin from Billie Currie. It's all very strange, and was especially affecting to a 16 year-old boy growing up along the rural Texas coast in the early 1980s (i.e., one of my general height, weight, and build). The silliness of the text is overshadowed by the serious, minor key synth pads. I'm not sure I've ever liked this thing yet I can't stop listening to it.

The skippable filler tracks are New Europeans and Western Promise.

Bonus "Further Listening" disc: The usual suspects. B-sides, a couple of live cuts from August 1980, rehearsal recordings, demos, and an extended cut of All Stood Still which I already had on the Extended CD. The only track of any interest to me is Herr X, a German version of Mr. X that was the b-side of the Vienna 12" single. I would say "for completists only" but a completist would own the 6 disc "Deluxe Edition" issued in 2020.

The WKRP crew stand in contemplation
of the krautrock influences on this album.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I'm certain my first Ultravox album purchase was Quartet sometime in 1982, but I picked up Vienna soon after. It was my first UK import purchase and remember how different the flimsy album packaging felt in my hands compared to what I was accustomed to buying in the US. I loved the differences and began seeking imports whenever possible (and affordable).

Previously revisited for the blog:
Extended: A Collection of 12" Remixes (1998)
The Collection (1985)
Quartet (1982)
Rage in Eden (1981)

Various Artists - Blues Masters, Volume 4: Harmonica Classics (1992)

This blues compilation is Volume 4 in an extensive blues series of CDs from Rhino which is slowly finding its way to my collection. In both the liner notes and the song selection, the focus is on Chicago blues and its use of amplified harmonica to be heard alongside electric guitar, ignoring the use of harmonica with acoustic guitars down in the Mississippi Delta. Nevertheless, there's great variety here and it is one my favorite Rhino Blues Masters CDs I've encountered thus far.

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

Tracks:

	Song	Artist	Year
1	Juke	Little Walter & His Night Cats	1952
2	Ends & Odds	Jimmy Reed	1958
3	Rocket 88	Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet	1965
4	Help Me	Sonny Boy Williamson	1963
5	Messin' With The Kid	Junior Wells Chicago Blues Band	1965
6	Blues With A Feeling	The Paul Butterfield Blues Band	1965
7	Sugar Coated Love	Lazy Lester	1958
8	Steady	Jerry McCain	1961
9	I'll Be Around	Howlin' Wolf	1954
10	I Was Fooled	Billy Boy Arnold	1955
11	Take A Little Walk With Me	Big John Wrencher with Joe Carter	1976
12	Easy	Jimmy & Walkter	1953
13	Boogie Twist	Snooky Pryor	1963
14	Wolf Call Boogie	Hot Shot Love	1954
15	Last Night	George "Harmonica" Smith and The Chicago Blues Band	1968
16	I Got Love If You Want It	Slim Harpo	1957
17	Cherry Pink & Apple Blosson White	The Fabulous Thunderbirds	1981
18	Christo Redemptor	Charlie Musselwhite	1967

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None with these particular tunes, but I do recall several failed attempts to learn to play harmonica. My first musical instrument was the trumpet, an instrument through which you have to blow air to produce a sound and only inhale to take a breath. The harmonica, on the other hand, produces different notes when you inhale and exhale and my mind simply couldn't make that paradigm shift. These days, this dog is too old to learn new tricks.

Previously revisited for the blog:

Volume 2: Postwar Chicago Blues (1992)	Volume 8: Mississippi Delta Blues (1993)
Volume 3: Texas Blues (1992)	Volume 15: Slide Guitar Classics (1993)
Volume 6: Blues Originals (1993)	Blues Masters Sampler (1993)
Volume 7: Blues Revival (1993)

Ike Quebec - It Might As Well Be Spring (1964)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 2006 Rudy Van Gelder Edition.

This album was recorded on December 19, 1961, but the LP wasn't released until 1964. In the meantime, Quebec tragically died of lung cancer in January 1963 at age 45. Delayed album releases happened fairly often with Blue Note in the '60s as musicians recorded many brilliant sessions while Alfred Lion calmly stacked tape boxes like a jazz leprechaun sitting on a pot of gold. Some records appeared years or even decades later. In any case, this is quality stuff and well worth a listen, regardless of year.

I always use the word "meaty" to describe Quebec's tone, but I'm getting out my thesaurus and opting for "luxuriant" in today's post. The program is relaxed, romantic, and perfect for late night listening. Pairs quite well with Quebec albums Blue & Sentimental and/or Heavy Soul. Organist Freddie Roach is the perfect band member, knowing exactly when to shine and when to support. I gotta tell ya, I was completely unfamiliar with Quebec until I fell down the RVG Editions rabbit hole around 2020. And boy-oh-boy am I happy to have finally heard his stuff. I simply love his tone. Had he lived, he would have no doubt given other soul-jazz saxophone players such as Stanley Turrentine and Lou Donaldson a run for their money throughout the decade.

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

Original liner notes by Nat Hentoff.

Reviews/ratings:

• CashBox: "The jazzophiles will want this one."
• DownBeat (★★★★): "the playing is as relaxed and spontaneous, yet cohesive, as if these were four steady companions."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★½
• 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: The album is brief (35:37), but like Quebec's playing, it is all very economical - no wasted space here. Of the four standards and two Quebec originals, the highlight is the beautiful title track, a wonderful Rodgers & Hammerstein ballad originally from the 1945 film, State Fair.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Easy Living (1987)
Blue & Sentimental (1963)
Heavy Soul (1962)

Various Artists - Sinners: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2025)

Disappointment. But it's my own fault for ordering the CD without checking any reviews or even glancing at the track listing.

I was listening to the blues channel on SiriusXM and heard a couple of tracks from this soundtrack, liked them, and thought I'd pick up a copy as way to learn of a few up and coming blues performers. I should note that I haven't seen the movie and have no plans to see it as vampire flicks aren't my thing. However, I'm sure it is a fine piece of cinema and all the awards are merited. Anyway, I picked up a copy of this soundtrack and it's certainly a mixed bag. There's some blues, yes, plus a couple of soundtrack cues as expected, but then there's a dance track, some rap, folk, rock, bluegrass, attempts at the next Old Town Road crossover hit, and an odd ballad that includes a brief conversation with an imaginary slave master. I'm guessing the point is that blues music transcends time and its influences are ongoing; a point to which I wholeheartedly agree. The album is never boring, it's just not the modern blues compilation I hoped for. I'll just pick out the blues tunes I came for (below) then put this disc away for good.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #133
• Billboard Blues: #1
• Billboard Soundtrack: #2:

Tracks:

3. Wang Dang Doodle
4. Travelin'
5. Juke
8. I Lied To You
10. Can't Win For Losin'
13. Pale, Pale Moon
16. Travelin'
20. Pale, Pale Moon
21. I Lied To You (Radio Edit)

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see above

The Vince Guaraldi Trio - Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus (1962)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1990 reissue.

Description from the CD's back insert:

That description is slightly misleading. As the album title implies, these aren't really bossa nova versions of the songs. Rather, the trio take the original Jobim bossa tunes from the movie score, mix in some West Coast jazz, and make it all swing. And I dig every track. If someone were looking for an entry point to '60s jazz records, this album would certainly be a good suggestion.

The star of the album, however, isn't the Jobim tunes but the Guaraldi original, Cast Your Fate To The Wind which peaked at #22 on Billboard's pop chart and won Guaraldi a Grammy award in the short-lived category of Best Original Jazz Composition. These days, of course, it's considered a standard and rightfully so. Another favorite is the cover of Since I Fell For You.

Original liner notes by music critic Ralph J. Gleason.

Guaraldi - piano
Monty Budwig - bass
Colin Bailey - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• Music Vendor: "a cleverly swinging, inventively saleable jazz product"
• CashBox: "Once in a great while a jazz version of a film has exceptional merit in its own right."
• Billboard: "a superior outing for the group and its vastly underrated leader."
• DownBeat (★★★½): "Guaraldi is a talented musician with more than one emotional face."
• 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: #24

Tracks: see above

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973/2023)
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
From All Sides (1965)

Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery - The Dynamic Duo (1967)

I first heard of this album through a jazz sampler CD and later wrote that the "Jimmy Smith/Wes Montgomery album is on my radar..." It was easy to find a copy so the CD was at my doorstep within a couple of weeks. As a fan of both musicians, I've been enjoying it ever since. Not only are we treated to the characteristic stylings of Smith on organ and Montgomery on guitar, there are arrangements by Oliver Nelson, the whole thing is produced by inestimable Creed Taylor, and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder at his legendary studio. It's a little thin on material, but this thing swings and grooves. There was a follow-up album, Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes, recorded during the same sessions and later released in 1968.

Personnel listing plus original liner notes by Holmes "Daddy-O" Daylie.

Reviews/ratings:

• Stereo Review: "All too predictable"
• CashBox: "a tasty brew of jazz sessions."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★½
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #129
• Billboard Jazz: #1
• Billboard R&B: #10
• Record World Jazz: #1

Tracks: As I alluded to earlier, playing ★★★★, selections ★★.

1. Down By The Riverside - traditional African-American spiritual.
2. Night Train - a twelve-bar blues instrumental standard first recorded in 1951 by its writer, saxophonist Jimmy Forrest. Also the track that got me to buy the album.
3. James And Wes - a Jimmy Smith blues trio original.
4. 13 (Death March) - originally written by Gary McFarland for the 1966 motion picture Eye Of The Devil. When I first heard this album, I could've sworn I already knew this tune, but I can't find it anywhere in my collection so my old mind might be playing tricks on me. Again.
5. Baby It's Cold Outside - Frank Loesser tune from the romantic comedy Neptune's Daughter. The song was awarded an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1950. It has somehow been associated with the Christmas holiday as if we don't have cold weather in months other than December, but there are no lyrics on this album so that misconception is moot.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:

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Jimmy Smith

The Best of Jimmy Smith (1988)	Midnight Special (1961)
Keep On Comin' (1983)	Crazy! Baby (1960)
Back At The Chicken Shack (1963)	Houseparty (1958)
Home Cookin' (1961)	The Sermon! (1958)

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Wes Montgomery

Classics, Volume 22 (1987)

A Day In The Life (1967)