Take 6 - Live (2000)

Note: this CD released using HDCD encoding. Recorded live at the Blue Note in Tokyo, Japan, October 4-6, 1999.

Not much to say about this one. If you like Take 6 (I do), you'll like this live recording (I do). And if you wonder if they can bring the close a cappella harmony vocals in a live setting, the answer is yes.

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

Tracks: My top picks today are If We Ever Needed The Lord Before (We Sure Do Need Him Now), How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You, and Mary.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. I once had tickets to see the group and something came up so I gave the tickets to a friend. That was most likely in 2017.

Previously revisited for the blog:

The Standard (2008)	Join the Band (1994)
Beautiful World (2002)	He Is Christmas (1991)
Greatest Hits (1999)	So Much 2 Say (1990)
Brothers (1996)	Take 6 (1988)

Bugs & Friends Sing Songs Recorded By The Beatles And Elvis (2001)

A 8 track, 24 minute oldies compilation put together by the folks at Rhino as a promotional gift from Chevrolet (see story below). It's as bad as you might imagine. Help!

Tracks:

• Hello Goodbye - Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck
• Hound Dog - Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and Elmer Fudd
• Can't Buy Me Love - Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck
• Help! - Yosemite Sam
• With A Little Help From My Friends - Elmer Fudd & Bugs Bunny
• Good Luck Charm - Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd
• Birthday - Daffy Duck & Taz
• Yesterday - Daffy Duck

Personal Memory Associated with this CD (lifted verbatim from an earlier post): Around 2000 or 2001, I made the mistake of buying the family a Chevy Venture Warner Bros. Edition like the one shown in the stock photo below. My sons were ages 3 & 7, it had a built-in VHS entertainment system, the wife liked it, so why not?

The mistake was two-fold: first and foremost, the van was pretty crappy - we used the heck out of the warranty and traded it in as soon as it was paid off (for an even crappier Saturn Relay, but that's another story). Secondly, the Warner Bros. Edition came with a WB amenities kit that was to include monthly gifts from GM (CDs, VHS tapes of Looney Tunes, etc.). However, the dealership (I'll take the high road and won't name names here) never told us about that amenities package and had the freebies sent to one of their employees. Once we figured it all out, we had that corrected (no apology from GM or the dealership) and received items for a few months before the program expired. This CD was one of those monthly gifts.

Michael Sembello - Bossa Nova Hotel (1983)

Japanese import

Note: this release was originally purchased as a LP, later replaced by the 2018 reissue using SHM-CD materials/technology.

Michael Sembello is a legend in my book, based solely on the fact that he was hired at age 17 to play guitar in Stevie Wonder's band and greatly contributed to Songs In The Key Of Life. This album was his debut solo release, a highly enjoyable album of synth-based, jazzy, adult contemporary music in which the big hit is the outlier in terms of overall sound and mood. Back in '83, I greatly preferred Maniac to the Flashdance theme, but not enough to seek out this album. But if someone had handed me this LP and simply said, "You like Sergio Mendes and As We Speak, right? Then you'll like this one." Most likely, I would have dubbed the thing to one side of a c-90 cassette and put it in rotation in my car. Coulda woulda shoulda, but it didn't happen and I didn't discover Bossa Nova Hotel until much later. File this one under "better late than never."

The music all goes down easy with tasteful production from Phil Ramone. However, the quality of lyrics varies greatly, with topics ranging from Godzilla, robot homewrecker, the Wild West, ménage à trois, and ending the album using Superman as a metaphor for Jesus Christ. Better to ignore the lyrics and lyric sheet here.

If you dig Bossa Nova Hotel, I highly recommend the 1983 album Without Warning by Marilyn Scott.

Press of the time:

• Musician: "You could sum up Sembello's sound as Michael McDonald with a rhythm machine, but that would be unnecessarily cruel to McDonald. And the rhythm machine."
• CashBox: "There's a little something for everyone's taste on this disc, and as a result it should be a natural crossover success."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #80
• Billboard R&B: #53
• CashBox: #124

Tracks: I enjoy the whole thing. Today, I'm thinking the lead track, Automatic Man (#34 pop, #14 dance, is the best tune on the album, but it is entirely possible that I suffer from the fatigue of hearing too much Maniac (#1 pop, #34 rock, #6 dance, #34 AC). Track 7, Talk (a duet with then-wife Cruz Baca Sembello), was also released as a single, peaking at #25 on the adult contemporary chart.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Nothing comes to mind, but will note here that my LP has a different cover than the one on the CD. No idea why.

And here's an obi strip for ya:

Junior Wells Featuring Buddy Guy - Pleading The Blues (1993)

Note: the album was recorded and released in France in 1979, then released in the US in 1993 with a CD bonus track.

You buys your albums and you takes your chances. And, well, they can't all be good. In this case, the problem is the plodding material, not the performances.

Liner notes by John Anthony Brisbin.

Reviews/ratings:

• DownBeat (★★★★): "finds Junior and Buddy on familiar and wholly congenial turf."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★ "decent, unessential"

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

Tracks: The better cuts here are Cut Out The Lights and Just For My Baby.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Alone & Acoustic (1991)
Damn Right, I've Got The Blues (1991)
Stone Crazy! (1979)

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)

---

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): ★★★★

The album was voted "Record of the Year" in the 30th Annual International Jazz Critics Poll in DownBeat magazine (August 1982).

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