Various Artists - Stax '68: A Memphis Story (2018)

This wonderful "book set" is described on the Stax website thusly:

The five-disc box set contains the A- and B-sides of every single released under the Stax banner in 1968, including the company's sub-labels. With a 56-page book including revelatory, in-depth liner notes by Andria Lisle, Robert Gordon, and Steve Greenberg, as well as rare and previously unseen photos, the set presents more than 120 songs from this unprecedented creative period in American music.

And on the set's hype sticker:

More hype:

To be honest, I was initially weary about getting all the b-sides because I usually dismiss them completely, saying something like "b-sides are b-sides for a reason," but once I heard this entire set, I changed my mind. In many cases, the b-side is just as good or better than the a-side. In one case, it was the b-side that charted: Tribute To A King, a memorial to Otis Redding. I didn't do any research so I'm just guessing here, but I'd wager this box set was the first time some of these b-sides have appeared on a CD.

The book does a fantastic job of describing the included singles within the context of the Memphis culture of 1968: civil unrest, the sanitation strike, and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The photo used on the cover is of the MLK memorial march down Main Street in Memphis on April 8.

Tracks, with just a few of my many favorites indicated with ✔.

Sub-labels of Stax¹ included in this set are Volt², Enterprise³, Hip⁴, Magic Touch⁵, and Arch⁶.

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DISC ONE
26 tracks, 69 minutes
Released January - March

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
Otis Redding2	(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay b/w Sweet Lorene	1	1	✔
Sam & Dave1	I Thank You b/w Wrap It Up	4	9	✔
The Memphis Nomads1	Don't Pass Your Judgement b/w I Wanna Be (Your Lover & Your Honey)			✔
Shirley Walton3	I Was Born To Love You b/w I'm So Glad You're Back
Otis Redding & Carla Thomas1	Lovey Dovey b/w New Year's Resolution	21	60
Ollie & The Nightingales1	I Got A Sure Thing b/w Girl, You Have My Heart Singing	16	73
Eddie Floyd1	Big Bird b/w Holding On With Both Hands			✔
The Bar-Kays2	A Hard Day's Night b/w I Want Someone
Johnnie Taylor1	Next Time b/w Sundown	34
William Bell1	Every Man Oughta Have A Woman b/w Tribute To A King	16	86
Mable John1	Able Mable b/w Don't Get Caught
Rufus Thomas1	The Memphis Train b/w I Think I Made A Boo Boo			✔
Jeanne & The Darlings2	What Will Later On Be Like b/w Hang Me Now

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DISC TWO
22 tracks, 60 minutes
Released March - May

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
Derek Martin2	Soul Power b/w Sly Girl			✔
Linda Lyndell2	Bring Your Love Back To Me b/w Here I Am
Carla Thomas1	A Dime A Dozen b/w I Want You Back
Kangaroo's4	Groovy Day b/w Every Man Needs A Woman
Isaac Hayes3	Precious Precious b/w Going To Chicago Blues			✔
The Mad Lads2	Whatever Hurts You b/w No Time Is Better Than Now	31
Otis Redding2	The Happy Song (Dum-Dum) b/w Open The Door	10	25	✔
Albert King1	(I Love) Lucy b/w You're Gonna Need Me	46		✔
Johnnie Taylor1	I Ain't Particular b/w Where There's Smoke There's Fire	45		✔
Eddie Henderson Quintet3	Georgy Girl b/w A Million Or More Times			✔
Shirley Walton3	Send Peace And Harmony Home b/w The One You Can't Have All By Yourself

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DISC THREE
29 tracks, 79 minutes
Released May - September

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
Booker T. & The MG's1	Soul-Limbo b/w Heads Or Tails	7	17	✔
Eddie Floyd1	I've Never Found A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do) b/w I'm Just The Kind Of Fool	2	40
Delaney & Bonnie1	It's Been A Long Time Coming b/w We've Just Been Feeling Bad
Linda Lyndel2	What A Man b/w I Don't Know	50		✔
Harvey Scales & The Seven Sounds5	Broadway Freeze b/w I Can't Cry No More			✔
Johnny Daye1	Stay Baby Stay b/w I Love Love
Bobby Whitlock4	Raspberry Ring b/w And I Love You
Judy Clay & William Bell1	Private Number b/w Love-Eye-Tis	17	75
Jimmy Hughes2	I Like Everything About You b/w What Side Of The Door	21
The Delrays6	Lollipop Lady b/w (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me
Lindell Hill6	Remone b/w Used To Be Love
The Aardvarks6	Subconcious Train Of Thought b/w Unicorn Man
Fresh Air6	Somebody Stole My Gal b/w Somebody Stole My Gal (Instrumental)
Judy Clay1	Bed Of Roses b/w Remove These Clouds
The Staple Singers1	Long Walk To D.C. (b-side starts next CD)			✔

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DISC FOUR
29 tracks, 79 minutes
Released September - November

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
The Staple Singers1	Stay With Us
The Soul Children1	Give 'Em Love b/w Move Over	40
Johnnie Taylor1	Who's Making Love b/w I'm Trying	1	5	✔
Rufus Thomas1	Funky Mississippi b/w So Hard To Get Along With			✔
Carla Thomas1	Where Do I Go b/w I've Fallen In Love	38	86
The Mad Lads2	So Nice b/w Make Room	35		✔
Charmells2	Lovin' Feeling b/w Sea Shell
Jeanne & The Darlings2	It's Unbelievable (How You Control My Soul) b/w I Like What You're Doing To Me			✔
Southwest F.O.B.4	Smell Of Incense b/w Green Skies
The Village Sound4	Sally's Got A Good Thing b/w The La La Song
Eddie Floyd1	Bring It On Home To Me b/w Sweet Things You Do	4	17
Booker T. & The MG's1	Hang 'Em High b/w Over Easy	35	9	✔
Ollie &amp The Nightingales1	You're Leaving Me b/w Showered With Love	47
The Popcorn Generation4	Kitchy Kitchy Koo b/w Shake It
The Bar-Kays2	Copy Kat b/w In The Hole

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DISC FIVE
28 tracks, 78 minutes
Released November & December

Artist	Single	R&B	Pop
Dino & Doc2	Mighty Cold Winter b/w A Woman Can't Do (What A Man Do)
William Bell1	I Forgot To Be Your Lover b/w Bring The Curtain Down	10	45
The Goodees4	Condition Red b/w Didn't Know Love Was So Good
Mable John1	Running Out b/w Shouldn't I Love Him
Billy Lee Riley4	Family Portrait b/w Going Back To Memphis
William Bell & Judy Clay1	My Baby Specializes b/w Left Over Love	45	104
The Soul Children1	I'll Understand b/w Doing Our Thing	29
The Staple Singers1	The Ghetto b/w Got To Be Some Changes Made
Albert King1	Blues Power b/w Night Stomp			✔
The Epsilons1	The Echo b/w Really Rockin'
Rufus Thomas1	Funky Way b/w I Want To Hold You			✔
This Generation4	The Children Have Your Tongue b/w Give Her What She Wants
Daaron Lee4	Who's Making Love b/w Long Black Train
Johnnie Taylor1	Take Care Of Your Homework b/w Hold On This Time	2	20	✔

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Personal Memory (Loosely) Associated with this CD: My favorite civil rights story comes from 1966, not 1968, but the writings in the included book reminded me of this story so here it goes: My father attended Union Theological Seminary (now Union Presbyterian Seminary) in Richmond, Virginia and, upon graduation in 1962, was called to the Sardis Presbyterian Church in Sardis, Mississippi. Sardis is a small town on the edge of the Delta, about an hour's drive south of Memphis. A young preacher, 24 years old, dropped into a position of moral leadership in the Deep South, in the middle of the civil rights movement - I can't even imagine.

My parents in front of the church manse, 1962.

In June of 1966, James Meredith, who had integrated the nearby University of Mississippi in 1962, walked alone in the Meredith March Against Fear "to promote black voter registration and defy entrenched racism." Headed to Jackson, the march started at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis on June 5; Meredith was shot on June 6. Other organizations rallied to take Meredith's place and complete the march to Jackson. More on the march here or check out the 2014 book, Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear by Aram Goudsouzian.

The march eventually entered Sardis on Hwy 51 and passed directly in front of the Presbyterian church. Like many churches in rural small towns, the church didn't have any locks on the doors. In preparation for the incoming marchers, the church's (white, male) board of deacons had met without my father's knowledge and decided to have locks put on the doors of the church in order to keep out any marchers; I feel confident in saying the deacons used the N-word instead of the term "marchers." In any case, my father walked up to the church to work one morning and saw the local locksmith putting strong Yale locks on the doors of the church. I'm sure my father made some small talk with the locksmith and carried on with his morning. After lunch, when he was alone, Dad returned to the church and removed the new locks. He simply believed (as I do) that a church is no place for bigotry (sadly, a message that many churches still need to hear these many decades later). Dad then took the locks and placed them on the bookcase directly behind his desk in his office so that anyone who entered the office would know precisely who had removed the locks. He claims nobody ever said a word to him about it. I'll bet there was plenty of talk about it, though.

Within six months, Dad had wisely accepted a call to another congregation. In December 1966, the family, including an infant named Mark, moved from Mississippi to the oil fields of West Texas, where they lived until 1978. Here's a photo of that infant child taken in 1968, around the time the songs found on disc 3 were released:

Herbie Hancock - Speak Like A Child (1968)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 2004 Rudy Van Gelder Edition with an 3 alternate takes added as bonus tracks.

The focus here is truly on Hancock's wonderful playing and composing. There's horns in the background texture, but they're just to add to the overall color of the pieces - they never solo, so it's Hancock that almost always has the spotlight on him (and that's a good thing). Add to that some swinging interplay between Hancock and legendary bassist Ron Carter and some deceptively subtle trap work from Mickey Roker and you've got an album that's definitely in the top quarter of Hancock's massive catalog.

Complete liner notes.

Hancock - piano
Thad Jones - flugelhorn
Peter Phillips - bass trombone
Jerry Dodgion - alto flute
Ron Carter - bass
Mickey Roker - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "A warm swinging collection"
• Downbeat (★★): "Hancock is a puzzle. He is a generally good and sometimes excellent accompanist, but his solo work here is dull."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000) (★★★): "An easy record to overlook; well worth hearing."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★½
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #14
• Record World Jazz: #10

Tracks: Tunes so good they've been covered many times, including recordings by such artists as Miles Davis and Joe Henderson. My favorite cut is the beautiful title track, followed closely by the swinging First Trip. First Trip was composed by legendary bassist Ron Carter and is the only cut written by someone other than Hancock.

This RVG edition includes three bonus tracks: an alternate take of Goodbye To Childhood and two alternate takes of Riot. It can be fun to hear the different solos, but not of much interest beyond one or two plays.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Best of Herbie Hancock: The Blue Note Years (1988)
Round Midnight - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1986)
Lite Me Up (1982)
Sunlight/Feets Don't Fail Me Now (1978/1979)
Head Hunters (1973)

James Brown's Funky Christmas (1995)

A mid-'90s compilation of the best songs from James Brown's three earlier Christmas albums: James Brown Sings Christmas Songs (1966), A Soulful Christmas (1968), and Hey America It's Christmas (1970).

I purchased this disc for two reasons: 1) it's the freakin' Godfather of Soul, and 2) the album's appearance at #3 on Rolling Stone's The 25 Greatest Christmas Albums of All Time:

It's a welcome change-of-pace from the usual strings and sleigh bells.

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

Tracks: Here are the funky grooves that made it on my Xmas playlist: Go Power At Christmas Time, Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto, Soulful Christmas, and Merry Christmas I Love You. I dig Tit For Tat (Ain't No Taking Back) but it's not very Christmas-y. However, the album is well-sequenced and has a good mix of funk and soulful ballads, so it's an pleasant listen from top-to-bottom.

The final track - the title song from the Hey America It's Christmas - was named one of the "Weirdest, Darkest Christmas Songs" by Spin Magazine in 2012. I wouldn't go so far as to place the song on such a list, but I don't really see the point in creating such a list in the first place.

Oddly, my CD only included 16 tracks instead of the 17 listed on the cover. The missing track? Track 4, Merry Christmas Baby. With cover art that bad, I shouldn't be surprised at an incomplete package. Looks like my full-retail-price CD is nothing more than a CD-R produced 'on demand' and someone at Chronicles didn't check all the boxes before burning:

Tsk tsk. For shame, Polydor. Shame on you too, Amazon, for not listing the fact that it's a CD-R. Ok, ok - rant over. Merry Christmas, everybody. And please, please, please 2021 - don't let me down.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
The CD of JB: Sex Machine & Other Soul Classics (1985)

Various Artists - Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits 1968 (1988)

Not sure about rock'n'roll hits, but there are some fun pop hits here for the Big Chill set. This CD (compiled by Joel Whitburn and released by Rhino) is notable for its early entry into the CD compilation reissue market. The compilation itself is first-rate; my only complaint is the 29 minute running time.

This disc is part of a 20 CD compilation series spanning 1955 to 1974, with one 10-track album for year; each track made the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. All the Billboard Top Rock'N'Roll Hits discs for years 1960 through 1969 were originally released in 1988 or 1989 and rereleased in 1993 with revised track listings, most likely due to licensing restrictions. For this CD, the following were replaced on the 1993 reissue:

• I Heard It Through The Grapevine
• Love Child
• Grazing In The Grass
• Born To Be Wild

with

• Tighten Up - Archie Bell & The Drells
• (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
• Chain Of Fools - Aretha Franklin
• People Got To Be Free - The Rascals

Your humble blogger turned two years old in 1968. Mom baked a chocolate sheet cake.

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

Tracks, including Billboard Hot 100 chart peak:

Title	Artist	Pop
I Heard It Through the Grapevine	Marvin Gaye	1
Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)	John Fred & His Playboy Band	1
Yummy Yummy Yummy	Ohio Express	4
Green Tambourine	The Lemon Pipers	1
Grazing in the Grass	Hugh Masekela	1
Born to Be Wild	Steppenwolf	2
Cry Like a Baby	The Box Tops	2
Mony Mony	Tommy James & The Shondells	3
Love Child	Diana Ross & The Supremes	1
The Horse	Cliff Nobles & Co.	2

I could hear Grazing In The Grass twice a day, every day, and never tire of it. And God help me, I love The Horse. It's also nice to have Green Tambourine, Judy In Disguise, and Cry Like A Baby on a CD.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD (blatantly self-plagiarized from the Rock Instrumental Classics, Vol. 4 post): The Horse is a classic in my mind because, where I grew up, all high school marching bands played an arrangement of it. Many still do.

The archives here at blog headquarters contain a 45 single of The Horse on the Phil-L.A. of Soul label (filet of sole, get it?). I enjoy both sides of the single, the A-side with vocals, Love Is All Right, and the more famous B-side without.

The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli (1996)

A 1996 compilation of two previously released albums: The Virtuoso Brass Of Three Great Orchestras Performing The Antiphonal Music Of Gabrielli (1968, tracks 1-13) and Music For Organ And Brass: Canzonas Of Gabrieli And Frescobaldi (1959, tracks 14-32).


In brass circles, this is a seminal CD with the brass sections of three major orchestras (Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Chicago) playing the antiphonal Renaissance music of Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554/1557 – 1612). The latter part of the disc has the brass from the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing alongside E. Power Biggs on the organ. I prefer the first half to the latter half. The contrapuntal writing is wonderfully complex and the performances here are exquisite, with a beautiful ensemble sound with regard to articulation, dynamics, and intonation. However, that doesn't mean I necessarily want to hear this music for over an hour. For me, it's definitely more fun to perform this music than to listen to it. I don't mean to disparage the album at all; it's just not something I'll pull off the shelves very often.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  Many years ago, I participated in performances of several of the pieces on this disc (Canzon à 12, Canzon Noni Toni, Canzon Per Sonare No. 3), but my performances pale compared to these recordings. These recordings also remind me of Kelly, a friend for a brief time, who moved away before we had time to really bond over our similar, but eclectic, musical tastes.

Various Artists - Feeling High: The Psychedelic Sound of Memphis (2012)

An impulse buy that didn't work out for me. 24 tracks of psychedelic garage rock from Memphis, 1967-69. Stax/Volt soul and Elvis, it ain't. I'm not saying it's bad (Allmusic gives it 4 stars); I'm saying it's not my bag, baby.

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

Tracks:

Samples available here.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: purchased on a recent trip to Chicago at the wonderful Dusty Groove.

The Beatles (1968)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD.

Commonly known as The White Album. I could go on and on about how this album is hit-or-miss; the hits are some of the best songs the band ever wrote while the misses are some of the worse. I could put in my two cents on whether or not this should have been condensed to one album. I could add my opinion on whether this is the work of a band or just a compilation of solo songs. But Sir Paul McCartney says, "It's great, it sold, it's the bloody Beatles' White Album, shut up." Shutting up, sir.

Update: In its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone ranked this album at #29 and in 2017, it was ranked at #4 on Pitchfork's list of the 200 Best Albums of the 1960s.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone: "it is the best album they have ever released, and only the Beatles are capable of making a better one."
• CashBox: "a lot of the tunes have easy appeal"
• Billboard: "without doubt their most ambitious and impressive effort to date."
• Stereo Review: "as good as ever"
• High Fidelity: "ninety-minute bore"
• Record Mirror (★★★★★): "It is beyond comparison."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #1 (9 weeks between Dec 28, 1968 - March 1, 1969)
• Billboard Pop CD: #1
• CashBox CD chart: #1

Tracks:

Disc 1:

• Back In The USSR ✔
• Dear Prudence ✔
• Glass Onion
• Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da ✔
• Wild Honey Pie ✘
• The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps ✘
• Happiness Is A Warm Gun
• Martha My Dear ✔
• I'm So Tired ✘
• Blackbird ✔
• Piggies ✘
• Rocky Raccoon
• Don't Pass Me By ✘
• Why Don't We Do It In The Road
• I Will ✔
• Julia ✔

Disc 2:

• Birthday
• Yer Blues
• Mother Nature's Son ✔
• Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey ✔
• Sexy Sadie
• Helter Skelter
• Long, Long, Long
• Revolution 1
• Honey Pie
• Savoy Truffle ✔
• Cry Baby Cry ✔
• Revolution 9 ✘
• Good Night

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox,
go visit The Legend of the Longbox.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  A very early CD purchase (late 1989 or early 1990), it was the first double CD I purchased and also the first CDs I had where the plastic insets weren't black (they're white, of course).

My 5th and 6th grade years, I had a music teacher that loved the Beatles and taught us to sing Rocky Raccoon and Bungalow Bill so I knew those songs before I'd ever heard the Beatles' original versions.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Love (2006)
Let It Be... Naked (2003)
Anthology 2 (1996)
Anthology 1 (1995)
1967-1970 (1973)
1962-1966 (1973)
Abbey Road (1969)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Revolver (1966)
Rubber Soul (1965)
Help! (1965)
Please Please Me (1963)

Blog post #1050

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1968)

It doesn't happen very often, but every now and then I get a request for a particular CD. My high school friend Jim requested this one, but it wasn't on my shelves. Since I was familiar with the title and am well aware of its reputation as one of the best albums in pop music history, I decided to add it to the collection. If the request had happened today, I would probably simply stream the album once, brush it off as meandering folk music, and just tell Jim that "it's just not my kind of thing." That would have been a huge mistake.

Based on the album's reputation and Jim's recommendation, I purchased the CD in March 2011 without ever previewing any of the tracks. With high expectations, I gave it a listen and initially thought it was meandering folk music that wasn't my kind of thing. I figured I must have been missing something and told myself that I should listen to the disc several more times before passing judgement. That was a good call; for me, this album was definitely an acquired taste. This is very introspective music, full of heartbreak, made to be listened to in the gloaming. Hard to believe it emerged from the mind of a 23 year old.

Critics always refer to the jazziness of the music, but I'm not hearing that. To me, it's Celtic melodies over simple blues-based chord progressions with painful yet poetic blues lyrics. Folk blues, if you will. The band is sometimes out of tune and not in the pocket, which usually annoys me to no end, but it somehow seems to work here. It's almost like the musicians are shrugging and sharing knowing looks that say "I'll get it right next time, let's keeping jamming, roll the tape." I've been listening to this for 2 years now and I'm still finding new things with every listen. Let's hope that trend continues. Dig in.

Acclaim:

• #2 on the 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made by Mojo Magazine (1995)
• #60 on the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone Magazine (2020)
• #3 on the 100 Best Albums of All Time by the London Times (1993)
• #9 on the album list in the Music of the Millennium poll by the BBC (1998)
• #6 on the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever by Q Magazine (2000).
• #6 on the 100 Greatest Singer-Songwriter Albums of All Time at Amazon.com.
• Listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
• Listed among the All Time 100 Albums by Time Magazine (2010)
• Grammy Hall of Fame (1999)

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart, although Andrew Ford writes, "Astral Weeks will sell as many copies this year as it did in 1968 and has every year in between."

Tracks:  Although nontraditional, this is a song cycle which should be heard from beginning to end, so skipping and shuffling aren't options. Of the 8 songs here, my favorites are the title track, Sweet Thing, Madame George, and Slim Slow Slider which ditches the string accompaniment in favor of tasteful soprano saxophone obbligato.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  None, yet. Remember that I didn't hear the album until 43 years after its release.

[Update, 15 Oct 2013: Ignore everything I wrote above and go read this beautiful piece on Astral Weeks from legendary rock critic Lester Bangs: Astral Weeks by Lester Bangs from "Stranded" (1979)]

Various Artists - The Uplook Records Story (2006)

The crappy liner notes are no help, but I've pieced together that these songs were released on the small Philadelphia soul label in the years 1967-1970. Uplook Records was put together by talent scout and promoter Gene Lawson to showcase lesser known talent who were making waves locally in Philadelphia at that time. For the most part, these are good not great, Philly soul songs, that later became popular in the UK's Northern Soul movement. The gems here are tracks from Charles Mintz and the first singles from a then-unknown Teddy Pendergrass. Considering the fact that 5 of the tracks are various versions of the song I'll Come Running Back, I'm led to believe that these 21 tracks could be the entire Uplook catalog with many of the songs released here for the first time.

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

Tracks:

I bought this for a copy of Charles Mintz singing Since I Found You Girl and, naturally, that turns out to be the best track. Mintz also contributes catchy tracks like Candy Baby, Finders Keepers, and Give A Man A Break. The top Pendergrass track is We Got Love. Other good tracks are Girl I'm At Your Door by Delegates Of Soul and Gotta Tell Somebody (About My Baby) by Tony Talent (who was still a student in jr high school when he recorded it).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  None

Tony Bennett - Snowfall: The Christmas Album (1994)

A reissue of Bennett's 1968 album with the addition of a bonus track. The arrangements swing, Bennett is in excellent voice - what's not to like?

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

Tracks: Even with the bonus track, the CD is only 31 minutes long, so there's not a lot of bang for your buck here. My favorite track is Winter Wonderland - what a great arrangement. Other top tunes are My Favorite Things and White Christmas. The bonus track, I'll Be Home For Christmas, was recorded during a live appearance by Bennett on The Jon Stewart Show, a talk show on MTV from 1993-95. Recorded with a swinging trio, it is one of the better songs on the disc. The clunkers here are track 4, a generic medley of holiday tunes that really needs a big band, and track 5, an original song titled Christmasland. I'm not a fan of the song Snowfall, but with Bennett at the helm, this version is tolerable.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Original 1968 cover artwork:

Mongo Santamaria - Afro-American Latin (2000)

My favorite Afro-Cuban album. The liner notes need little elaboration:

Conguero god Mongo Santamaria's Chango mojo is so profound, so ancient-to-future-spirit-cosmic, so muthafunkin' low/high/wide-you-can't-get-under-over-around-it, that it be its own zeitgeist.

Recorded in studio and live in 1968 & 1969, not released until 2000. Santamaria died in 2003 at the age of 85.

Tracks: My least favorite tune is probably the first track, Obatala, so I usually start on the track 2 when listening to this disc. However, that's the only track I skip. Favorite tracks are Mi Reina Guajira (with a tasty trumpet solo by Lew Soloff), Sheila, and Mama Papa Tu. The award for Best Track Title goes to Naked If You Want To.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Sitting in Jim's backyard (which he had dubbed "Jaime's Cantina") smoking cigars, drinking beer, and listening to this CD.

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison (1968)

Note: this 1999 re-release contains two bonus tracks.

Yes, I bought this CD after watching the 2005 Cash biopic, Walk the Line. What of it? It doesn't mater how I found it, I'm better for experiencing this music. People who blame violence and misogyny on rap music or heavy metal lyrics should hear these lyrics from the '60s. Controversial lyrics are nothing new. Interestingly, this CD does not bear the RIAA's music advisory label (maybe Tipper Gore was a Johnny Cash fan?). But just listen to songs like Folsom Prison Blues or Cocaine Blues and you'll see what I mean. Cash doesn't have the best voice in music, but he has the perfect voice for this music. In the liner notes, Cash calls the convicts "all brothers of mine" and you can hear it in these songs. Even the love songs have a rough edge of loneliness and heartache. I don't have many country albums, but I do have this classic. It's not something I listen to often; I have to be in just the right mood, otherwise it's just too depressing.

Update: In its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone ranked At Folsom Prison at #164 and in 2017, it was ranked at #58 on Pitchfork's list of the 200 Best Albums of the 1960s.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #13
• Billboard Country: #1
• CashBox: #14
• CashBox Country: #1

Tracks: Folsom Prison Blues, Busted, Orange Blossom Special, Jackson, and I Got Stripes are highlights for me.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None