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 | Percy Faith & His Orchestra - Percy Faith's Greatest Hits | |
 | "A Dinosaur As CDs Go" | 2008-10-06 |
| This is one of those early CDs that flooded the market at the dawn of the digital age which simply converted a long-standing vinyl LP to the new format to take advantage of the novelty. Minimal tracks (usually 10 to 12 but some with as few as 8) and a complete lack of liner notes and contents discography were the norm. And this one is no exception. And even as a vinyl LP in the early 1960s the title was totally incorrect because half of the cuts were not among his "greatest hits" - certainly not if you consider a "hit" something that made the national Billboard charts.br /br /Of the six hits that are here, some are among the best of their day, beginning with the opening track. The Theme From "A Summer Place" from the film starring Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee shot to # 1 on the Billboard Pop Hot 100 early in 1960 and spent NINE weeks at that position b/w Go-Go-Po-Go on Columbia 41490. It even made a significant impact on the RB charts, reaching # 2.br /br /Track 3, Till, was among his lesser hits, only managing a # 63 in the spring of 1957 on Columbia 40826 b/w The Last Dance, while Delicado was his initial # 1, hitting that top spot in the spring of 1952 featuring Stan Freeman on the harpsichord on Columbia 39708 b/w Festival. And the very next track, The Song From Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart?), even outdid A Summer Place, spending TEN weeks at # 1 in May/June 1953. featuring the lovely voice of Felicia Sanders on Columbia 39944 b/w Swedish Rhapsody (Midsummer Vigil), which also charted at # 21 (track 12).br /br /All My Love, adapted from the French song Bolero, became the second hit single for the Canadian-born orchestra leader when it reached # 7 in the fall of 1950 on Columbia 38918 b/w This IS The Time. But that's it insofar as his "greatest hits" are concerned when it comes to this release. They Can't Take That Away From Me was released twice without becoming a hit, the first time in 1950 b/w If I Had A Magic Carpet on Columbia 38862, and again in late 1953 as the flip of Non Dimenticar (which also failed to chart by the way) on Columbia 40155.br /br /Other failed singles include Jamaican Rhumba, which also was issued twice in 1952, first on Columbia 39784 b/w Oye Negra, and then on Columbia 39790 b/w Da Du, and Tropical Merengue which was a 1955 release b/w We Won't Say Goodbye on Columbia 40543. The Syncopated Clock WAS a 1951 hit, but for Leroy Anderson as well as The Boston Pops Orchestra. Percy's rendition was the uncharted flip of the # 10 hit On Top Of Old Smoky, with vocal by Burl Ives on Columbia 39328. Similarly, The Rain In Spain, from My Fair Lady, was the uncharted B-side to the # 82 minor hit, With A Little Bit Of Luck (also from My Fair Lady) in summer 1956 on Columbia 40696. Neither of those hits is included.br /br /Other legitimate hits overlooked when the album first came out were: his first, I Cross My Fingers, with vocal by Russ Emery which reached # 20 in July 1950 b/w Valencia on Columbia 38786; Christmas In Killarney with The Shillelagh Singers, a # 28 in December 1950 b/w Norah on Columbia 39048; br /the double-sided hit When The Saints Go March In (# 29) b/w I Want To Be Near You (# 30) on Columbia 39528 in September 1951; Return To Paradise - Parts 1 11, a # 19 in June 1953 on Columbia 39998; Many Times, a # 30 in December 1953 b/w In Love on Columbia 40076; Drea, Dream. Dream - a # 25 in May 1954 b/w Eleanora on Columbia 40185; The Bandit, from the Mexican film O Cangaceiro, a # 25 in October 1954 b/w Rainfall on Columbia 40323; Valley Valparaiso, a # 53 in February 1956 b/w Bluebell on Columbia 40633; We All Need Love, a # 67 in April 1956 b/w Carmellita on Columbia 40644; and Theme For Young Lovers, a # 35 in June 1960 b/w Bimini Goombay on Columbia 41655.br /br /With the advent of the Adult Contemporary charts in late 1961, Percy would go on to add another nine to those charts from 1967 to 1975. He passed away the following year at age 67.br /br /My suggestion would be to look around for more recent compilations which contain most, if not all, his early hits shown above. And if you're interested in knowing what those Adult Contemporary hits were, I have provided a list in the comments section.br /br /br / | ||
![Barry White - The Ultimate Collection [Universal 2000]](product_images/222000/222266_thumb.jpg) | Barry White - The Ultimate Collection [Universal 2000] | |
 | "From Jail At An Early Age To A Musical Hall Of Fame" | 2008-09-12 |
| Barry Eugene White (born Barrence Eugene Carter on September 12, 1944 in Galveston, Texas) rose from a shaky to become one of the acknowledged giants of the industry during the 1970s. His early years were spent living in South Central Los Angeles where, at the age of 10, he became a gang member which, one supposes, was the key to survival then (and now). When he was 17 he went to jail on a 4-month sentence for targeting wheels off of Cadillacs, and while there he credits the turn-around in his life to hearing Elvis Presley sing It's Now Or Never. His first foray into music was as a member of the group The Upfronts who had 5 singles released on the Lumitone label from 1960 to 1964 (none of which charted). He then took his deep bass voice as a solo artist to Atlantic in 1964, and in 1966 recorded as Barry Lee for Downey (Man Ain't Nothin'/I Don't Need It), again without success. After working as the A&R man for a couple of years for two more small labels, he formed an all-female trio he named Love Unlimited in 1969 consisting of sisters Linda and Glodean (whom he would marry in 1974) James and Diane Taylor and, as their manager/producer, watched as their first hit, Walkin' In The Rain With The One I Love, hit # 6 R&B/# 14 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in the spring of 1972 for the Uni label. Barry added his voice to the song as "the man on the telephone." By mid-1973 the group was with 20th Century where they would add 5 more hit singles to 1975 before switching to Unlimited Gold, there adding 4 more to 1980. In the meantime, Barry had organized the 40-piece Love Unlimited Orchestra to back their songs, and from late 1973 to 1977, with Barry conducting, that huge congregation added 7 instrumental hits of their own, including their first, Love's Theme (# 1 Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary (AC)/#10 R&B in December 1973/January 1974) which, some say, ushered in the "disco" sound. The orchestra would also back Barry on many of his solo hits, which kicked in with I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby, a monster # 1 R&B (7 weeks at the top), # 3 Hot 100 and # 27 AC in May/June 1973 on 20th Century. He would add 19 more with that label to 1979, then 11 with Unlimited Gold from 1979 to 1982, and after being off the charts for five years, would have 15 more from 1987 to 1999 for A&M. Qwest, Cold Chillin', Virgin and Private Music. In this great 2-CD package, which has excellent sound reproduction, you get all but one of his 20th Century hits (the missing one is Baby, We Better Try To Get It Together which hit # 29 R&B/# 92 Hot 100 in summer 1976), two from his Unlimited Gold days (It Ain't Love Babe (Until You Give It Up) and Love Makin' Music), four A&M hits (Sho' You Right, Put Me In Your Mix, Practice What You Preach and Come On), nd his last charter from summer 1999 on Private Music, the # 45 R&B Staying Power. Mixed in are three Love Unlimited Orchestra hits - Love's Theme, Satin Soul and My Sweet Summertime Suite. Full details of the contents are contained in the discography in the insert, which also contains four pages of liner notes written by Brian Chin, a well-known dance music/pop chronicler since 1978 for Record World, The Village Voice, Billboard, Record Mirror, Music Business International. the New York Post and London's Music Week. Sadly, after suffering from chronic high blood pressure for years, resulting in kidney failure, Barry passed away on July 4, 2003. A little over a year later, on September 20, 2004, he was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. | ||
 | The Bee Gees, Bee Gees - Number Ones | |
 | "Many Must Have Been Number Ones Somewhere Else" | 2008-09-12 |
| Let's get one thing straight right from the beginning. The 19 tracks included here might have been Number Ones in some part of the world, but just nine (8, 9, 10, 12 and 13 to 17) made it to that pinnacle in North America in terms of the Billboard Pop Hot 100. The fold-out insert contains nothing to elaborate on how or where the others achieved Number One status, not even in the one page of liner notes written by Tim Rice (another page contains a tribute by Barry & Robin "To Mo"), along with a cut-and-paste series of unrelated pictures showing them on early TV sets, street scenes in London and New York, etc. Essentially, a waste of space that could have been better utilized to give us some details on those other tracks. A much better bet is the 2-CD set Bee Gees - Their Greatest Hits - The Record. | ||
 | Genuine Houserockin Christmas | |
| "If This Doesn't Liven Up Your Christmas Party ..." | 2008-08-29 |
| ... then your guests are either Chamber Music enthusiasts ... or they're dead.br /br /Here are 16 tunes performed by artists currently employed by Alligator Records, an independent blues label started up in Chicago in 1971 by one Bruce Iglauer, who began what is now one of the top indie operations on a shoe-strong in 1971. Over the years he has gathered together some of the best contemporary blues artists on the planet, and in this 2003 release they lend their talents to one of the liveliest Christmas-themed albums currently available.br /br /Leading off with her own Have You Heard The News? is the Queen Of The Blues, Ko Ko Taylor (born Cora Walton on September 28, 1935 in Memphis), delivered with her patented rough and powerful voice. She's followed by Carey Bell (born Carey Bell Harrington on November 14, 1936 in Macon, Mississippi) performing his own composition as well, Christmas Train. In addition to the vocals, Carey blows a mean harmonica in the Chicago Blues style he was so famous for before tragically passing away on May 6, 2007. Arkansas-born guitarist/vocalist Michael Burks, a W.C. Handy Award nominee for Best New Artist in 2000, does a nice job on Christmas Snow, while Lil' Ed The Blues Imperials give us a driving rendition of Christmas Time. Born in Chicago on April 4, 1955, vocalist/slide guitarist Ed Williams co-wrote the tune with his bassist James "Pookie" Young and Iglauer.br /br /Next up are Shemekia Copeland (born in New York City on April 10, 1979 and the daughter of vocalist/blues guitarist Johnny Copeland) with her sultry Stay A Little Longer, Santa which she wrote in conjunction with several others, and The Holmes Brothers from Tidewater, Virginia doin the Clarence Carter classic Back Door Santa. Lead vocalist Wendell Holmes, also on guitar and organ and vocalist/bassist Sherman Holmes, are hoined by drummer Popsy Dixon and vocalist/tambourine player Catherine Russell. W. C. Clark (born Wesley Curley Clark on November 15, 1939 in Austin, Texas) is a former member of the Joe Tex band and known, as you will quicky discern from Christmas Party, as the "Godfather of Austin Blues." br /br /The pace picks up considerably with Zydeco Christmas, written and performed by Clayton Joseph Chenier, son of the legendary Clifton Chenier, alternately described as "the crown prince of zydeco" and "the best living zydeco singer and accordionist," and then slows back down with Christmas Day Blues, composed by vocalist/guitarist John Cephas, one half the duo of Cephas Wiggins along with harmonica player Phil Wiggins, who both hail from Washington, D.C. It then picks up again with one of my favourites on the album, Christmas Fais Do Do, done by the writer, and vocalist/pianist extraordinaire Marcia Ball (born March 20, 1949 in Orange, Texas) br /br /Santa Clause (Do You Ever Get The Blues?), written by guitarist Chris Vachon, comes from the large horn-driven band known as Roomful Of Blues, first formed in 1967 in Westerly, Rhode Island by guitarist Duke Robillard and pianist Al Copley. Then comes the driving Really Been Good This Year, written by pianist/vocalist Ann Rabson, one-third of the delightful trio Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women from Washington, D.C. that also includes guitarist/vocalist Gaye Adegbalolo and vocalist.mandolin player Andra Faye. br /br /br /Guitarist/vocalist Lonnie Brooks (born Lee Baker Jr. in Dubuisson, Louisiana on December 18, 1933) performs his own composition, All I Want For Christmas, and on A Bluesman's Christmas, written by Dave Steen we hear the former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Coco Montoya (born Henry Montoya in 1951 in Santa Monica, California). The jump tune, It's Christmas Time Again, written by harmonica player/lead vocalist Rick Estrin, comes to us from Little Charlie the Nightcats, a four-piece combo that includes Estrin, guitarist Little Charlie Baty, drummer Jay Hansen, and bassist Lorenzo Farrell. Closing out the album is guitarist/vocalist Dave Hole, originally from Heswall, Cheshire, England, who performs the self-penned Fattening Up The Turkey.br /br /The sound is excellent and in the fold-out insert you get 8 pages with photos of each artist/group and a list of their back-up musicians. | ||
 | The Jackson 5 - The Ultimate Collection | |
 | "Just Misses The Mark As A Jackson 5 Collection" | 2008-08-23 |
| A search in Music under the heading Ultimate Collection will garner you over 2,000 hits, ranging from Benny Hill and George Formby to 10cc and The Who, and just about everyone in between. Even Motown uses Ultimate Collection on a number of their CDs, but the best of the lot where they are concerned is the series with similar cover art by David Irvin and involving Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Martha (Reeves) & The Vandellas, Jr. Walker & The All Stars, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and Mary Wells. Each has a comprehensive series of background notes and discographies of the contents and usually 25 tracks. This one, also from Motown, is not part of that series, but it's still a pretty decent compilation of the 20 Motown hits registered by The Jackson 5 from late 1969 to 1975, with 3 pages of informative notes written by David Ritz, author of Divided Soul: The Life Of Marvin Gaye (among other works), several more nice shots of the boys, and a discography of the contents. The sound quality is excellent. If there's a fault to be found, it's the inclusion of four solo hits by Michael (tracks 10, 12, 15 and 20) and one by Jermaine (track 13) - all hits to be sure, but their inclusion came at the expense of these legitimate Jackson 5 charters: I Found That Girl, the B-side to the 1970 # 1 Billboard Pop Hot 100/R&B The Love You Save, and considered a "follow-along" hit on both charts; Little Bitty Pretty One, a # 8 R&B and # 13 Hot 100 in May 1972; Corner Of The Sky, a # 9 R&B/# 19 Hot 100 in late 1972 from the Broadway musical Pippin; Hallelujah Day, a # 10 R&B/# 28 Hot 100 in April 1973; Whatever You Got, I Want, a # 3 R&B/# 38 Hot 100 in late 1974; and their final hits at Motown, the two-sided Forever Came Today (# 6 R&B/# 60 Hot 100 in July 1975 and its flip-side, All I Do Is Think Of You, a # 50 R&B on its own. You do get their very first hit for Motown, after coming over from Steeltown Records (no hits there), the two-sided I Want You Back (# 1 R&B for 4 weeks/# 1 Hot 100 for a week in late 1969/early 1970) and its B-side, Who's Loving You?, an R&B "follow-along" hit. Four of their next five were also R&B # 1 hits, starting with ABC, which also spent 4 weeks at the top of the R&B charts and two on the Hot 100 in spring 1970, then followed that summer by the above-mentioned The Love You Save, and in the early fall by I'll Be There (6 weeks at # 1 Hot 100 and 6 R&B, as well as # 24 on the Adult Contemporary charts. In early 1971, Mama's Pearl reached # 2 on both the Hot 100 and R&B charts, and a couple of months later they hit # 1 R&B again with Never Can Say Goodbye (as well as # 2 Hot 100). In late summer 1971, Maybe Tomorrow peaked at # 3 R&B/# 20 Hot 100, and they then closed out a very successful year with Sugar Daddy, which rosew to # 3 R&B/# 10 Hot 100 early in 1972. Summer of that year saw Lookin' Through The Windows top out at # 5 R&B/# 16 Hot 100, and in late summer 1973, Get It Together made it to # 2 R&B/# 28 Hot 100. Dancing Machine then became their last # 1 R&B in spring 1974, and also # 2 Hot 100, and in February 1975, I Am Love (Parts I & II) finished at # 5 R&B/# 15 Hot 100. The following year they moved to Columbia's Epic subsidiary where, from 1976 to 1989, billed as The Jacksons (and with personnel changes), they would add another 15 hit singles. Another, 1987's Time Out For The Burglar from the film Burglar (# 88 R&B in February), was released on MCA, while in 1992, a different version of Who's Loving You, recorded on May 29, 1971 in Gary, Indiana, was a # 48 R&B hit on Motown, again billed as The Jackson 5. A very nice compilation, which includes two album cuts (tracks 5 and 18) and, at track 21, It's Your Thing (The J5 in `95 extended remix). A 5-star edition with those missing J5 hits. | ||
 | Slide Guitar: Bottles Knives & Steel | |
| "The Ones Who Influenced The Greats That Followed" | 2008-08-19 |
| Eternal thanks to Thomas Edison for inventing recording when he did because, had it been delayed for many more years, much of what you hear in this magnificent 1990 release from Sony/Columbia, which presents artists ranging from legends to the virtually unknown, may well have been just a dim memory. Those that fall into the legend category are immediately recognizable, led by the master of the 12-string guitar (he could also play the accordion and concertina, violin, piano, mandolin, and harp or harmonica) Huddie William Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly (or Leadbelly as he is sometimes listed). Born in January, 1888, he left behind an extensive catalogue of Folk standards when he died on December 6, 1949, including this previously-lost version of Packin' Trunk Blues. Another in that vein is Robert Leroy Johnson, born May 8, 1911, a Delta Blues master whose singing, guitar, and song-writing skills influenced so many later arrivals (among them Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Jack White, and Eric Clapton) that, in its first year of existence in 1986, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inducted him in the Early Influence Category (Lead Belly was also so honoured in 1988). Indeed, often called the Grandfather Of Rock `N' Roll, Calpton flat-out called him "the most important blues musician who ever lived" (and he didn't live long, passing away at age 27 on August 16, 1938). One listen to Traveling Riverside Blues and you'll hear why he so highly-regarded. Also in the legend grouping are Tampa Red (You Can't Get That Stuff No More), Bukka White (Bukka's Jitterbug Swing and Special Stream Line), and Son House (Pearline). Hudson Woodbridge, born on January 8, 1904 in Smithville, Georgia, but known from his earliest days as Hudson Whittaker, developed a signature single-string bottleneck approach which, combined with his composing under the name Tampa Red, also had a profound effect on the great Muddy Waters as well as Elmo(re) James, Big Bill Broonzy and Mose Allison. His career lasted much longer as he passed away at age 77 on March 19, 1981. Another who lived to a ripe old age was Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (born on March 21, 1902 and died October 19, 1988) whose strong, repetitive rhythms also influenced many big names that followed, while Bukka White (born Booker T. Washington White on November 12, 1909) passed away at the relatively younf age of 68 on February 26, 1977. A delta blues guitarist and singer (and cousin of B.B. King), his unusual nickname Bukka. resulted from an erroneous spelling of his first name by the Vocalion label back in 1937. At the other end of the spectrum are Barbecue Bob and Sister O.M. Terrell, about whom very little is known. Born Robert Hicks on September 11, 1902, Barbecue Bob took his performing name from his main occupation as a cook and, indeed, one of the few photographs of him around show him decked out in his cook's garb. The un-titled cut presented here, recorded in 1929 (two years before his death on October 21, 1931) sounds very much like Handy's St. Louis Blues - but with different lyrics. As for Sister Ola Mae Terrell, it appears she was a wandering Holy Ghost Preacher who somehow managed six cuts for Columbia in or around 1953 and then disappeared. In between these two extremes are some of the best slide guitar artists ever recorded, including Oscar "Buddy" Woods, aka The Lone Wolf, who not only was one of the driving forces behind the development of the lap steel bottleneck blues slide guitar; but is credited by many historians as THE one who created the genre. These and other details are contained in the six pages of liner notes written by musicologist and author Richard Spottswood (Ethnic Music on Records: A Discography of Ethnic Recordings Produced in the United States, 1893-1942 ), the AAD sound reproduction is excellent, and with the insert you get a discography of the contents. | ||
 | Fabulous Swing Collection | |
| "An Enduring Winner" | 2008-08-11 |
| When this first came out over a decade ago from RCA Victor/BMG it was an instant winner among those Big Band fans starving for some CD material presenting the music of that era in quality AAD sound. Unlike many releases at that time, it even has three paragraphs in the insert describing the usual reception for these renowned groups when their buses rolled into town, along with a re-listing of the generous (for the time) 19 tracks showing recording dates and locations. With so much to choose from in terms of material, I have to agree with those who assigned 5 stars to the tracks presented here, each in its own way representative of the music so popular from 1933 to 1940 (the span covered here). And yes, even to the inclusion of Fletcher Henderson's Mary Had A Little Lamb, a 1936 recording featuring a brief vocal by Teddy Lewis, but some of the best instrumental solos ever put to disc. Really, the title and the lyrics are incidental. The same reviewer who lamented that selection, also had disparaging remarks for the "whitebread" Casa Loma Stomp, only the first of 64 hits for Glen Gray & His Casa Loma Orchestra (named after a famed Toronto nightclub which the band called home for a spell) which hit # 15 in January 1931 (this is a 1933 re-recording), as well as Bunny Berigan's rendition of All God's Chillun Got Rhythm (with vocal by Ruth Bradley). Yes, trying to do that in today's society would go over like a lead balloon - but this was 1937 and that year both Duke Ellington (# 14 instrumental) and Artie Shaw (# 15 with vocal by Tony Pastor) had hits with it. Their inclusion in this historical volume is just fine, thank you very much. As the blurb says on the reverse "Foot-tappin' favorites & jumpin' jitterbugs from the Fabulous Swing Era! Over 64 minutes of the swingin'est singles ever!" And at a pretty decent price I might add. | ||
 | Booker T. & the MG's - The Very Best of Booker T. & the MG's | |
| "From Studio Session Musicians To The R&R Hall Of Fame" | 2008-07-30 |
| This 1994 release from Atlantic/Wea remains the top single disc anthology of the best of this Memphis instrumental group (MG stands for Memphis Group) with its excellent sound reproduction, four pages of background notes written by noted producer Steve Greenberg, and complete contents discography. The interracial band featured Stax Records sessionmen Booker T. Jones, a keyboardist, guitarist Steve Cropper. bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn and drummer Al Jackson, Jr. Prior to forming up, Jones had played in a band with Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, while Dunn and Cropper had been members of The Mar-Keys. Their first hit single, the compelling Green Onions, co-written by Jones, Cropper and Jackson, was a monster # 1 R&B (for 4 weeks) and # 3 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in late summer 1962 on Stax 127 (after having first been released on the subsidiary Volt 102 and, as is so quite often the case following such an auspicious debut, they were hard-pressed to get back to those heights, as witnessed by the mediocre performance of Jellybread, which struggled to a # 82 Hot 100 in late 1962/early 1963 and was shut out on the R&B charts(and is omitted here). The next charter, again written by the same three, didn't fare much better as the best Chinese Checkers could do was a # 78 Hot 100 in August 1963. By early 1964, and desperate for another attention-grabbing hit, the trio went back to the beginning with Mo' Onions - and watched as it barely made the Hot 100 at # 97 in February. Since Billboard had also suspended the R&B charts from late 1963 and through all of 1964, it's performance there (also # 97) was assigned later for "historical" purposes. Nor did it get much better with Soul Dressing which peaked at # 95 in August although, to be fair, they were competing for air- jukebox play with the many elements of the British Invasion. But the fact is, they would only score two more Hot 100 Top 10 hits (Hang 'Em High, a # 9 in late 1968/early 1969 from the Clint Eastwood film, which also charted at # 35 R&B and # 39 Adult Contemporary [AC], and Time Is Tight, a # 6 in spring 1969 from the film Up Tight, which also made # 7 R&B and # 9 AC). Four others made Top 40: Hip Hug-Her (# 37 in spring 1967, and # 6 R&B); a cover of The Young Rascals' Groovin' (# 21 in late summer 1967, as well as # 10 R&B -the flipside, Slim Jenkin's Place, made it to # 70 Hot 100, thereby becoming their only two-sided hit); Soul-Limbo (# 17 in summer 1968 and # 7 R&B and # 32 AC); and a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson, from The Graduate (# 37 in July 1969, and # 20 AC/# 35 R&B). Most of their hits are here, except for Jellybread (mentioned above), Jingle Bells (a # 20 Billboard Christmas Charts hit in 1966, their cover of The Beatles' Something (# 38 AC/# 76 Hot 100 in summer 1970, and Sticky Stuff (# 68 R&B in 1977). Others left out are Sugarcane, a # 67 R&B in summer 1973 billed to simply The M.G.'s, and two billed just to Booker T. - Evergreen - # 25 AC in late 1974, and I Want You - # 35 R&B in late 1981. On many of their recordings featuring horns the artists are Joe Arnold, Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love, while Isaac Hayes plays piano on several. Jones, married to Priscilla Coolidge, Rita's sister, graduated from Indiana University with a music degree and served extensively as a producer for Rita, Bill Withers and Willie Nelson. Drummer Jackson was murdered on October 1, 1975 at age 39, replaced by Willie Hall. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1992. Just a perfect, comprehensive single-disc compilation of their very best. | ||
| Booker T. & the MG's - The Very Best of Booker T. & the MG's | |
| "From Studio Session Musicians To The RR Hall Of Fame" | 2008-07-30 |
| This 1994 release from Atlantic/Wea remains the top single disc anthology of the best of this Memphis instrumental group (MG stands for Memphis Group) with its excellent sound reproduction, four pages of background notes written by noted producer Steve Greenberg, and complete contents discography.br /br /The interracial band featured Stax Records sessionmen Booker T. Jones, a keyboardist, guitarist Steve Cropper. bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn and drummer Al Jackson, Jr. Prior to forming up, Jones had played in a band with Maurice White of Earth, Wind Fire, while Dunn and Cropper had been members of The Mar-Keys.br /br /Their first hit single, the compelling Green Onions, co-written by Jones, Cropper and Jackson, was a monster # 1 RB (for 4 weeks) and # 3 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in late summer 1962 on Stax 127 (after having first been released on the subsidiary Volt 102 and, as is so quite often the case following such an auspicious debut, they were hard-pressed to get back to those heights, as witnessed by the mediocre performance of Jellybread, which struggled to a # 82 Hot 100 in late 1962/early 1963 and was shut out on the RB charts(and is omitted here).br /br /The next charter, again written by the same three, didn't fare much better as the best Chinese Checkers could do was a # 78 Hot 100 in August 1963. By early 1964, and desperate for another attention-grabbing hit, the trio went back to the beginning with Mo' Onions - and watched as it barely made the Hot 100 at # 97 in February. Since Billboard had also suspended the RB charts from late 1963 and through all of 1964, it's performance there (also # 97) was assigned later for "historical" purposes. Nor did it get much better with Soul Dressing which peaked at # 95 in August although, to be fair, they were competing for air- jukebox play with the many elements of the British Invasion.br /br /But the fact is, they would only score two more Hot 100 Top 10 hits (Hang 'Em High, a # 9 in late 1968/early 1969 from the Clint Eastwood film, which also charted at # 35 RB and # 39 Adult Contemporary [AC], and Time Is Tight, a # 6 in spring 1969 from the film Up Tight, which also made # 7 RB and # 9 AC). Four others made Top 40: Hip Hug-Her (# 37 in spring 1967, and # 6 RB); a cover of The Young Rascals' Groovin' (# 21 in late summer 1967, as well as # 10 RB -the flipside, Slim Jenkin's Place, made it to # 70 Hot 100, thereby becoming their only two-sided hit); Soul-Limbo (# 17 in summer 1968 and # 7 RB and # 32 AC); and a cover of Simon Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson, from The Graduate (# 37 in July 1969, and # 20 AC/# 35 RB).br /br /Most of their hits are here, except for Jellybread (mentioned above), Jingle Bells (a # 20 Billboard Christmas Charts hit in 1966, their cover of The Beatles' Something (# 38 AC/# 76 Hot 100 in summer 1970, and Sticky Stuff (# 68 RB in 1977). Others left out are Sugarcane, a # 67 RB in summer 1973 billed to simply The M.G.'s, and two billed just to Booker T. - Evergreen - # 25 AC in late 1974, and I Want You - # 35 RB in late 1981.br /br /On many of their recordings featuring horns the artists are Joe Arnold, Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love, while Isaac Hayes plays piano on several. Jones, married to Priscilla Coolidge, Rita's sister, graduated from Indiana University with a music degree and served extensively as a producer for Rita, Bill Withers and Willie Nelson. Drummer Jackson was murdered on October 1, 1975 at age 39, replaced by Willie Hall. They were inducted into the Rock Roll Hall Of Fame in 1992.br /br /Just a perfect, comprehensive single-disc compilation of their very best. br /br / | ||
 | Flatt & Scruggs - The Essential Flatt & Scruggs: 'Tis Sweet To Be Remembered | |
| "Bluegrass Legendary Originals" | 2008-07-29 |
| Back in the mid-1940s, when Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys were just about the only well-known purveyors of music with deep roots in the traditional music brought over by Irish, Scottish and English immigrants, it was lumped in with "Hillbilly" or "Folk" - terms applied then to what became known as Country & Western and then simply Country. In 1944 Monroe added guitarist/vocalist Lester Flatt and a banjo player who played that instrument with a three-finger roll developed by Appalachian musicians Rex Brooks, Smith Hammett and Snuffy Jenkins. And, just as the unique brand of music would become split off from mainstream Folk/C&W to become known as Bluegrass, after the name of Monroe's band, so too would the Earl Scruggs brand of picking become labeled the "Scruggs Style." In 1948 Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe to form The Foggy Mountain Boys, and it was this band that really brought Bluegrass, always a very popular but local taste, to new national attention. A recording contract with one of the giants of the industry, Mercury, failed to produce a national hit, nor did a subsequent deal with another giant, Columbia, pay immediate dividends. But that would change as the decade of the 1950s drew to a close. In this magnificent 2-CD set, the first disc concentrates on some of their earliest releases from 1950 to 1959, only two of which made it into the national charts; `Tis Sweet To Be Remembered, which reached # 9 in February 1952 on what passed then as the Country charts, first introduced in 1944 (the B-side to that first hit, Earl's Breakdown, is also here); and Cabin In The Hills (also # 9 in the summer of 1959 b/w Someone You Have Forgotten (not here). Early in 1960 they followed that with Crying My Heart Out Over You, a # 21 b/w Foggy Mountain Rock (also omitted). Mixed with these hits are 11 other Columbia singles that, while enjoying local popularity, never made the national charts, along with two previously-unreleased tracks (8 and 14). One of the failed cuts, Shuckin' The Corn (Columbia 40853 in 1957) would later be re-released in late 1960 as the B-side to Polka On A Banjo (# 12 in January 1961 on Columbia 41786). With one exception (track 9 - previously unreleased), every cut on disc 2 was a national hit, with tracks 4 to 13 in stereo: Go Home - # 10 in late 1961; Just Ain't - # 15 in April/May 1962; The Legend Of The Johnson Boys - # 27 in June 1962; The Ballad Of Jed Clampett - their only # 1 which also crossed over to the Billboard Pop Hot 100 at # 44, the theme from the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies; Pearl, Pearl, Pearl - # 8 and # 113 Hot 100 "Bubble Under" also from that series and inspired by Bea Banaderet's character, Cousin Pearl; New York Town - # 26 in October 1963; You Are My Flower - # 12 in spring 1964, and its B-side, My Saro Jane, # 40. All their hits to this point were billed as Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & The Foffy Mountain Boys. With their next hit in late spring of 1964, Petticoat Junction (from the TV series - # 14) the billing changed to simply Kester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, and that would carry over to these following hits: Workin' It Out - # 21 in September 1964; I Still Miss Someone - # 43 early 1965 cover of a 1959 Johnny Cash B-side (to Don't Take Your Guns To Town); Nashville Cats - # 54 in May 1967 and a # 8 Hot 100 that year for The Lovin' Spoonful; and the hilarious California Uptight Band - # 20 in August 1967. For their last three hit singles, they would be billed as Flatt & Scruggs: Down In The Flood - # 45 in February 1968, and its B-side, Foggy Mountain Breakdown - # 58 Country and a # 55 Hot 100 cross-over from the film Bonnie & Clyde. It's interesting to note here that, when the film's producers used the original December 11, 1949 Mercury release for the movie soundtrack, and it was released as Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Columbia had them re-record it and it came out on Columbia 44380 as The Theme From Bonnie & Clyde. The chart performances apply to both versions. The sound is excellent, and with the insert are five pages of background notes written by Patrick Carr, columnist for Country Music magazine, and editor of The Illustrated History Of Country Music (another two interesting paragraphs appear on the reverse), as well as a listing of the tracks showing recording dates and label details (but no chart information, which I have provided above). If only all Sony "Essential" albums were handled this well. | ||
 | Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac: Greatest Hits | |
| "Some Are Clearly Easy To Please - Some Others Far Too Critical" | 2008-07-19 |
| Glancing through the 100 reviews (so far) on this item, it's obvious that those who are devoted fans of Fleetwood Mac are ready to accept anything sent their way without questioning the title of the album, and hence assign 5 stars, while some others tend to be a little too critical. The only 1-star review was given that assessment because the customer got the wrong CD in the mail! Sort of defeats the purpose of the system wouldn't you say? Another assigns 2, lamenting the lack of their "hits and great songs from 1967-1974" while another claims that "the only good song is Tusk ... the rest of it is fluff." I tend to agree with most that give it 3 stars and for much the same reasons. First of all, the two pages of liner notes, written in 1988 by Stephen Davis, are rather "lame" - as one reviewer accurately puts it - focusing not on the "greatest hits" aspect of their career but rather on the goings-on at a 1988 concert a Wembley Stadium in London! As for the contents, to be fair they did do a somewhat decent job of covering their "greatest hits" if you keep in mind that, to most out there, a "hit" denotes the Billboard Pop Hot 100 singles that got them heard on radio/TV, in juke boxes, and sold as 45 rpm singles at record shops (or perhaps those that made the Adult Contemporary (AC), R&B, and Country charts, depending upon the genre and artist). And since their first big such hit didn't come until late 1975's Over My Head (# 20 Hot 100/# 32 AC), I'd say this 1988 release does a fair job of presenting their other 21 hits that followed to that point. One track - No Questions Asked - is misplaced in a volume so titled since it never was either a "hit" or the B-side to one. They also omit a minor hit (# 55 Hot 100) that came out on Reprise 0883 in early 1970, which is too bad really because that WAS their first charted single, with Part 1 of Oh Well becoming the hit side. It was primarily an instrumental culled from their album Then Play On, containing about 20 seconds of vocal over close to 9 minutes, counting both sides. Their first four hits, in fact, were on Frank Sinatra's Reprise label, the others being Over My Head (mentioned above) - which emerged over five years after Oh Well - along with Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win) and Say You Love Me (respectively, # 11 Hot 100/# 33 AC in Spring 1976 and # 11 Hot 100/# 12 AC in late summer 1976). They also leave out three straight charters from 1980/81, the first being Think About Me (# 20 Hot 100/# 39 AC in spring 1980), Sisters Of The Moon (# 86 Hot 100 in June 1980), and Fireflies (a live recording that hit # 60 Hot 100 in March 1981). As with Sara (# 7 Hot 100/# 13 AC in late 1979/early 1980) and Tusk (# 8 Hot 100 in late 1979, recorded at Dodger Stadium with The USC Trojans Marching Band), both Think About Me and Sisters Of The Moon were culled from the album also titled Tusk. Other omissions are: Love In Store (# 11 AC/# 22 Hot 100 in late 1982), Oh Diane (# 35 AC in May 1983), Seven Wonders (# 13 AC/# 19 Hot 100 in summer 1987), and Family Man (# 23 AC/# 90 Hot 100 in April 1988). These, along with Big Love (# 5 Hot 100/# 23 AC in spring 1987), Little Lies (# 1 AC for 4 weeks/# 4 Hot 100 in late summer 1987), and Everywhere (# 1 AC for 3 weeks/# 14 Hot 100 in late 1987) were all taken from their album Tango In The Night. All their hits after Say You Love Me came out on the Warner label and, as the years wore on, and the personnel changed, they became much more popular on the Adult Contemporary, or Easy Listening, charts than on the mainstream Hot 100. In fact, they would have three AC # 1's (the two mentioned above plus As Long As You Follow, which registered late in 1988), but it could only manage a # 43 Hot 100. Their one Hot 100 # 1 was Dreams in May/June 1977, and it also made it to # 11 AC. The so-called "classic lineup" of Fleetwood Mac consisted of drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, vocalist/keyboardist Christine McVie, guitarist/vocalist Lindsey Buckingham, and vocalist Stevie Nicks, and this is the gathering that was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1988. You don't get in there by doing "fluff." | ||
 | ABBA - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of ABBA | |
| "One Of The Better In The Series From Universal" | 2008-07-18 |
| Owning some 70 to 75% of the Pop hits to have come out in recording history, the so-called Big Four of music distributors (Universal, Sony/BMG, Warner and EMI) held the attitude, with the advent of the CD Age a couple of decades back, that all they had to do was toss out 10- to 12-track CDs, often with the same tracks over and over and, with the right promotion, the public would rush out to buy them, even at the inflated prices (for what you got) being asked. Such was the case with the 20th Century Masters Millenium Collection that seemed to be everywhere in 2000. Often sub-titled "The Best Of" whichever artist was being presented, they would give you 11 or 12 tracks (there never seemed to be any consistency in that regard) which, more often than not, included cuts that were nowhere near as big hits as some left out of the volume. Accompanying each disc was an insert containing a couple of pages of liner notes (in this case written by Joseph F. Laredo), but never a proper discography of the contents. Every now and then, however, you'd come across one that did indeed give you the best of the artist concerned, especially if there were just around a dozen hits to begin with. As is the case with Abba, the Swedish group that burst onto the North American scene in 1974 with Waterloo (billed to "Abba [Bjorn, Benny, Anna & Frida]" by the Atlantic label), a # 6 on the Billboard Pop Hot 100 that summer. By the time of their last hit here in 1983 (One Of Us), they had chalked up 21 hits in all, and here, with two exceptions, you get the best 11 (six of their hits never made it into the Hot 100 Top 50). One of the exceptions is Honey, Honey, their second North American hit, which scored at # 27 on both the Adult Contemporary (AC) and Hot 100 in the fall of 1974, while the other is Does Your Mother Know, a # 19 Hot 100/# 41 AC in June 1979. Either one of those as a 12th track (thereby becoming consistent with many of the others in the series containing an even dozen), would have been appreciated. The # 1 hits here are: Dancing Queen (# 1 Hot 100/# 6 AC in late 1976/early 1977); Fernando (# 1 AC/# 13 Hot 100 in the fall of 1976); and The Winner Takes It All (# 1 AC/# 8 Hot 100 in late 1980). As for the remainder, Take A Chance on Me finished at # 3 Hot 100/# 9 AC in May/June 1978, Knowing Me, Knowing You at # 7 AC/# 14 Hot 100 in June 1977, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do ended up at # 8 AC/# 15 Hot 100 in spring 1976, SOS peaked at # 15 Hot 100/# 19 AC in late 1975, Mamma Mia topped out at # 12 AC/# 32 Hot 100 in summer 1976, and Chiquitita scored at # 15 AC/# 29 Hot 100 in late 1979/early 1980. An oddity is that SOS is the only charted hit where both the song title and the artist are palindromes (even taking into account the reverse "B" which, by the way, only appeared with the release of their 8th hit here, Knowing Me, Knowing You, and remained thereafter). Like just about all in the series, they have long since been eclipsed by volumes produced in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe which not only contain upwards of 30 tracks, but also copious liner notes and complete contents discographies and even sessionographies in many cases. And for not all that much more than you were expected to pay for these when they first emerged. | ||
![Charlie Rich - Behind Closed Doors [Bonus Tracks]](product_images/1249000/1249996_thumb.jpg) | Charlie Rich - Behind Closed Doors [Bonus Tracks] | |
| "A Platinum LP Digitally Re-Mastered - With Bonus Tracks" | 2008-07-18 |
| When the original LP Behind Closed Doors (tracks 1 to 11) came out in 1973 on Epic 32247 it rose to # 8 on album charts and soon received Gold certification, eventually reaching Platinum in November 1986 as sales remained steady throughout the years. This CD version, which was released in 2001, added four bonus tracks, with excellent sound reproduction, the original album sleeve notes written by Bob Tubert, a new introductory note written by Raul Malo in July 2000, and three new background pages from Chet Flippo, written in October 2000. This is one of those gems that graced the musical library of just about every Charlie Rich fan 35 years ago, and should be a welcome addition to anyone's collection, whether a fan of Country or not because, if there was one thing they could never do with The Silver Fox was pigeon-hole him in any one category. On the Billboard Pop Hot 100 charts his music appeared 13 times from 1960 to 1976, including the # 1 The Most Beautiful Girl in the fall of 1973, which also just happened to hit # 1 on both the Adult Contemporary (AC) AND the Country charts. The AC charts are dotted with 16 more of his songs, including three more # 1 hits - A Very Special Love Song, I Love My Friend, and Every Time You Touch Me (I Get High). As for the Country listings, there he registered 45 hits from 1968 to 1981, including NINE # 1's, seven more Top 10's and another ten Top 30s. Then, of course, there are the many fine albums. On his induction into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1993, Willie Nelson quipped "I always thought you had to die to get in here." Well, here we are some 13 years after Charlie's untimely death at age 62 on July 25, 1995, STILL waiting for him to be honoured by those supercilious twits. | ||
 | John Denver - Best of | |
| "Pleasant John Denver Performances - But NOT The Originals Of His "Best"" | 2008-07-18 |
| One thing you have to be wary of whenever you see a volume from Madacy, based in St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada is that, more often than not, what they are presenting as someone's "best" is actually re-recordings of some of their biggest hits. This one, despite the connection to EMI-Capitol, is no exception. It was recorded at 16th Avenue Sound in Nashville the year before his untimely death on October 12, 1997 at age 53 in an airplane accident. So, don't expect to hear Placido Domingo on the 1982 hit Perhaps Love (or even the John Denver solo version from his 1982 LP Seasons Of The Heart), or Sylvie Vartan on the 1984 hit Love Again. Nor do Fat City (Bill Danoff and Terry Nivert) of The Starland Express Band back him on Take Me Home Country Roads. Not horrible recordings by any means - but these types of CDs need to be better advertised as re-makes, especially if ordering on-line as there you never get to see the "fine print." | ||
 | Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly | |
| "CD Version Of A 1973 Atlantic LP" | 2008-07-14 |
| When this album came out in August 1973 as Atlantic 19154 it quickly became a best-seller, containing two songs that were also hit singles, albeit slightly different from the LP versions heard here. The first was Killing Me Softly With His Song, inspired by the effect a Don McLean performance had on singer/songwriter Lori Lieberman (although it was written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox), which peaked at # 1 Billboard Pop Hot 100 and # 2 on each of the R&B and Adult Contemporary (AC) charts early in 1973. The other is Jesse, written by Janis Ian, which finished at # 3 AC/# 19 R&B/# 30 Hot 100 in October 1973 b/w No Tears (In The End), which is also included here. In 1995, at the dawning of the CD age, it was common for the big U.S. distributors such as Sony and Universal to digitally remaster many of the top vinyl albums and, as a consequence, the market was flooded with 8- to 12-track CDs, which also carried a hefty price at the time. Most have dropped considerably in that regard (including this one) as competition from distributors in the U.K. and other parts of Europe (where they have different copyright laws) entered the market. These, invariably, often have upwards of 28 tracks with vastly-improved sound reproduction techniques employed, AND copious liner notes and discographies. This one has absolutely nothing in the way of informative notes but, if what you're looking for is merely a quality replacement for that old LP then by all means this will fill the bill, and at a reasonable cost. Otherwise, search around for more recent Roberta Flack compilations that will give you these and many more of her biggest numbers. | ||
 | Al Green - Al Green - Greatest Hits | |
| "Most Of His Greatest Hits With Hi Records" | 2008-07-13 |
| Al Green, born on April 13, 1946 in Forrest City, Arkansas, began his long road to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame (inducted in 1995) by singing gospel as part of the Greene Brothers before relocating to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1959, and landing with the Fargo label in 1960 at age 14. In 1964 he joined The Creations and remained with that group through to 1967, and from 1967 into 1968 became part of The Soul Mates with brother Robert and Lee Virgins. Late in 1967 he scored his first hit single for Hot Line Records when Back Up Train began its climb to # 5 R&B/# 41 Billboard Pop Hot 100 early in 1968 b/w Don't Leave Me, billed to Al Greene & The Soul Mate's (sic). He then went solo, at first cutting sides with Bell Records before settling in at Hi Records, where his initial hit there came in early 1970 with You Say It (# 28 R&B b/w Gotta Find A New World). In July 1970 he returned to the R&B charts with Right Now, Right Now, a # 23 b/w All Because (I'm A Foolish One). Unfortunately, none of these tracks are included here. Then, late in 1970, he had his first cross-over hit with Hi when I Can't Get Next To You finished at # 11 R&B and # 60 Hot 100 b/w Ride Sally Ride, only to be followed by the disappointing finish of Driving Wheel in spring 1971 which stalled at # 46 R&B/# 115 Hot 100 "bubble under" b/w True Love (neither included here). But that summer he really began to be noticed when Tired Of Being Alone peaked at # 7 R&B/# 11 Hot 100 b/w Get Back Baby, followed in December by his huge hit, Let's Stay Together which not only made it to # 1 on both the Hot 100 and R&B charts, but also dented the Adult Contemporary charts at # 36 b/w Tomorrow's Dream. In the spring of 1972, Look What You Done For Me made it to # 2 R&B/# 4 Hot 100 b/w La-La For You, and that summer he had his second # 1 R&B hit when I'm Still In Love With You reached that spot as well as # 3 Hot 100 and # 33 AC b/w Old Time Lovin'. On the heels of that, Bell released a side he had cut there in 1967, Guilty, and it finished at # 29 R&B/# 69 Hot 100 in October b/w Let Me Help You (neither is here). The following month the Hi release, You Ought To Be With Me, started its climb to # 1 R&B/# 3 Hot 100/# 28 AC b/w What Is This Feeling? In the first part of 1973 he had two straight # 2 R&B/# 10 Hot 100 hits for Hi with Call Me (Come Back Home) b/w What A Wonderful Thing Love Is, and Here I Am (Come And Take Me) b/w I'm Glad You're Mine. In that same early period, Bell again released a side cut there in 1967, Hot Wire, which stalled at # 71 Hot 100 b/w Don't Leave Me in February. Late that year had his fourth R&B # 1 with Livin' For You, which also reached # 19 Hot 100 b/w It Ain't No Fun To Me. 1974 produced two hits, Let's Get Married (# 3 R&B/# 32 Hot 100 in April/May b/w So Good To Be Here), and Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy), which finished at # 2 R&B/# 7 Hot 100/# 28 AC in November b/w School Days. He then kicked off 1975 with his fifth R&B # 1, L-O-V-E (Love) which also reached # 13 Hot 100 b/w I Wish You Were Here, and that summer had Oh Me, Oh My (Dreams In My Arms) finish at # 7 R&B/# 48 Hot 100 b/w Strong As Death (Sweet As Love) - neither included here). But his sixth # 1 R&B is here, Full Of Fire, which also made it to # 28 Hot 100 in December 1975 b/w Could I Be The One? This Right Stuff release of a 1972 Hi album with added bonus tracks then skips over his next three Hi hits (Let It Shine - # 16 R&B in June 1976 b/w There's No Way and Keep Me Cryin' - # 4 R&B/# 37 Hot 100 b/w There Is Love - both from 1976, and I Tried To Tell Myself - # 26 R&B/# 101 Hot 100 "bubble under" in early 1977), before providing the minor hit Love And Happiness (# 82 R&B/# 104 Hot 100 "bubble under" in August 1977 b/w Glory, Glory, and Belle (# 9 R&B/# 83 Hot 100 late in 1977 b/w Chariots Of Fire. Al would add three more hits with Hi in 1978/79 before disappearing from the charts to return to his gospel roots, returning in 1987 with A&M where he added four hits to 1990, one in 1991 with RCA Victor, and his last in late 1995 with MCA. The sound quality is excellent, and with the insert you get a discography of the contents, although there are no liner notes, just a few more shots of Al performing. | ||
![Tony Bennett - The Ultimate Tony Bennett [2000]](product_images/216000/216609_thumb.jpg) | Tony Bennett - The Ultimate Tony Bennett [2000] | |
| "You Can't DO An "Ultimate" Tony Bennett Single CD" | 2008-07-13 |
| With all due respect to the people involved with the production of this 2000 Sony release (Didier C. Deutsch, Darcy M. Proper, Danny Bennett and Steve Berkowitz), not to mention Tony himself, it's really quite impossible to come with a definitive single 20-track CD "ultimate" compilation for a man who racked up some 67 hit singles from his first in 1951 (Because Of You - # 1 for TEN weeks that summer) to his last in 1976 (As Time Goes By - # 28 Adult Contemporary early that spring). Never mind his many albums. The insert explains the choices of the tracks this way: "With a career spanning five decades, over 50 million records sold, and nine Grammy Awards to his credit, this collection of standards, many of which Tony introduced, were hand-picked by the artist himself. This is truly a definitive compilation that is not only a tribute to Tony's musical legacy, but also a comprehensive testimony to his contribution to the Great American Songbook." Can't very well dispute that, but it's just that those of us who grew up alongside this remarkable vocalist likely have so many more Tony Bennett offerings we could argue should have been included. The sound reproduction is immaculate, with the rest of the 10-page insert taken up by a partial discography of the contents (no chart details), and captioned photos of a young 18-year-old Tony in Astoria, Queens, a shot with Ralph Sharon, listening to the playback of I Left My Heart In San Francisco, a poster of his first concert in 1962 - at Carnegie Hall no less, a shot of him singing with the Count Basie orchestra and another with the Count himself at the piano, a similar one with Ray Charles, a small pic with Bill Evans, eating hot dogs at Nathan's with Frank Sinatra, a shot with Duke Ellington, another with Zoot Simms, one with Judy Garland, one with the Ralph Sharon Quartet, a candid shot of his son Danny working with Joel Moss, and another which came with the inscription: For Tony - The best g.d. pop singer I've ever heard - I love ya - (signed) Frank Sinatra. But my favourite is the one with Louis Armstrong, taken when Tony presented Satchmo with a portrait he had painted (he's quite the artist too). The caption reads: I gave this painting to Louis in the '70's in London. He said 'You out-Rembrandt Rembrandt.' Later, back home, he hung it over his desk in Queens, N.Y. Someone asked him who painted that and he replied 'A boy from my meighborhood.' | ||
 | Carpenters - Singles 1969-73 | |
| "OK In Its Day - But A More Comprehensive Compilation Needed Now" | 2008-07-13 |
| When this was released in 1999 as a digitalized version of the original A&M 1973 vinyl album, a 12-track release was pretty much the norm. And, in its original format, the LP did almost live up to the billing of "The Singles" insofar as the hits for this brother/sister act were concerned to that point. I say almost, because they did omit two legitimate hit singles from that period: Merry Christmas Darling, which hit # 3 on the Billboard Christmas charts in December 1970, and Bless The Beasts And Children which, as the B-side to the hit Superstar (# 1 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 2 Billboard Pop Hot 100), itself made it to # 26 AC/# 67 Hot 100 in mid-1971. But this now needs an upgrade because, after 1973, they added another 15 Hot 100 hits, including one more # 1, and 19 more to the AC charts, including 7 more # 1's (they had 15 # 1 AC hits in all, and 8 more that made the Top 10). Some liner notes would also be welcome as the insert contains only the lyrics to the 12 tracks, nor does it have a discography of the contents.The one additional photo of the duo is also extremely fuzzy. For the record, here is a discography of the contents, given in the order the hits appeared: Ticket To Ride - # 19 AC/# 54 Hot 100 late 1969/early 1970 on A&M 1142; (They Long To Be) Close To You - # 1 AC for 6 weeks/# 1 Hot 100 for 4 weeks summer 1970 on A&M 1183; We've Only Just Begun - # 1 AC for 7 weeks/# 2 Hot 100 fall 1970 on A&M 1217; For All We Know - # 1 AC for 3 weeks/# 3 Hot 100 early spring 1971 on A&M 1243; Rainy Days And Mondays - # 1 AC for 4 weeks/# 2 Hot 100 June 1971 on A&M 1260; Superstar (see above); Hurting Each Other - # 1 AC for 2 weeks/# 2 Hot 100 early spring 1072 on A&M 1322; It's Going To Take Some Time - # 2 AC/# 12 Hot 100 May/June 1972 on A&M 1351; Goodbye To Love - # 2 AC/# 7 Hot 100 later summer 1972 on A&M 1367; Sing - # 1 AC for 2 weeks/# 3 Hot 100 spring 1973 on A&M 1413; Yesterday Once More - # 1 AC for 3 weeks/# 2 Hot 100 summer 1973 on A&M 1446; and Top Of The World - # 2 AC/# 1 Hot 100 for 2 weeks in fall 1973 on A&M 1468. | ||
 | Tony Bennett - Ultimate Tony | |
| "You Can't DO An "Ultimate" Tony Bennett Single CD" | 2008-07-13 |
| With all due respect to the people involved with the production of this 2000 Sony release (Didier C. Deutsch, Darcy M. Proper, Danny Bennett and Steve Berkowitz), not to mention Tony himself, it's really quite impossible to come with a definitive single 20-track CD "ultimate" compilation for a man who racked up some 67 hit singles from his first in 1951 (Because Of You - # 1 for TEN weeks that summer) to his last in 1976 (As Time Goes By - # 28 Adult Contemporary early that spring). Never mind his many albums. The insert explains the choices of the tracks this way: "With a career spanning five decades, over 50 million records sold, and nine Grammy Awards to his credit, this collection of standards, many of which Tony introduced, were hand-picked by the artist himself. This is truly a definitive compilation that is not only a tribute to Tony's musical legacy, but also a comprehensive testimony to his contribution to the Great American Songbook." Can't very well dispute that, but it's just that those of us who grew up alongside this remarkable vocalist likely have so many more Tony Bennett offerings we could argue should have been included. The sound reproduction is immaculate, with the rest of the 10-page insert taken up by a partial discography of the contents (no chart details), and captioned photos of a young 18-year-old Tony in Astoria, Queens, a shot with Ralph Sharon, listening to the playback of I Left My Heart In San Francisco, a poster of his first concert in 1962 - at Carnegie Hall no less, a shot of him singing with the Count Basie orchestra and another with the Count himself at the piano, a similar one with Ray Charles, a small pic with Bill Evans, eating hot dogs at Nathan's with Frank Sinatra, a shot with Duke Ellington, another with Zoot Simms, one with Judy Garland, one with the Ralph Sharon Quartet, a candid shot of his son Danny working with Joel Moss, and another which came with the inscription: For Tony - The best g.d. pop singer I've ever heard - I love ya - (signed) Frank Sinatra. But my favourite is the one with Louis Armstrong, taken when Tony presented Satchmo with a portrait he had painted (he's quite the artist too). The caption reads: I gave this painting to Louis in the '70's in London. He said 'You out-Rembrandt Rembrandt.' Later, back home, he hung it over his desk in Queens, N.Y. Someone asked him who painted that and he replied 'A boy from my meighborhood.' | ||
 | Don Ho - Don Ho - Greatest Hits | |
| "A True One-Hit Wonder ... But Why Remains A Mystery" | 2008-07-12 |
| When putting out multi-artist compilations covering "one-hit wonders" many producers take liberty with the term to include some who, although maybe having just the one big hit to their credit, also had one or more other charters, whether low on the Billboard Pop Hot 100, or perhaps scoring on the Adult Contemporary (AC) - or Easy Listening - charts, or even the Country and R&B listings. Donald Tai Loy Ho, born April 13, 1930 in Hawaii, and former jet fighter pilot with the USAF, could only garner one national hit although, to be fair, he was more inclined to album work than single releases. In fact, after becoming popular at Duke Kahanamakui's club in Waikiki (Duke's appropriately enough), he landed a recording contract with Frank Sinatra's Reprise label and had turned out two LPs before registering his first and only hit single. That, of course, was Tiny Bubbles, composed by Leon Pober and, with his backing group The Aliis, it seemed to be heard everywhere on radio/TV and in juke boxes in late 1966/early 1967 after its release on Reprise 0507. And yet, despite that, the best it could do on the Hot 100 was a modest # 57, peaking in March 1967, although it did go as high as # 14 on the AC charts. Why that is so remains a mystery, considering the fact that the follow-up album, titled Tiny Bubbles, hung around on the LP charts for almost a full year. This 12-track compilation first came out in vinyl in 1969, produced by noted orchestra leader Sonny Burke, and while there's no doubt the other 11 tracks were among his most popular at home, not one would ever crack the Hot 100 or AC charts, assuming any were indeed released as singles. We can't be sure from the information in the insert which is restricted to a re-listing of the tracks showing composers/writers, but no discography details, and one page of background notes written by Todd Everett. Even the B-side to Tiny Bubbles, his nice rendition of Born Free, was left out. After listening to this little package (which should be upgraded to around 20 tracks including Born Free) and its excellent sound reproduction, you too will be left wondering why he never had greater success with his single releases. | ||
![The Irish Rovers - The Best Of The Irish Rovers [Remaster]](product_images/197000/197621_thumb.jpg) | The Irish Rovers - The Best Of The Irish Rovers [Remaster] | |
| "This Is One "Best Of" That Delivers" | 2008-07-12 |
| From the four pages of background notes written in 1998 by Todd Everett to the inclusion of their four hit singles with the then Decca label AND all four B-sides, this release from MCA, complete with excellent sound quality, is one CD that delivers what it says. The five Irish emigrants - vocalist Jimmy Ferguson (who sadly passed away at age 57 in October of 1997), vocalist/guitarist Wil Millar, his brother George (guitar), their cousin Joe Millar (bass) and Wilcil McDowell (accordian) - who made their home base in Calgary in the Canadian province of Alberta, hit it big in early 1968 when their recording of the Shel Silverstein tune, The Unicorn, made it to # 2 on the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts as well as # 7 on the Billboard Pop Hot 100 b/w The Black Velvet Band. Many sources cite them as being among the One-Hit Wonders of the industry, but they did have significant other AC hits, each of which also made it into the Hot 100. The follow-up (The Puppet Song) Whiskey On A Sunday, peaked at # 9 AC/# 75 Hot 100 in summer 1968 b/w The Orange And The Green, and late that same summer, The Biplane Ever More topped out at # 13 AC and # 91 Hot 100 b/w Liverpool Lou. The following spring, their cover of the December 1968 British # 1 hit (by The Scaffold, which included Mike McGear - in reality Paul McCartney's brother Peter Michael), got to # 15 AC as well as # 113 Hot 100 "bubble under" b/w Mrs. Crandle's Boardinghouse. The A-side is based upon Lydia Estes Pinkham who, in the 1800s (she was born on February 9, 1819 and died on May 17, 1883) made her living brewing up and selling a tonic mixing herbs and alcohol to relieve menstrual/menopausal pain in women. It's really quite amusing. Twelve years after that 1969 hit, they would return to the charts as simply The Rovers with the hilarious Wasn't That A Party, which reached # 37 Hot 100/# 46 AC in April 1981 b/w Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs on the Epic label (a subsidiary of Columbia). Unfortunately, that's omitted from this MCA release. A happy, toe-tapping album sure to please. | ||
 | The Rough Guide to Boogaloo | |
| "One Of A Number Of Dance Crazes From the 1960s/1970s" | 2008-07-10 |
| The dance craze known as The Boogaloo (sometimes shown as Boogalu) is best described in the note that appears on the reverse of this 2005 release from World Music Network: "A fusion of Cuban salsa and American soul, boogaloo was the brightly burning dance craze fixating every young dancer in New York's barrios in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Boogaloo was born out of the creativity of the 1960s generation of USA-born Latinos, who musically grafted American culture on to their Latin roots, leading many established Latin bandleaders to adopt the dance to irresistible results." I assume the author of that note is Susan Steward who also wrote the seven pages of excellent liner notes, including track-by-track comments, accompanied by a number of nice mini-photos of some of the artists. The sound reproduction is excellent. Like all the dance crazes of the past (Twist, Mashed Potato, Madison, Jerk, Limbo, Freddie, Swim, Pony, Monkey, Hully Gully, Continental Walk, Pop-Eye, Watusi and Boomerang - to name the most memorable), hit singles soon ensued to capitalize, although in this particular volume, which concentrates more on the roots of the sound and beat, there is just one such hit: Oh Yeah! by The Joe Cuba Sextet which hit # 45 R&B/# 62 Hot 100 in early 1967 on the Tico label. Earlier in 1966 this group from Puerto Rico had also scored with El Pito (I'll Never Go Back To Georgia) and "Bang" "Bang," which reached, respectively, # 44 R&B/# 115 Hot 100 "bubble under" in August, and # 21 R&B/# 63 Hot 100 in November, both also on the Tico label. But there were plenty of other "Boogaloo" hit singles, beginning in 1965 with Boo-Ga-Loo by Tom (Robert "Tommy Dark" Tharp) & Jerrio (Jerry Murray), which made it to # 11 R&B/# 47 Hot 100 that May for ABC-Paramount. Murray, changing the spelling to Jerryo, would then add Karate-Boo-Ga-Loo (# 16 R&B/# 51 Hot 100 in October 1967) and Funky Boo-Ga-Loo (# 40 R&B in February 1968) as a solo artist, both for Shout Records. Also in 1966, The Flamingos, a renowned R&B vocal group that had been around since the mid-1950s, tried their hand at the beat/sound with The Boogaloo Party and saw it rise to # 22 R&B but just # 93 Hot 100 in April in a Phillips release, while in 1967, the biggest hit of them all came from The Fantastic Johnny C (Johnny Corley) whose Boogaloo Down Broadway topped out at # # 5 R&B and # 7 Hot 100 late that year for the Phil-LA label. Then, in 1972, even ex-Beatle Ringo Starr got into the act when Back Off Boogaloo got as high as # 9 Hot 100 that spring. But by then the craze was on the wane, although it would make a re-appearance on the charts in 1984 when Electric Boogaloo, from the film Breakin' 2 Electric Boogaloo, got to # 45 R&B by Ollie (Ollie Brown) & Jerry (Jerry Knight) for Polydor. If you lived through, and participated in, this particular dance craze, or perhaps are just curious about what all the fuss was about, you will love this offering. | ||
 | Rosemary Clooney - The Essential Rosemary Clooney | |
| "As I Said In Another Review - Never Less Than 5 Stars For Rosie" | 2008-07-04 |
| This, like most other CD compilations of the music of Rosemary Clooney, warrants 5 stars simply because, no matter what the tune or song, her rendition always ranks right up there with the very best. She was that good. Having said that, however, and as a diehard collector of hit singles, I lament the lack of releases covering many artists like Rosie which fail to deliver ALL the songs that made them stars, i.e., the hit singles that got them heard on the airwaves and juke boxes in those days of the 78/45 rpm. I also question the snobbery of some who pass off many of those hits as "fluff" not worthy of the artist concerned. Here, for example, author Didier C. Deutsch, in his two pages of liner notes, says, in reference to her widespread recognition today as one of the premier song stylists of the 20th Century, "This she achieved in spite of the fact that many of the songs she was asked to perform in the 1950s and that ensured her success were novelty tunes that were beneath her real talent and well-honed skills as a vocalist." Well, yes, many do not compare with the classic Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, Kern, etc., songs that most singers of her quality loved to get their chops around. But then again, those "novelty" tunes paid the rent and ultimately brought the singers to national attention, not to mention appealing to enough millions of fans to achieve hit status. Some them very significant hits. In this release exactly half (tracks 1, 3 to 5 and 12 to 15) are from among the 34 hit singes she had as a solo artist from 1951 to 1960, all but one (the last, which came out on RCA Victor) for the Columbia label. But the point is, these eight are repeated in several other releases, especially those offering her "best" or "greatest" hits. I suppose many consider the lead track, Come-On-A My House from the Broadway musical The Son, a "novelty" tune, but with Stan Freeman pounding away on the harpsichord, and Rosie's exuberant singing, this climbed all the way to # 1 in the summer of 1951, and stayed there for eight solid weeks b/w Rose Of The Mountain. And Botch-A-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina), from the Italian film Una Famiglia Impossible, didn't do too badly either, hitting # 2 in the summer of 1952 b/w On The First Warm Day. Maybe they do fit the category of "fluff" but they also apparently appealed to millions of fans whose tastes are all too readily denigrated by the elitist musical critics/historians. As an example take Tenderly (track 14). Accompanied by the Percy Faith orchestra (and certainly one of my Clooney favourites), this could only rise as high as # 17 in the spring of 1952, a relatively modest success, and finished at # 131 for the year. And yet it was voted as the # 2 all-time standard in a Billboard disc jockey poll, and Rosie's version the # 6 all-time record! I'm not about to dispute those results, but at the same time I'm asking distributors to start considering those (while we're still alive) who also liked many of her other "novelty" tunes which never seem to be made available in a quality CD release. Songs such as the two sided hit from late 1951, I'm Waiting Just For You (# 21) b/w If Teardrops Were Pennies (# 24), Too Old To Cut The Mustard with Marlene Dietrich (# 12 in September 1952, If I Had A Penny (# 26) and Dennis The Menace with Jimmy Boyd (# 25), both in early 1953, and the 1953 official Christmas Seal song, Happy Christmas, Little Friend (# 30). Until we do get such a release, this is a nice option for anyone wanting to sample Rosemary Clooney for the first time, with excellent sound reproduction and a fold-out insert containing the Deutsch notes, as well as a track-by-track sessionography/discography, and a couple of more nice photos of Rosemary. | ||
 | Conway Twitty - Ultimate Collection | |
| "There Are Now Better Compilations Available" | 2008-07-04 |
| When this first came out from Hip-O Records in August 1999, the best Conway Twitty compendium on the market was the 3-CD box set The Conway Twitty Collection from Mca Nashville, which contained 14 of the 18 tracks presented here. Then, in August 2004, Mca Nashville released 25 Number Ones with 11 of the 18 tracks here, plus 14 more # 1 hits [he had 40 # 1's among his 97 Country hits plus another 25 that made the Country Top 5), followed in March 2006 by the 2-CD set Gold, which has 15 of the tracks in this volume. Each of those is still available. Mind you, this does have excellent sound as well as 12 pages of background notes written by Colin Escott, along with a discography of the contents and several more nice vintage photos, although forget about reading the last two paragraphs completely. It seems that, whoever finalized the insert decided to throw in another photo of Conway on page 12 in such a way that a lot of the black ink text is completely lost in the black of his hair. Someone clearly goofed when proofing this before release. Conway, before he embarked upon his career leading to induction into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1999 (six YEARS after his untimely death at age 59 on June 5, 1993) was, of course, among the original Rock & Rollers holding sway in the mid-1950s, even starting his career with Sun Records where Elvis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis also got their careers kick-started. But whereas each of the foregoing is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, that body continues to ignore Conway. He never had a hit while with Sun, but Mercury released an unissued side he cut there as Give Me Some Love under the new title I Need Your Love and saw it dent the Billboard Pop Top 100 at # 93 in May 1957 b/w Born To Sing The Blues. A bit over a year later, after switching to MGM, he had the smash # 1 Top 100/# 12 R&B It's Only Make Believe b/w I'll Try. And from there until deliberately and emphatically switching to Country in 1965, he racked up another 12 Top/Hot 100 hits, including seven more in the Top 40 and two more R&B cross-overs (six of his Country hits from 1970 to 1975 also crossed over to the Hot 100 and one to the Adult Contemporary charts). And enough of them in those early days were bona fide rockers (in the context of their time) to put him in the same class at least as Gene Vincent and Eddy Cochran, both of whom have been inducted into the R&R Hall Of Fame. In my opinion he should be honoured by the R&R Hall Of Fame as soon as possible, thereby becoming just the fifth to be inducted into both, the others being Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers, and Brenda Lee (Jerry Lee Lewis, believe it or not, has yet to be named by the Country Music Hall Of Fame - go figure). Not a bad little volume in this case, but shop around as there are several that give you more, and for not all that much more money. | ||
![Eydie Gorme - The Best of Eydie Gorme [Curb]](product_images/1372000/1372674_thumb.jpg) | Eydie Gorme - The Best of Eydie Gorme [Curb] | |
| "Definitely Not "The Best" If By That You Mean Her Hits" | 2008-07-01 |
| I take a back-seat to no one when it comes to being a fan of Eydie Gorme. BUT, I definitely do not share the enthusiasm of some of the other reviewers when it comes to this particular CD. Not because the selections or the performance of each leaves something to be desired. Definitely not. I doubt if Eydie Gorme could possibly GIVE a bad performance. No, the problem is, while claiming to be the "Best Of" it turns out that only two of the twelve selections even made the national Billboard Pop Top/Hot 100 - I'll Take Romance which went to # 65 Top 100 in 1957 and You Need Hands which peaked at # 11 Top 100 in 1958. Now, if Curb meant the "best of" in terms of selections from her many successful LPs then that's a different kettle of fish. However, they should have said so clearly on the cover because, to most people, the term usually means an artist's top charted single hits. But then again, Curb has a history of the practice of screaming "best of" or "greatest hits of" - and then not delivering. It's not as if there wasn't a wealth of material with which to fill out a meagre 12-track release as she racked up 17 Top/Hot 100 hits from 1956 to 1972, including three as a duet with husband Steve Lawrence and one that crossed over to the R&B charts, another five that made the Hot 100 "bubble under" charts, including one with Steve, another 21 that scored on the Adult Contemporary (AC) listings after their introduction in late 1961 to 1979 (seven with Steve including the last, billed to "Parker & Penny"), and even a Country hit in 1973. Some of her "best" missing here, for example, are Too Close For Comfort and Mama, Teach Me To Dance (# 39 and 34 respectively in 1956), Love Me Forever (# 24 in 1957), and Blame It On The Bossa Nova, her highest Hot 100 charter which went to # 7 AND # 16 R&B in 1963. In terms of the Adult Contemporary listings, how about I Want To Stay Here (# 8 AC and # 28 Hot 100 in August 1963), If He Walked Into My Life (# 5 AC and # 120 Hot 100 "bubble under" in June 1966); and Tonight I'll Say A Prayer (# 8 AC and # 45 Hot 100 in late 1969). Any of those in place of the non-hits and THEN they could have claimed this to be her "best." As it is, it's a nice gathering of 12 of her library of cuts with decent sound quality, but nothing in the way of informative liner notes. | ||
 | Eagles - Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 | |
| "All LP Versions" | 2008-06-22 |
| There isn't much I can add to the other reviews in terms of this legendary group, inducted into the R&R Hall Of Fame in 1998. However, for those who are conditioned by the term "greatest hits" meaning those renditions that made it to the Billboard Pop Hot 100, be advised that these are all LP cuts. For example, while the hit single version of Witchy Woman, which came out on Asylum 11008 in 1972 (# 9) is 3:53 in length, the version presented here is 4:14. Likewise with Lyin' Eyes, a # 2 in 1975 on Asylum 45279 at 3:58, whereas the cut here is 6:24. For those seeking the single versions, and even those not overly concerned with such things, I would still recommended looking around for recent compilations which present upwards of 20 to 25 cuts, complete with informative liner notes and discographies. This has nothing in either regard. Also how, exactly, does Desperado fit within the term "greatest hits" - LP cut or not? That not only never made any singles charts, it wasn't even the B-side to one of their charted singles. | ||
 | The Guess Who - The Guess Who - Greatest Hits | |
| "Not 100% Complete In Terms Of Their Greatest Hits - But Close Enough" | 2008-06-22 |
| One reviewer bemoans the fact that Bus Rider was not included in this RCA release, but that can be explained by the title of the album which indicates these are their "greatest hits." In other words, those singles of theirs that made it into the Billboard Pop Hot 100 from 1969 to 1974 on RCA Victor. Bus Stop (which I also like very much) was the uncharted B-side to Share The Land, their 9th such hit and a # 10 in late 1970 on RCA Victor 0388. I say 9th hit because, actually, the group did have their first back in 1965 with the # 22 Shakin' All Over (b/w Till We Kissed) on Scepter 1295, the label founded in 1959 by Florence Greenberg and the long-time home of Dionne Warwick. Up to that point the group had been known as Chad Allan & The Expressions, and when they submitted the demo tape they attached a note saying "Guess Who?" and it was at that point that their band name was changed. They likely penned that note because their rendition was almost an exact copy of the British hit by one major band over there that never became part of the British Invasion - Johnny Kidd & The Pirates. But, this being an RCA release, it was unfortunately left out of this volume. Their first for RCA was These Eyes, a # 6 in May 1969 b/w Lightfoot on RCA Victor 0102, followed later that summer by the two-sided smash Laughing (# 10) and Undun (# 15 on the Adult Contemporary charts and # 22 Hot 100) on RCA Victor 0195. They then closed out that year with No Time, which peaked at # 5 in January 1970 b/w Proper Stranger on RCA Victor 0300. Then, that spring, they scored their second two-sided hit and only # 1 when American Woman reached the top spot on RCA Victor 0325 b/w No Sugar Tonight (regarded as a "follow-along" hit in the Billboard scheme of things). To this point, the group (lead vocalist Burton Cummings, Chad "Chad Allen" Kobel, vocals and guitar), Jim Kale on bass, and drummer Gary Peterson), also included guitarist Randy Bachman, who left at this stage to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Before Cummings joined in 1966, the group also included pianist Bob Ashley. Bachman had two replacements - guitarists Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw. Late in the summer of 1970 this new gathering scored with Hand Me Down World, a # 17 Hot 100 on RCA Victor 0367 b/w Runnin' Down The Street, followed in the late fall by the above-mentioned Share The Land/Bus Rider. In late January 1971, Hang On To Your Life began its climb to # 43, their lowest charter to date on RCA Victor 0414 b/w Do You Miss Me Darlin'? Then, in late spring, they had their third two-sided hit when Albert Flasher got to # 29 on RCA Victor 0458 b/w Broken, a # 55 and, for reasons known only to producer Paul Williams, omitted from this compilation. Late that summer Rain Dance topped out at # 19 b/w One Divided on RCA Victor 0522, and in December, Sour Suite hit a bit of a sour note as it could only get to # 50 on RCA Victor 0578 b/w Life In The Bloodstream. The struggles continued into 1972 as Heartbroken Bopper could only manage a # 47 on RCA Victor 0659 b/w Arrivederci Girl, Guns, Guns, Guns could get no higher than # 70 in June on RCA Victor 0706 b/w Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday, and that fall Runnin' Back To Saskatoon, recorded "live" in concert, just barely made the Hot 100 at # 96 on RCA Victor 0803 b/w New Mother Nature (the A-side is also left out of this volume). Leaving the group in 1972 were Kale and Leskiw, replaced by guitarist Don McDougall and bass player Bill Wallace, but the changes showed only modest improvement in their hits fortunes as Follow Your Daughter Home stalled at # 61 in February b/w Bye Bye Babe on RCA Victor 0880 for their only hit in 1973, the same year that Domenic Troiano, former guitarist with The James Gang, replaced both Winter (who would pass away at age 51 in December 1997) and McDougall. That paid dividends of sorts in early 1974 as they returned to the Top 40 for the first time in over a year when Star Baby peaked at # 39 b/w Musicione on RCA Victor 0217 and then, a few months later, Clap For The Wolfman - which included a few bits of dialogue by legendary DJ Wolfman Jack - hit # 6on RCA Victor 0324 b/w Road Food. Their final hit single then came late that year when Dancin' Fool finished at # 28 b/w Seems Like I Can't Live With You, But I Can't Live Without You on RCA Victor 10075. The band disbanded in 1975. Much of this is detailed in the 5 pages of liner notes written by Michael Hill, although there is no proper discography of the contents (which is why I gave that extra information in this review). With the exception of those two minor hits, this is how a "greatest hits" compilations needs to be done. | ||
 | Little Richard - Georgia Peach | |
| "Next Best Option To The Specialty Sessions 3-CD Box Set" | 2008-06-19 |
| If you don't want to spring for the 3-CD Specialty Sessions Box Set, which is easily THE best Little Richard compendium on the market, then this volume from the Legends Of Specialty series is your next best option. Magnificent AAD sound reproduction is featured on all 16 of his hits from 1956 to June 1958, plus the four uncharted B-sides in that period, along with one hit from 1959, two cuts that appeared in early LP/EPs, and two that were issued years later as singles, but failed to chart. All this is augmented by an insert containing numerous vintage photos, six pages of background notes written in 1991 by Billy Vera, a sessionography for each of the tracks showing dates recorded and musicians involved, plus on the reverse of the CD a discography of the contents. This original inductee into the R&R Hall Of Fame in 1986 first hit the charts in late 1955 when Tutti-Frutti exploded onto the charts, reaching # 2 R&B/# 17 Billboard Pop Top 100 b/w I'm Just A Lonely Guy. That dramatic debut was following in the spring of 1956 by Long Tall Sally which hit # 1 R&B and stayed there for 8 weeks, as well as # 6 Top 100, while the flipside, Slippin' And Slidin' (Peepin' And Hidin') reached # 2 R&B/# 33 Top 100. A couple of months later another # 1 R&B surfaced in the form of Rip It Up, also # 17 Top 100, while its B-side, Ready Teddy, made it to # 8 R&B/# 44 Top 100. Cover versions of his hits to date were popping up all over the place as well, by Pat Boone, Elvis Presley and Bill Haley & His Comets, while major stars to come like Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and four young Englishmen named John, Paul, George and Ringo were being suitably influenced. It's a bit strange, then, that his next hit, Heeby-Jeebies b/w She's Got It, impacted only upon the R&B charts in November 1956, reaching # 7 and # 9 respectively, and that The Girl Can't Help It, featured in the Jayne Mansfield film of the same name, could only achieve a # 49 Top 100 while hitting # 7 on the R&B charts. The B-side, All Around The World, also scored at # 13 R&B. It seems mainstream white DJs didn't know quite how to take this energetic, flamboyant new star and were therefore not giving him the airplay he deserved. That was born out in early 1957 when his third # 1 R&B, Lucille, could only get as high as # 21 Top 100, and the B-side, Send Me Some Lovin', just a # 54 Top 100 while reaching # 3 R&B. All his hits to this point had been billed to Little Richard And His Band, but from this point on the billing would be simply Little Richard, beginning with Jenny, Jenny (# 2 R&B/# 10 Top 100) b/w Miss Ann (# 6 R&B/# 56 Top 100) in July 1957. His second-best Pop cross-over then appeared late that summer when Keep A Knockin' hit # 8 Top 100 as well as # 2 R&B b/w the uncharted Can't Believe You Wanna Leave. The A-side was also featured in the film Mr. Rock 'n' Roll, starring Alan Freed. In early 1958 Richard honoured Jackie Brenston by basing his piano intro on his legendary hit Rocket "88" from 1951, and saw Good Golly, Miss Molly top out at # 4 R&B/# 10 Top 100 b/w the uncharted (unbelievably so) Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey. That summer, Ooh! My Soul got to # 15 R&B/# 31 Top 100 b/w True Fine Mama, regarded as a # 15 R&B "follow-along" hit while also reaching # 68 Top 100. Omitted from this volume is Baby Face, which reached # 12 R&B/# 41 Top 100 in October 1958 b/w the uncharted I'll Never Let You Go. They do, however, include his rendition of Kansas City, recorded on November 29, 1955 well before the the Thurston Harris hit, but not released until spring 1959 in a medley with Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey, reaching # 95 on what had then become the Billboard Pop Hot 100. The B-side, Lonesome And Blue, is omitted here. Other gems in this release include Baby, recorded in September 1955, and Oh Why? which was recorded in February 1956, both released that year on LP 100 as well as a Specialty EP, Shake A Hand, recorded in August 1956, and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On, recorded in October 1957, the last two not released until 1959 when they came out on singles that failed to chart. It's interesting to note that everything Little Richard recorded for Specialty took place from September 14, 1955 to October 18, 1957. | ||
 | Robert Goulet - 16 Most Requested Songs | |
| "A Voice Made For Broadway" | 2008-06-19 |
| I suppose it figures that, when putting this volume together for their vast 16 Most Requested Songs series, the folks at Columbia would zero in primarily on songs made famous on Broadway. Not all of them by Robert Goulet, mind you, but seldom done better by anyone else. Looking through the many volumes in the series, however, what I would like to know is, how exactly did they arrive at what they consider to be the artist's 16 Most Requested? Take Robert Goulet for example, a man who had 15 charted hit singles from 1962 to 1969 (even though that wasn't his focus over the years, but for some reason just three of those hits are included here. Seems to me that, if the contents were based upon fan input to any degree, there would have been more of those included. Such as the # 5 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 119 Billboard Pop Hot 100 # 118 "Bubble Under" entry from late 1965, Come Back To Me Love. Especially when they include the B-side, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, which also charted at # 13 AC/# 119 "Bubble Under." One of the other two hits presented here is What Kind Of Fool Am I? from the Broadway musical Stop The World - I Want To Get Off starring Anthony Newley. Robert's rendition for Columbia struggled to a # 89 Hot 100 in October 1962, finishing back of the Newley version (# 85 Hot 100) and the top hit by Sammy Davis, Jr. (# 6 AC/# 17 Hot 100). The third is My Love, Forgive Me (Amore, Scusami), which peaked at # 3 AC and # 16 Hot 100 in late 1964. Certainly, I can see the inclusion of If Ever I Would Leave You from his smash Broadway debut in Camelot in 1961 where he played Sir Lancelot, ultimately winning the 1962 Best New Artist Grammy Award. Somewhat surprising, that song never made any national charts, although it did go as high as # 2 in March 1961 on the weekly Your Hit Parade. Most of the rest here are more associated with other performers. Tony Bennett jumps to mind when you hear This Is All I Ask, If I Ruled The World, For Once In My Life (as well as Stevie Wonder), and Who Can I Turn To? while Jack Jones is the voice you imagine when discussing Call Me Irresponsible (or perhaps Frank Sinatra) and The Impossible Dream. All had hits with those songs, as did Steve Alaimo on Real Live Girl, Eddie Fisher on Sunrise, Sunset, Ray Conniff on Somewhere My Love, Barbra Streisand on She Touched Me (as He Touched Me), and Sonny & Cher on What Now My Love? Surely requests would have come in for things like Summer Sounds, a # 14 AC/# 58 Hot 100 for Robert in June 1965, Daydreamer (# 22 AC) and Once I Had A Heart (# 15 AC), both from 1966, and Thirty Days Hath September (# 17 AC) from 1968. These, and several other AC hits remain very hard to find on CD. Until we get something definitive on his hits, this is a nice package presented in excellent AAD sound quality, brief liner notes written by Brian Gari, and a listing of the shows that featured some of the songs. | ||
 | Burl Ives - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Burl Ives | |
| "This Could Have Been So Much Better" | 2008-06-18 |
| I have to agree with those other reviewers who point to the obvious shortcomings of this release in the vast 20th Century Masters Series. I mean, if you are going to honour a legend like Burl Ives in a 12-track release, a man who had some 19 hit singles from 1948 to 1968, wouldn't it be prudent to put in 12 of those hits? The last three here, while perhaps familiar to his many fans, cannot be considered among his "best" - not if you concede that "best" means those songs of his that made national charts. The remaining nine are bona fide hit singles, some among them indeed his very best, such as A Little Bitty Tear (# 1 Adult Contemporary [AC]/# 2 Country/# 9 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in late 1961/early 1962), Funny Way Of Laughing (# 3 AC/# 9 Country/# 10 Hot 100 in May 1962), Call Me Mr. In-Between (# 3 Country/# 6 AC/# 19 Hot 100 in August 1962), and Mary Ann Regrets (# 12 Country/# 13 AC/# 39 Hot 100 in December 1962). Not many artists were able to score such big hits on all three of those charts. Before that, way back in th 1940s, he teamed up with The Andrews Sisters on Blue Tail Fly (# 24 Pop in summer 1948), and in February 1949 got together with Captain Stubby & The Buccaneers to take Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) to # 13 C&W and # 16 Pop. From the early 1950s period come The Wild Side Of Life which, with Grady Martin & His Slew Foot Five, made it to # 6 C&W and # 30 Pop in the summer of 1952. Lesser hits represented here include The Same Old Hurt (# 91 Hot 100 in February 1963) and Pearly Shells (Popo O Ewa), which finished at # 60 Hot 100 in late summer 1964. All of the foregoing hits were on the Decca (MCA) label, which probably accounts for the absence of these Columbia hits: Riders In The Sky (Cowboy Legend), which was a # 8 C&W/# 21 Pop hit in June 1949; On Top Of Old Smoky, a # 10 Pop in June 1951 with Percy Faith's orchestra, and his last hit from 1968, the Dylan-penned I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, which peaked at # 35 AC and # 133 Hot 100 "Bubble Under" in July. But that still leaves these overlooked Decca hits, any three of which would have been better choices than the last three tracks: This Is All I Ask (# 67 Hot 100 in August 1963); True Loves Goes On And On (# 66 Hot 100 in late 1963/early 1964); Evil On My Mind (# 47 Country in September 1966); and Lonesome 7-7203 (# 72 Country in February 1967). Then, of course, there's also A Holly Jolly Christmas from the animated TV show in 1964, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, which made it to # 13 on the Billboard Christmas charts that year, and charted again in 1997 at # 30 AC. Not a very thorough job by compilers Joseph F. Laredo (who also wrote the two pages of liner notes) and Andy McKale. | ||
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