LIVE AT SING SING  -  MOMS MABLEY

YEAR:  1970

LABEL:  Mercury

TRACK LISTING:  Monologue I,  Monologue II:  Go Tell It On the Mountain

IMPRESSIONS:  We all know Moms Mabley is hilarious.  But there's something extra hilarious and really ironic about the back cover of the album.  There is a blurb written by Bill Cosby which, due to recent events, is hilariously ironic to say the least.  I've just got to quote it here because have to see it to believe it:  "I know if I were an inmate and I heard that Moms Mabley was coming, sexually I would not be too excited.  But once I start to think about it, I would begin to realize the groovy things that Moms would bring to me. . . .Laughter is one of the most important things in life to depressed and disturbed human beings, and I know that Moms realized this when she went to Sing Sing -- and she delivered.  If I'm ever busted for anything, I hope that Moms comes to my prison and does a concert and I'll ask for an eight-by-ten picture of her in the nude.  -- Bill Cosby".  I mean . . . . just wow.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  As usual with Moms Mabley albums, there's a Side One and a Side Two . . . so all of 'em.

FACT SHEET:  LIVE AT SING SING is Moms Mabley's nineteenth album (more or less).  Monologue II features a version of the song "Go Tell It On The Mountain" that was arranged by Moms Mabley.  The back of the album contains liner notes/blurbs written by Bill Cosby and Merv Griffin.  All original material was written by Moms Mabley and Eddie Parton.

 THE VINYL DETECTIVE  -  VARIOUS ARTISTS

YEAR:  2019

LABEL:  Vinyl Passion

TRACK LISTING:  Theme From the Vinyl Detective - Joe Kraemer, I Could Write A Book - The Miles Davis Quintet, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Charles Mingus, Time After Time - Lucy Ann Polk, Warm Canto - Mal Waldron, Heart and Soul - Joanie Sommers, Love Theme From Spartacus - Yusef Lateef, The Way You Look Tonight - Betty Carter & Ray Bryant, Thou Swell - Blossom Dearie, Waltz For Debby - Cannonball Adderley & Bill Evans, Don'cha Go 'Way Mad - Lucy Ann Polk, Theme From The Vinyl Detective (Full Version) - Joe Kraemer

IMPRESSIONS:  I discovered and started reading the Vinyl Detective novels by Andrew Cartmel in 2019 and loved them.  I already knew Cartmel from his Doctor Who writings and here we had more fiction that was right up my alley:  a detective of vinyl who finds rare records that just happen to be mixed up in some sort of murder mystery.  And what could be a better companion to the books (3 of which I've read already and I've started the 4th one) than a vinyl LP (this is not available on CD) of jazz tunes which are the favourites of the Vinyl Detective himself?!?!?!!!  Perfect!  This LP contains some songs which were already favourites of mine as well as a newly written and recorded "theme song" for the Vinyl Detective himself!  Besides that, this is also the record the first introduced me to the delights of Lucy Ann Polk's singing; which I'd never heard before this album.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Charles Mingus, Time After Time - Lucy Ann Polk, The Way You Look Tonight - Betty Carter & Ray Bryant, Thou Swell - Blossom Dearie, Waltz For Debby - Cannonball Adderley & Bill Evans, Don'cha Go 'Way Mad - Lucy Ann Polk, Theme From The Vinyl Detective (Full Version) - Joe Kraemer

FACT SHEET:  THE VINYL DETECTIVE album was released only on vinyl on September 6, 2019.  Classic jazz tracks were curated by Andrew Cartmel specifically to tie-in to his VINYL DETECTIVE mystery novels as if they were chosen by his title character.  A new VINYL DETECTIVE theme song was commissioned to be written and recorded by Joe Kraemer.  

 THE XYL FILE - CHUCK VAN ZYL

YEAR:  2016

LABEL:  Industry8

TRACK LISTING:  Low Glide, The Theory Changes the Reality It Describes, Nuclear Winter, Runway, Faston, Testament of Youth

IMPRESSIONS:  This CD is something of a Holy Grail for me and my doddy Cheeks and this is cuz why.  In 1985 (or thereabouts), Cheeks and I were road tripping (as was our wont) here and there and everywhere.  He may have a clearer memory of this but I think we were parked eating McDonald's or something . . . . all I know is that we were no longer mobile and were sitting in the car.  Or maybe we were driving around.  How am I supposed to know when we were that fubar?!?!?  Anyway, we were randomly flipping through the radio stations when we came upon some obscure station (very possibly a Christian radio station) that was playing a song called "JESUS CHRIST" (or it's equivalent) by the Flying Evangelists.  Now, THIS was what one might call "an experience"!  Rolling around the radio dial some more brought us to another obscure station (probably a college radio station or it's equivalent) where we heard some electronic, spacey instrumental that was pretty freaky.  The DJ identified it as something called "NUCLEAR WINTER" by Xyl.  For decades, we desperately searched in vain to find said music.  Until last year when I absently entered "Nuclear Winter" and "Xyl" into Discogs and lo and behold there it was.  And the CD was fer sale by the artist!  A magical moment in our lives when we finally got ahold of it and listened to the music we hadn't heard since 1985!!!!  

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Low Glide and then all of 'em!

FACT SHEET:  THE XYL FILE is a CD album released by Chuck Van Zyl that is limited to 1000 hand-numbered and autographed copies.  The first 4 tracks were originally released on cassette as "THE XYL FILE" and tracks 5 & 6 were originally released on the cassette "NUCLEAR WINTER".