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".  

THE VIEW FROM A HILL  -  THE OWL SERVICE

YEAR:  2010 

LABEL:  Rif Mountain

TRACK LISTING:  Polly On the Shore, The Banks of the Nile, Ladies Don't Go A-Thieving, I Was A Young Man, Sorry the Day I Was Married, Willie O'Winsbury, In Thorneymoor Woods Pt. 1, The Bold Poachers, In Thorneymoor Woods Pt. 2, The Lover's Ghost, The Ladies Go Dancing at Whitsun, Willie O'Winsbury (Reprise), The Loyal Lover, Within Sound, Cruel Mother

IMPRESSIONS:  In 2020, I don't know what it was but I was bigtime into folk horror and read several books on the subject.  I also read Rob Young's monumental tome on British folk music "ELECTRIC EDEN:  UNEARTHING BRITAIN'S VISIONARY MUSIC" which had a section on this album lurking in its pages.  As usual with a book of this kind, I read it with a pen and paper so I could jot down albums to buy.  And this was one of them.  

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  All of 'em . . . .because they're misty moisty Brit Folk music.

FACT SHEET:  The Owl Service was formed and lead by Steven Collins for it's entire ten year existence.  The groups's name is from the folk horror/young adult novel THE OWL SERVICE by Alan Garner from 1967; the novel was adapted for British television in 1969 and starred Gillian Hills.  THE VIEW FROM A HILL is The Owl Service's third album.  Adam Leonard provides backing vocals on "Ladies, Don't Go A-Thieving", "Willie O'Winsbury", "In Thorneymoor Woods Pt. 2", "Within Sound" and "Cruel Mother".  Alison O'Donnell provides vocals on "The Lover's Ghost".  Magnus Dearness plays trombone on "Willie O'Winsbury (Reprise)".  Naomi Browton provides backing vocals and plays cello on "Cruel Mother".  

ALL IN THE FAMILY  -  CAST

YEAR:  1971
LABEL:  Atlantic Records
TRACK LISTING:  Those Were The Days - Theme,  Why God Made Hands,  Sweety Pie Roger,  Transplants,  A Station Wagon Filled With Nuns,  No Ribs?,  Do You Love Me?,  God Is Black,  VD Day,  Archie's Hangup,  Bacon Souffle & Women's Lib,  Jury Duty,  Shove Yours/Closing Theme
IMPRESSIONS:  After a year and a half of letting this blog lay fallow, I've returned.  The main reason is the death yesterday of my grandmother at the age of 97.  As usual in times of grief or tremendous stress, I find myself retreating to "comfort TV" in order to soothe the troubled waters.  So I began watching one of my favourite TV shows:  ALL IN THE FAMILY.  And it surprised me that I hadn't posted about this LP in the past; seeing as it played such a huge part in my childhood.  I've had this record as long as I can remember; obviously I appropriated it from my parents' record collection early.  It was probably my father's (my parents divorced when I was 5) and I took possession of it and, it must be said, played it to death.  There were no DVD players back in the 70s, folks, let alone VCRs so this was the only way to relive the show at will.  And this I did; resulting in the fact that I know great chunks of the first season of the TV by heart.  Anything that reminds me of the 1970s gives me a warm feeling inside and ALL IN THE FAMILY is one of the seventies-est things I know.  My late grandfather Buster was quite like Archie Bunker even though my grandmother was nothing like Edith.  And the set of ALL IN THE FAMILY reminds me tremendously of my grandparents' old house in Pennsauken -- even though it really looks nothing like it at all.  Perhaps it's because the set decoration for the show makes the Bunker residence feel like it's full of furniture and knick-knacks that have hung around since the 40's and 50's -- and my grandparents' house had the same feel.  The Bunkers have radiators for heat and so did my grandparents.  My grandmother wore "house dresses" quite similar to Edith's (and she even wore similar aprons when in the kitchen).  The stairs going up the set of the Bunkers' house remind me of the stairs going up to the second floor of my grandparents' house.  And I think you get the picture.  Meanwhile, the actual ALL IN THE FAMILY record reminds me of the millions of times at my own home I would put this record on my old record player in my bedroom and listen over and over to it as a kid.  As always, the memories of those who have left us stay alive in us when we remember them.  And those halcyon days of 70's childhood always come back to me when I listen to (or even just look at) this record.  Another favourite thing about this record is the back cover's liner notes by the show's originator Norman Lear (which I will now quote in its entirety because it's so great):  "ALL IN THE FAMILY first aired on January 12, 1971 and two days later we received our first piece of mail. It was a letter from a woman who had been divorced many years before, when her son was 4 years old. The boy had never seen his father after that. On the night ALL IN THE FAMILY debuted, her son was now 32 years old and living in a city 1200 miles away. The show was on for about 10 minutes when the lady ran to the telephone and almost broke her dialing finger phoning her son. Happily she reached him and screamed across the miles: "You always wanted to know what your father was like--well, hurry up and turn on Channel 2!!". In this album, perhaps there is a touch of your father. Or neighbor. Or me. Or you. Whatever, whoever--enjoy! -Norman Lear" 
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  All of 'em!
FACT SHEET:  ALL IN THE FAMILY is an album released by Atlantic Records in conjunction with Tandem Productions in 1971.  The album features audio taken directly from the first season of the programme (with tiny edits removing "visual" jokes).  Featured on the album are main cast members Carroll O'Connor (as Archie Bunker), Jean Stapleton (as Edith), Sally Struthers (as Gloria), Rob Reiner (as Mike a.k.a. "Meathead") and Mike Evans (as Lionel Jefferson).  The Stivics' friend Roger on the track "Sweety Pie Roger" is shockingly Anthony Geary (best known as Luke Spencer from General Hospital less than a decade later).  The record also came with an interior two page booklet featuring a description of the show and cast bios.  This LP was successful enough that a Volume 2 was later released; I own that one as well but it doesn't hold as dear a place in my heart because I bought it years later in the mid-1980s from a used record dealer.

WARM BRANDY  -  DOLORES GRAY

YEAR:  1957
LABEL:  Capitol
TRACK LISTING:  Shangri-La,  Penthouse Serenade,  You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me,  Kiss Me,  How Long Has This Been Going On,  Close Your Eyes,  You Go To My Head,  Do Do Do,  Speak Low,  Don't Blame Me,  Isn't It Romantic,  You're My Thrill
BONUS TRACKS:  My Mama Likes You,  I'm Innocent,  Fool's Errand,  There'll Be Some Changes Made
IMPRESSIONS:  Since we're cruising into the dark nights of December and lounging lazily in front of the fireplace sounds appropriate, I thought I'd revisit one of the loungiest of lounge albums here provided by actress/singer Dolores Gray.  She never broke out of B-list status for stardom and she was never a superb vocalist but here Gray is perfectly cast for the whispery, come-hither vocals contained in this album.  Gray here is more of a song stylist than an great vocalist as she half-whispers/half-sings mostly quiet torch songs which are the audio equivalent of what used to be called "bedroom eyes".  The album cover perfectly captures what's contained inside.  As allmusic's J. Scott McLintock states:"The original selections presented all have the fireside couch in mind (with an eye on the bedroom) and, for sheer cocktail romanticism, this set has few peers."  The same website's Jason Ankeny also evocatively conjures the following image for the album:  "Gray doesn't sing so much as she curls up in the melody as if it were a chaise lounge--Sid Feller's late-night arrangements further extend the sultry, profoundly adult ambience, with hints of cool jazz that float under the surface like ice cubes." The lush strings and lightly-tapped bongos on "Close Your Eyes" is perhaps the perfect example of what this album stands for.  This is an album where the drums are played solely with brushes.  As the liner notes proudly proclaim:  "Dolores Gray draws close to the microphone and sings in a manner as intoxicating as warm brandy."  Especially as the hectic holiday season approaches, WARM BRANDY is perhaps the perfect album to put on as you wind down after a particularly crazy day.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Shangri-La,  Penthouse Serenade,  Kiss Me,  How Long Has This Been Going On,  Close Your Eyes,  You Go To My Head,  Speak Low,  Don't Blame Me
FACT SHEET:  WARM BRANDY is an album by Dolores Gray released in 1957 by Capitol Records.  The music was arranged and conducted by Sid Feller. 

THE BIG HEAT  -  STAN RIDGWAY

YEAR:  1986
LABEL:  IRS
TRACK LISTING:  The Big Heat,  Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket),  Can't Stop the Show,  Pile Driver,  Walkin' Home Alone,  Drive She Said,  Salesman,  Twisted,  Camouflage,  Rio Greyhound (Instrumental)
BONUS TRACKS:  Stormy Side of Town,  Foggy River,  End of the Line,  Nadine,  Can't Stop the Show (Live),  Drive She Said (Live)
IMPRESSIONS:  Boy, I miss that 80's sound.  Listening to this album once again, with its stabbing synths and drum machines, the sound of the mid-80's floods right back and I'm tempted to put on my acid-washed bomber jacket that's hanging in the back of my closet.  It's the sound of "THE BREAKFAST CLUB" incidental music -- Wang Chungin' to the "Fire in the Twilight" -- that Devo-influenced, Kraftwerk-influenced early to mid-80's sound.  A sound that was prevalent in . . . well . . . Ridgway's old group Wall of Voodoo even.  Here we have Stan on his debut solo album which has been called heavily drenched in the world of film noir; after all, the title track and the album itself is at least partly inspired by Fritz Lang's classic 50's noir film of the same name.  And that's kinda the feel of the whole album.  Each song is just like listening to a mini-movie which sets up its own atmosphere and characters.  Like the time-traveler in the title track who zips from 1986 to 1992 to read the headlines, Stan Ridgway's solo debut palpably rockets me right back to that time when I used to start my pre-close about five minutes after my shift started at 4pm and then rode around in my best friend's puke-coloured Camaro!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  The Big Heat,  Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket),  Can't Stop the Show,  Walkin' Home Alone,  Drive She Said,  Salesman,  Twisted,  Camouflage,  Stormy Side of Town,  End of the Line,  Nadine
GUEST ARTISTS:  Mitchell Froom (keyboards, co-producer)
FACT SHEET:  THE BIG HEAT is Stan Ridgway's first album; originally released as a nine-song album, it was re-released in 1993 with the additional bonus tracks included.  The album yielded the #4 UK hit single "Camouflage".  Stan Ridgway was formerly the lead singer for the band Wall of Voodoo.  "Nadine" is a Chuck Berry cover.

MOMS MABLEY AT THE "UN"  -  MOMS MABLEY

YEAR:  1961
LABEL:  Chess
TRACK LISTING:  Side A,  Side B
IMPRESSIONS:  This is one of my favourite Moms Mabley albums.  Pretty much every Moms Mabley album is the same:  hilarious!  So it's a little difficult to choose one from the other and say anything relevant about it other than Moms does her stand-up routine in front of a live audience and is hysterically funny.  Perhaps this album she's a little funnier so I chose it to post about; in fact, the recent documentary "WHOOPI GOLDBERG PRESENTS MOMS MABLEY" uses quite a few clips from this album.  But really it's to refresh everyone's memory about this groundbreaking (an adjective Mabley actually deserves) comedian who was the most successful female comic on the planet during her heyday.  With her dentures out and her housecoat and floppy hat on, Moms Mabley is one of those people who could truly read the phone book and be funny.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  There are no tracks as such but merely side a and side b so all of 'em.
FACT SHEET:  AT THE "UN" is Moms Mabley's second album (perhaps) and was recorded live at the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia.

BLOODSHOT  -  THE J. GEILS BAND

YEAR:  1973
LABEL:  Atlantic
TRACK LISTING:  (Ain't Nothin' But A) House Party,  Make Up Your Mind,  Back to Get Ya,  Struttin' with My Baby,  Don't Try To Hide It,  Southside Shuffle,  Hold Your Loving,  Start All Over Again,  Give It To Me
IMPRESSIONS:  It's been a while but we're heading back to the 1970s living room in Maple Surple with the wood paneling and the lime green bean bag chair of my kiddiehood when my mother used to blast rock records while she was cleaning or else just dancing around.  Consequently, I heard this J. Geils Band album many, many times while growing up.  It's a little bit grungy and a little bit naughty with straight-ahead rockin' guitar and rollin' piano combined with a large soupcon of the blues and a hint of retro fifties style (this WAS the era when "HAPPY DAYS" was a big TV hit).  The album starts off with a barnstorming cover "(Ain't Nothin' But A) House Party" which commences the joint to jumpin' and things stay pretty much on the same high-energy level of fun throughout the spinning of the entire clear red vinyl record.  Wickedly risqué (in the early 70s) was "Don't Try To Hide It" with it's chorus of "I see your heiney, it's nice and shiny, don't try to hide it, you know I'll find it"!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  (Ain't Nothin' But A) House Party,  Make Up Your Mind,  Back To Get Ya,  Don't Try To Hide It,  Give It To Me
FACT SHEET:  BLOODSHOT is the J. Geils Band's fourth album.  It went to number 10 on the Billboard charts; the highest ranking of a J. Geils Band album until the 1981 success of the multi-platinum "FREEZE FRAME" album.  I frankly prefer BLOODSHOT.  The album was recorded in New York City's Hit Factory and produced by Bill Szymczyk.  The band consists of J. Geils (guitar), Peter Wolf (vocals), Stephen Bladd (percussion, drums, vocals), Danny Klein (bass), Seth Justmas (keyboards, vocals), Magic Dick (harmonica, trumpet) and Mike Hunt (saxophone).  Are these last two names for real?!?!  The album was pressed on red vinyl instead of the usual black. 

SNOOPY'S CHRISTMAS  -  THE PETER PAN SINGERS

YEAR:  1968
LABEL:  Diplomat/Tinkerbell
TRACK LISTING:  Snoopy's Christmas,  The Little Shepherd,  Christmas Candy,  Mary Christmas,  The Snowflake Song,  Jingle the Christmas Mouse,  The Christmas Tree,  Mr. Reindeer,  Donner and Blitzen,  Jack Frost's Christmas
IMPRESSIONS:  This is the other children's Christmas record my grandmother bought me while we were food shopping at the Holiday supermarket in the mid-1970s.  The first one I talked about in yesterday's post.  I don't have much to add to what I mentioned in the other "SNOOPY'S CHRISTMAS" post other than that this album is perhaps more lively than the other one and also features a wider variety of song styles; the Peppermint Kandy Kids album has many songs which sounds similar to one another while this album is musically more distinct with each song and features many memorable characters.  My favourite of these is "Jingle the Christmas Mouse" but there's also "Mary Christmas" and the delightfully bonkers "Donner and Blitzen" song which sounds like Carmen Miranda fell into a jazz improv group!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Snoopy's Christmas,  Christmas Candy,  Mary Christmas,  The Snowflake Song,  Jingle the Christmas Mouse,  Donner and Blitzen
FACT SHEET:  SNOOPY'S CHRISTMAS is a children's Christmas record which most sources site as being released on Diplomat Records in 1968; my copy of the LP was on Tinkerbell Records released sometime in the early to mid-1970s.  Both of these labels, however, were subsidiaries of Peter Pan Records and the studio musicians/singers can most properly be called "The Peter Pan Singers".  The cover art on my copy of the LP (pictured above) was by Howie Post.

SNOOPY'S CHRISTMAS  -  THE PEPPERMINT KANDY KIDS

YEAR:  1972
LABEL:  Peter Pan Records
TRACK LISTING:  Snoopy's Christmas,  Santa Claus For President (And Christmas All Year Round),  Children of the World Unite Tonight,  Who Stole the Mistletoe? (The Nose Knows),  We Wish You A Merry Christmas,  Jingle Bell Rock,  Travelin' Man,  Christmas Eve In Sloopyville,  Superstar,  The Happiest Time of the Year
IMPRESSIONS:  Once again we delve into the Christmas kiddie wayback machine and look at one of those Peter Pan Christmas records I had as a kid.  Just like "The Bunny Hoppers" Christmas LP "THE CHIPMUNK SONG" I posted about a couple years ago, this and another "SNOOPY'S CHRISTMAS" children's record were purchased by my grandmother when we were food shopping at the surely long-defunct Holiday supermarket.  Clocking in at under 24 minutes, this is a shorty but a goody which I played endlessly when I was growing up.  The Peppermint Kandy Kids, of course, were whatever studio musicians and singers Peter Pan Records were using that week and they cover the Royal Guardsmen's earlier hit single "Snoopy's Christmas" which gave it's name to this album.  However, it appears Peter Pan Records were only allowed to use the Peanuts character names in the eponymous title track as, wherever else they appear, the names are changed. F'rinstance, in "Who Stole the Mistletoe", Charlie Brown's name is changed to "Harley" and Schroeder's to "Roeder" - and the very title of "Christmas Eve In Sloopyville" shows Snoopy's name change as well.
I always liked the hushed, almost-spooky atmosphere of "Children of the World, Unite Tonight"; the picture I always got in my mind's eye was of a Currier & Ives frosted window pane in the dark of night with a lone candle burning as a child's face looks out hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa's sleigh. Hilariously, this rather subdued version of "Children of the World, Unite Tonight" has a raucous, faster counterpart on the aforementioned "Bunny Hoppers" Christmas record; the song title is exactly the same but the song itself is totally different.  Then there's, what to me always sounded like, the faux-Peggy Lee style vocal on "Travelin' Man" with the added lounge-singer whistling bridge!  "Superstar" obviously mirrors the time of the record's release (1972) when "JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR" was very popular; just substitute Santa as the eponymous superstar of the song and you have a hippy idea transformed by the extremely straight, white-bread style of the Peppermint Kandy Kids singers!  The album also includes a version of "JINGLE BELL ROCK" which is a cover of the exact song you think it is but then there's the inclusion of "WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS" which is definitely not the song you think it is at all!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Snoopy's Christmas,  Children of the World Unite Tonight,  Who Stole the Mistletoe? (The Nose Knows),  We Wish You A Merry Christmas,  Travelin' Man
FACT SHEET:  SNOOPY'S CHRISTMAS is a children's Christmas record released by Peter Pan Records in 1972.  The "Santa/Snoopy/Red Baron/Whatever It Is" figure seen on the cover is actually a gatefold cutout Christmas decoration which had a perforated edge so kiddies could tear it off and hang it on the wall; once you did this, however, the image still appeared underneath so the album cover looks identical with or without it.  The album cover art was drawn by the legendary kid's records cover artist George Peed.  In 1977, Peter Pan Records re-recorded the entire album with different versions of each of the songs linked together as a story; this version is actually available on iTunes and is godawful!

GENUINE NEGRO JIG  -  CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS

YEAR:  2010
LABEL:  Nonesuch
TRACK LISTING:  Peace Behind the Bridge,  Trouble In Your Mind,  Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine,  Hit 'Em Up Style,  Cornbread and Butterbeans,  Snowden's Jig (Genuine Negro Jig),  Why Don't You Do Right?,  Cindy Gal,  Kissin' and Cussin',  Sandy Boys,  Reynadine,  Trampled Rose
BONUS TRACKS:  Memphis Shakedown,  City of Refuge
IMPRESSIONS:  I've always been a fan of folk music and old 78 recordings such as those featured in Harry Smith's "ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC" etc.  That's probably why this album was such a joy to me.  Oftentimes, when modern performers attempt to do old blues songs or jug band stomps or country blues, the results can sound dead or academic; but here, the Carolina Chocolate Drops recordings sound alive and authentic as this music should.  After all, this music shouldn't be considered a museum piece (as often happens) but instead should be just as enjoyable as any other music one listens to today.  And that's where the Carolina Chocolate Drops triumph over their competitors; the music sounds fresh and vital and not at all like some dusty music archeologist's attempts to catalogue lost folk tunes.  This album is just a solidly great listen; an almost perfect album in every way.  The song selections are pretty flawless; country blues and jug band hootenannies ("Trouble In Your Mind", "Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine") with new compositions "Kissin' and Cussin'"), modern covers, instrumentals and even British folk music.  We're used to hearing Peggy Lee's big band version of "Why Don't You Do Right?" but here the exquisite voice of Rhiannon Giddens renders it into a melancholy blues.  There is murder ballad-stuff here as well as a hilariously incongruous but still tasty cover of Blu Cantrell's hit from about a decade ago "Hit 'Em Up Style" which somehow works.  Rhiannon also provides us with an a cappella rendition of the Brit-folk standard "Reynadine" which I'm familiar with in versions by Fairport Convention and Bert Jansch all the way through to the Folktellers' version "Mr. Fox" on their "CHILLERS" album.  A superb collection of country blues.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Peace Behind the Bridge,  Trouble In Your Mind,  Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine,  Hit 'Em Up Style,  Cornbread and Butterbeans,  Snowden's Jig (Genuine Negro Jig),  Why Don't You Do Right?,  Kissin' and Cussin',  Reynadine,  Trampled Rose
FACT SHEET:  GENUINE NEGRO JIG is the Carolina Chocolate Drops' fourth album.  The group at this time consisted of the trio of vocalist Rhiannon Giddens, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Dom Flemons and percussionist/banjoist Sule Greg Wilson with occasional guest appearances by Justin Robinson.  The Carolina Chocolate Drops are one of the few existing African-American string bands whose stated purpose is to celebrate and bring attention to the history of string band music from the North and South Carolina Piedmont region which they learned at the feet of respected old-time fiddler Joe Thompson.  In Giddens' words:  "it seems that two things get left out of the history books. One, that there was string band music in the Piedmont, period. (And that) black folk was such a huge part of string tradition."  Critically acclaimed, (The 9513 described the album as "an album of feistily complex, yet endearingly soulful songs that have ages of history behind them and a bright future as well.") the album was number 9 on Roots magazine's "Top 10 Albums of the Year" and was the first all-black group to appear at the Grand Ole Opry.  "Peace Behind the Bridge" is an Etta Baker song.  "Trouble In Your Mind" is a cover of a song originally done by Frank Blevins and the Tar Heel Rattlers.  "Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine" is a Papa Charlie Jackson song.  "Hit 'Em Up Style" is a cover of a Blu Cantrell song.  "Cornbread and Butterbeans" was originally recorded by the Carolina Sunshine Trio.  "Why Don't You Do Right?" was recorded by multiple artists including most famously Peggy Lee.  "Reynadine" is a traditional folk ballad; the version here was learned from a recording by Annie Briggs.  "Trampled Rose" is a Tom Waits cover.  In 2010, GENUINE NEGRO JIG won the Grammy Award for "Best Traditional Folk Album" and the Penguin Award for "Album of the Year".
    

TUPELO HONEY  -  VAN MORRISON

YEAR:  1971
LABEL:  Warner Bros.
TRACK LISTING:  Wild Night,  (Straight To Your Heart) Like a Cannonball,  Old Old Woodstock,  Starting A New Life,  You're My Woman,  Tupelo Honey,  I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative),  When That Evening Sun Goes Down,  Moonshine Whiskey
IMPRESSIONS:  This album is the musical equivalent of kicking off your shoes and sprawling out in a hammock during a pleasant summer day.  Much more laid back and less experimental than some of Van's other albums (and some people downgrade this album on that account), TUPELO HONEY finds the artist pausing to take stock of himself and his career.  Originally conceived as a country album, Morrison eventually changed his mind and ditched half the songs which were very country and added some older songs he had "lying around".  However, the album still sounds very, very country and is especially indicative of the era when everyone seemed to be enamored of making albums which sounded like The Band.  TUPELO HONEY is a nostalgic, sepia-tinted evocation of Morrison's home in Woodstock, New York which he viewed as an idyllic refuge until the 1969 concert and 1970 concert film turned it into a tourist mecca and he decided he needed to move out.  He relocated to California (where his then-wife Janet Planet had relatives) and it is there he recorded this album.  The song "Old Old Woodstock" immediately followed with "Starting a New Life" lays out this scenario quite clearly.  Besides being a paean to relaxing country home life and the sound of the Band, the album is also an extremely romantic one with Van providing loving tributes to his wife:  the impossibly perfect love song embodied in the title track as well as such romantic longings as "You're My Woman" (which Van wrote sitting at the piano in the recording studio) and "I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative)" ("roo" means "to woo").  However, this is not completely a quiet album; the lead-off track is the seminal rocker "Wild Night" featuring Ronnie Montrose on guitar and there is the honky tonk, rolling piano tune of "When the Evening Sun Goes Down" as well as the final track "Moonshine Whiskey" (which Morrison has said was written for "Janis Joplin or something") which alternates between a slow 6/8 time as a fast 4/4.  Morrison himself has expressed some disappointment with the album stating that it doesn't feel fresh owing to his use of a lot of older songs he hadn't yet recorded.  As if songs had a sell-by date.  Whether a song is good or bad has no relation to when it was written and, while Van may have had the songs laying around for a while, they were brand new to everyone else.  TUPELO HONEY may not be groundbreaking stuff but it obviously wasn't intended to be; the album succeeds in its intentions.  My acquisition of this album goes back to the late 80s-early 90s camping trips we all went on with my late friend Cindy and her husband Rob; this and Van Morrison's greatest hits were recurring soundtracks and always remind me of those times.  It is, indeed, the perfect album for reminiscing.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Wild Night,  Old Old Woodstock,  You're My Woman,  Tupelo Honey,  I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative),  When That Evening Sun Goes Down
GUEST ARTISTS:  Ronnie Montrose (guitar)
FACT SHEET:  TUPELO HONEY is Van Morrison's fifth album.  It went to #27 on the Billboard album charts and has been certified gold.   

BOSTON  -  BOSTON

YEAR:  1976
LABEL:  Epic
TRACK LISTING:  More Than a Feeling,  Peace of Mind,  Foreplay/Long Time,  Rock & Roll Band,  Smokin',  Hitch a Ride,  Something About You,  Let Me Take You Home Tonight
IMPRESSIONS:  Surely one of the most quintessential albums of the 1970s!  As Wikipedia so aptly says, the album "sold mightily" and became one of the biggest selling debut albums of all time and almost the entire thing plays constantly on classic rock radio to this day.  Something of a surprise to the record label as well as the band members themselves, the phenomenal success led to record labels trying to copy Boston's sound in order to make the cash registers ring.  Somewhat unfairly, the resulting "corporate rock" genre was laid at the band's door but they were only ever interested in making their music.  Subsequent knock-down, drag-out tussles with their record company over control of their future led to the band's stagnation as it was unable to release more albums for years.  But one of classic rock's bedrock albums still stands as something of a monument of the 1970s and something of a comet flashing across the sky of those UFOs on the cover.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  More Than a Feeling,  Peace of Mind,  Foreplay/Long Time,  Rock & Roll Band,  Smokin,  Hitch a Ride,  Let Me Take You Home Tonight
FACT SHEET:  BOSTON is Boston's first album and has sold over 20 million copies worldwide and has been certified diamond.  It is the second highest-selling debut album of all-time behind Guns N Roses' "APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION".  Boston consisted of Tom Scholz (guitars, bass, songwriting), Brad Delp (vocals, acoustic guitar), Sib Hashian (drums), Jim Masdea (drums on "Rock & Roll Band"), Barry Goudreau (rhythm guitars), Fran Sheehan (bass guitar on "Foreplay" and "Let Me Take You Home Tonight").  Scholz wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on the album years before and plays most of the instruments as well as recording and engineering all the tracks.  Album opener "More Than A Feeling" is about daydreaming and was inspired by the break-up of a school-time romance.  The Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee" was popular at the time and inspired Scholz in his misery; in fact, unconsciously the chord progression from "Walk Away Renee" appears in the song right after the line "I see my Mary Ann walking away".  Famously, Nirvana would appropriate the main riff of the song for their own "Smells Like Teen Spirit" years later.