Please note that this is a work in progress and some of the albums will change rankings as new ones get added.
You can send your comments to joe by e mailing RecordReview2001@yahoo.com
Main website: http://varulven.com/joeviglione.html
For more "Space Age Bachelor Pad" sounds try Joe Viglione's Film Reviews
http://soundtrackfilm.blogspot.com
#1 SEE IT IN SOUND ESQUIVEL From Billboard.com
Sam Wick's dense four pages of liner notes to Esquivel's See It in Sound album provide a window to this fascinating kaleidoscope of intonation which, shockingly, RCA Records refused to release after it was recorded in Hollywood in May of 1960. In order to be objective one has to take oneself away from the cult who adore Esquivel's work and just hear this magical adventure away from the rhetoric and judge it on its own merits. The verdict: See It in Sound is a vibrant and tremendously creative artistic achievement. Read more here:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?JSESSIONID=VygTGHJXZG8v5bYwQpyt4GWP71FR0ncJlW6T8np1QdCPGDzhc0ZM!-552796519&pid=36743&aid=390630
2)Latin Pianos Ferrante & Teicher
Ferrante & Teicher's Latin Pianos, with an orchestra conducted by Don Costa, is not your standard 1960s middle-of-the-road fare, though the duo was undeservedly lumped in with Ray Conniff and other purveyors of soft music from that era. Yes, this is adult contemporary, but in the same vein as Esquivel, the Latin Pianos album taking sounds from south of the border and mixing them up with percussion and well-timed piano attacks, maneuvers Billy Joel and Elton John should study for their performances together. Read more from MusicMatch here:
http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/album/album.cgi?ALBUMID=1379828&AMGLENGTH=full
3)BARRE PHILLIPS "LIVE IN VIENNA, AUSTRIA"
This wonderful DVD of Barre Phillips performing live on February 19, 2005, at Porgy & Bess in Vienna gives new meaning to "space age bachelor pad music." Phillips takes the bow and plucks at his bass with percussive slaps that sound like an ultrasound machine in search of the lost tracks from Jerry Goldsmith 's landmark Planet of the Apes soundtrack score. The audience begins to chuckle at his Zappa-esque explorations of the instrument, the timing keeping it musical while the mind of the maestro goes into some meditative swim through the possibilities of a stringed instrument as an extension of a man's mind. To say that it is captivating underscores the genius at work. With Phillips' left hand on the strings, his right hand works over the body of the instrument in addition to strumming and plucking. It's music as performance art all rolled into one - read more here:
http://www.music.com/release/live_in_vienna/11/
4) SOUNDS ORCHESTRAL The Easy Project, Volume 7
Sounds Chartbound is a strange record for the mysteriously eloquent Sounds Orchestral. The healthy 20 tracks on this compilation maintain the elegance; it's just that the mystery is missing. Johnny Pearson's piano pauses and hesitations that made for great and eerie pop music -- the Sounds Orchestral version of "Louie, Louie" is just one example of their unique approach, another being their most famous, the number one adult contemporary hit "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" -- are audio treats that are "sounds missing" from this exercise. Instead, listeners have Pearson and his collaborator, producer/director John Schroeder, playing it safe and delivering a pleasant run-through of familiar 1960s Top 40 standards that run the gamut. Starting with the Monkees' "I'm a Believer" all the way to a version of Ketty Lester's lovely "Love Letters" read more here:
http://wc07.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gifixqu0ldje
5)NINA SIMONE: Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club (Charly UK)
09/14/2004 Snapper Uk
Nina Simone's first official album, 1958's Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club, is pure perfection, an amazing accomplishment for a 24-year-old pianist arranging and singing studio renditions of songs from her live set. Captured here are moments of intrigue, as SimoneRichard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart classic "Little Girl Blue" (the alternate title of the album stamped on the label of the vinyl as well as on the back cover) is a gorgeous work of art, SimoneJanis JoplinSimone gives insight into the recording of this masterpiece, an album that sets different tones with each melodic adventure. The uptempo blues of "Mood Indigo" drops quietly into "Don't Smoke in Bed" and the even deeper blues of "He Needs Me." One can hear Billie Holiday's influence pushing Simone on her own musical path. Read more here: magically takes the listener through musical caverns that want to be explored again with repeated spins. The rendition of "Plain Gold Ring" is exotic and draws the listener back, just as the adding the melody from the traditional "Good King Wenceslas" to the standard would bring to rock audiences a decade later. The cover photograph of the artist on a park bench in Central Park is a play on her only songwriting contribution, "Central Park Blues," which concludes the LP. In her autobiography,
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,2927343,00.html
6)Johnny Mathis I'll Buy You A Star from FYE.com
The voice of Johnny Mathis is always distinctive and compelling but when blended with Nelson Riddle, whose magic made recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and so many others even more special, the results are extraordinary. I'll Buy You a Star puts Mathis' voice in a beautiful setting, something Linda Ronstadt would emulate years later on her three discs with the legendary conductor. After Mathis hit with Glenn Osser's orchestration of "Starbright" in 1960, he seemed to go on a "star" kick on this release a year later, and that's OK. "I'll Buy You a Star" and "Stairway to the Stars" lead off this classic with additional cosmic themes on side two, the singer indulging astrology in "Sudden Love" and talking about love being "heavenly" in "Warm and Willing." The genius of this collection, though, is that there is a smooth continuity of styles, a departure from the usual Mathis formula which would have the singer switching musical genres on many of his albums with only his voice to keep things consistent. Read more here:
http://www.fye.com/viewproduct.htm?productId=6013047&extid=df00033
7)BOBBY HEBB "SUNNY" From Windows Media:
Produced by Jerry Ross and arranged by Joe Renzetti, "Sunny" emerged from a twelve-song disc released on the Phillips label, a division of Mercury records. Although Bobby Hebb is known as "the song a day man," he only composed three of the dozen titles included on this collection. The title track, of course, which was the song of the summer of 1966, "Yes or No or Maybe Not," and "Crazy Baby." The follow-up, "A Satisfied Mind," was also a Top 40 hit that year, but it wasn't until 1971, when Lou Rawls had a Top 20 hit with "Natural Man," did Hebb get another smash. A pity, and a definite statement about the music industry when a man as prolific and talented as Robert Von Hebb constructs and delivers pop tunes with a voice and feeling that crosses genres and ethnic boundaries. Kal Rudman himself penned the liner notes on the back of the disc (at the time he was R&B Editor of Record World Magazine, a publication still missed by the industry). Rudman reports that "Sunny" hit number one in Detroit and the surrounding area on the R&B, pop, and country & western charts. A monster smash, with covers by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington, Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy, there is no doubt this is Hebb's signature tune Read more here:
http://www.windowsmedia.com/MediaGuide/Templates/AlbumInfo.aspx?a_id=R%20%20%20109304
8) ORION Sometimes Words Just Get In The Way
This 1975 instrumental synthesizer-driven album by Orion is an exceptional collection of clever takes on some of the bigger hits of the day, with some originals sprinkled in between. Opening with Barry Manilow's "Mandy" and closing with the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" ought to give you a clue... Read more here:
http://www.mp3.com/albums/38095/reviews.html
9)Getting Together Ferrante & Teicher from Answers.com
On Getting Together, Louis Teicher and
http://www.answers.com/topic/getting-together-easy-listening-album?cat=entertainment
10)ROGER WILLIAMS AUTUMN LEAVES from Billboard.com
Roger Williams' third, self-titled album for Kapp was his breakthrough featuring the number one smash from the summer of 1955, "Autumn Leaves." Backed by Glenn Osser's dramatic strings, the 30 year old's rippling piano sounds are a dynamic contrast as well as complement to the "full, rich orchestra" described in the liner notes. On Gershwin's "Summertime" the accompaniment stays back and lets Roger show some technique, a bit of restraint before he dazzles with elaborate notes and simply gorgeous chords adding something extra to the familiar material. Hammerstein's "Wanting You" went Top 40 about five months after "Autumn Leaves" with "La Mer" doing the same two months later. This version of "Beyond the Sea" hit almost two years before Bobby Darin would take the same melody Top Ten in 1960. The album cover's dark aqua color scheme over a Jerry Tiffany photo of the artist became a familiar jacket in the mid- to late '50s and early '60s and was a pretty good reflection of the music inside. He uses the piano like a harpsichord on "Wanting You," reworking the tune from a 1928 musical, The New Moon. "The River Seine" dances with flourishes Liberace often embraced -- one of the two songs where Roger "duets" with himself via multitracking -- while Signorelli's "Big Town" exposes Williams' jazz leanings better than perhaps any other tune here. read more here:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/more.jsp?JSESSIONID=kXlJGGLS26k1QcnpjbK3Q79Jb1DGcYW7jzW2D1WHp430ZPLPPPfq!600472995&tp=albums&pid=2590&aid=22889
11)NINA SIMONE: BITTERSWEET: THE VERY BEST OF NINA SIMONE
From Yahoo.Shopping Music
The beauty of a compilation released 43 years after the first three tracks on this disc were recorded and 29 years after the most recent recording (the rendition of the traditional "Jelly Roll" in 1971) is that the fans of Nina Simone who have turned experts can present this valuable art to the world with the loving care and devotion that it deserves. What can be said about the woman's music that hasn't already been written? That her rendition of "I Put a Spell on You" may be the most haunting if not the definitive version? That she recaptures the original inspiration of what might be the Bee Gees' single most important statement of their long and storied career, a reading of "To Love Somebody" that is as valuable -- though much different -- as Janis Joplin's interpretation? The key to Bittersweet: The Very Best of Nina Simone is in the presentation. A stunning 16-page booklet featuring photographs, track listings, musicians, recording dates, and detailed liner notes by David Nathan is included in this excellent release compiled and sequenced by Buzz Ravineau, produced by Paul Williams with digital remastering by Bill Lacey. Read more here:
http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Bittersweet:%20The%20Very%20Best%20of%20Nina%20Simone:1921483262
12)Count Basie SWING ERA from MSN.com
MVD's addition to their Swing Era series featuring Count Basie is a collection of film/videos from Studio Telescriptions, Snader Telescriptions, and other sources. There are seven Count Basie tracks that are valuable, revealing, and downright exciting. Fats Waller's four songs start off with "Honeysuckle Rose," taken from a short directed by Warren Murray and released by Soundies Distribution Corporation and, needless to say, it is fantastic. read more here:
http://shopping.msn.com/prices/shp/?itemId=2357796
13) Vic Damone TenderlyReleased after his 1956 hit "On the Street Where You Live," Wing/Mercury utilized the Walter Gross/Jack Lawrence standard Tenderly as the title of this ten-song disc. Singer Vic Damone -- the boyfriend of Gere Rock -- the woman who would become the second wife of Rolling Stones' producer Jimmy Miller -- delivers quintessential middle of the road music when taking on Johnson and Mahoney's "I Kissed a Dream." There's more than a bit of a romantic theme involving the elements, with titles like "On the Outgoing Tide" (the Brown/Wayne song that Perry Como covered) alongside atmospheric numbers from "The Wind Song" and "The Four Winds and the Seven Seas" to "Love Can Change the Stars." Damone's strong and perfect vocal instrument has potent orchestration and a frequent female chorus shimmering around his performances. read more here:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?JSESSIONID=0nQdG4LdRc2BzYLQJGKTkGRkJmGVbv2tRNJ7VLzpNvLXJ7fGh8Jy!881454904&pid=10419&aid=609215
Vic Damone's classic TENDERLY
14)Vic Dana Warm & Wild
Though none of the 12 songs here made it on to The Complete Hits Of Vic Dana, the young singer that the 1962 liner notes claim was "not yet of voting age" did get to play in an exclusive arena. This is not the Vic Dana the world knew from his sole Top 10 hit, the re-make of Vaughn Monroe's Top 3 smash from 1949, "Red Roses For A Blue Lady." Warm and Wild plays more like a young Vic Damone or Jerry Vale. Backed up by stellar musicians like keyboardist/woodwind star Buddy Collette, guitarist Barney Kessel, and bassist Joe Comfort, with Earl Palmer and Mel Lewis on drums, you have a young pup with seasoned (and major) instrumentation behind him. This is as impressive and creative as Pia Zadora on her glitzy 1980s tour with musicians found after she opened for Frank Sinatra's. It's actually quite amazing: a young pop singer performing Rodgers and Hart's "My Romance" years before Carly Simon, Toni Tennille, and Linda Ronstadt found the idea chic. Read more here:
http://www.mp3.com/albums/561767/reviews.html
15)Liberace Here's Liberace
With one side almost 20 minutes and the other clocking in at 13 and a half, this MCA reissue of Here's Liberace, a concert performance recorded live at the Palladium, is what you expect from the maestro. After a little chatter about his jacket, he tickles the ivories on Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and "I Got Rhythm." For those who underestimate the pianist -- don't. Liberace was more than running scales and showmanship -- his variations on
http://www.answers.com/topic/here-s-liberace?cat=entertainment
16)Dave Pike's JAZZ FOR THE JET SET
http://wm06.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dcfexqrgldte
17)Gerald Wilson's YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT
http://wm06.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fcfrxq9gldke
18)Dusty Springfield WHERE AM I GOING on Starpulse.com
Where Am I Going is a phenomenal album by Dusty Springfield, and though it doesn't have any American chart hits made famous by the icon, it would have been a blessing had every single performance here conquered the Top 40. The British version contains 12 tracks, while the U.S. counterpart, entitled The Look of Love, has 11, four of which are not on the vinyl version of this: "Small Town Girl," "What It's Gonna Be," "Look of Love," and "Give Me Time." That means the U.K. fans got five tracks not available on The Look of Love. To further complicate things, the CD version contains three bonus tracks, including the Goffin/King tune "Don't Forget About Me" from Dusty in Memphis, "Give Me Time" from the British pressing of this, and "Time After Time." The All Music Guide lists John Franz and Jerry Ragovoy as the producers, while the original album version lists nine arrangers, conductors, and directors, but gives no production credit. to read more go here:
http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Springfield,_Dusty/Discography/album/P5503/R49957/
19)BUZZY LINHART STUDIO Artist Direct.com
Free Soul Spirit Symphony" opens Buzzy Linhart's first full commercial release in three decades like some wild outtake from the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St. sessions, that is, if some rock & roll madman took over while Mick was in Paris with Bianca shopping. The hook is unforgettable and the playing so in the pocket that one wonders why music this fun and important is isolated by corporations desperate for something fresh, exciting and different. "It Hurts So Bad It Must Be Love," created with ex-members of Wings, Vanilla Fudge, vocals by the Chambers Brothers and even Stones exile Nicky Hopkins himself, follows with no space in between. It's a powerful one-two punch sequenced and coordinated by Linhart's business partner Art Berggren, the 11 songs showing the different facets of Linhart's persona and songwriting skills. No worries about that Linhart not living up to his potential here: the Studio project by the journeyman performer delivers, and delivers in a way that Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow's recent embrace of cover versions simply can't. read more here:
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,3775737,00.html
20) Juan Pablo Torres Romantic Cuba
| Review | by Joe Viglione |
The opening tracks of Romantic Cuba are culled from the November 1975 sessions where the master trombone player puts his instrument down to orchestrate and direct the EGREM Orchestra in a compelling and substantial way. It's as exotic and exhilarating as the best moments of Paul Mauriat, heavy orchestration over the piano of Pedro Coto. Why this material wasn't exported to the world is the real question, significant "space age bachelor pad" music which would make Esquivel proud - though sans any of his experimentation - and with none of Ferrante & Teicher's playfulness. The piece"Cuenta Conmigo" is as invigorating as "Terrible Sueno" is stimulating, the percussive precision as no-nonsense as the guitar, piano and strings. Marvelously inspiring throughout these once hidden sounds recorded in San Miguel, Havana, delight track after track in the same way that Percy Faith's "Theme From A Summer Place" and Peter Nero's "Theme From The Summer of '42" are immortal memories for fans of pop radio in the early 60's and early 70's respectively. | |
read more here:
http://wc05.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fbfyxz95ldse
21)Ferrante & Teicher A Bouquet of Hits
| Review | by Joe Viglione |
| Skillfully blending Nick Perito's orchestrations with the duo's always clever attack on their respective Baldwin pianos, A Bouquet of Hits strikes a delicate balance that gives a true musical definition for the term "middle of the road." The craftsmanship is evident with their taking composers Jimmy Webb and Bobby Hebb to different realms on intuitive readings of "MacArthur Park," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," and a dramatic Perito arrangement of "Sunny." "MacArthur Park" jumps out at you with the familiar melody surrounded by swirling piano runs while Hebb's "Sunny" has those same cascading keyboards in a Bob Crewe Generation-style livliness with a bit of the jazz arrangement found on Dusty Springfield's rendition. "Goin' out of My Head" was so emotional in the hands of Little Anthony that the stunning melody got side-stepped, same with Bobby Goldsboro's 1968 smash "Honey." Without the vocalists and with Ferrante & Teicher adding their sound illustrations, the material is delightfully ear-catching. For more read this link: | |
http://wm01.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jvfexqt5ldse
22)The Sandals Wild As The Sea -
The Endless Summer / The Ski Bums
| Review | by Joe Viglione |
| Wild as the Sea: Complete Sandals 1964-1969 holds 31 tracks —77 minutes of great surf sounds from the Sandals, a low-key Ventures-like group with the distinction of having created the music for the classic Bruce Brown film, The Endless Summer. This record is an incessant party, starting with a dozen instrumental tracks which saturate the brain but are not as redundant as say, the Ramones, the nuances of the jingling-jangling guitars making for great background to any party. These vignettes mostly clock in around the two-minute mark, the vocals on "All Over Again" are pretty humorous with some very uplifting changes and harmonica. The song "Endless Summer" owes more to the Four Seasons than the Beach Boys, and is not to be confused with the title that opens this package, the instrumental "The Theme From Endless Summer." Read More Here: | |
http://wc03.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3pfixqyald0e
23)Andy McKaie In Search Of Eddy Riff
A youthful Andy Mackay along with saxophone and cat stare out from the front cover of this compelling instrumental LP recorded between February of 1974 and June of 1975. Opening with a cool cover of "Wild Weekend," the Top Ten 1963 hit for the Rebels, this is fun stuff from the artsy realm of serious U.K. musicians. With less complexity than listeners have come to expect from Roxy Music alum, an innocent ballad like Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World" becomes transcendent by way of simple instrumentation -- Mackay's sax as the lead instrument, tasty guitars, and keys filling in nicely. There is a definite '60s feel to this album, perhaps a testimonial along with the reinterpretation of the four covers included in this mix of originals and traditional songs. Mackay's "Walking the Whippet" is like some rave amendment to the number one surf rock hit from 1962, "Telstar" by the Tornadoes. The back cover has what looks like a nuclear rocket tilted right with a sax shifting left against a cloudy background. The version of Motown's "What Becomes of The Broken Hearted" leans more towards Muzak than the experimentation one would expect from this Roxy crew. Former bandmate Eno along with his replacement in Roxy Music, Eddie Jobson, and the usual suspects, John Porter, Paul Thompson, even Deep Purple's Roger Glover, all conspire and bring inspiration to this highly listenable project. The arrangement of Schubert's "An Die Musik" changes the mood dramatically. Read more here:http://www.answers.com/topic/in-search-of-eddie-riff?cat=entertainment
Good link:
http://moo.vivaroxymusic.com/1479
24)ZOT
Review by Joe Viglione
Veteran producer Pat Moran, who worked with Edie Brickell, Jon Butcher Axis, and so many others, engineers and produces this highly listenable and entertaining album by the band Zot. It's the songs and vocals of keyboard player Randy Wayne who would go on to work with one of the big acts at the Stiefel Company which represented Zot, that act being Rod Stewart. There's appropriate alien cover art and a vocal from Wayne which is borderline Nick Gilder veering off into David Bowie territory. Randy Wayne would have been the perfect addition to the Spiders From Mars when Bowie's rhythm section tried to launch a career of their own. This is the stuff fans of Ziggy Stardust could truly have appreciated. Though there are no sparks of brilliance à la Roxy Music or other adventurous experimental bands, Zot works because the music is simple, ethereal, and quite pleasing. Read more here:
http://wc05.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hcfrxqw5ldje
25)Bobby Hebb 45 RPM from 1968
YOU WANT TO CHANGE ME / DREAMY
http://youwanttochangeme.blogspot.com/
26)
Liberace Songs My Mother Taught Me
Label: Hamilton/Dot
Liberace utilizes the Antonin Dvorák composition "Songs My Mother Taught Me" as the first track of his album of the same name on the Hamilton label, a Dot Records subsidiary. Holding a picture of his mom on the Baldwin piano -- next to the candelabra, of course -- it's an elegant experience with the pianist seemingly performing solo before arranger/conductor Gordon Robinson's strings come in as if from out of nowhere. Produced by Tom Mack, known for his work on Francis Lai's 1971 hit "Love Story" along with recordings by Henry Mancini, Lalo Schifrin, and
others, the album consists of fine piano playing complemented by Robinson's strings, which make the affair sound at times like a film soundtrack, especially on the traditional "Londonderry Air." The pianist playfully covers Strauss' "Tritsch Tratsch
Polka," gives the listener a studied take on Manuel Ponce's "Estrellita," and puts his unique spirit on material by Tchaikovsky, Rubinstein, and Chopin. The
studio album has a more serious tone than his live show, the artist in a modest (for him) red jacket on the cover along with that candelabra and family photograph. The traditional "La Paloma" plays like an outtake from Man of la Mancha while the music exudes a classiness latter-day fans of Ferrante & Teicher and Esquivel find so appealing. It's relatively short with 25 minutes and 25 seconds of music (roughly 12 minutes a side), but is still an entertaining mix.
Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Liberace/Discography/album/P1899/R665978/
27)The Ventures ...play the greatest surfin' hits of all-time
http://wc04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:gxfqxqu0ldde
The Ventures "...play the greatest surfin' hits of all-time"
Review by Joe Viglione
Varese Sarabande has outdone itself with this marvelous package of surf instrumentals by the Ventures, containing 18 tracks that surely fit into the "space age bachelor pad" category of fun sounds with the superb playing that listeners expect from the legendary group. "Out of Limits" is short and sweet at 1:59 -- but full of vibrant '60s energy and distinctive guitar. From the "Hawaii Five-O" theme to the tension of "Lonely Surfer," this is a really superb lineup of songs, a nice companion disc to the In Search of Eddie Riff masterpiece by Roxy Music's Andy Mackay.
For more of this review click here:
http://wc04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:gxfqxqu0ldde
28Group: Citizens Here and Abroad
TITLE: Waving, Not Drowning
http://wc04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jcfuxqedldae
29 Miracles Yma Sumac Review by Joe Viglione
The album cover of Miracles is a striking gold on blue with imagery of modern technology meeting the old world. VU meters adorn steps next to a mini sphinx with boats and electric/acoustic guitars in the water. The first song on this disc should've been a hit; "Remember" begins with a hard rock explosion and Sumac exploring what the liner notes call her "extraordinary five-octave voice." There are no lyrics here, just Sumac's vocal flights which ride over rock & roll textures. Although the rock here sounds like it is straight out of the Berklee College of Music, jazz influenced organ courtesy of Richard Person, Chuck Cowan's guitar, the bass of Roger Cowan, and Skippy Switzer's drums all shine here. For more of the review click here:
http://wc04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:w9fixqu0ldae
30)Arturo Sandoval & His Group
Review by Joe Viglione
Arturo Sandoval & His Group contains eleven songs which take the listener on an instrumental pop/jazz journey that is completely satisfying and full of musical surprises. The close to seven minutes of "Para Empezar a Vivir" is pure 1980s lounge while "Cuatro Gigantes" starts off with traditional Latin sounds before veering off into Weather Report territory. The cover of Jennings/Kerr's "Yo Nunca Volveré a Amar de Esta Manera" has Sandoval scorching the horn in parts, far more intrusive than Dionne Warwick's beautiful rendition, her Top 5 1979 hit "I'll Never Love This Way Again". At certain points he intentionally tears into the melody while the band has some fun with the rhythm, the ending disintegrating into mayhem and one wondering if some satire isn't going on.
for more of this review:
http://wc10.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gbfpxzw5ld6e
31)ORCHESTRA LUNA Review by Joe Viglione
THIS ALBUM WAS REVIEWED YEARS BACK FOR AMG FROM THE VINYL! MARKET SQUARE RECORDS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM HAS RE-RELEASED IT ON CD
http://www.marketsquarerecords.co.uk/store/system/store.htm
The Orchestra Luna album began the musical legacy of Rick Berlin, the composer/singer who goes by his birth name, Richard Kinscherf, on this Epic Records debut in 1974. The seven-piece ensemble was truly groundbreaking in a world that doesn't take kindly to innovation. Where the Who were content to write rock operas, Kinscherf and his band put opera to rock. This adventurous mix of songs, written as if they were Broadway show tunes backed by a rock band with jazz and classical influences, might sound like a bit much, and 11 minutes and 53 seconds of "Doris Dreams" never had a chance of Top 40 success, or an edit that could get it there, but that idiosyncrasy is part of what makes this album so daring, and special. Co-produced by Rupert Holmes, the man who gave us "Escape (The Pina Colada Song," a monster smash in 1979, and the cannibal anthem "Timothy" in 1971, the choice might not seem appropriate on the surface. But Holmes' unheralded work for Barbara Streisand and the Broadway musical Drood actually makes him a perfect choice to oversee this project. "Miss Pamela" has wonderful Randy Roos guitars blending with Rick Kinscherf's pretty keyboards, keyboards that could have inspired Billy Joel, sounding very much like his 1978 hit "Just The Way You Are." For more of this review click here:
http://wm08.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:f9fixqlhld6e
32 You Better Believe It by Gerald Wilson
Review by Joe Viglione
Long out of print, the sophisticated and timeless instrumental work titled You Better Believe it by underrated conductor/arranger Gerald Wilson is a first-rate masterpiece released on the Pacific Jazz label in 1961. The seven performances are available on CD in their original order on the 84 track 5 disc compilation, The Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings of Gerald Wilson & His Orchestra released on the Mosaic label, but
read more here:
http://wm02.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fcfrxq9gldke
33)Northern Soul Connoisseurs
34)Out On The Floor Again
http://wm02.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jifoxqurldse
35)Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities, Vol. 2
Great sounding and dense with information Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities, Vol. 2 is a true labor of love, compiling 24 solid tracks on the Kent label, a follow-up to the first volume released in 2001, four years before this wonderful sequel. It is sonically superior to another 2001 classic, Northern Soul Connoisseurs on Spectrum/Uni, the huge quantity of these anthologies from this music genre almost as overwhelming as the 45 rpm singles they collect. Ady Croasdell delivers 12 pages of liner notes on slick paper rife with photographs and copies of the actual labels from some of the 45s contained herein. The music is breathtakingly magical, the "Heatwave" beat driving the Extremes "How I Need Your Love" sliding quickly into Jimmy "Bo" Horne's "I Can't Speak," hardcore doo wop merging with '60s pop creating sweet soul confections that stand up to repeated, endless spins. read more here:
http://wm02.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fnfrxqlsldhe
