TOP 30 RECORDS OF 2012

  AH, at long last ~here I bring you the TOP 30 records of my Daily Dose of Vinyl 365 Project!

How excited are you? Probably you were more two weeks ago when I should have had it published.

Don’t judge me, i’m 7.5 months pregnant. smerk* 

Your TOP #30 list starting at #30 

30. What’s love Got to Do With it? 1984 ~ Tina Turner on 45′

29. Wake Me Up Before You Go Go 80s ~ Wham

28. The Barber of Seville ~ 1825 ? Victoria de los Angeles

27. Eminiscence ~ jazz compilation

26. Sacred Country and Western Songs ~ Texas Jim Robertson

25. Jazz Concert George Shearing Quintet

24. Graham Nash & David Crosby 1972 ~ same name live album.

23. From the Heart of a Woman ~Koko Taylor

22. Sunday Morning Coming Down ~ Johnny Cash (again all of my Cash could take up the top 30)

21. The Nat King Cole Song Book ~Sammy Davis

20. Melanie at Carnegie Hall 1973 ~ Melanie Safka

19. Live in Las Vegas  1967 ~ Tom Jones

18. Paris after Hours ~ Vicky Autier vocals and piano

17. Story of a Broken Heart 1960 ~JOHNNY CASH

16. Deep In The Night ~ Etta James

15. The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Vol. 2 ~ Benny Goodman

14. Diana Ross and the Supremes Greatest Hits 60’s ~ the Supremes

13. Johnny Cash 1958 ~ Johnny Cash

12. KC and the Sunshine Band ~1975 ~ same name.

11. Chances ~ Jill Barber (our wedding song)

10. Rebel Yell 1983 ~Billy Idol

9. She’s So Unusual 1983 ~ Cyndi Lauper

8. Sit Down Young Stranger 1970 ~Gordon Lightfoot (seriously ALL of my Lightfoot collection)

7. Ten Years Greatest Hits ~ Peter, Paul and Mary

6. Someday My Prince Will Come ~ Miles Davis

5. Silk and Soul ~Nina Simone

4. Stand Up And Be Counted. Soul Funk & Jazz From a Revolutionairy Era Vol. 2~ James Brown, the Pink panthers, Michael Jackson

3. La Vie En Rose ~ the 45 from Paris~ Edith Piaf

2. Gord’s Gold ~1975 ~ Gordon Lightfoot

1. Colour By Numbers 1980s~ Culture Club

Thank you to everyone who supported, viewed and followed this project 365 ~ My Daily Dose of Vinyl.

I dropped the needle pretty much every day (ish) from January 1st 2012 to Januray 1st 2013!

xo

please hang out with me over at my other creative BLOG and see what projects I am coming up with as I 

Make Something Every Day

click here for the Make Something Every Day BLOG xo

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• HAPPY JOHNNY CASH SUNDAY… the final chapter of this Project 365 and it’s a DOUBLE FEATURE! (justfortherecords.wordpress.com)

 

TOP 20 ALBUM COVERS of 2012 ~ my project 365 Daily Dose of Vinyl Results.

Here we are at the final results show!

The Project 365 Daily Dose of Vinyl TOP Lists week!

Today we bring you my fav album covers from  the entire year. I re-thrifted about a hundred albums and kept just over 400.

This weekend’s task? refiling and labelling the sleeves. 

These are the TOP 20 ALBUM COVER ART results.

Numbers 10-20:

now…..The TOP 10 ALBUM COVER ART

One.
Even though I rethrifted the album,as I can’t stand his music. This photo is fantastic!

two.

three.
Music for Pussy Cats. Meow.

four.
Something about the colours & layout scream 70s childhood to me. It’s very comforting, non?

five.
As good on the dance floor as he is in bed.

six.
Seriously, vintage photo with the queen? awesome.

seven.
This Nova Scotia duo are deliciously fun and a great album.

eight.
I’m going to play the flute til you go crazy.

nine.
Could just as easily been #1. And caviar dreams, my friends.

ten.
Dedicated to all the other Johnny Cash Sunday fans.

Again, my sweet sweet thanks to all the record blog followers and visitors over the 365 days of this Daily Dose of Vinyl.

Stay tuned for the final entry, later this week ~ the TOP 30 RECORDS Of 2012.

love me.

 

Happy New Year and Happy Project 365 Finale!

Can I get a woot woot? Did I just say that? I did, but who cares! I finished this project !

And it’s New Years!

I hope you all had a musical and wonderful year full of love and creativity. Mine was nothing to complain about and had some some really moments. xo my sweety. Well, for tonight.. we leave you with Guy Lombardo’s New Years Eve Orchestra Party. 

Gaetano Alberto “Guy” Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was a Canadian–American bandleader and violinist.

Forming “The Royal Canadians” in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and Victor and other musicians from his hometown, Lombardo led the group to international success, billing themselves as creating “The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven.” The Lombardos are believed to have sold between 100 and 300 million phonograph records during their lifetimes.

this is FABULOUS!! crank up your volume, please! 

DONT FORGET TO STAY TUNED THIS WEEK FOR THE FOLLOW UP POSTS ~ including the TOP 20 and 30 lists! Much love and gratitude and good tunes (and some rethrifts) for those that followed this blog, commented, visited, reminded me to get blogging (husband) and those that kept me going when I wanted to stop. I love you all. xo  thank -you! 

HAPPY JOHNNY CASH SUNDAY… the final chapter of this Project 365 and it’s a DOUBLE FEATURE!

Well, this daily dose of vinyl is drawing even closer to it’s finale. Most Sundays of this year (and many of the years before) I have celebrated Johnny Cash Sunday with friends and my love. Today is no different but it’s double feature big finish!  I’m having to do a search through the year of blog entries to make sure I haven’t already covered these albums. Which one was your favourite Johnny Cash? 

 

The Story of A Broken Heart has some delicious Johnny for our listening pleasure today. This was a hard album to research.. but here’s a video to start: 

Here’s an allmusic review of this album: The title of this LP is given as “Story of a Broken Heart by Johnny Cash” on the sleeve and “Story of a Broken Heart: Johnny Cash Sings” on the inner label. This obscure, cheesily designed (ironically for a label named Design) album is obviously trying to market itself as a Johnny Cash record. But in truth, just four of the ten songs on this budget compilation are Johnny Cash tunes. These are all from his Sun era (“Mean Eyed Cat,” “Luther’s Boogie,” “Get Rhythm,” and “Story of a Broken Heart”), and while they’re good, they’re much easier to find — and surrounded by far more compatible packaging — on countless other releases. Filling out this meager selection are two songs apiece by Frank Simon, Bobby Austin, andJan Howard. Simon and Austin were better known as writers than as performers, and Simon‘s songs are mediocre honky tonk pop, while Austin‘s are somewhat better but still undistinguished circa-1960 country-pop. Howard‘s pair of tunes are better, with “Weeping Willow” a slice of longing country-pop and “I’ve Got My Pride” pretty lively honky tonk. It’s a motley assortment, though, with short running time, substandard mastering, and unappetizing graphics.

here he does ELVIS 

Our second wee feature is ANY OLD WIND THAT BLOWS

This 1972/ 1973 album (the year of my birth) is another favourite! Any Old Wind That Blows” is a single by American country music artist Johnny Cash. Released in November 1972, it was the third single from his album Any Old Wind That Blows. The song peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.  It also reached number 1 on the RPMCountry Tracks chart in Canada.

This is lovely. Live in berlin: 

HAPPY JOHNNY CASH DAY, record blog visitors and followers. Thanks for staying with me all year! 

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Nothing Like A Newfoundlander

Today’s double feature is the Carlton Showband. I do love a good sea shanty. You? We are drawing closer to the end of this project and I can feel it! What will I do for next year’s 365 project? I guess birthing and raising a baby will have to do.

Stayed tuned over on my other blog click here for my other Creative blog to see what I’m up to next (in addition to baby makin’).

wiki:

The Carlton Showband is a Canadian musical group of the Irish genre. Formed in Brampton, Ontario in November 1963, the band initially named themselves the Carlton Danceband in reference toToronto‘s Carlton Street where Maple Leaf Gardens was located.

They were the regular band on The Pig and Whistle, a popular CTV television musical variety programme from 1967 to 1977.

Despite the end of their regular national television series exposure, the band continued to perform until their dissolution in 1996.

….which brought me on youtube to this totally unrelated folk song called MERMAID played in a bar in Saskatchewan Canada! 

Happy Saturday record blog followers and visitors. You know what tomorrow is….. JOhnny Cash Sunday.

The last One. 

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Ma! He’s making Eyes At Me !

The Roaring 20’s. Some pre new year fun! Bill Stutz and the Bearcats.

I couldn’t find a single thing on the orchestra or this record! It was fun, you’ll have to just trust me!

Happy almost New Year! 

Don’t forget to keep checking back in to this blog after New Years for our annual TOP LISTS of records & album cover art etc. 

 

 

Everything’s Archie!

This 1969 album is a hilarious dance keeper. Having begun as a comic-book character this craze extended to records, quickly. Very fun. We have eaten SOOO much sugar this holiday that this song seems fitting. enjoy. The Archies!

The Archies are a garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of fictional adolescent characters of the Archieuniverse, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show. The group is also known for their real world success, through a virtual band.

The fictional band’s music was recorded by session musicians featuring Ron Dante on vocals and released as a series of singles and albums. Their most successful song, “Sugar, Sugar“, became one of the biggest hits of the bubblegum pop genre that flourished from 1968 to 1972

 

 

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a very Reggae Boxing Day

We are gunna have a soul shakedown ~ with ~ Reggae for Lovers. Bob Marley and Ken Boothe. Both released in 1979…These albums would have been better suited to sumer times but heh~ it did snow here on Christmas (we live on an island in the rainforest of Vancouver Island, BC Canada ~where it snows maybe a couple days a year). These are two solid fun albums.

Ken Boothe was born in the Denham Town area of Kingston in 1948, the youngest of seven children, and began singing in school.^[2] His recording career began in the late 1950s when he formed a duo with his neighbour Stranger Cole as “Stranger & Ken”, the first tracks released by them being “Hush Baby” on the B-side of Cole’s Island Records single “Last Love”, and the “Thick in Love” single on R&B Records, both in 1963.

 

An unusual fact about Boothe’s cover version is that he sings “Anything I Own”, rather than “Everything I Own” throughout, meaning that the title of the record is never sung. There have been other examples of this at Number One in the UK Singles Chart, such as “Bohemian Rhapsody“; “Unchained Melody“; “Annie’s Song“; “The Chicken Song“; and “Space Oddity“; but Boothe’s record is the only one on which the title should have been sung, but was not by mistake.^[6]

Boothe only managed one more hit in the UK Chart during the 1970s, “Crying Over You”, which made Number 11, with Trojan Records’ collapse and a split with Charmers losing much of the momentum built up by his two hits.

In 1987, Boy George released a version of “Everything I Own” which charted or reached Number One in many countries.

Now the BOB album is a bit trickier to explain. This one was released in 1979 in Quebec, Canada. Online I could only find this extended version:

Tracklist▼

A1		Soul Shake Down Party
A2		Stop The Train
A3		Caution
A4		Soul Captives
A5		Go Tell It On The Mountain
B1		Can’t You See
B2		Soon Come
B3		Cheer Up
B4		Back Out
B5		Do It Twice

This album only has 7 tracks. And i love every one of them. Do you know anything about this album? I cant really find it. You know I love the Bob.

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Ho!Ho!Ho! Happy Christmas ~ It may not seem super xmassy ~ we did listen to like a dozen proper xmas records on the bog week and day ~ I thought I’d try to sneak in a few more before the project 365 is over!! Wow, almost over. This is a 1962 Greatest Hits, jazz album by Billy Vaughn. There is actually another hits by Billy snuck in this cover too! cool.
wiki:

Richard “Billy” Vaughn (April 12, 1919 – September 26, 1991) was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records.

He was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, where his father was a barber who loved music and inspired Billy to teach himself to play the mandolin at age of three, while suffering from measles. He went on to learn a number of other instruments.

In 1941 Vaughn joined the United States National Guard for what had been planned as a one-year assignment, but when World War II broke out, he was sent abroad till the war ended in 1945. He decided to make music a career when he was discharged from the army at the end of the war, and attended Western Kentucky State College, now known as Western Kentucky University, majoring in music composition. He had apparently learned barbering from his father, because he did some while studying at Western Kentucky to support himself financially, when he was not able to get jobs playing the piano at local night clubs and lounges. While he was a student there, three other students, Jimmy Sacca, Donald McGuire, and Seymour Spiegelman, who had formed a vocal trio, The Hilltoppers, recruited Vaughn to play the piano with them. He soon added his voice to theirs, converting the trio to a quartet. As a member of the group, he also wrote their first hit song, “Trying,” which charted in 1952.

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Family Holiday Sing Song.. In A Big Way

Happy Christmas Eve ~ Record blog followers! 

This is an exciting post for me. This record came to me last xmas in a package from my in-laws ~ in  the Mommsy  Spins the Hits category, with some other records. The really cool thing about this album is that it is actually MY MOTHER IN LAW! yes! THANK-YOU BARB!    Put out in the 80s, diva and  jazz categories. I loved it. I couldn’t find anything on google or youtube to share with you, sorry. I also took some awesome video of her singing with her husband and the rest of us, here at xmas this year ~ but I hadn’t asked her permission to post anything. So you’ll just have to imagine how awesome this album is.

I’m very thankful to be in such a talented family. As well ~ she gifted my husband with a beautiful full keyboard for xmas! More music in the house was the goal for this year and this project 365! Here’s what the album looks like. She wrote There is Nothing New and I’ve included info on  the hilarious song below. 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE! 

“To Keep My Love Alive” is a 1943 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the musical A Connecticut Yankee (1927), where it was introduced by Vivienne Segal. It was written especially for Segal’s appearance in the 1943 revival of A Connecticut Yankee. (R&H Theatricals background) It was the last song that Hart wrote before his death from pneumonia.

The song outlines the many ways the singer “bumped off” her husbands in order to avoid being unfaithful to any of them. Some of her methods include arsenic poisoning, defenestration, stabbing, and appendectomy.

• Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook (1956)

Fee-Fi Fidily-I-OH

 You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’. The Righteous Brothers were the soundtrack to the best first and last five minutes of a movie, possibly ever. Well, other than my Aug 3 post abut the pottery scene from ghost. smerk* These albums are a keeper, true boy band, hits.

See what I mean? Eat your heart out when Tom Cruise was young AND hot. Kelly McGillis is just always hot. 

here’s the best last 5 minutes of an action movie ever.. 

wiki:

Their first major hit single was “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” on the Philles label in 1965. Produced by Phil Spector, the record is often cited as one of the peak expressions of Spector’s Wall of Sound production techniques. It was one of the most successful pop singles of its time, despite exceeding the then standard length for radio play. Indeed, according to BMI, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” remains the most played song in radio history, estimated to have been broadcast more than eight million times. Spector used Cher (of Sonny & Cher fame) as a backing singer on this and other recordings.

The Righteous Brothers had several other Spector-produced hit singles in 1965, including “Just Once in My Life“, “Unchained Melody” (originally the B-side of “Hung on You”), and “Ebb Tide“.

 

 

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The Nutcracker Controversy

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Christ you know I love you, can’t you see I’ve changed? Who doesn’t love Jesus Christ Suprerstar? This controversial film makes me happy because I hung Judas in our Oakridge highschool grade 11 play. lol. This is a mint condition keeper vinyl.  More of a controversy was how excited we were to score this old school book version of the Nutcracker…only to find it wasn’t the correct album in the sleeves. boo.

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An Old Fashioned Christmas. Guy Lombardo, you Trot my Fox.

he covers all the classics on this one!

totally awesome orchestra Christmas tunes

Lovely Vintage xmas tunes

Perry Como, Guy Lombardo and Vintage Christmas tunes! It’s December 21 and I feel like now we can justify listening to Christmas tunes. Nothing worse than hearing The First Noel in a store while shopping in October. I understand the Canadian Shoppers Drug Mart business got their hands slapped for doing that. Tons of customers complained and they agreed to not play any until December. These three albums are predictable keepers!

These albums were the soundtrack to us wrapping and baking tonight! Yeah!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!

I Make People Stop and Listen When Boy George Does His oh-oh in Do They Know It’s Christmas?!

I can even express how stoked I am to be presenting this TOP 30 album of 2012 to you.. My fav and second album of all time (the first was Ah-Ha’s Take Me on).. CULTURE CLUB’s Colour By Numbers. What an exciting day for all of us, yes? I am tempted to post every song I can find of his. But i”ll try to edit. I am procrastinating at work, after all.

wiki: Culture Club is an English pop band that was part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band comprised Boy George(lead vocals), Mikey Craig (bass guitar), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards) and Jon Moss (drums and percussion). Their second album,Colour by Numbers, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, and they had several international hits with songs such as “Church of the Poison Mind“, “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me“. Boy George’s androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of the public and the media. Culture Club’s music combines British New Wave and American soul with Jamaican reggae and also other styles such as calypso, salsaor country. From the time of the band’s first album release in 1981 to its dissolution in 1986, Culture Club had amassed hits in several countries around the world, including ten Top 40 hits in the US, most of which went Top 10. In 1984 the band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and Brit Award for Best British Group.^[5][6] They went on to have subsequent hits in the UK during a reunion period of 1998–2002, where they scored a No. 4 single and a No. 25 single. In America they are associated with the Second British Invasion of British New Wave groups that became popular in the United States due to the cable music channel MTV.

If you don’t love Karma Chameleon.. you are either trapped under a large or you can’t be my friend. Stamped it, no erasies. This video was when, in my not so humble opinion music videos were at their GREATEST.. the 80s.

I know you’ll me blind when this next two weeks of sharing my project are over.

Oh Go ON! This one is for my husband who will eventually grow tired of me stopping him, grabbing his arm and fist pumping… no matter where in public ~ when I hear Boy George do his part in Do They Know It’s Christmas Time? (and then there’s George Michael.. oh stop me)

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My Unforgettable Christmas with Nat King Cole

Hello and Welcome to our Nat King Cole tribute / section of our project 365 Daily Dose of Vinyl.  Albums featured today include: Christmas with Nat King Cole, You’re My Everything, Unforgettable and Nature Boy. Which one is your fav? They are all hits, jazz, Christmas for one, keepers.

wiki:Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was a musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform inbig band and jazz genres. He was one of the first black Americans to host a television variety show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death.

Unforgettable is a popular song written by Irving Gordon. The song’s original working title was Uncomparable. The music publishing company asked Irving to change it to Unforgettable. The song was published in 1951. The most popular version of the song was recorded by Nat King Cole in 1951, with an arrangement written by Nelson Riddle. A non-orchestrated version of the song recorded in 1952 is featured as a bonus track on the CD reissue of 1955’s completely instrumental (save the bonus material) Penthouse Serenade. Cole recorded the tune anew in 1961, in a stereo version of the Riddle arrangement, for the album The Nat King Cole Story. His version of the song was included in its entirety in the 2009 filmWatchmen during the Comedian’s death scene.  In 1991, after Elvis Presley‘s legendary musical director Joe Guercio had the idea, Cole’s 1961 recording of the song was edited and remixed to create a duet with his daughter, Natalie, which won three awards at the Grammy Awards of 1992: Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.    Nat Cole’s original recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.

His stature as a popular icon was cemented during this period by hits such as “The Christmas Song” (Cole recorded that tune four times: on June 14, 1946, as a pure Trio recording, on August 19, 1946, with an added string section, on August 24, 1953, and in 1961 for the double album The Nat King Cole Story; this final version, recorded in stereo, is the one most often heard today), “Nature Boy” (1948), “Mona Lisa” (1950), “Too Young” (the #1 song in 1951), and his signature tune “Unforgettable” (1951) (Gainer 1). While this shift to pop music led some jazz critics and fans to accuse Cole of selling out, he never totally abandoned his jazz roots; as late as 1956, for instance, he recorded an all-jazz album After Midnight. Cole had one of his last big hits in 1963, two years before his death, with the classic “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer”, which reached #6 on the Pop chart.

In August 1948, Cole purchased a house from Col. Harry Gantz, the former husband of Lois Weber, in the all-white Hancock Parkneighborhood of Los Angeles. The Ku Klux Klan, still active in Los Angeles well into the 1950s, responded by placing a burning cross on his front lawn. Members of the property-owners association told Cole they did not want any undesirables moving in. Cole retorted, “Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I’ll be the first to complain.

Greased Lightning Strikes

Greased Lightning, not to be confused with the Soundtrack from the movie Grease. Very different but pretty fun olden times dance music. I just don’t get it and i’m not getting anything up on the google, youtube or wiki. Is this the album the musical was based on? None of the songs are on the Grease Soundtrack.. can anyone help? It was a great dance album of oldies, full of hits and a keeper.

 

Sin-Sational

These three albums have art in common ~ fine arts, country music story telling and Comedy.

The best is obviously Rusty Warren and her Sin-Sational comedy routine. I have covered her before this year, I do believe. wiki:Warren was born Ilene Goldman in New York City and adopted six months later  by a couple from Milton, Massachusetts. She studied piano at the New England Conservatory of Music and then taught there briefly after obtaining her degree. Her musical mentor at the time was Arthur Fiedler, who later became the conductor of the Boston Pops. Warren, who lives in Honolulu, is very active in local charities. She vacations in Palm Springs and Hollywood with friends and hosts her website. Warren recently produced a DVD that chronicles her life in show business. The DVD, Rusty Warren: Knockers Up! The Lady Behind the Laughs, was released by GNP Crescendo in 2008.

Hank Snow’s Country Special is a keeper but nothing special other than its age.

Music to Paint By was pretty awful, it’s a rethrift. I had higher hopes frankly.

HAPPY SNOW DAY record blog followers. It’s totally snowing on our west coast rainforest island. 

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This is The Best Record I’ve Ever Made

Oh here we have another case of saving my favourite albums for the last month of this project 365. Miles Davis ~Someday My Prince Will Come (thank you mother in law ~aka Mommsy Spins the Hits) and Tijuana Moods by Charles Mingus. The back of the Mingus he announces “this is the best record I’ve ever Made!” Really, these two records are amazing must haves in my minimal but hopefully growing jazz section. I’m al;so going to say that the Minus IS in our TOP 30 records of 2012.. which will be revieled News Years Day! Now to the records…

Someday My Prince Will Come is the seventh studio album by Miles Davis for Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1656 and CS 8456 in stereo, released in 1961. Recorded at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in Manhattan, it marked the only Miles Davis Quintet studio recording session to feature saxophonistHank Mobley.    Unlike Kind of Blue, which featured nothing but group originals, this album paired equal numbers of Miles Davis tunes with pop standards, including the title song resurrected from the 1937 Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The titles to all three Davis originals refer to specific individuals: “Pfrancing” to his wife Frances, featured on the album cover; “Teo” to his producer Teo Macero; and “Drad Dog” to Columbia Records president Goddard Lieberson.^[8] While the cover credits the Miles Davis Sextet, only the title track featured six players, Coltrane making two cameo appearances on the album, taking solos on the title track and “Teo,” the latter with Mobley laying out.^[9] On March 21, ex-Davis drummer Philly Joe Jones made his final contribution to a Davis session, replacing Cobb for the original “Blues No. 2” which was not used on the album.On June 8, 1999, Legacy Records reissued the album for compact disc with two bonus tracks including the unused “Blues No. 2” and an alternate take of “Someday My Prince Will Come.”

Tijuana Moods is an album by Charles Mingus originally recorded in 1957 but not released until 1962. It was reissued in 1996 on CD as New Tijuana Moods with four alternate takes. 2-CD expanded versions with further alternate takes were issued by RCA in 2000 and by Columbia in 2010.It is notable that the name “Charlie Mingus” appears on the cover of the original album. Mingus hated all nicknames derived from Charles (“Don’t call me Charlie; that’s not a man’s name, that’s a name for a horse”^[1]). All songs were composed by Mingus except “Flamingo”.

Ringo Starr’s Robot

Beatles Mania! Today we bring a belated ~but great no the less ~Beatles day. These are the entire collection I’ve got. Beatles 1965, The Beatles compilation 1962-1966, John Lennon’s Imagine and Ringo Starr’s Goodnight Vienna. These are all hits, Ringo is a rethrift (details to follow), and they are obviously a boy band. Where to start? Well Imagine was pretty much as you can imagine.. boring and predictable wedding music but a classic keeper. There were several songs on the compilation and best of that we had never heard of ~ though not too surprising we were born in the 70s and unless it went mainstream pop chart hits, we never heard it. I had higher hopes for Ringo. You know, with such a cool name, a Beatles background a robot on the cover.. but non, it was pretty bad. He did covers of  Lennon songs and even Sir Elton John but I couldn’t wait to turn it off. Did I even listen to side B? Bot sure.

“(It’s All Down to) Goodnight Vienna“, an up-tempo John Lennon composition, is the title track to Ringo Starr‘s 1974 album Goodnight Vienna.  The title song features John Lennon on opening count-in and piano, and Billy Preston on clavinet; and the Reprise song features Lennon’s intro, ‘OK, with gusto, boys, with gusto!’.  The composition was the second of five Lennon songs to be offered for inclusion on Starr’s solo albums, (the others being “I’m the Greatest” from Ringo, “Cookin’ (in the Kitchen of Love)” from Ringo’s Rotogravure, and two unreleased songs intended for Stop and Smell the Roses). The track appeared in the USA in a special mix; “Goodnight Vienna/Goodnight Vienna (Reprise)”, which is currently not found on CD.

The Beatles have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act. According to the RIAA, as of 2012 they have sold 177 million units in the US, more than any other artist. In 2008, they topped Billboard magazine’s list of the all-time most successful “Hot 100” artists. As of 2012, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart with 20. They have received 7 Grammy Awards from the American National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and 15 Ivor Novello Awards from theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. Collectively included in Time magazine’s compilation of the 20th century’s 100 most influential people, the Beatles are the best-selling band in history, with EMI Records estimating sales of over one billion units

 

 

 

Goin’ Down That Highway

Peter Paul and Mary!!! A Song will Rise and Moving. Two deliciously folksy albums. I just love PP&M. Don’t you?

wiki: Peter, Paul and Mary were a US folk-singing trio whose nearly 50-year career began with their rise to become a paradigm for 1960s folk music. The trio was composed of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. After the death of Mary Travers in 2009, Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform as a duo under their individual names.

Moving is the second album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary, released in January 1963. The lead-off single, “Big Boat,” failed to chart substantially, only staying on the Top 100 for two weeks, reaching #93.  The second single, “Settle Down (Goin’ Down That Highway),” did slightly better, peaking at #56 on the Pop charts during a 6-week run; however, it did become an easy listening hit at #14.  The third time around was the charm, as “Puff, the Magic Dragon” was a huge hit, and a defining song for the trio, reaching #2 on the Hot 100, #1 on the Easy Listening, & #10 on the R&B Charts, respectively.

A Song Will Rise is the fourth studio album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary, released in 1965 (see 1965 in music).

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Never, Never, Gonna Give Ya Up

Neva Neva…. Oh Barry White in this 1973 album Stone Gon’.. wow. Classic Barry is the perfect album to to open up a mass selection under the Suave Gents category. With over 5 million youtube hits, I give you 

I thought the Doobie Brothers ~The Captain and me was going to be a suave display of manliness but it was crap old school rock. Rethrift.

Now Fats Domino is a classy dude. This is a classic keeper album. Look at that smile. His greatest Hits comes from my other in law, last Xmas. I would walk to New Orleans with him, any day.

“This collection of superb vocal stylings presents Vic Damone at his lively, swinging best, as he responds to the driving, big band backing of Billy May with a dozen of his finest recorded performances to date” ~ from the back album cover. awesome. So dreamy in his car and the ladies drooping off of him. Suave, indeed.

Dean Martin. Defines suave. Nuff said. This record is a solid keeper. Remember me, I’m the One That Loves You. I’ll bet you do Dean.

Walk on by, Don’t Go Breakin My Heart and The Look of Love are amazing on this Johnny Mathis keeper. A great album and look how whimsical this guy looks in the fall in his turtle neck? 

and last but certainly not least.. we bring you George Formby Souvenir. This is a ukelele album! Never enough Uke! With song titles like : When I’m Cleaning Windows, I Told My Baby with my Ukelele, and Leaning on a Lamp Post.. this is my fav album of today – even more than Barry!  George Formby, OBE (26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961), born George Hoy Booth, was a British comedy actor, singer-songwriter and comedian. He sang light, comical songs, accompanying himself on the banjo ukulele or banjolele. He was a major star of stage and screen in the 1930s and 1940s.

 

 

 

 

Latin A-Go-Go

From opera we slide into a day of latin love.

Latin A-Go-Go is just a swell dance yer face off go go album. It’s so awesome. Manuel Gomez and his Latin- American orchestra really know their stuff. In youtubing for a song to show you their greatness, I was confronted with about 40 latin gogo strip videos. yeesh.

Fiesta Mexciana con Los tres Compadres Guantanamera is just about as fun as you think it mightbe. It’s an older record so I cranked the volume. Fiesta has special place for me as we got married in Mexico, with a Mariachi band behind us. Fiesta ! Love you baby.

What was not great stuff was Linda ronstadt’s Cancines de mi Padre. Oh boy. Rethrift muchos gracias.

For He’s Gone and Married Yum-Yum

We start with Kalman ~ the Gypsy Princess. I’m trying hard to embrace opera. It seems like the cultual thing to do. But this album, after three songs was a jump on the needle and make it stop. So it’s a rethrift. I had much better luck with the other two opera features. Gilbert and Sulivan’s The Mikado is a treat. The album cover and package itself are informative and fun and the two albums and enclosed mint condition booklet were helpful. This opera ~ I Loved! What’s your fav opera? Third album, a classic Pavorotti album, that I know my Nana loved and listened to all the time ~ from 1977 O Sole Mio. The Favourite Neapolitan Songs was lovely. What can i say that is more informed than that? I’m hoping my record blog Pav follower will give us a tid bit?

Danger is No Obstacle if He Feels His Mirth will Provoke Smiles and Laughter

We bring you dancing ethnic frolic, accordion style.

Alec Finlay “Waitin’ Tae Welcome Me Hame”. Is the first of 6 cultural albums we are reviewing today. I spent the morning cleaning the house and Xmas decorating to these albums. I am certain the neighbours thought I was nuts. lol. This was a hilarious comedian album with traditional Scottish music.  A keeper for sure.

Come Back to Sorrento was a greek disaster. Nick Perito and his accordion and orchestra are a rethrift. I was hoping for more OPA but got more sad accordian. And usually I DO love an accordion.

The best of  Gaby Haas was a real treat. A feast of Alpin music to sooth the soul. It took me straightback to the Kimberley BC platzel ( town centre) where I lived for almost 4 years and never did I tire of the accordion flavour. Although Happy Haans stole my sweety’s quaters ~ but that’s another story.

I Love Paris was a Parsien delicacy. Turned up really loud, it was delightful to decorate to. Michael Legrand and his Orchestra put on a real stroll down the Champs-Elysees. Loved it.

Brigadoon was ..well, Brigadoon. We dont need to keep this.

Cubalooba ~ I was hoping for so much mre from an album with such a cool name and straight up black jacket. Cubalooba is a combination of different dj’s mixing some hard to swallow sort of dance music. Rethfirft, even thought thought there is a $14.99 sticker on it.

All in all, 3 keepers, three rethrift on our ethnical adventure today. More accordion please.

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From One Goddess to Another ~ Joan Baez I Heart You

Joan Baez. What an earth lovin goddess of folk. How was that for cliche? Challenging to post her albums the day after a fabulous Nina Simone posting but they are both goddesses, non? These albums are all keepers, under folk and the hits ~ as they cover pretty much all the classic folk standards and her hits. I read her bio when I was in University and was profoundly moved by it / her. She is a crusader for latinos and womyn’s rights and championed the female folk scene.

Check this out from Wiki, then try to tell me you don’t love her.

Joan Baez ( /ˈbaɪ.ɛz/) (born January 9, 1941 as Joan Chandos Báez) is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace, and environmental justice.   Baez has a distinctive vocal style, with a strong vibrato. Her recordings include many topical songs and material dealing with social issues.  Baez began her career performing in coffeehouses in Boston and Cambridge, and rose to fame as an unbilled performer at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. She began her recording career in 1960, and achieved immediate success. Her first three albums, Joan Baez, Joan Baez, Vol. 2, and Joan Baez in Concert all achieved gold record status, and stayed on the charts of hit albums for two years.  Baez has had a popular hit song with “Diamonds & Rust” and hit covers of Phil Ochs‘s “There but for Fortune” and The Band‘s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down“. Other songs associated with Baez include “Farewell, Angelina“, “Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word“, “Joe Hill“, “Sweet Sir Galahad” and “We Shall Overcome“. She performed three of the songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, helped to bring the songs of Bob Dylan to national prominence, and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and theenvironment.  Baez has performed publicly for over 53 years, releasing over 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish as well as in English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages.

Here she sings live for the inmates at Sing Sing prison in the 70s.

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Silk and Soul, Nina Simone the Diva

It seem like perhaps I have left the best for last, this month. Nina Simone is a deep voiced delicious diva. Jazz at it’s best. A strong, bold womyn figure that I would have given anything to see live. She passed in 2003 at age 70 years. sigh. These two albums I think I purchased years ago at an actual price of over twenty bucks each. I love every song on both (and all of her) albums. Don’t you? I’m categorizing her as diva, jazz AND in the TOP 30 records of 2012. I feel like I haven’t done that in a while, too much rethrifting lately.

I love her so much that here’s a giant wiki intel on her. Did you know what her real name was? wow. lol.

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), better known by her stage name Nina Simone /ˈniːnə sɨˈmoʊn/, was an Americansinger, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.  Born the sixth child of a preacher’s family in North Carolina, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist. Her musical path changed direction after she was denied a scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone was later told by someone working at Curtis that she was rejected because she was black. When she began playing in a small club in Philadelphia to fund her continuing musical education and become a classical pianist she was required to sing as well. She was approached for a recording by Bethlehem Records, and her rendering of “I Loves You Porgy” was a hit in the United States in 1958.  Over the length of her career Simone recorded more than 40 albums, mostly between 1958 — when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue — and 1974.

Her musical style arose from a fusion of gospel and pop songs with classical music, in particular with influences from her first inspiration, Johann Sebastian Bach,  and accompanied with her expressive jazz-like singing in her characteristic contralto. She injected as much of her classical background into her music as possible to give it more depth and quality, as she felt that pop music was inferior to classical. Her intuitive grasp on the audience–performer relationship was gained from a unique background of playing piano accompaniment for church revivals and sermons regularly from the early age of six years old. 

After 20 years of performing, she became involved in the civil rights movement and the direction of her life shifted once again. Simone’s music was highly influential in the fight for equal rights in the US.

 

My Guy Lombardo Science Fair Project

CANADA ROCKS! 

Young Canada Singers featuring the Craddock Singers. Fantastic little piece of Canadiana, eh?

You all know I’m a proud Canadian, eh?

And a fabulous double Canadian feature with the one and only Guy Lombardo. This may not seem a big deal to anyone but me – but I did win first place in an elementary School Science Fair for my project on the local Guy Lombardo bridge, museum and his orchestra. The bridge was near my childhood home in London, Ontario. Whether he sucks or not (much like my fondness for Lawrence Welk…) my Nana used to listen to these records, therefore they are keepers and I love them. New Years has a few Guy albums up her sleeve. You just wait. Let’s see what we can find on these keepers.

wow! here’s a link where you can purchase the first album for $14 US. lol. click here

Gaetano Alberto “Guy” Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was a Canadian–American bandleader and violinist.  Forming “The Royal Canadians” in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and Victor and other musicians from his hometown, Lombardo led the group to international success, billing themselves as creating “The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven.” The Lombardos are believed to have sold between 100 and 300 million phonograph records during their lifetime. 

Lombardo was born in London, Ontario to Italian-Canadian immigrants, Gaetano Sr. and Lena Lombardo. His father, who had immigrated toCanada from Italy and worked as a tailor, was an amateur singer with a baritone voice and had four of his five sons learn to play instruments so they could accompany him. Lombardo and his brothers formed their first orchestra while still in grammar school and rehearsed in the back of their father’s tailor shop. Lombardo first performed in public with his brother Carmen at a church lawn party in London in 1914

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Too Silent to Be Real. or ~ Oh They Looked Into the Future and What Did They See?

Did She Mention My Name? and Back Here on earth! Oh Gord, you know I love you. I think these may be the last two Gord albums in the collection for the Project 365! Both solid albums. Gordon lightfoot is my Canadian choice for a dinner guest. What’s your fav Gord album?

from wiki:

Back Here On Earth is Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot‘s fourth studio album, released in 1968 on the United Artists label.Apart from his eponymous debut album, it is Lightfoot’s only studio album not to derive its title from a song on the album. Back Here on Earth was Lightfoot’s last studio recording on the United Artists label which he left after releasing the live album Sunday Concert in 1969. In his Allmusic review, critic Richie Unterberger wrote of the album “It’s not quite as outstanding as his first three albums, lacking highlights on the order of “Early Mornin’ Rain” or “Black Day in July.” Lightfoot never offered weak material on his United Artists efforts, however, and Back Here on Earth is still a very solid set, certainly worth acquiring if you like his other LPs for this label.

Did She Mention My Name? was Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot‘s third studio album, released in 1968 on the United Artists label. The album marked Lightfoot’s first use of orchestration.  In his Allmusic review, critic Richie Unterberger praised the album, writing “Though a tad more erratic than his earlier efforts, his songwriting remained remarkably consistent. His characteristically bright, uplifting outlook became more diverse as well…”

He played at the half time show of the Grey Cup (that’s football, right?). Here’s a youtube clip from that game, that I obviously didn’t watch. He was MUCH better when we say him in November 2011 in Vancouver. Maybe he was nervous but he had no voice here, poor guy. Love you always Gord. 

 

The Stars on 45 Keep On Burning in Your Eyes

Hooked on Classics and Stars on Long Play. Two very awesome 80s albums, I intend to keep. I also intend to bore everyone of stories of my early youth, wearing leg warmers and lip syncing to these songs and pretending to be a solid gold dancer. oh yeah. I actually taught aerobics to this at the YMCA in Ontario, as a teen ager.

OMG I love this so much. Please do yourself a favour and turn up your volume. Try not to clap and sway. I dare you. 

 

Rethrift Part Deux.

These were all quick picks for rethrift. It’s sooo hard to keep the collection down to 365. What do you think? Did I done good?