Monday, March 29, 2010

1099 - Mojo Special 20. Various Artists - The Girl Can't Help It OST (1956)






















Track Listing

1. The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
2. Tempo's Tempo - Nino Tempo
3. My Idea Of Love - Johnny Olenn
4. I Ain't Gonna Cry No More - Johnny Olenn
5. Ready Teddy - Little Richard
6. She's Got It! - Little Richard
7. Cool It Baby! - Eddie Fontaine
8. Cinnamon Sinner - The Chuckles
9. Spread The Word, Spread The Gospel - Abbey Lincoln
10. Cry Me A River - Julie London
11. Be-Bop-A-Lula - Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps
12. 20 Flight Rock - Eddie Cochran
13. Rock Around The Rock Pile - Fats Murdoch
14. Rockin' Is Our Bizness - The Treniers
15. Blue Monday - Fats Domino
16. You'll Never, Never Know - The Platters
17. Ev'rytime (feat. Ray Anthony) - Eileen Wilson, Ray Anthony Orchestra
18. Big Band Boogie - Ray Anthony Orchestra
19. The Girl Can't Help It (end credits) - Ray Anthony Orchestra

Review


A good soundtrack which is unfortunately composed of a lot of tracks I already own in other formats, actually some of the best tracks like Julie London's, Fats Domino's and Little Richard's have already been on this blog before in their own recordings. Still there are good things here like Gene Vincent's Be-Bop-A-Lula which we have not heard here before but surely have listened to plenty throughout our lives.

The extra material is not that impressive, there is a lot of big band music which somehow passed as rock in the 50s but is clearly out of place in such a rocky context. It is however an important historical soundtrack in its use of pretty good rock music during the 50s.

Fats and Little Richard sound way ahead of the game, Richard's flamboyant aggressiveness is extremely revolutionary here, breaking with the other music much more radically than anyone else. So some great tracks which can be gotten better in other media... oh well.

Track Highlights


1. Ready Teddy
2. She's Got It
3. Blue Monday
4. Be-Bop-A-Lula

oh and I need to include:

5. Cry Me a River

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The movie’s influence on rock music is significant. The film reached Liverpool, England in the early summer of 1957. The featured cameo performances of early rock ‘n’ roll stars such as Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent and His Bluecaps, fascinated a 16-year-old John Lennon by showing him, for the first time, his "worshipped" American rock ‘n’ roll stars as living humans and thus further inspiring him to pursue his own rock and roll dream.

Ready Teddy:

1098. Mojo Special 19. Various - Jumping with Mr. Lee 1967-1968

Can't find this one. Anyone knows where to find it, let me know!

Friday, March 19, 2010

1097 - Mojo 116. Flat Earth Society - Waleeco (1968)


















Track Listing


1. Feelin' Much Better
2. Midnight Hour
3. I'm So Happy
4. When You're There
5. Four & Twenty Miles
6. Prelude for the Town Monk
7. Shadows
8. Dark Street Downtown
9. Portrait in Grey
10. In My Window
11. Satori

Review

Well, current news first: Alex Chilton died recently which is a real shame, and has also made me think that I should really retrospectively raise the grade I gave to Big Star's #1 Record from 8 to 9, still not as great as Third but definitely above the water mark of 8 (which is where things don't go into my iPod).

Back to today's album then, more psych, and despite some interesting elements it isn't really that amazingly original or new. What I would take as particularly innovative or different here is a prevading eastern influence which instead of deriving from Indian sources as is the case in so much psych, derives from Japanese music.

That is not enough to carry the album through, however, and while it is all prefectly good it never amazes, really. So yeah, an enjoyable listen but not really essential listening for anyone... although I really like the Mojo list they are a bit snobbish in the way they sometimes care more for musical rarity than actual greatness... it leads to great discoveries and some slightly disappointing listens.

Track Highlights

1. When You're There
2. Satori
3. Portrait in Grey
4. Feelin' Much Better

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

No info on Wikipedia... oh well.

Midnight hour:


Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Mojo 115. Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968)

See Review

Mojo 114. The Zombies - Odyssey and Oracle

See Review

Mojo 113. The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)

See Review

Mojo 112. The United States of America - The United States of America (1968)

See Review


1096 - Mojo 111. Tom Rush - The Circle Game (1968)


















Track Listing

1. Tin Angel
2. Something In The Way She Moves
3. Urge For Going
4. Sunshine Sunshine
5. The Glory Of Love
6. Shadow Dream Song
7. The Circle Game
8. So Long
9. Rockport Sunday
10. No Regrets

Review

This album is actually more important for the great songwriters it introduced the world to than as an album itself. Here we can see the first album examples of songs by Jackson Browne, James Taylor and even Joni Mitchell. If only for this the album more than deserves its place in history.

However, and there is an however, the album is not as amazing as it could have been. All of the songwriters mentioned above would eventually do better things with their own songs. It really shines, however in Rush's own tracks, and it shows a really discerning eye to have picked up all of these amazing writers.

So it isn't really the best album in the world, but it is definitely one which is of great historical importance for the music of the late 20th century. As such it is an essential addition to any musical library.

Track Highlights

1. Something in the Way She Moves
2. Circle Game
3. Shadow Dream Song
4. No Regrets

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The songs follow the cycle of a relationship from its beginning to an end, according to the lyric content and sequencing of songs. Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game," recorded prior to her own release of the song, can be read as the turning point of the relationship while "Rockport Sunday" ends the romance using an instrumental piece, followed by the coda "No Regrets." Supporting this concept is the cover shot, which pictures then girlfriend Jill Lumpkin behind Tom Rush as photographed by Linda Eastman.

Circle Game:


Mojo 110. The Incredible String Band - The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (1968)

See Review


Monday, March 15, 2010

1095 - Mojo 109. Bobbie Gentry - The Delta Sweete (1968)




















Track Listing


1. Okolona River Bottom Band
2. Big Boss Man
3. Reunion
4. Parchman Farm
5. Mornin' Glory
6. Sermon
7. Tobacco Road
8. Penduli Pendulum
9. Jessye' Lisabeth
10. Refractions
11. Louisiana Man
12. Courtyard

Review

The missing link between country music and Laura Nyro, this truly great album by Bobbie Gentry is one of those unsung rarities that only show up once in a while but which are a real thrill to listen to.

This fully orchestrated folk/country suite-like album showcases Gentry's amazing voice but also her great gifts as a songwriter and the great expressiveness of her music. Gentry can use a simple twist of her voice to emote any possible variation of emotion throughout.

This is a really strange album to come out of Nashville at this period in time and it seems a lot more like something which could be coming from the West Coast, but its country roots are very definitely there, even if on a first listen through you might be hard pressed to call this a "country" album. Great stuff.

Track Highlights

1. Mornin' Glory
2. Reunion
3. Courtyard
4. Okolona River Bottom Band

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Delta Sweete was a concept album based on modern life in the Deep South. Gentry wrote eight of the album's 12 tracks, which detailed her Mississippi childhood and included vignettes of home and church life ("Reunion," "Sermon"), as well as recollections of blues and country hits she heard as a youngster ("Big Boss Man", "Tobacco Road"). The song "Okolona River Bottom Band", accented by a sophisticated horn chart and breathy strings, used the same basic cadence as "Ode to Billie Joe".

Mornin' Glory:

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

1094 - Mojo Special 18. The Doo Wop Box (1993)


















Track Listing

Disc: 1

1. It's Too Soon to Know - The Orioles
2. Count Every Star - The Ravens
3. Glory of Love - The Five Keys
4. Gee - The Crows
5. Crying in the Chapel - The Orioles
6. Money Honey - The Drifters, Clyde McPhatter, Clyde McPhatter
7. Golden Teardrops - The Flamingos
8. Sunday Kind of Love - The Harptones, Willie Winfield Listen
9. I - The Velvets
10. Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite - The Spaniels
11. Sh-Boom - Chords, The Chords
12. Gloria - The Cadillacs, Jesse Powell Orchestra
13. Hearts of Stone - The Jewels
14. Earth Angel - The Penguins
15. Sincerely - The Moonglows, The Moonglows
16. Mary Lee - The Rainbows
17. Close Your Eyes - The Five Keys
18. (Will You) Come Back My Love - The Wrens
19. Story Untold - The Nutmegs
20. Only You (And You Alone) - The Platters
21. Why Don't You Write Me - The Jacks
22. When You Dance - The Turbans
23. At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama) - The El Dorados
24. Great Pretender - The Platters
25. Lily Maebelle - The Valentines, The Valentines

Disc: 2

1. Speedoo - The Cadillacs, Jesse Powell Orchestra
2. Why Do Fools Fall in Love? - Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
3. I'll Be Home - The Flamingos
4. Devil or Angel - The Clovers
5. Church Bells May Ring - The Willows
6. Little Girl of Mine - The Cleftones, Jimmy Wright
7. I Want You to Be My Girl - Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, Jimmy Wright
8. In the Still of the Night - The Five Satins
9. Closer You Are - The Channels
10. Oh, What a Night - The Dells
11. Thousand Miles Away - The Heartbeats
12. Please Say You Want Me - Leroy Kirkland Orchestra, The Schoolboys
13. Come Go with Me - The Del Vikings
14. I'm So Happy (Tra-La-La-La-La-La) - Louie Lymon & the Teenchords
15. Walking Along - The Solitaires
16. Little Darlin' - The Gladiolas
17. Don't Ask Me to Be Lonely - The Dubs
18. Florence - The Paragons
19. Deserie - The Charts
20. Whispering Bells - The Del Vikings, Corinthian "Kripp" Johnson
21. Tonite, Tonite - The Mello-Kings
22. Long Lonely Nights - Lee Andrews & the Hearts
23. Baby Oh Baby - The Shells
24. Tell Me Why - Norman Fox & The Rob Roys, The Rob Roys
25. Buzz Buzz Buzz - Hollywood Flames
26. Teardrops - Lee Andrews & the Hearts

Disc: 3

1. Been So Long - The Pastels, The Pastels
2. Get a Job - The Silhouettes
3. Book of Love - The Monotones
4. Maybe - The Chantels
5. I Wonder Why - Dion, Dion & the Belmonts
6. One Summer Night - The Danleers
7. For Your Precious Love - Jerry Butler & the Impressions
8. You Cheated - The Shields
9. I'm So Young - The Students
10. Every Day of the Week - The Students
11. Little Star - The Elegants
12. Tears on My Pillow - Little Anthony & the Imperials
13. Trickle Trickle - The Videos
14. Ten Commandments of Love - Harvey & The Moonglows, The Moonglows
15. Sixteen Candles - The Crests
16. So Fine - The Fiestas
17. Lovers Never Say Goodbye - The Flamingos
18. Since I Don't Have You - Lenny Martin & the Orchestra, The Skyliners
19. Pizza Pie - Sid Bass, Norman Fox & The Rob Roys, The Rob Roys
20. Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) - Leroy Holmes & His Orchestra, The Impalas
21. Teenager in Love - Dion & the Belmonts
22. Who's That Knocking - The Genies
23. I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos
24. Hushabye - The Mystics
25. Rockin' in the Jungle - The Eternals

Disc: 4

1. Mope-Itty Mope - The Boss-Tones
2. Oh Rosemarie - The Fascinators, Jesse Stone Orchestra
3. Just to Be With You - The Passions
4. Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop - Little Anthony & the Imperials
5. Wind - The Jesters
6. Stay - Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs
7. There's a Moon Out Tonight - The Capris
8. Blue Moon - The Marcels
9. Tonight I Fell in Love - Fields-Madera Orchestra, The Tokens
10. Daddy's Home - The Limeliters, Shep & the Limelites
11. Barbara Ann - The Regents
12. Rama Lama Ding Dong - The Edsels
13. Tonight (Could Be the Night) - Virgil Johnson, The Velvets
14. My True Story - The Jive Five, Joe Rene & Orchestra
15. Nag - The Halos
16. Lookin' for My Baby - The Earls
17. Imagination - The Quotations
18. Coney Island Baby - The Excellents
19. Remember Then - The Earls
20. Never Let You Go - The Five Discs
21. Denise - The Rainbows, , Randy & the Rainbow
22. Unchained Melody - The Salutations, Vito
23. I Do - The Marvelows
24. Morse Code of Love - The Capris
25. My Juanita [Live] - Brooklyn Bridge, Johnny Maestro

Review

This best of box set is a truly essential addition to anyone's library for anyone interested in the development of modern music. The tracks are organised in a loosely chronological way and throughout you can hear doo-wop going from the origins to some really refined music.

There are so many tracks and so many bands here that it would be impossible not to have some misses, however it surprisingly manages to have very few misses indeed. In fact the whole collection is made of win. Even if I am partial to the more modern doo-wop of the third and fourth disc, there is just too much to love in the other two discs.

You probably will not need any other collection of doo-wop music after having this, but it will make you discover artists who you might want to listen to more, as a sampler of the best of Doo-Wop this is a really lovely collection, clearly made by people with a great love for the style. Get it.

Track Highlights

1. Stay - Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs
2. Teenager in Love - Dion & the Belmonts
3. Only You (And You Alone) - The Platters
4. Blue Moon - The Marcels

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

In the beginning and during its heyday, this type of music did not have a specific name; the term "doo-wop" was not used.

In the 1950s, this type of harmonized group sound was referred to (broadly) as "rock and roll," but more narrowly as "R&B." However, R&B was still too general a term, since R&B included single artists, instrumentalists, and jump blues bands, as well as vocal groups. At the time, the best and most accurate term used was probably "vocal group harmony," but the style still did not have an official name, despite the fact that it dominated the charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The term "doo-wop" first appeared in print in 1961, notably in the Chicago Defender, when fans of the music coined the term during the height of a vocal harmony resurgence.

And now, just for my friend Sara:

Monday, March 08, 2010

1093 - Mojo 108. Nirvana - Story of Simon Simopath




















Track Listing

1. Wings Of Love
2. Lonely Boy
3. We Can Help You
4. Satellite Jockey
5. In The Courtyard Of The Stars
6. You Are Just The One
7. Pentecost Hotel
8. I Never Had A Love Like This Before
9. Take This Hand
10. 1999

Review

So one of the few great albums in the handful of quality British psych productions. Here you have a fully developed conceptual album following the story of the title character.

As psych would have it, this is a pretty weird story which is almost a prefiguring of stuff like Lamb Lies Down on Broadway... some guy wants to grow wings, he does, he flies to the moon meets a siren who he falls in love with and eventually gets married. Yeah.

But it is in the musical arrangements that the music really does its magic, this is powerful stuff. Take Pentecost Hotel or Wings of Love, or the music hall influence in Satellite Jockey. They correctly defined the album as a musical panto, and it is that but also more than that, it is a great slice of late 60's UK druggy psych.

Track Highlights

1. Pentecost Hotel
2. Wings of Love
3. Satellite Jockey
4. In The Courtyard of the Stars

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The story deals with a boy named Simon Simopath who dreams of having wings. He is unpopular at school, and after reaching adulthood (in 1999) goes to work in an office in front of a computer. He suffers a nervous breakdown and is unable to find help in a mental institution, but gets aboard a rocket and meets a centaur who will be his friend and a tiny goddess named Magdalena, who works at Pentecost Hotel. Simon and Magdalena fall in love and get married, followed by a jazzy party.

Pentecost Hotel:




Mojo 107. Love - Forever Changes (1968)

See Review


Wednesday, March 03, 2010

1092 - Mojo 106. Fleetwood Mac - Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac (1968)


















Track Listing

1. My Heart Beat Like a Hammer
2. Merry Go Round
3. Long Grey Home
4. Hellhound on My Trail
5. Shake Your Moneymaker
6. Looking for Somebody
7. No Place to Go
8. My Baby's Good to Me
9. I Loved Another Woman
10. Cold Black Night
11. World Keep on Turning
12. Got to Move

Review

Well we get Fleetwood Mac before Stevie Nicks and they sound like a completely different band. This might have been good, except that it isn't. They are a perfectly good band, but one which is deeply unoriginal.

Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac is nothing more than a Blues-Rock band in the tradition of stuff like John Mayall or Eric Clapton. At least they were smart enough to change up with the introduction of Stevie Nicks... while Clapton is still doing this.

So this is more interesting because of what Fleetwood would become than as an actual album, which is perfectly competent but totally uninteresting. So if you want to know where Fleetwood came from listen to this, if not it is perfectly skipable.

Track Highlights

1. My Heart Beat Like a Hammer
2. Hellhound on My Trail
3. Cold Black Night
4. Looking For Somebody

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album is a mixture of blues covers and originals penned by guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer, who also share the vocal duties.

My Heart Beat Like a Hammer:

Mojo 105. Leonard Cohen - The Songs of Leonard Cohen (1968)

See Review


Mojo 104. Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Safe As Milk (1968)

See Review
1091 - Mojo 103. Appletree Theatre - Playback (1968)

















Track Listing

1. In The Beginning
2. Hightower Square (The Start Of It All)
3. Lullaby
4. Saturday Morning (About A Saturday Morning)
5. Nevertheless It Was Italy (A Deja Vu In A Pizza Palour And A Bit Of Merry Ole England)
6. I Wonder If Louise Is Home (A Bit Of Tragic Relief)
7. Chez Louise
8. E Train (The Jello Song)
9. Meanwhile
10. Brother Speed (Vocal With Didactic Chorus)
11. You're The Biggest Thing In My Life (Being As It Is A PauseIn The Proceedings)
12. Don't Blame It On Your Wife (The Fellini Song)
13. Sorry State Of Staying Awake, The
14. Barefoot Boy (A Bit Of Johnny Appleseed), A
15. Lotus Flower (Michael John And Boona)
16. What A Way To Go (Yes)

Review

Clearly influenced by the Beatles and state-side psychedelia as well as the great British tradition of novelty music, the Appletree Theatre is strangely enough an American band (with members that were brought up in the UK).

For a funny album it is often not obviously being played for laughs. This is actually a good thing, the humour is smart and not too easy, even if it is clearly there. Musically they are a really varied band reminding one at times of Sgt. Pepper's Beatles or of the Left Banke, while some of the tone being reminiscent of Bonzo Dog Do-Dah Band.

In the end, unfortunately, it doesn't quite manage to be more than its constituting parts. These parts are good enough, however, to sustain the album as a funny, sometimes kind of deep, and musically adventurous offering.

Track Highlights

1. Hightower Square (The Start Of It All)
2. Brother Speed (Vocal With Didactic Chorus)
3. I Wonder If Louise Is Home (A Bit Of Tragic Relief)
4. Don't Blame It On Your Wife (The Fellini Song)

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The project was set up by brothers Terry and John Boylan, with leading jazz session musicians including Larry Coryell and Eric Gale. The album was essentially a loosely-woven concept album, comprising a collage of interlaced vocal narratives, sound effects, song fragments, and quality pop songs such as "Hightower Square" and "I Wonder If Louise Is Home". It was issued on the Verve Forecast label, and was finally reissued on CD in 2007. John Lennon referred to it as one of his favourite albums.


Don't Blame It On Your Wife (The Fellini Song):

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

1090. Mojo Special 17. George Duning - Picnic Original Soundtrack (1956)
















Track Listing

1. Love Theme
2. Hal's Theme
3. Owens Family
4. Flo and Madge
5. Love Theme from "Picnic" - Picnic
6. Moonglow
7. It's a Blue World-Torn Shirt (Pt. 1)
8. Torn Shirt /Hal's Turmoil [Concluded]
9. Rosemary Pleads/Rosemary Alone
10. Culmination/Hal's Escape
11. That Owens Girl/Millie
12. You Love Me/Madge Decides

Review

Well this is a soundtrack by the prolific George Duning which became quite famous because of the love theme... that being said it is really not an amazing soundtrack... in fact it sounds quite nondescript for the most part.

Fully instrumental it sounds like what you'd expect to find in a mid 50s romance film and it is what it is. There are much better soundtracks coming up on this list however, and we'll just have to wait.

That's about it, really.

Track Highlights

1. Love Theme

Final Grade

6/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

"Theme from Picnic" is a popular song, originated in the 1956 movie Picnic. It is often referred to simply as "Picnic".

The music was written by George Duning, and the lyrics were written by Steve Allen. The song was published in 1956.

Many of the popular versions of the song in 1956 were medleys of the song with "Moonglow," though a recording of the song alone by The McGuire Sisters was also a hit. One of the medleys was done by Morris Stoloff and the Columbia Pictures Orchestra, and another by George Cates and his Orchestra, which was also a major hit of that year.

Love Theme: