1053 - Mojo Special 8 - The Glenn Miller Story OST (1954)

Track Listing

1. Moonlight Serenade
2. Tuxedo Junction
3. Little Brown Jug
4. St Louis Blues
5. In the Mood
6. String of Pearls
7. Pennsylvania 6-5000
8. American Patrol
9. Basin Street Blues
10. Otchi-tchor-ni-ya

Review

Another soundtrack on the soundtrack list and this time it is a pretty nifty one. Glenn Miller's music was always party music and with this recording it sounds fresher and better than it has done before.

Of course the real Glenn Miller is better, but recordings of his heyday are usually scratchy affairs because he was so popular so early on in musical recording history and here the Universal orchestra makes a great job of recapturing the excitement of his music.

In fact a lot of what most people will identify as being Glenn Miller come from this recording as this is really the best recording of his music not to have his presence in it. It is full of amazing tracks with Louis Armstrong collaborating in a couple of them which just adds to the value of the recording.

Track Highlights

1. In The Mood
2. Moonlight Serenate
3. Pennsylvania 6-5000
4. Otchi-tchor-ni-ya

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The film contains songs by legendary musicians who also make cameo appearances in the film. These cameos include: Louis Armstrong, Barney Bigard, Cozy Cole, Gene Krupa, Frances Langford, Skeets McDonald, Marty Napoleon, Ben Pollack, Babe Russin, Arvell Shaw, The Modernaires, and James Young.

In The Mood:

1052 - Mojo 39. The Animals - The Animals (1964)

Track Listing

1. The Story Of Bo Diddley
2. Bury My Body
3. Dimples
4. I've Been Around
5. I'm In Love Again
6. The Girl Can't Help It
7. I'm Mad Again
8. She Said Yeah
9. The Right Time
10. Memphis Tennessee
11. Boom Boom
12. Around And Around


Review

The Animals... the other British rock band of this time who will always live in the shadow of the Beatles and the Stones show themselves to be pretty good here even if not amazing.

Not as bubble-gum as the Beatles and not as aggressive as the Stones they stand somewhere in the middle while still retaining a certain edginess which sets them apart from their American counter-parts at the time.

The real stand out here is the story of Bo Diddley, unfortunately the UK release does not have their most famous single, The House of the Rising Sun which would be packaged into the album for the American release but it is still a solid if not too impressive collection of tracks.

Track Highlights

1. The Story of Bo Diddley
2. The Girl Can't Help It
3. Boom Boom
4. Dimples

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The Animals is the Animals' UK debut album, released in 1964. It differed in contents from the group's U.S. debut album, the identically-titled The Animals.

Bo Diddley:

Mojo 38. The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (1964)

See Review

Mojo 37. Dusty Springfield - A Girl Called Dusty (1964)

See Review

Mojo 36. The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones (1964)

See Review

1051 - Mojo 35. Davy Graham and Shirley Collins - Folk Roots, New Routes (1964)

Track Listing

1. Nottamun Town
2. Proud Maisrie
3. The Cherry Tree Carol
4. Blue Monk
5. Hares On The Mountain
6. Reynardine
7. Pretty Sasro
8. Rif Mountain
9. Jane, Jane
10. Love Is Pleasin'
11. Holler Boll Weevil
12. Hori Horo
13. Bad Girl
14. Lord Greggory
15. Grooveyard
16. Dearest Dear

Review

If you've followed this project from the beginning you probably noticed that I have a deep love for 60s British folk and this album is no exception. This is one of those albums which really mark something and as such were weirdly absent from the previous list.

This is one of the first British folk albums to mark new developments in folk music, adding new elements like Graham's Indian raga like guitar playing, Jazz and "world-music" influences. Shirley's voice is also a voice that is very much defining of the genre.

The music is beautiful and the influence that this had on people like Bert Jansch, Nick Drake and John Martyn as well as bands such as Pentangle and Fairport Convention is more than apparent, this is actually really new music coming to light almost fully formed. Impressive.

Track Highlights

1. Rif Mountain
2. Reynardine
3. Nottamun Town
4. Blue Monk

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It was not in Graham's nature to pursue fame and fortune and he retired to relative obscurity for many years, when he engaged in charity work and teaching as well as protracted periods of drug use, before beginning to tour again in the years before his death. His childlike, almost obsessive, enthusiasm for music never left him, however, and he would gladly give a free private concert to any chance acquaintance.

Rif Mountain:

1050 - Mojo 34. The Holy Modal Rounders - The Holy Modal Rounders (1964)

Track Listing

1. Blues In The Bottle
2. Give The Fiddler A Dram
3. The Cuckoo
4. Euphoria
5. Long John
6. Sugar In The Gourd
7. Hesitation Blues
8. Hey, Hey Baby
9. Reuben's Train
10. Mr. Spaceman
11. Moving Day
12. Better Things For You
13. Same Old Man
14. Hop High Ladies
15. Bound To Lose

Review

Well I love Psychedelia, I love Bluegrass and I love the Muppets... and this album brings all of these three loves together... some more than others. Essentially this is a collection of Bluegrass tracks with Psychedelic lyrics and it has a bluegrass version of Johnny Cymbal's Mr. Bassman as Mr. Spaceman (the Muppets famously covered Mr. Bassman).

There are some things here which are a bit silly, the overly nasally voice sometimes gives the songs a sense of novelty-music which isn't particularly welcome, although as Lower East Side-Bluegrass-Psychedelia it is indeed a bit of a novelty album.

However, it is indeed well performed, it feels like a band which really loves Bluegrass as well as other kinds of grass. More than anything the album is a lot of fun, the whole thing has a pervasive party mood throughout which really makes it something that I'll want to listen to again and again.

Track Highlights

1. Mr. Spaceman
2. Euphoria
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Same Old Man

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Stampfel explained the origin of their name in the webzine Perfect Sound Forever: "We kept changing the name. First it was the Total Quintessence Stomach Pumpers. Then the Temporal Worth High Steppers. Then The Motherfucker Creek Babyrapers. That was just a joke name. He was Rinky-Dink Steve the Tin Horn and I was Fast Lightning Cumquat. He was Teddy Boy Forever and I was Wild Blue Yonder. It kept changing names. Then it was the Total Modal Rounders. Then when we were stoned on pot and someone else, Steve Close maybe, said Holy Modal Rounders by mistake. We kept putting out different names and wait until someone starts calling us that then. When we got to Holy Modal Rounders, everyone decided by accumulation [sic] that we were the Holy Modal Rounders. That's the practical way to get named."

Trailer for Documentary on them: