30. Bill Evans - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961)




















Track Listing

1. Gloria's Step (Take 2)
2. Gloria's Step (Take 3)
3. My Man's Gone Now
4. Solar
5. Alice In Wonderland (Take 2)
6. Alice In Wonderland (Take 1)
7. All Of You (Take 2)
8. All Of You (Take 3)
9. Jade Visions (Take 2)
10. Jade Visions (Take 1)

Review

This is probably the most demanding album reviewed here until now. Also it is the only album from 1961. This album demands quite a bit of commitment from the listeners part, you can have it in the background as some cool Jazz music but you won't really get any of it unless you give it a good active listening. We all know already how great a pianist Bill Evans is due to the fact that he contributed significantly to the materpiece that is Kind of Blue. Nonetheless, this album permits him to shine much more, and although he is not playing alone, it is definitely his piano playing that comes across more strongly.

This said one can in no way ignore the work of LeFaro here, he is the tremendous bassist that you will hear in most of these tracks, also, he died ten days after recording this, so it is probably his last recorded performance. So, this is an album which is all about virtuosity, particularly Evans' and LeFaro's. This is a demanding album because the harmonics here are not at all standard. Most tracks have a main theme, but that quickly turns into some very impressive moments of virtuoso improv. which are still very pleseant to the ear.

This is indeed what I think Evans manages to do so well here, and that it to me the mark of a great Jazz album, to be able to at the same time challenge you while not putting you off. And this is where a lot of modern jazz went wrong. If you listen to Song X for example you will be almost immediately put off, and only through preserverence will you be able to find anything likable there. On the other hand Kind of Blue, Time Out and this are immediately likable but will reward repeated listenings with extra layers.

All in all a great album, although it can however become a bit repetitive, so I wouldn't call it everyday listening, unless you have it very much as background music, which it does suit itself to. You can stream it from Napster or buy it from Amazon either in the US or UK.

Track Highlights

1. Alice in Wonderland (Take 2)
2. Jade Visions (Take 2)
3. Solar
4. Gloria's Step (Take 2)

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

For Bill Evans Heroine was his Heroine...

From Wikipedia:

The collaboration between Evans and the talented young bassist LaFaro was particularly fruitful, with the two achieving an unprecedented level of musical empathy. The trio recorded four albums: Portrait in Jazz (1959), Explorations, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, and Waltz for Debby (all recorded in 1961). The latter two albums are live recordings, both drawn from the same recording date; in 2005, the full sets were collected on the three-CD set The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961.

Evans's chemical dependency problems most likely began during his stint with Miles Davis in the late 1950s. A heroin addict for most of his career, his health was generally poor and his financial situation worse for most of the 1960s. In the late 1970s, cocaine became a serious problem for Evans. His body finally gave out in 1980, when Evans, ravaged by psychoactive drugs, a perforated liver, and a lifelong battle with hepatitis, died in New York City of bronchial pneumonia.

Lovely.

29. Muddy Waters - Muddy Waters at Newport (1960)




















Track Listing

1. I Got My Brand on You
2. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man
3. Baby Please Don't Go
4. Soon Forgotten
5. Tiger in Your Tank
6. I Feel So Good
7. I've Got My Mojo Working
8. I've Got My Mojo Working, Pt. 2
9. Goodbye Newport Blues

Review

This is a pretty amazing album, the blues played with a rawness and an infectious energy that will make you tap your feet the whole way through the album. Again, an album that benefits from being live and therefore capturing a particular moment in time. Live albums when they are good, are in my opinion better than studio ones, particularly because the talent needed to create this level of perfection in one take as well as the extra rawness given to the sound because there is no studio wizardry involved -- or at least not as much as studio albums -- give you a much better notion of what the artist is all about.

I can tell you that I would have given my right arm to have been at this concert, because not only is the music amazing, but the crowd goes wild frequently adding to the toe tapping exhiliration of the whole thing. The album starts slow and quickly develops into a very fast paced affair, particularly with the two-part I've Got My Mojo Working before dwindling again with the last track, making it a perfectly crafted song line up. You want to keep listening. The playing in the album is superb as well, from the guitar and piano to the harmonica.

There is no much I can say that can make this album justice, other than it was probably the most pleseant discovery since I've started writing this blog. Miriam Makeba was the other one, but this is a much more consistent album with no songs in it that can be skipped at all. It's masterpiece on top of masterpiece, I obviously have my favourite songs but I'm pretty sure they will differ with the different people who listen to it.

You can't get this album from Napster, you can't buy it from Itunes, but you can get it from Amazon, either in the US or UK.

Track Highlights

1. I've Got My Mojo Working
2. I've Got My Mojo Working pt.2
3. I Got My Brand On You
4. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

Muddy Waters in an unfortunate name. Couldn't he have been Clear Lake or something... I suppose Stagnant Cess Pit would be worse.

From Wikipedia:

His tours of England beginning in 1958 marked possibly the first time an amplified, hard-rocking band was heard there, although on his first tour he was the only one amplified; backing was provided by Englishman Chris Barber's trad jazz group. (One critic retreated to the restroom to write his review because he found the band so loud.) The Rolling Stones named themselves after Waters' 1950 song, "Rollin' Stone," also known as "Catfish Blues." One of Led Zeppelin's biggest hits, "Whole Lotta Love," is based upon the Muddy Waters hit, "You Need Love," which was written by Willie Dixon. Dixon wrote some of Muddy Waters' most famous songs, including "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (a big radio hit for the '70s rock band Foghat), "Hoochie Coochie Man," and "I'm Ready." Angus Young of the rock group AC/DC has cited Waters as one of his influences, as is apparent in AC/DC's cover of "Baby Please Don't Go".

28. The Incredible Jimmy Smith - Back at the Chicken Shack (1960)




















Track Listing

1. Back At The Chicken Shack
2. When I Grow Too Old To Dream
3. Minor Chant
4. Messy Bessy
5. On The Sunny Side Of The Street

Review

This album can be best described in one word, coool (has to be pronounced in a very Isaac Hayes-like style), or as the Fast Show would have it, "Nice". Jimmy Smith is credited with bringing the organ from the churches into jazz music and making it popular. He definitely does that in this album, it's just very very cool music, very jazz cluby and relaxed.

Also the album has a great sense of fun. Starting with the cover and going on to the playful tones of the title track, the whole album is a very fun thing to listen to. There are of course big standout songs here, and those are the title track and Minor Chant. It's worth listening to the album, even if it was just for those two tracks. The rest of the album is very enjoyable, but not particularly remarkable. Messy Bessie at 12 minutes long is in my opinion a tad over-streched.

That is indeed the only failing of the album, the brilliance of two of its songs make the rest pale in comparison, and not grab you as much. Again this is not because the rest of the album is bad, in fact it is very good, but because those are two great songs. The whole album, with its light mood, jazzy organ etc.. creates a great blend of soul and jazz music, making a kind of Soul-Jazz unlike anything before.

If you like organs, and jazz or soul music do give this a listen. If you don't, your loss mate. Stream it from Napster or buy it at Amazon, UK or US.

Track Highlights

(it's pointless to give 4 tracks as the album consists of 5)

1. Back at the Chicken Shack
2. Minor Chant

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

You too can play like Jimmy Smith with the Hammond B-3 Organ! Subject to availability, batteries not included.

Niiiiice. Great. Fantastic.

From Wikepedia:

Smith employed a unique technique to emulate a string bass player on the organ. Although he played walking bass lines on the pedals on ballads, for uptempo tunes, he would play the bass line on the lower manual and use the pedals for emphasis on the attack of certain notes. His solos were characterised by percussive chords mixed with very fast melodic improvisation with the right hand. He generally used a drawbar registration of 868000000 or 888000000 on the lower manual, which he used for the bass line and comping chords. He used a similar registration on the upper manual, which he used for soloing, but with the addition of the Hammond's percussion circuit.

27. Everly Brothers - A Date With the Everly Brothers (1960)





















Track Listing

1. Made To Love
2. That's Just Too Much
3. Stick With Me Baby
4. Baby What You Want Me To Do
5. Sigh Cry Almost Die
6. Always It's You
7. Love Hurts
8. Lucille
9. So How Come
10. Donna Donna
11. Change Of Heart
12. Cathy's Clown

Review

Fun fun album. You know it's the kind of late 50's, early 60's American diner music. And it's oh so much fun, so teenagery and boppy. Also a bit vacuous. Still, part of this albums charm is its complete lack of pretention to be anything other than an album for teenage girls and a fucking good one at that. I'm gonna sound old now, but they don't make teenager music like this anymore. If only Westlife and company had a third of the talent of these guys I'd happily listen to them.

It is quite an enjoyable album to listen to, even if it were just for retro value. Fortunately there's more to it than that. You can clearly hear how these guys influenced early Beatles for example, actually I enjoy this more than early Beatles, there's a nice purity to it. Also there's the incredible harmonics here which come about from the fact that the Everly are brothers, meaning genetics plays a great part in how their voices are practically identical, making for near perfect harmonics, almost as if they were dubbing themselves.

Apart from this they make the most infectious teeny bopper songs, and I defy anyone to listen to this and not get a silly grin on their face while attempting to do 50's dance moves. Even the non-original songs on this album are great, Lucille, for example is one of the best tracks in the whole album.

On the downside you get exactly the same arguments that are on the upside, it's teenagy dance pop. Some of the lyrics are very teenage angst ridden, like Sigh, Cry, Almost Die, and How Come (No One Loves Me), which again make the songs very "cute" but too directed to the teenage market. So basically it gets a plus for being unassuming teenage pop and a minus for being unassuming teenage pop.

If you want this album you can't get it in Napster or iTunes so just download it and become an outlaw forever chased by the Man, or buy the album at Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. Made to Love
2. Cathy's Clown
3. Lucille
4. Donna Donna

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

I wonder if they ever had a threesome with a groupie... that would be a story to tell your grandchildren. If you were a groupie with The Everly Brothers in the late 50's early 60's and had a synchronized sexual experience with highly harmonic moaning, drop me a line.

From Wikipedia

In addition to both being competent guitarists, they used a style of close-harmony singing, in which each brother sang a tune that could often stand on its own as a plausible melody line. This was in contrast to 'classic' harmony lines which, while working well alongside the melody, would sound strange if heard by themselves. One of the best examples of their close-harmony work is their recording of "Devoted To You."

26. Miriam Makeba - Miriam Makeba (1960)




















Track Listing

1. The Retreat Song (Jikele Maweni)
2. Suliram
3. The Click Song
4. Umhome
5. Olilili
6. Lakutshn, Ilanga
7. Mbube
8. The Naughty Little Flea
9. Where Does It Lead?
10. Nomeva
11. House Of The Rising Sun
12. Saduva
13. One More Dance - Charles Coleman

Review

Ok, this album is truly, really amazing. Unfortunately I will not be able to give it 10/10 for the reasons I'll explain below. Miriam Makeba has however one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard, not only that, the arrangements in this albums are also amazing. As you might imagine I am not an expert on native South African singing, I have no idea what most lyrics in this album say or even care. This album is amazing for the simple universal power of music (How cliché was that?)

Makeba unfortunately made this album thinking of it as a crossover album, this is its downfall. There are tracks here like Naughty Little Flea or One More Dance which although amusing just bring the whole album down with them. Frankly after a while you are better off skipping those songs. And that is the only reason why I can't give it 10/10, I can't do that to an album with skippable tracks. And those are track 8, 9 and 13.

Without those songs, it is definitely one of the best albums I've ever heard, with one of the most pleseant and emotive voices I've had a pleasure to listen too. And this is probably why the album is ruined by all the songs which are in English (with the possible exception of House of the Rising Sun, which is expendable nonetheless). Even South African songs that have been played to death like The Lion Sleeps Tonight, which is here called Mbube benefit from the fact that they are sung in the original language (Swahili? Anyone know?), with very original arrangements, so you recognise that it is The Lion Sleeps Tonight, but a very different one.

So, actually I would advise that instead of getting this album you can get another compilation by Makeba, entitled Africa which contains all the African songs from this album plus others, cutting out all the crossovery shit. You can't stream it from Napster, although you can get some of her later stuff, which frankly are much farther from the "roots" music in most of this album, and are actually a bit crap, like collaborations with Harry Belafonte etc.. You can buy Africa from Napster but not this album, so maybe you are better off that way. You can however buy this album from Amazon, in the UK or the US.

Track Highlights

1. Suliram
2. Olilili
3. The Click Song
4. Mbube

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

I make 4% of buys on Amazon if you get there through my links!

Miriam Makeba and South African music is teh Shit!

25. Elvis Presley - Elvis is Back! (1960)






















Track Listing

1. Make Me Know It
2. Fever
3. Girl Of My Best Friend
4. I Will Be Home Again
5. Dirty Dirty Feeling
6. Thrill Of Your Love
7. Soldier Boy
8. Such A Night
9. It Feels So Right
10. Girl Next Door
11. Like A Baby
12. Reconsider Baby

Review

Well you should already know that I hate Elvis. With a passion. This however might just be his best album, which is frankly not saying much, but it is quite listenable. It has some good songs and well performed. Nonetheless nothing in this album except for Fever is that memorable, and Fever is only memorable because you already know it.

Well, you'll see this album often containing the famous tracks Are You Lonesome Tonight and It's Now or Never, and even the 1001 Albums book mentions them. Actually none of them are a part of the album, as they were released as singles and only put in the album in modern CD re-releases. So the book is wrong yet again. It shows the correct track listing but reviews it with the singles added as bonus tracks in mind. But if you went out in 1960 and bought this album this track listing is what you would get. And frankly it's better this way, as the two singles are insuferable.

This album benefits from the fact that none of the songs in it, except Fever which didn't become famous because of Elvis, are that well known. The biggest problem with Elvis is his overratedness and my over-exposure to him. So this album is not phenomenal, but it did allow me to listen to Elvis differently because I didn't know most of the songs.

You can definitely tell that Elvis has evolved greatly since his self-titled album, in fact it's not Elvis who has evolved but his production. This album is much more lavishly produced than his previous ones which is at the same time a good and a bad thing. It sound more professional, but also more schmaltzy.

Anyway, probably the best Elvis experience I've ever had, but still a bit meh. Stream it from Napster or buy it from Amazon, US or UK

Track Highlights

1. Fever
2. Make Me Know It
3. The Girl of My Best Friend
4. Such a Night

Final Grade

6/10

Trivia

QUICK! LOCK YOUR FRIDGE ELVIS IS HERE!

Elvis has eaten the building.

Man, he was a twat.

24. Joan Baez - Joan Baez (1960)




















Track Listing

1. Silver Dagger
2. East Virginia
3. Fare Thee Well (Or Then Thousand Miles)
4. House Of The Rising Sun
5. All My Trials
6. Wildwood Flower
7. Donna Donna
8. John Riley
9. Rake and Rambling Boy
10. Little Moses
11. Mary Hamilton
12. Henry Martin
13. El Preso Numero Nueve

Review

Yay! The Sixties, free love, lack of belief in shaving and shit! And who better to start this new decade than the first lady of flower power herself, Joan Baez. No one! That's who!

Ok, this is a great album and also greatly influential; later on when Bob Dylan met Baez he was in complete awe of her. It is not hard to see why this would happen, in fact what Baez does in this album is really not that complicated, it is not an album of political activism or calling for social change. It is an album of folk songs, some of them quite well known, yet she takes those songs from the domain of the hickier performers, like the Louvin Brothers or Marty Robbins and strips it down to what sounds like a purer, more ethereal sound of a girl and her guitar.

In this stripping down of music are both her greatest merits and biggest downfalls. It is indeed different and extremely influential stuff, but it might just have become too influential, in the way that she sounds like the stereotypical folk singer girl with her guitar... you know like a Phoebe from Friends with a good voice and good lyrics. Baez of course did it first, and her voice is definitely unique, but in 2006 you can't help but feel that this has been parodied to death.

But hey, she has a great voice, and it is a great album, both lyrically and in terms of sound, not only of her voice but also of her guitar playing which is a great thing. So if you like this kind of stuff buy it from the US or UK.

Track Highlights

1. Silver Dagger
2. Donna Donna
3. John Riley
4. All My Trials

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

This woman distorts my speakers in her fucking high notes. Not nice.

Capsule review: Hippie chick...bit boring.

23. Dave Brubeck - Time Out (1959)




















Track Listing

1. Blue Rondo A La Turk
2. Strange Meadow Lark
3. Take Five
4. Three To Get Ready
5. Kathy's Waltz
6. Everybody's Jumpin'
7. Pick Up Sticks

Review

Okay, yes, it is overplayed. Take Five is almost a cliche of what Jazz music is. But it is that for good reason. It is a great album and Take Five is a great track. Still, It is not the only good one; as good, or I would argue, even better is Blue Rondo A La Turk. Ok, if you are a jazz freak you will now be rolling your eyes. But the only reason you will be doing that is the fact that this album had crossover success. And Jazz lovers love the elite pursuits. So it is an album more popular with the general public than with the experts. As AllMusic says about it, it is a good album in spite of the people who like it. You know, Islington Guardian readers, or where I live Didsbury people.

And although you might listen to it while sipping on some crap SOAVE followed by Katie Melua or some such shit - although I'd hit her - do give it careful listening. Interestingly the track Kathy's Waltz kind of predicts All My Loving from the Beatles.. if you don't believe me, listen closely to it and there is a piano solo... well you'll see.

So yeah, it's good, and a lot of fun. Definitely not as good as Kind of Blue or many many other Jazz albums, still it is not fair that it has been so maligned. It is an essential album for anyone's collection, it is innovative in the way it plays with timing etc.. But again that is not what concerns me. What I care about is the fact that it can be at the same time both cerebral and a very enjoyable. Nevertheless some songs in the album don't seem to be as appealing as others, as Pick Up Sticks for example.

So yeah, listen to it. And stream it from Napster or buy it at Amazon US or UK


Track Highlights

1. Blue Rondo A La Turk
2. Take Five
3. Strange Meadow Lark
4. Kathy's Song

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

The tech bits from Wikipedia:

Although the theme (and the title) of the album is non-Common-time signatures, things aren't quite as simple as that. Blue Rondo à la Turk starts in 9/8 (the rhythm of the Turkish zeybek, equivalent of the Greek zeibekiko), but alternates with 4/4, while Strange Meadow Lark is too flexible to be pinned down to a particular time signature, though there are hints of waltz time. Take Five (originally intended primarily to show off Joe Morello's drum solo, according to Desmond) is in 5/4 throughout, but after its waltz-time beginning Three to Get Ready alternates between 3/4 and 4/4, settling down to two bars of one followed by two of the other. Moreover, Kathy's Waltz (misspelt, as Brubeck's daughter, for whom it was named, was Cathy) starts in 4/4, and only later switches to double-waltz time, before merging the two. Everybody's Jumpin' is mainly in a very flexible 6/4, while Pick Up Sticks firms that up into a clear and steady 6/4.

Blue Rondo A La Turk is not a sexual practice.

22. Marty Robbins - Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs (1959)





















Track Listing

1. Big Iron
2. Cool Water
3. Billy The Kid
4. Hundred And Sixty Acres
5. They're Hanging Me Tonight
6. Strawberry Roan
7. El Paso
8. In The Valley
9. Master's Call
10. Running Gun
11. Little Green Valley
12. Utah Carol

Review

Country and Western music has been growing on me like a bad bad fungus, and it's because of albums like these. I have the same relation with Country Music that I have with Science-Fiction, 90% of it is shit, when it's good, however, it is very good. When it's bad, it's funny.

The last thing this album is is funny. This is proper cowboy music with stories of love ending badly, getting shot and shooting other people... you know, the shit you see in films. And this album is very cinematic, you could have any of the songs here as part of the soundtrack of a 60's cowboy film and none would be out of place. Neither would the stories told in the music. Most songs are pearls of narrative music, from Big Iron to El Paso, there are some of the best Western stories even commited to an album. This is probably where the influence of this album comes into play. It is probably the most influential Western album after the 2nd World War and you can tell.

So, yeah. I really like it. I must be part hick, as this stuff really touches deeply inside me. It's not exactly a good background album as it demands you to follow the stories sung by Robbins, but also to listen to his very very good guitar playing. But next time you're going to get the Bus put this on you mp3 player and I'm sure nothing will ever look the same (just make sure no one else can hear what coming out of your headphones or you might be a bit embarassed). It's is definitely not a Cool album, unless you have a very particular retro definition of Cool, and if you do more power to you! But by golly is it good stuff!

You can find this quite easily in illegal p2p things. But DON'T! THAT'S WRONG! *wink wink* Buy it instead on Amazon UK or US


Track Highlights

1. Big Iron
2. El Paso
3. Cool Water
4. The Master's Call (a pearl of Christian kitsch)

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

Marty Robbins was a Nascar racer later in life. Now that's cool.

His grandfather brought him up on Western stories. Aww! Ain't that cute.

21. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)




















Track Lisiting

1. So What
2. Freddie Freeloader
3. Blue In Green
4. All Blues
5. Flamenco Sketches

Review

Have you heard this album? No...? What the hell are you doing here anyway... have you been in a coma for 46 years? If you have my apologies, if you haven't and still don't know Kind of Blue please click the link at the bottom of the review to the Amazon of your preference seeing as I get 5% of your spending hehe, while you're at it buy yourself a 50 inch LCD TV... thanks.

Ok, this is probably the best and most important Jazz album of all time. Not only is it innovative shit, bringing to fruition what you could hear in Birth of Cool but it is also listenable! Yay! And listenable is an understatement, it is one of the most beautiful albums I had the pleasure of listening to. First it's a super-band, not just Davies, but Coltrane, Evans, "Cannonball" Adderley and so on, making it one of the best ever combinations of interpreters in Jazz history. There is not one single dispensible track in the whole album, from So What? to Flamenco Sketches this is gold.

Interestingly enough, the band had never played these pieces before the recording, Davies showed up with some sketches of what he wanted and all else was improv. More spectacularly still is the fact that all of the songs in this album were done in a single take, except for Flamenco Sketches which took 2. In the CD editions of the album the alternate take for Flamenco Sketches is added as a bonus track, and honestly it is not any worse than the definitive version.

This is an album which I have discovered quite some years back, in my first year of university. I had to leave home to be able to properly appreciate it, seeing as it was one of those albums that my father played and as a reaction I disliked, because I was forced to hear it. But since rediscovering it 6 years ago I have not gotten tired of it, and return to it often and fondly. There are not many albums with the same capacity as this one. And frankly I couldn't give a monkey's ass for all the tonality and modality shit happening here. The good thing is that that stuff never overpowers the beauty and quality of the music itself.

So, if you don't know it get it, if you don't like jazz get it, you might start liking it. You can stream it on Napster or buy it at Amazon, UK or US.

Track Highlights

All of it really. It;s just five tracks for fuck's sake.

Final Grade

10/10 (the first one)

Trivia

Miles, Coltrane and Evans did heroin, but didn't share needles, so learn from the Jazz masters kids!

Well they probably did... but they're all dead now! Just say no!

Three of the interpreters on this album will have Albums reviewed here on their own releases. (Miles already had one but he will have more)

20. Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)



















Track Listing

1. Let The Good Times Roll
2. It Had To Be You
3. Alexander's Ragtime Band
4. Two Years Of Torture
5. When Your Lover Has Gone
6. Deed I Do
7. Just For A Thrill
8. You Won't Let Me Go
9. Tell Me You'll Wait For Me
10. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin'
11. Am I Blue
12. Come Rain Or Come Shine

Review

So, Ray Charles, wasn't he nice? Well, this is an Album which is very clearly meant to be heard in vinyl. You hear it in a CD or on the internet and you immediately feel that there are two parts to this album, which in vinyl would be clearly defined by side A and side B. As, such this is almost reviewing two albums instead of one.

The first six songs, the first part of the album are a happy swingin' collection of songs, with a big brass band behind Ray, noisy, fun and with great songs such as Let The Good Times Roll and Alexander's Ragtime Band. Frankly however, I much prefer side B, or the last 6 songs of the album, they are much more subdued and the emphasis is on strings in the orchestra. I think it's on this half of the album that you clearly hear the birth of soul music, although it is also somewhat present on side A, which is a more jazzy affair. On side B Just For a Thrill, Am I Blue and Come Rain or Come Shine stand out from the whole album as truly great tracks.

So yes, this is a magnificent album, and indeed it is a revolutionary one. There was nothing like this before Ray, he is creating a fusion of what at times sounds like Rock and R&B and at other times is completly Jazz, often within the same song. Nevertheless it is not as consistent an album as it could have been. There are some tracks which leave me cold, like Deed I Do or You Won't Let Me Go.

So yeah, if you don't know it hear it and some of the tracks here you can't live without, but others you can. Stream it on Napster.

Or Buy it at Amazon: UK or US



Track Highlights

1. Just For a Thrill
2. Come Rain or Come Shine
2. Am I Blue
4. Let The Good Time Roll


Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

Great connoisseur of Heroin.

Actually he was part of a narcotics brigade, yet his blindness led him to have to shoot up in order to tell if it was really heroin.

Ray later played Jamie Foxx in the Oscar-winning Biopic, Jamie.

19. Ella Fitzgerald - Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959)




















Track Listing

1. Ambulatory Suite
2. Prelude
3. Sam And Delilah
4. But Not For Me
5. My One And Only
6. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
7. I've Got Beginner's Luck
8. Oh Lady Be Good
9. Nice Work If You Can Get It
10. Things Are Looking Up
11. Just Another Rumba
12. How Long Has This Been Going On
13. It's Wonderful
14. Man I Love
15. That Certain Feeling
16. By Strauss
17. Someone To Watch Over Me
18. Real American Folk Song Is A Rag
19. Who Cares
20. Looking For A Boy
21. They All Laughed
22. My Cousin In Milwaukee
23. Somebody From Somewhere
24. Foggy Day
25. Clap Yo' Hands
26. For You For Me For Evermore
27. Stiff Upper Lip
28. Boy Wanted
29. Strike Up The Band
30. Soon
31. I've Got A Crush On You
32. Bidin' My Time
33. Aren't You Kind Of Glad We Did
34. Of Thee I Sing
35. Half Of It Dearie Blues
36. I Was Doing All Right
37. He Loves And She Loves
38. Love Is Sweeping The Country
39. Treat Me Rough
40. Love Is Here To Stay
41. Slap That Bass
42. Isn't It A Pity
43. Shall We Dance
44. Love Walked In
45. You've Got What Gets Me
46. They Can't Take That Away From Me
47. Embraceable You
48. I Can't Be Bothered Now
49. Boy What Love Has Done To Me
50. Fascinating Rhythm
51. Funny Face
52. Lorelei
53. Oh So Nice
54. Let's Kiss And Make Up
55. I Got Rhythm
56. Somebody Loves Me
57. Cheerful Little Earful

Review

Another year... we are fast approaching the 60's. And we start 1959 with the longest album I've ever listened to. So at about 3 hours and 15 minutes this is Ella Fitzgerald doing all the Gershwin songs. If you get the version with alternate takes it gets more towards the 4 hours and something. So yeah, pretty long. But fortunately you are bound to know at least one out of every 3 tracks anyway making it a nice thing to have playing around the house as it calls you attention back with each song you recognise. Yet, some of the most interesting tracks are those you don't know, an example of this is Treat Me Rough, about a rich girl who likes it rough...sure to ellicit a giggle from the more S&M crowd out there (props), and not well known because it's probably a bit too racy.

The songs are all of them fascinating, By Strauss pokes fun at George Gershwin himself, but the big standout songs are really some of the most famous, and Ella excells in all of the more swinging tracks. Let's Call the Whole Thing Off is particularly infectious and so is S'Wonderful or Fascinating Rhythm and I've Got Rhythm. While Billie Holiday has the most heartfelt voice and Sarah Vaughan the most perfect, Ella has the happiest and most swinging voice of them all. Even so the slower tracks like Embracable You and Someone To Watch Over Me are very well covered indeed.

Ella has done all the song books, the Rodger and Hammerstein, the Cole Porter, Irving Berlin so on and so forth. But her voice and her "swinginess" is much better suited to Gershwin than to any of the others. Although she is great in all of them, the Gershwin collection is definitely the superior one. If you can however buy Ella's Complete Songbooks, you can get it at ITunes for something like £120 or you can get the physical one for some hundreds... for 900 and something minutes of music... or maybe don't.

It is a great album, but overly long, something good to have on the background, and you will from time to time prick up your ears, other than that it is very pleasant indeed and if you want to have a complete colection of Gershwin songs this is the one to get. If I have a gripe with it, it's the fact that it's a bit overly long, you never connect that much with the album because you take 4 hours to listen to it. You can get it at Itunes.

Or buy it at Amazon: UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
2. Treat Me Rough
3. They Can't Take That Away From Me
4. But Not For Me

Final Grade

8/10


Trivia

I didn't realize our songs were so good until Ella sang them." - Ira Gershwin

No relation to F. Scott Fitzgerald.

18. Sarah Vaughan - At Mister Kelly's (1958)





















Track Listing

1. September In The Rain
2. Willow Weep For Me
3. Just One Of Those ThingsM
4. Be Anything But Darling Be Mine
5. Thou Swell
6. Stairway To The Stars
7. Honeysuckle Rose
8. Just A Gigolo
9. How High The Moon
10. Dream
11. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter
12. It's Got To Be Love
13. Alone
14. If This Isn't Love
15. Embraceable You
16. Lucky In Love
17. Dancing In The Dark
18. Poor Butterfly
19. Sometimes I'm Happy
20. I Cover The Waterfront

Review

This is the direct opposite of Billie Holiday's album reviewed two days ago. That, however, doesn't make it any worse. This is a great live recording of Sarah Vaughan. She has probably the most perfect voice ever. Not as heartfelt as Lady Day or as Swingin' as Ella's, that is true, but she has a degree of control not easy to achieve.

Sarah Vaughan was also a very, very funny lady. That comes through perfectly in this album, and the best songs in it are also the funniest ones. She fucks up frequently, forgets the lyrics etc.. but that is an excuse for extremely funny improvisations. Two great examples of this are Willow Weep for Me and How High is The Moon. Great tracks and their greatness comes out of the fact that Sarah fucks them up, on How High is the Moon she takes advantage to make an Ella Fitzgerald tribute, and it's just great.

This is probably one of the best albums reviewed here until now and is at the same level as Billie Holiday's. But this is an eminently funny and happy album, even the sad songs are sung with a cheekiness which is needs to be heard. In fact the whole album needs to be heard, if you haven't you are missing out. Unfortunately, it is not an easy album to get. It seems like the majority of Jazz lovers are very undemanding, and buy mostly compilations. I hate compilations, I can't even express how much I hate them. But go look for Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald and all you find are stupid titles like The Best Love Songs and some other shit. Albums have an inherent cohesion (if they are good) that can never even be approached by stupid fucking compilations. This album is a good example of that, it captures the whole mood of one night at Mr. Kelly's club a great historical document.

So listen to it, now! You can get it at Itunes... Napster doesn't stream it.

Or buy it at Amazon: UK or US


Track Highlights

1. How High is the Moon
2. Willow Weep for Me
3. Poor Butterfly
4. It's Got to be Love

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

She had two nicknames: Sassy and The Divine One

Oh! The pressure of being witty in the trivia.

17. Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Jack Takes the Floor (1958)





















Track Listing

1. San Francisco Bay Blues
2. Ol' Riley
3. The Boll Weevil
4. Bed Bug Blues
5. New York Town
6. Old Blue
7. Grey Goose
8. Mule Skinner Blues
9. East Texas Talking Blues
10. Cocaine
11. Dink's Song
12. Black Baby
13. Salty Dog

Review



So a son of Jewish parents who plays the guitar and the harmonica in a folksy context? You guessed it! Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Yes indeed! And he sounds like a certain Bob Dylan at times, but he's a self-styled cowboy. It is fascinating how influential Jack Elliott is, particularly on later folk singers and Bob Dylan as mentioned. His nickname of "ramblin'" is actually quite present thorughout this album where he doesn't start any track without a bit of rambling on the song's origin or some amusing story or something.

So it is extremely strange why this album isn't available anywhere seeing as he was a major influence on Dylan, Keith Richards and Paul McCartney. But if you want Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back there's a surplus. Now, I've been able to listen to the whole thing only after I finished the list! Thank fuck for soulseek.

It seems to the the natural transition from Woody Guthrie to Dylan personified, and Woody actually makes an appearence on the album. Also it has some amazing tracks, San Francisco Bay Blues, for example has become quite famous and so has Mule Skinner Blues and they are both great examples of astounding guitar playing and in Mule Skinner's case vocal acrobatics. Yes there is some yodeling, but good yodeling.



Track Highlights

1. San Francisco Bay Blues
2. Mule Skinner Blues
3. Cocaine
4. New York Town

Final Grade

8/10


Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Elliott's musical style influenced Bob Dylan so heavily that Dylan's first gig in New York City was billed as "Son of Jack Elliott." While Dylan rose to prominence through his compositions, Elliott continued as an interpretive troubadour, bringing old songs to new audiences in an idiosyncratic manner.

San Francisco Bay Blues:

16. Billie Holiday - Lady In Satin (1958)




















Track Listing

1. I'm a Fool to Want You
2. For Heaven's Sake
3. You Don't Know What Love Is
4. I Get Along Without You Very Well
5. For All We Know
6. Violets for Your Furs
7. You've Changed
8. It's Easy to Remember
9. But Beautiful
10. Glad to Be Unhappy
11. I'll Be Around

Review

Ok, this is probably a "love it or hate it" album. Personally I love it. This has a lot to do with a pattern you will probably see in my reviews. The more raw something is the better I like it. It doesn't come much more raw than the completely fucked-up voice of a 40-something year old heroin addict Lady Day sounding like a 70 year old woman.

A lot of people will be completely put off by the croaking of Holiday in this album, but give it a chance. It will grow on you, not just because you can see she has a beautiful voice under there, but also because it makes the whole album much more "real", in a way that not many albums of this time were. The absolute nakedness of Billie's voice is extremely touching in this album. Probably the best drug deterrent album ever, sit a heroin addict down and make him listen to this and he will think twice.

The effect is helped by the heartaching mood of all the songs in this album. There isn't a single swinging, uplifiting song in it. It is a sequence of sad songs, even when the lyrics aren't that grueling the interpretation just brings it down to new lows. But there is not a single bad track in this album. Even when the arrangements try to cover up Billie's difficulties in the songs they only highlight the despair. It's a very very very rainy afternoon album. Good thing I live in Manchester.

You have to admire Billie Holiday for ever agreeing to record this, not only that but the fact that this was her favourite recording. It takes a huge set of metaphorical balls to do this. And when you hear it you understand that this could have been nothing less than her last album, comparable to the idea of Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt much later on. So, this is an album that is nothing less than unmissable, even if you do hate it, it goes beyond the music itself and into the history of one of the most important female singers in history.

Buy it at Amazon: UK or US


Track Highlights

1. I'm a Fool to Want You
2. I Get Along Without You Very Well
3. Violets for Your Furs
4. Glad to Be Unhappy

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

Billie Holiday died one year later in 1959, 44 years old.

From Wikipedia:

The recording featured a backing from a 40-piece orchestra conducted and arranged by Ray Ellis, who said of the album in 1997:

"I would say that the most emotional moment was her listening to the playback of "I'm a Fool to Want You." There were tears in her eyes...After we finished the album I went into the control room and listened to all the takes. I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was just listening musically instead of emotionally. It wasn't until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was."

This is seriously depressing.

15. Tito Puente - Dance Mania (1958)




















Track Listing

1. El Cayuco
2. Complicación
3. 3-D Mambo
4. Llego Mijan
5. Cuando Te Vea
6. Hong Kong Mambo
7. Mambo Gozón
8. Mi Chiquita Quiere Bembe
9. Varsity Drag {Mambo)
10. Estoy Siempre Junto a Ti
11. Agua Limpia Todo
12. Saca Tu Mujer

Review

It's fun, but it's a bit Tito Puente. Kitsch value is high, but it is still very interesting to listen to. There are tracks with a touch of brilliance, personally I enjoy the fully instrumental tracks more so than the sung ones, Hong Kong Mambo is a good example of an innovative, fun and interesting track. Also Mambo Gozon has an almost techo-remix style chorus.

Basically imagine Buena Vista Social Club without any of the melancholy. The title says it all, it's Dance Mania and it is Puente's first fully dancable album. I have no idea how to do the Mambo whatsoever and there might be a level to this album that I am completely missing. Also I am not learning it for a review that apparently no one reads (comments anyone?).

So there's not much to say about this album, it is not a music style I am an expert on, but I do enjoy it from time to time, and listening to this was enjoyable. Not as grueling as Elvis for example. So yeah I liked it. Could have lived without it though.

This was an extremely hard album to find online, Napster didn't have it, Amazon.co.uk made it really hard for me to order it (only second-hand sellers from the States). So I had to resort to the extortionate ITunes. And Pixie 2 Pixie underhand services were also not helpful. I wonder if the older generation of Puerto Ricans and Puerto Rican emigres are not up with the new technologies? I wonder If I'll have a hard time getting the West Side Story soundtrack...

Buy it at Amazon: UK or US


Track Highlights

1. Hong Kong Mambo
2. El Cayuco
3. Varsity Drag
4. Mambo Gozon

Final Grade

6/10

Trivia

Tito Puente had a couple of important cameos in The Simpsons.

Ai ai ai ai ai ai Puerto Rico.

14. Little Richard - Here's Little Richard (1957)





















Track Listing

1. Tutti Frutti
2. True Fine Mama
3. Can't Believe You Wanna Leave
4. Ready Teddy
5. Baby
6. Slippin' And Slidin'
7. Long Tall Sally
8. Miss Ann
9. Oh Why
10. Rip It Up
11. Jenny Jenny
12. She's Got It

Review

Little Richard once said: "Elvis might be the King of Rock n' Roll, but I'm the Queen". Only if he's the goddammned mistress Queen who makes Elvis eat poo and crushes his balls with steel stiletto heels. That's how much better Little Richard is.

There's an energy, and let me be pretentious for a sec, "joie de vivre" that is not found in any other rock album of the time. Also he was putting out his singles pretty early on. Tutti Frutti was a hit for him at the beggining of 1956. This album is almost a Greatest Hits compilation of what Richard had been doing the previous years.

The album is completely infectious, and together with Buddy Holly and the Crickets is essential listening to anyone interested in where Rock 'n Roll came from. Hits like Tutti Frutti, Slipin' and Slidin' and Long Tall Sally will be recognizable by nearly anyone. Other stuff like Ready Teddy and Rip it Up, might not be as well know but equally good. Actually, maybe even better because they haven't suffered from the over exposure of the better known hits.

So I tip my hat to the Queen of Rock 'n Roll.

Pixies -- not the band -- spirited this album into my room one fine Spring Morning. Napster doesn't have it. I've already sent a mail bomb to their offices.

Buy it at Amazon: UK or US

Track Highlights

1. Rip It Up
2. Ready Teddy
3. Tutti Frutti
4. Long Tall Sally

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

from Wikipedia:
The original lyrics [of Tutti Frutti] were supposedly: "A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop, a good goddamn/ Tutti Frutti, loose booty/ If it don't fit, don't force it/ You can grease it, make it easy."

Little Richard might well be gay.