What am I here for (André Previn) (LP 614)

 

André Previn A Touch Of Elegance (Vinyl, CBS Coronet, 1960) ** 

Genre: Piano jazz 

Places I remember: My father's record collection. I can distinctly remember the cabinet that housed this and dad's other  records in our house at 18 Korma Ave., Royal Oak, Auckland, NZ, Earth, The Solar System, The Universe. The long, narrow cabinet was used to house dad's stereo and records at one end (on a bottom shelf) and was also used as a drinks' cabinet on the top shelf. At some point the small bottle of purply/red bitters must have fallen over and leaked and was then soaked up by some record covers. Mr Previn's album has tell tale signs of this stain some 60 years later (and a very faint bitters smell). The pristine vinyl was unaffected. Phew.

Back cover and stains on display!

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: It Don't Mean A Thing

Gear costume: Sophisticated Lady   

Active compensatory factors: Dad loved Duke Ellington and so I guess this album was a sought after purchase for him in 1960 as the album is an excuse to cover a whole lot of his songs. I was 3 years old so I only know this album from a distance.

André Previn employs his orchestra to bolster his piano playing and it's all pretty schmaltzy apart from the more up tempo song I've featured (ironically the only one on the set and as the song goes - it don't mean a thing unless it's got that swing!).

Sidebar #1: this long playing album was clearly still a bit of a novelty back in 1960 as it makes sure listeners set their turntable speed at 33 and a third by telling them that THREE TIMES on the back cover!

Sidebar #2: I've just bought a copy of Duke Ellington/John Coltrane and it is in a different stratosphere to the André Previn set. Recorded in 1962, it's almost a contemporary of Previn's Elegance but clearly dad wasn't interested in it if he even knew it existed. Duke's piano playing is amazing and there is only ever going to be one John Coltrane but dad preferred the orchestral version. 

Where do they all belong? Another album I'll never get rid of because those stains on the cover are priceless!

Love island (Deodato) (LP 613)

Deodato Love Island (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1978) *** 

Genre: Jazz fusion 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Tahiti Hut

Gear costume: Take The A Train

Active compensatory factors: I continue to be seduced by the jazz fusion gumbo that Deodato serves up (as he's Brazilian I guess that should be Feijoada rather than gumbo).

As with other Deodato albums, the guest list is impressive: John Tropea, George Benson, Larry Carlton, Rick Marotta, Randy Brecker are a few of more well known ones.

Sometimes forgotten in all this, is Eumir Deodato. He composes most of these songs, and his cool, laid back keyboard style is the featured instrument throughout. 

Where do they all belong? Bound to be more coming but that's it for Deodato on vinyl for now. Prelude is the biggie coming on CD.

Strut time (Benny Golson) (LP 611 - 612)

Benny Golson The Modern Touch (Vinyl double album released as Blues On Down on Milestone Records, 1978. Originally released 1957) ***

Benny Golson The Other Side Of Benny Golson (Vinyl double album released as Blues On Down on Milestone Records, 1978. Originally released 1958) ****

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: Ray's Jazz Bar (in Foyles of Charing Cross)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Strut Time

Gear costume: Are You Real?, This Night

Active compensatory factors: This is a double album made up of two late fifties albums that he recorded for Riverside: 1957's The Modern Touch and 1958's The Other Side Of Benny Golson.

These were his second and third albums and you can hear the development (all of my featured songs above come from The Other Side...).

You'll know Benny from the film The Terminal - the whole point of the Tom Hanks film is for the main character to get Benny's signature!

Where do they all belong? That's it for Benny, next up in the Jazz section is Freddie Hubbard.

You brought the joy (LP 610)

Freda Payne Contact (Vinyl, Invictus Records, 1971) ***

Genre: Soul

Places I remember: The Music Box (Hastings)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Odds And Ends

Gear costume: Cherish What Is Dear To You (While It's Near To You) 

Active compensatory factors: I had just read a re-release review of this album in Mojo Magazine and I was in The Music Box looking in the soul section for Billy Preston's Encouraging Words for Noel when I came across this album.

The Mojo review had mentioned that a lot of the songs were written by Brian Holland-Lamont Dozier (I love Holland-Dozier-Holland) - that piqued my interest.

When I saw it was on the Invictus label, that clinched the deal so I took a punt. I only know her via the Band Of Gold single so listening to a whole album by her was a new experience.

As an album it's pretty good, and although I think the peak was Band of Gold (not on this album) which appeals more to my pop sensibilities, there are some terrific songs on the album. 

Where do they all belong? Next up in the soul section is Raydio.

Eddie, are you kidding? (Frank Zappa) (LP 607 - 609)

The Mothers Fillmore East - June 1971 (Vinyl, Reprise Records, 1971) ****

Frank Zappa Frank Zappa's 200 Hotels (Vinyl, United Artists, 1971) ***

The Mothers Just Another Band From L.A. (Vinyl, Reprise Records, 1972) ****

Genre: Alternative rock 

Places I remember: Fillmore East came from the RCA record club in 1971, Just Another Band was bought at a Newmarket Record Store in 1972, and 200 Motels came from a record shop/bric-a-brac store in Keswick from a visit to the Lake District in 2011.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The encores at the end of Fillmore East: Lonesome Electric Turkey/Peaches En Regalia/Tears Began To Fall

Gear costume: Strictly Genteel (from 200 Motels)

Active compensatory factors: Record clubs introduced many collectors to their first taste of bands. The RCA Victor Record Club did exactly that for me by opening up the world of weird, fringe, alternative music like that produced by Frank Zappa.

In 1971, I sent away for The Mothers' Fillmore East live album, and it duly arrived in the post to my Royal Oak, Auckland home. To say it was a shock to my teenage system is an under-statement.

I think I knew that The Mothers was shorthand for The Mothers Of Invention and that Frank Zappa was the guiding force because I read the music papers (Circus, Sounds and NME mainly) but I had no real idea what the music was about, because I'd not heard anything by the band to that point - it certainly wasn't something that NZ radio would broadcast.

So when I listened to it I was shocked to hear lurid stories of groupies, sex, and band debachery in a kind of comedy music format (as 200 Motels introduces). If my parents had heard it there is no way I'd have been allowed to keep it!

So I listened to it in secret and when Just Another Band From L.A. came along (with the purchase of John Lennon/Yoko Ono's Sometime In New York City double album from 1972 also containing some Zappa/Mothers' jams), I also listened to them on headphones in my bedroom. 

The comedy music of this version of The Mothers was short lived - 1970 to 1972 (starting with Chunga's Revenge). It flamed out after Frank was pushed off the stage and was laid up for a while (working on Waka/Jawaka).

During those three years Frank and The Mothers produced the film and soundtrack - 200 Motels. I have yet to see the film, but the music is stand alone. It's not my favourite Zappa album but a long way but it does contain some fun moments and Strictly Genteel, as the climax on side four, is superb!

It has to be said, that some of this stuff hasn't aged that well and the comedy routines can be gross and unfunny at times, but he was a trail-blazer, a real rebel in the music industry and a creative genius, so I forgive him his excesses.

Finally, I do retain a real soft spot for Billy The Mountain - a side long barking mad suite that tells the convoluted story of Billy and Ethel (his wife - a tree growing off of his shoulder). Only in Frank's wild imagination could this exist, and actually work as a 'song'.

Where do they all belong? Next up - we are still in the early seventies for Waka/ Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo

Pride and joy (Stevie Ray Vaughan) (LP 605 - 606)

Stevie Ray Vaughan  Texas Flood (Vinyl, Epic Records, 1983) ****

Stevie Ray Vaughan  Couldn't Stand The Weather (Vinyl, Epic Records, 1984) **** 

Genre: Blues 

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Cold Shot

Gear costume: Love Struck Baby, Rude Mood 

Active compensatory factors: I was knocked out by the video for Cold Shot when it came out in 1984. Big year 1984 - I was married and we had our first child that year.

So, it's fair to say that music wasn't my main priority in the mind to late eighties, so buying records definitely slowed down as we set up house and started the child raising years. Music on TV was a great saviour though because I could access music for free.

That's where Cold Shot comes in. From there I picked up the first two solo albums from Marbecks when we moved from New Plymouth back to Auckland at the end of 1985.

He certainly had a distinctive style and I'm picking those scenes in Cold Shot weren't too far from the truth - like Hendrix and others - always noodling on a guitar.

He could do it all too - slow blues, pop (with David Bowie), hard rock, guitar wig outs and so on. Tragic waste that he passed away in 1990, in that helicopter accident while getting to another gig.

Where do they all belong? Those are the only records I own by SRV - but more to come on CD. 

Death and the lady (Shirley Collins) (LP 604)

Shirley Collins Lodestar (Vinyl and CD, Domino, 2016) ***

Genre: Folk 

Places I remember: The Spellbound Wax Company (in Gisborne)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pretty Polly

Gear costume: Old Johnny Buckle

Active compensatory factors: Contemporary reviews called this 'an austere, foreboding' record and they're not wrong. Not a lot of joy on offer here.

The 38 year gap in recording (check here for details) means this was a big deal in 2016 and it earned high praise.

I can see why - Shirley's voice is amazing and the sparse instrumentation creates that austere atmosphere.

My problem is that the songs are so dark and yes, foreboding that it becomes a really heavy set to get through.

Things perk up a bit for side two (where my selections come from) but death looms large over the record.

Where do they all belong? I'll go back to the seventies and the Albion Bands more often than Lodestar I sense.