Okay, its been a long time since I last posted. With some work stuff taking over my time and some parties that have since passed, I now have a more time, so let’s get back to the audio!
Here we have a hit song featuring a duo that only plays drum and bass. No, its not Dillinja or Goldie because these are actual instruments. Also, its not Local H or The White Stripes because the time period is the late 1930’s.
Now, I’m not sure which Winnteka they’re talking about… either the droll suburb of LA or the suburb of Chicago where Laurie Dann did that killing spree that motivated their cops to regulate Uzi machine guns for their officers after that tragedy. Maybe that explains the “big sound.”
The world has had its share of cabaret singers, and Marlene Dietrich was one of the big names despite not having a flattering vocal range like some. However, its made up by her stage presence.
Unfortunately, in my honest opinion, this isn’t one of Dietrich’s finer moments, but you can see where the legend one stood.
Alot of people would find it predictable for me to post Tom Jones in this blog since he was basically my gateway into the whole traditional pop music scene. Whats strange is that Tom actually started as an R&B/Mod/Beat singer and this is his first performance on British TV show ‘Beat Room’ doing a song called ‘Chills and Fever.”
Since I couldn’t do a post for Wednesday, what better than another duet. 2 for the price of one.
This time its Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim performing a medley of duets on a tv show from November 1967. I especially love Frank’s Intro as he’s fiddling with a cigarette in his hands and says:
The instrument – guitar
The beat – Bossa Nova
The artist – One of the inventors of this exciting, all new sound, Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Okay, I’m lazy this week because of some business meetings I need to attend, so I’m posting some tracks from Nana Mouskouri again. I just can’t get enough of this voice.
I bought this in the dollar vinyl bin at Amoeba Music. Its made for the French-Canadian market as the LP’s made in Canada and every song is in French. There’s something kitschy yet exotic about hearing a Greek bouzouki backing up a French voice in the track ‘Quatre Soleils.’ Read the rest of this entry »
Peter Sellers was a comic genius. A bit ADD at times, but more or less, a classic ahead of his time.
The first two Pink panther films (The Pink Panther and A Shot In The Dark) showcase his slapstick side, Dr. Strangelove displayed his range of characterizations, The Party was amazing improv and Being There was his coup de grace.
He also recorded music – if you could call it that. It wasn’t Grammy-winning songwriting, but the point was brilliant comic material for its time. He did an album of duets with his then crush, Sophia Loren. She does some songs herself as does Peter. There’s even some comic sketches on it with his wide array of British voices. However, its the duets that stand out the most.
I remember my folks used to have a stack of Percy Faith records and they’d constantly play them whenever we had friends or family over for dinner or brunch.
What gets me about this video clip is that its obviously broadcast on live TV with a FULL orchestra, but you can sorta tell the applause afterwards is somewhat canned. My guess is the orchestra wasn’t on the full stage and performed in a separate room away from the audience.
In any case, you can’t see stuff like this anymore. So before TRL, before The Solid Gold Dancers, you had stuff like this.
Most focus on old rock and indie 45’s, but I have yet to find one that’s dedicated to that lost art of music called easy listening.
Some may call it lounge music, others call it rest-home music. I recall ilstening to alot of this stuff on the AM radio on the way to church in the early 70s in my folks Oldsmobile as we trekked thru the cornfields and headed to wherever.
The stuff faded from memory as music left the vinyl format and into CDs and tapes. I also caught the rock bug and decided that old music was bland and not for me. After alot of phases of scenes (techno, punk, goth and britpop), I got the opportunity to collect all the old records from my folks along with the ever-needed Technics Turntable.
This and a penchant for Tom Jones caught my fancy for collecting old vinyl. Soon I was hitting dollar-bins in the used record section and found countless releases with strange covers, titles and eventually got around to actually listening to the stuff on the ‘ol turntable. I discovered a world that’s slowly deteriorating as more old-releases from the past are getting lost by non-CD releases and eventually never going digital. After while I got more fascinated. Why was this album produced in the first place? Who gave the green light for the strange model on the cover?
Now I’ve got this huge collection of what I’d call “classics” that would probably go away as time progresses to the digital age. Its time for those sounds to get their grooves cleaned, digitized and recognized one more for a last shot at stardom.
