Big Bands Forever Vol. 2 Benny Goodman Let's Dance - 1977

This is the fourth and last installment of this Big bands Forever series. Solid record, but I wouldn't expect anything different from Benny Goodman. These aren't necessarily the big hits from Benny and the band, that first come to mind, but that doesn't matter. There are plenty of songs you may know from the era. I like this record a lot. The huge stand out for me is "It's Only A Paper Moon" which I sang for a full week after digitizing this record. I think I sang it every morning in the car taking my daughter school. I'm sure she was sick of it.

01 Taking A Chance On Love
02 Gotta Be This Or That
03 Jersey Bounce
04 Where Or When
05 Amapola
06 It's Only A Paper Moon
07 Let's Dance
08 Symphony
09 Why Don't You Do Right
10 One O'Clock Jump

Enjoy!

Benny Goodman Let's Dance

I apologize in advance that there is no active link at this point. I'm still trying to figure out how and if I will share links in the future.

Big Bands Forever Vol. 2 Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye - 1977

This is the third installment of the Big Bands Forever records. For my money this is the weakest of the four. It's not bad, but the other are just better. Tracks on this record are:

01 I Can't Give you Anything By Love.
02 As Time Goes By
03 It Isn't Fair
04 In The Mission Of St. Augustine
05 I'll Be Seeing You
06 Harbor Lights
07 Daddy
08 Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
09 Dream A Little Dream On Me
10 Let Me Call You Sweetheart

You can see from that list the record has a good share of classic song. My favorite on the record is Daddy. This was a number one hit for Sammy and his orchestra back in June of 1941. The song was written by Bobby Troup. This was one of his first hits. He later wrote the classic "Route 66". Then later in life he had a bit of an acting career. He played Dr. Joe Early on "Emergency!", which was a show I actually watched when I was very little. He played opposite his wife Julie London who you may also know as a singer. In fact before they wed he produced her hit song "Cry Me A River" in 1955. Okay, that's enough rambling about Bobby Troup. The song is good and the standout for me on the record.
Enjoy!

Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye

Big Bands Forever Vol. 1 Kay Kyser And His Makes you Wanna Dance Music - 1977

This is the record that help start this project of digitizing this series a few weeks back. This is the record with the ole "Woody Woodpecker Song" that I had on that old mix CD. I was so glad I went back to digitize this whole record because there are a lot or great tracks on here. Listening to the record again and again in prepping it for this blog made me appreciate Kay Kyser all over again. Let's go down the tracks.

Track 1 Jingle Jangle Jingle. First of all I love some of these songs of this era that we kind of cowboy songs, but at the same time were just jazzy swing songs. Another example of this that I listened to recently is Bing Crosby singing "Deep In The Heart of Texas." Bing isn't really a Cowboy and Texas doesn't immediately come to mind when I hear his voice, but you know what? It works. Same thing here, except perhaps even better. Jingle Jangle Jingle really swings and I do mean SWINGS. It lives up to the album's subtitle of Kay Kyser and His Makes You Wanna Dance Music. This song makes you want to dance. It is also a song that can get stuck in your head for days.

Track two is "He Wears Silver Wings" which is just okay so I won't say much there.

Track three "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" is another good track. I love how it is such a product of the time and that time being The War. Then there is the whole mixing of religion and war and patriotism that is definitely of it's time. The tune itself is actually quite catchy and you'll find yourself singing along, no matter what your politics.

Track four "Bell Bottom Trousers" is another war song. There is a voice in this one, that sounds like Popeye the Sailor. I don't think it actually is Popeye, but I'm sure that it was supposed to be a reference to the famous cartoon character.

Track five is "Ole Buttermilk Sky" features Michael Douglas on vocals. This one is infectious. It has a great hook. I sang this for days after listening to it. This one also falls into that faux cowboy song genre. It doesn't quite have the full jump factor that "Jingle Jangle Jingle" has , but you can dance to it.

Track six is "Woody Woodpecker" sung by Gloria Wood. Gloria Wood I know from her work on some Disney records. For example she is on "Walt Disney's Christmas Concert" and she is on "A Christmas Adventure in Disneyland". I had this song on a mix CD when my kids were younger and we played it all the time. The funny thing is they haven't really seen much of Woody as far as cartoons.

Track seven "Who Wouldn't Love you" with Harry Babbitt and Trudy Erwin walks the fine line bordering on cheese. Of all the tracks this one sounds like it is more a product of the 50's to me because it is so happy and kind of cheesey. It is decent, but not a favorite.

Track eight is "On A Slow Boat To China" and it features Harry Babbitt again, but this time with Gloria Wood. I like this track. It's not the greatest, but it is four out of five stars on my ipod rating system. For a little more history on this Frank Loesser song, read this article on The Straight Dope website.

Track nine is "Managua, Nicaragua" is another song featuring Gloria Wood. It is also a product of the time where America had a fascination with Central and South America as an exotic location to visit. I can't imagine a song today painting a romantic view of Nicaragua.

Track ten "The Old Lamplighter" finishes off the record and I'll be honest, it is just so so, especially after so many good songs preceding it. It is a slow song, with no swing whatsoever. As a closing track perhaps it works. It sounds like a song for the end of the day. A "closing time" number if you will that gets you ready for bed.

So that's it. That's the run down and now you can give these songs a listen or track down a copy of the record for yourself. I don't think it is on CD anywhere so vinyl may be your only option there.

Enjoy!

Kay Kyser and His Makes You Wanna Dance Music

Big Bands Forever Vol. 1 Harry James I've Heard That Song Before - 1977

Sorry, that I've been missing for such a long while. Started on a new project at work and so January got really busy. The story behind today's post started a few weeks back when I played an old mix CD in the car with my family. The CD was 10 ro 11 years old and many of the tracks on it were from when I first started digitizing vinyl records. Back then I would digitize just a song off a record and put it on a mix CD because this was before I had Itunes or a ton of music digitally stored on hard drives. Well some of these songs were great and made got me thinking about the records they came from. Some of them I honestly couldn't remember where they came from. So a week or so later I started going through records on the record shelf. There was a Bing Crosby and Bob Hope song I was looking for as well as Kay Kyser's Woody Woodpecker song. Neither of those are on this record. However the Kay Kyser track was on a record that was part of this series, "Big Bands Forever!" I eventually found the Bing Crosby track and in the process found another 4 record collection of music from WWII era. I decided I'd digitize all these records. Now that I have them digitized, I figured I'd share them over the next few weeks.

This Harry James record is the first record on this Big Bands Forever Series. There are two volumes and each volume has two records. This is record one of the first volume.

I have a couple Harry James records, one of which I featured on the blog previously called Young Man With A Horn. I love that record and I really like this record as well. I big stand out on this record is track three "I've Heard That Song Before" which features vocals by Helen Forest. The other track I really like is track six "It's Been A Long, Long Time with Kitty Kallen pulling vocal duties. Something both these songs have in common is something I find with a lot of songs from this era, is that they have long instrumental openings before the vocals kick in. You don't find that much anymore in popular music. I actually like that a long, because the music has to be so good to pull you in that it doesn't rely on the lyric. Then when you are hooked the vocals come in and take it to the next level. There is a Benny Goodman track "Perfidia" on Swing into Spring that is structured like this as well and it is one of my all time favorite Big Band era songs.

The rest of the record is pretty good as well. The record has basically no information as far as the years of the songs or who the vocals are on the tracks. I've done my best to do some internet research to provide some of that information. I can't guarantee it, though. The rip isn't perfect by any means, but if you don't mind some crackles and pops give it a listen.

Tracks.

01 I Had The Craziest Dream (Featuring Helen Forrest)
02 Sleepy Lagoon
03 I've Heard That Song Before (Featuring Helen Forrest)
04 I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You (Featuring Dick Haymes)
05 One Dozen Roses (Featuring Jimmy Saunders)
06 It's Been A Long, Long Time (Featuring Kitty Kellen)
07 I Can't Begin To Tell You (Featuring Betty Grable)
08 Ciribiribin (They're So in Love)
09 All Of Nothing As All (Featuring Frank Sinatra)
10 You Made Me Love You

Enjoy!

Harry James

Good Clean Fun - Shopping For A Crew 7" - 1997

Looking for a New Year's resolution? Why not try going straight edge? Here are a few songs so inspire you to make the change.

Enjoy!

01 Shopping For A Crew.m4a
02 The Vegan Revolution Drat Dodger Anthem.m4a
03 Sweet Tooth.m4a
04 A Song For The Ladies.m4a

Beauty And The Beast/The Beast Lets Belle Go 7" - 1991

This one is a one day only type thing. The 7-inch single from Beauty and the Beast. I'm not even really sure why I'm posting this. You can get these tracks anywhere and I don't plan on keeping them up long. Also my rips have plenty of pops and crackles so you might just want to get the soundtrack on CD or downloaded from your favorite digital store. I guess I thought the scans might be interesting for people to see.

Enjoy!

01 Beauty And The Beast - Celine Dion.m4a
02 The Beast Lets Belle Go (Instrumental).m4a

Two in one zip.
Celine Dion - Beauty And The Beast-The Beast Lets Belle Go 7" - 320K.zip

John Mayal - Turning Point - 1969

This one won't be up long because it is a pretty easy record to find. This record I've seen quite a bit over the years in the thrift store bins. It is always pretty beat up. My copy isn't great by any means. I also digitized this years ago long before I had click repair to clean things up and I didn't feel like going back. So you'll have to enjoy my snap, crackle and pop copy.

It was one of those records I picked up not knowing much about the music. I looked at the picture and the liner notes and I think I knew I was in for some blues, but that was about it. It is also one of those records that I bought with a bunch of other records and so I didn't get around to listening to it for a long time. When I did finally drop a needle on it I loved it. It one of those records where I understand why it isn't necessarily a classic for the general public like say a Cream record, but if you like blues rock from that era then you'll probably enjoy this record. I certainly do.

I really like "The Laws Must Change". It is a longer number basically about legalizing marijuana. Though I'm not really in favor for legalizing marijuana I do like the sentiment of protest songs. I think much of the sentiment could work for some of the occupy movements around the country. I'm all for calling for change by calling for laws to change through peaceful means. So I really like lyrics like "You're screamin' at policemen but they're only doin' a gig" and "don't throw rocks at policemen but get the knots of law untied." It's a nice change from the sentiment that all policemen are bad.

I also really like "Room to Move" because it really cooks. There is some great harp being blown on that track.

The song "California" is almost 10 minutes long. It wonders and weaves. It seems like the track that was good to trio out to or smoke pot to because of it's spacey mellow quality. However I find that even without the drugs the song can get you into a cool mellow vibe. I also live in California and am partial to songs about the state, just as I'm also partial to songs about Chicago where grew up.

I don't know if this record technically falls into the jam band category (I'm not really good at placing labels and classifications on things), but the songs do have a certain jam quality. The album is live and the songs are generally long. It is a record for people who like music that breaks out of the 3 minute pop song format. Jazz and blues fans I think will find something they like. So if you think you are one of those people, give it a listen.

Enjoy!

01 The Laws Must Change.m4a
02 Saw Mill Gulch Road.m4a
03 I'm Gonna Fight For You J.B..m4a
04 So Hard To Share.m4a
05 California.m4a
06 Thoughts About Roxanne.m4a
07 Room To Move.m4a

John Mayall - Turning Point - Side 1 - 320K.zip
John Mayall - Turning Point - Side 2 - 320K.zip

"Bald" Bill Hagan and his Trocaderons - Music To Strip By - 1966

Looking for some saucy music to spice up your love life? How about some music to strip by? I find it funny that back in the day there were complete records devoted to strip music. There are the two classic albums by David Rose which are pretty popular and quite enjoyable. Then I have this one which I love not only for the music, but because Bill Hagan has "Bald" in front of his name. I'm not sure what it is, but "bald" and "stripper" makes me laugh inside. The songs are all in the classic burlesque style, which by today's standards seems almost quaint. I actually throw records like this on anytime because they are fun. In all honesty they may not spice up the love life as much as make for a humorous love life. So maybe if you are looking for a laugh with your lover this could be just the right mood maker.

The most disturbing title of the record has to be the last track, "My Heart Belongs To Daddy." Not exactly the kind of thing I would think that you would want connected to stripping in my opinion. I would think daddy and daughter are a couple words and images you would want to keep far away from the strip show or the boudoir. Might not set the most romantic mood. Take the title away and the song is just a fun stripper track.

Enjoy!

01 A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody
02 Bumps And Grinds
03 Frankie And Johnnie
04 G-String Twist
05 Temptation
06 Night Train
07 The Stripper
08 Party Time
09 Bedroom Blues
10 Second Honeymoon
11 Girdles Aweigh
12 My Heart Belongs To Daddy

Side 1 - Mediafire
Side 2 - Mediafire

Alfred Apaka - Hawaiian Village Nights

Christmas has come and gone and now we have the rest of Winter to look forward to. I thought perhaps some Hawaiian tunes would be a nice escape from the cold. This must have been a pretty popular record back in the day. I say that because I see it over and over again in thrift store bins so it must have been in a lot of households. I liked it enough to digitize. Maybe you'll like it as well.

Enjoy!

01 Kawohikukapulani.m4a
02 Moonlight And Shadows.m4a
03 Somewhere In Hawaii.m4a
04 Harbor Lights.m4a
05 Sunset In Hawaii.m4a
06 Hiilawe.m4a
07 Red Sails In The Sunset.m4a
08 Ka-Lu-A.m4a
09 Blue Hawaii.m4a
10 The Palm Trees Sing Aloha.m4a
11 Tower Of Love.m4a
12 Song Of Old Hawaii.m4a

Hawaiian Village Nights Side 1.zip
Hawaiian Village Nights Side 2.zip

SAP Music Christmas Mix 2011

Time for Christmas music. I've got an eclectic mix of music and sound bites to kick off the holidays. Check the image above for the track listing and below is a printable insert for a CD case if you'd like to burn a CD.

Enjoy!

SAP Music Christmas Mix 2011

Camouflage - The Great Commandment - 1988

Before we get into the holidays I thought I should try and squeeze in one more post. This is a record I got from a friend a year or so ago. Very good 80's club track and there are plenty of fun mixes on this 12 inch. Reminds of the vibe of the movie "Bright Lights Big City." Remember the Michael J. Fox movie? New York, dance clubs, and lots of cocaine if I remember. That movie reminds me of New Order and Depeche Mode and this record has that vibe as well. So if you were or still are into that kind of thing you'll like this record.

Enjoy!

01 The Great Commandment (Justin Strauss Remix).m4a
02 The Great Commandment (Just Right Dub).m4a

03 The Great Commandment (7 Inch Edit).m4a

04 The Great Commandment (Acid Commandment).m4a

05 The Great Commandment (Deep Commandment Dub).m4a

The Peeks, Patetico Mondo, Lock/Jaw & The Scarred @ The California Institute Of Abnormal Arts (CIA) - 11.11.11

Just a quick post to say I had a great time at the CIA last Friday night. Took some photos and created a photo album. You can check that out here. Below are a few highlights.

Troy Walker Halloween Show at Viva Cantina - 10.26.11

Wednesday evening my son and I headed over to Viva Cantina in Burbank to catch Troy Walker and his Halloween show. Troy performs every Wednesday, but neither of us had ever seen him before. We discovered when we got there that we were in the minority. The crowd was mostly made up of regulars who come to see Troy every week. We also discovered that we were considered you amongst this crowd. Don't lat that statement mislead you. The folks may have been older, but they knew how to get up, shake it and have a good time.

Check out this article on Troy from 1999. It gives you some history and a flavor of the man that is Troy Walker. He's got an amazing story. It was written by Jonny Whiteside for LA Weekly. Whiteside has been a fan for ages and is a Wednesday regular at Troy's shows.

Here are a few photos from the evening. A fuller photo album can be found on my Flickr account here. You probably need a little context to understand the photos. As mentioned earlier it was a Halloween show which is why Troy and the patrons are dressed in costume. You'll notice flapper, sailors, Little Orphan Annie and King Arthur (Or some knight) in the photos. The guy in the cowboy hat, though I don't believe was in costume. Viva Cantina is in the equestrian district of Burbank and so the bar is basically a country bar and attracts a lot of the local cowboys. So I think that guy was just being himself. Also you'll notice that Troy is in two outfits. He began the evening in the sunglasses and turban and performed for about an hour. He then took a break and came back dressed with the fedora and mustache. He then gave us another hour. It was a full evening of pure entertainment.

And the baby doll? What is up with that? Well when Troy first came out in the turban outfit he had a big pregnant belly and then at a couple points in the show he gave birth. First he birthed the little doll and then later on he revealed a stuffed monkey. The monkey ended up being pretty funny because the monkey got stuck on his belt or something and it took about five minutes of Troy bantering and joking with the audience before he got the thing out.




























































Also I shot a little video which captures the spirit of the performance and the evening.

Troy performs "My Girl" and "Annie Had A Baby" in this clip.

Leadbelly - The Legend Of Leadbelly

In the mood for some old time blues? This record will fit the bill. Anyone familiar with any sort of blues history knows the name Leadbelly. He holds a place next to Robert Johnson as far as being a legendary blues man. This record is a collection of songs he recorded for Alan Lomax. The record jacket says 8 of the recordings were made in New York in 1939, but it doesn't say which 8. I'm guessing the remaining couple songs were recorded around the same time. Leadbelly died in 1949 according to quite a few sources on the internet. The funny thing is that on the back of this record it says he dies a pauper in 1941. Makes me wonder why the date is so off.

Many of these songs you may recognize. A song like "In New Orleans" you may recognize as "House Of The Rising Son" which The Animals made hugely popular. "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" you will recognize as a song Nirvana covered on their Unplugged record.

Every track is great on this record is great. Each one is filled with heart and soul. Each oozes the blues.

I like playing this album loud in the house. The songs echoing through the hallway are kind of haunting. You can feel the sense of time because of the aged quality of the recordings, and yet they feel very live. It is like a ghost voice from the past echoing through the house. I love it. Maybe you will to.

Enjoy!

The Legend of Leadbelly.zip

01 In New Orleans
02 Goodnight Irene
03 Where Did You Sleep Last Night
04 How Long (With Sonny Terry)
05 John Hardy
06 When The Boys Were On The Western Plains
07 Pretty Flower In Your Backyard
08 Roberta
09 I've A Pretty Flower (With Josh White)
10 Yellow Gal

Lock/Jaw at Guitar Merchant with Fallujah 71 - 09.30.11

This post is quite late in coming. As you can see by the date in the title, this show was weeks ago. It happened to be in a week where I wasn't feeling great and so I didn't end up processing the photos until last week and then I just never got around to posting them. Just yesterday I realized that I never put the photos up. So better late than never.

This was a show at Guitar Merchant with my son's band Lock/Jaw. Fallujah 71 also played and I took some photos of them. The Peeks and another band played, but I didn't get any photos of them. The venue was cool. It is this little backroom to a music store. It wasn't too crowded and the crowd was basically friends and family from what I could gather. It made for a fun evening. Several times people from the crowd came up to sing with the band. My son join Fallujah for a song and some kids came up to sing with Lock/Jaw as well. It was just that kind of friendly atmosphere. I had a great time.

The entire photo album is here.