Elvis Presley - Happy 76th Birthday!

G.I. Blues - actually the cover says, "Hal Walls presents G.I. Blues."    Co-staring Juliet Prowse.  The film was directed by Norman Taurog.  And on the right:  Elvis in the Original Soundtrack Album from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture Girl Happy, a Joe Pasternak Euterpre Production.  On his birthday - it is fun to dig out all my Elvis records (I have about a dozen) and pick which one/s I will post on his birthday.

New Riders of the Purple Sage: NRPS

New Riders of the Purple Sage: NRPS.  Besides actually playing the records, what I love most is the photo-taking and the digital editing.  This record cover has some great wear marks on it.  I also love commenting on great records.  I am no Grateful Dead expert, never seen 'em.  But it's very easy to hear how the this group connected the dots in the early '60s west coast folk scene, and then morphed into the Dead.  Future Grateful Dead guitarist/founder Jerry Garcia often played gigs with guys like guitarist David Nelson.  I have heard of the the "Bakersfield sound" (in country music - think Buck Owens and later Dwight Yoakam, ), and I think the NRPS were some variant of it.  Ironically, my favorite Dead album (OK, CD) is called Deadicated, which - to my knowledge - is not on vinyl.   It has Bruce Hornsby doing Jack Straw, Los Lobos - Bertha, and so on.  It is a great way to get a taste of Dead music, with cover versions done so well.  Best other all cover roundup is Two Rooms, also not on vinyl.

Name this Record

Name this Record.  Here are some clues: it is the inside cover (duh).   See the guy hoisting the the bottle?  It's his record.  He attended Merton College, Oxford.  Will post more, if necessary.

Johnny Rivers - Here We a Go Go Again!

Johnny Rivers - Here We a Go Go Again!  I am not an expert on the monetary value or rarity of collectible record albums - we can use eBay for that.  But to me, this is a new gem in my collection.  I was not aware there existed a live record that was recorded at the famed Whisky a Go Go nightclub, on Sunset Boulevard.  The subtitle of the record is, "Recorded Live, VERY, (very), VERY LIVE at the WHISKY a GO GO.  From what I have read - that place was practically the maternity ward of the west coast sound.  I read that in a great book by Barney Hoskins, called: Waiting for the Sun: A Rock and Roll History of Los Angeles.  This record is like a microcosm of that book, but on vinyl.  Hoskins' book devotes an early chunk to Johnny Rivers and he also gives us an overview of Lou Adler - who produced this record, on the Imperial Label, a unit of Dunhill, the company, in 1964, that Adler founded and co-owned.  Lou was president of the label and its main record producer from 1964 to 1967.  He later sold Dunhill to ABC Records.  On this record, Rivers does three Chuck Berry songs and some other classics.  Adler later co-owned the rival club Roxy (with David Geffen).

Mitch Ryder - They were Rockin'

Mitch Ryder - All Hits.  The back of the record jacket reads, "A Bob Crewe Production."  And also, "Arranged & Conducted by Bob Crewe."  Bob Crewe is of course a very well-documented song-writer and record producer.  I first became aware of him after seeing the mucical Jersey Boys a couple of years ago - as he is most noted for his work with the Franlie Valli and the Four Seasons.  Back to the record: side one has Devil with a Blue Dress, Good Golly Miss Molly, Jenny Take a Ride, and In the Midnight Hour.  Side 2 has some tunes with which I am not familiar, other than Shake a Tail Feather.  I like the John Couger Mellancamp song called R-O-C-K in the U-S-A, which goes, "There was Frankie Lyman-Bobby Fuller-Mitch Ryder (They were Rockin').  Jackie Wilson-Shangra-las-Young Rascals (They were Rockin') Spotlight on Martha Reeves.  Let's don't forget James Brown..."