Elvin Bishop: Struttin' My Stuff

Elvin Bishop - Struttin' My Stuff.   Recorded at Criteria Studios and produced by Bill Szymczyk.  Just that is a recipe for greatness.  He is most well known for producing Eagles records.  I also have Elvin's double live album and posted on it last year.  This is a fun record and last night I sampled some of the other songs on it.  There's a southern fried version of the Smokey Robinson/Ronald White Motown hit My Girl, which is quite good and fun.  Click on this post's title above to hear Mickey Thomas tell us about how Fooled Around and Fell in Love ended up on the record.  No matter what else comes and goes - that song always stays on my list of my all-time top ten songs of my life.  See atlso: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMNwtat0Pgw&feature=related  There is just no way to do this song bad.  There are tons of at-home clips of the solo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsqvNRzqWbY  The song just holds up so well.  And check out the guy on piano on it - Philip Aaberg.  Had no idea about that guy.

Amazing Rhythm Aces - Stacked Deck: Third Rate Romance

Amazing Rhythm Aces.  This one's called Stacked Deck.  I fell in love with their song called Third Rate Romance back in high school in 1978/79.  It was on a compliation album called The South's Greatest Hits.  The Amazing Rhythm Aces are similar to what might be known as a roots music band.  Yes, they could be categorzied as a one hit wonder band - but they have put out 18 albums spanning over 30 years, that time frame includes a 15-year hiatus.  And this album could also easily be filed under Their First Record was Their Best Record.  Rleased in 1975 on the the ABC label, it was recorded at the Phillips Recording Studio (named actually the Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio, on 639 Madison Avenue) in Memphis and was produced by band member Barry "Byrd" Burton.  It reached #11 on the US Country chart.  I've read that this album has later become highly-regarded by fellow musicologists.

Way Too Expensive, but...

I was out snooping around at my favorite used record store last night.  And I landed a few great records that filled a few key voids in my collection.  I snared the must-have Frampton Comes Alive, a Grand Funk record for .98 cents in pristine condition, Boston's second alum - also in great condition, Jimmy Buffett's Living and Dying in 3/4's Time, the Eagles' One of These Nights, and some others.  But when I saw these two (photos above), I must admit I was temped.  I came across Brian Eno's Another Green World, priced at $30, and the King Crimson's Lark's Tongue's in Aspic, at fifteen bucks.  So I bought a short stack of one's at .98 cents, took these photos in the store, and did not buy them.  Being a collector is all about moderation and budgeting - except when it come to the ones for fifty cents!  

The Genius of Mike Nichols

This record is called Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors, from 1962, on Mercury MG 20680/SR 60680.  "Did you say Goldman?  It's Coleman, the D is silent.  As in Cole of the Isle of Mann, in France.  And finally the vulgar Coldman in Florida."  That explanation by Albert is from my all-time favorite movie, The Birdcage,  directed by Mike Nichols.  Perhaps click on this post's title to see and hear that clip from the film.  Nichols also directed Spamalot, which we caught pre-Broadway here in Chicago.  Their 1960 album, An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, was a recording of their Broadway debut and it won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Performance. This one, their next album, called, Examine Doctors, was also nominated for a Grammy.  After this record - they split up and began working on separate projects.

Grand Funk Railroad - Good Singin', Good Playin' (Zappa)

I do not have any Frank Zappa records, but this one may be as close as I get.  Zappa records seem to be rare and expensive.  I rarely see them in the fifty cent bins that I bow down and worship at my haunts I go to to scour for black gold - vinyl.  This album is called 
Good Singin', Good Playin' it is the final album from the decade of the 1970's by Grank Funk Railroad.  It is on MCA records, and yes - it was produced by Fank Zappa.  I read much about Zappa in the fine book about the Laurel Canyon days of sex and drugs and rock and roll in the sixties.  At the time, GFR had recently split up, but Frank made it known that he wanted to work with the them by producing their next album.  So rumor has it GFR reassembled for this - a last dtich attempt to regain a some elevated postions on the rock music charts, in that as disco was beginning to dominate those charts and the era.

Dave Brubeck - is still alive...

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - this is a 45 rpm, in a little mini record cover that looks and feels like an lp cover.  How awesome!  This little record is sort of cute, based on its size.  This little 45 has Lover and Sometimes I'm Happy.  The Dave Brubeck Quartet was founded in 1951 by Dave Brubeck and originally featured Paul Desmond on sax and Brubeck on piano.  They ran a long residency at San Francisco's Blackhawk nightclub.  After a series of different drummers and bassists, the "Classic Quartet" — was of Brubeck, Desmond, Joe Morello on drums, and Eugene Wright on bass.  David Warren "Dave" Brubeck (born December 6, 1920 - ) besides Take Five he also wrote "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke."