Name this Record

The inner cover - unfoled.

Funky Friday: Isaac Hayes; two other records; plus Tom Jones

I really like the song he does called Don't Let Go, and I posted on that song and album a few weeks ago.  But I like these record covers too.  Check out the fun clip of him doing that song with Tom Jones.  Speaking of Tom Jones - I see tons of his old records down in the fifty cent bins.  That's because he sold millions of records.  He is now known officially as Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE.  I was unaware the Queen bestowed the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire upon him.  Tom was born June 7th, 1940, and of course took the stage name of Tom Jones early on.  For the son of a Welsh coal miner - this singer has had a massive fan base and huge following still today - along with many ups and downs in a long career that has included two TV variety shows.  Tom took his racy (for the time) act to Vegas with his shirt unbuttoned, and tight slacks and packed them into the Flamingo.  His his powerful voice and blue-eyed soul has been popular since his breakout song - It's Not Unusual, in the mid 1960s.  Jones has sung many different styles of pop music – from pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and has sold over 100 million records.

Ten Years After - Played at Woodstock

Ten Years After - Recorded Live.  This is huge - in like three ways.  One, it's a record by an ellusive band in terms of my personal collection.  One very important subset of records in my collection that I am trying to round out is this - to have at least one record by every act that performed at Woodstock.  And B., this records is an acclaimed DLA (double live album), a format I am so very fond of.  And 3., simply put - what an awesome album cover - front and back.  Here they are.  Above is the inner cover and below is the front cover.  Great stuff.

According to available information, TYA, a British prog rock 4 piece heavy rock/blues band came on stage on Sunday, August 17th at about 8.15 pm for their 6-song, one hour set.  The followed Country Joe and the Fish, and were right before The Band came on.  They were known for a heavy mix of Blues Rock and long guitar and drum solos.  What could have been a breakout performance failed due technical reasons: high humidity after tons of rain caused their instruments to be out of tune, the sound recording partially failed, and the camera team was able to only capture the last song of their set: "I'm Going Home."

Arlo Guthrie - Played at Woodstock

Arlo Guthrie played at Woodstock.  If it's this time of August, then we go Woodstock.  This was a great fifty cent find.  Yes, he is the son of legendary American folk songwriter Woody Guthrie.  According to most credible sources, Arlo Guthrie started his set at Woodstock on Friday evening, at around 11:55 pm.  According to event organizer Michael Lang, Friday was accoustic and folk music day.  Apparently he was on drugs (was there one there not on drugs?  Was that not the whole point?) during his performance.  And it was still raining, so parts of the stage were wet.  He played immediately after Melanie Safka.  And Arlo played right before the Friday evening closer: Joan Baez.  I really think Woodstock is like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon of Rock and Roll.  Through those 34 acts - including their band members, and event producers Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld - I can connect almost any rock and roller back to the Garden in about one or two connections.

The Cowsills. Did you watch the Partidge Family on TV? C'mon Get Happy...

The Cowsills are the real-life family that the semi-made up family band and eponymous TV show, The Partridge Family, was based on.  Oh my gosh - what a gem - this record was produced by my pal (OK, only on Facebook) Artie Kornfeld, who - along with Michael Lang, was co-producer and organizer of the Woodstock, 3 Days of Peace and Music festival.  That is the coolest thing about records - the connections.  I was in the car the other day listening to the Dennis Miller program and he interviewed one of the Cowsills about their forthcoming documentary film.  In summary, that Cowsill spoke about filmmaker Louise Palanker [who] says, "the 90-minute film is a story of tragedy and triumph — of a family that seemed flawless on the surface but grappled with a physically and emotionally abusive father who was involved in the band's promotion at every turn and a mother who chronically felt she came up short."  The documentary - “Family Band: The Cowsills Story” explores the dark side of what looked like a cheery image.  On the radio, I learned that the father, Bud Cowsill, made Murry Wilson (Beach Boys) look like a Father of the Year contest entrant.  Apparently Bud drove their lives and career, added mom Barbara (a less hot Shirley Jones) and 7-year-old sister, Susan (not Dey) into the band.  But a tragic end soon came.

You can read more about them on the Internet.

The Genius of Burt Bacharach

I am in a Burt bBacharach phase.  On the left is an eponymous Burt Bacharach album, that "Includes Close to You and One Less Bell to Answer.  It was was Produced by Phil Ramone.  And on the right is Burt Bacharach: Reach Out.  When I was taking piano lessons growing up, my piano teacher would give me basic sheet music and the one or two were by Bacharach-David.  The other John-Taupin.  Please do yourself a favor and check out the accompanying song clip on embedded in this post's title.  The show tune guy in me (hey, I grew up hearing Kiss Me, Kate!) loves Promises, Promises.  See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db0ve4Sp8xA&feature=related  My goodness, what genius Burt is.  And you get to hear and see his lyricist Hal David sing.  You may with to try This Guy's in Love with You, performed by Herb Alpert and the TJB.  I am looking for that record.  I am sure it will be in a fifty cent bin.

Smoke 'em if you Got 'em. Great Marketing, and some great music

These are records that one would presumably earn by sending in proof of purchase coupons to the cigarette manufacturers, in this case DORAL and Marlboro.  Click on the post's title for the opening song on the Marlboro album.  It is the great Elmer Bernstein's  (1922 – 2004) most awesome title film score from The Magnificent Seven, performed by Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.  Bernstein won an Oscar for his score to Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) and was nominated for fourteen Oscars in total.  Wow!  He also won two Golden Globes and was nominated for two Grammy Awards.  I don't think he was related to Leonard.  Was he, Ned...?