Paul Simon - Graceland

Paul Simon - Graceland.  Some people think Paul Simon took too many liberties with other people's music in order to create this masterpiece.  Not here.  All music comes from other sources.  Bach laid down the first deep bottom end, rock bass line in one of his Brandenburg Concertos (the 3:30 mark of No. 3, Allegro Moderaro).  So what really is new?  Is any music?  Look above, the back cover of the album are the liner notes of how Paul explains how he came to discover the sounds, rhythms, musicians, and textures of South Africa.  Check out the video by clicking on the post time.  Paul himself introduces the main guitarist and arranger of this historic album.  He is Raymond Chikapa Phiri (b. 23 March 1947) is an African jazz, fusion and mbaqanga musician born in Mpumalanga.  He became founding member of the Cannibals in the 1970's. When the Cannibals disbanded Ray founded Stimela, with whom he conceived gold and platinum-selling albums like Fire, Passion and Ecstacy (1991), Look, Listen and Decide (1992) as well as the controversial People Don’t Talk So Let’s Talk.  In 1985 Paul Simon asked Ray along with Ladysmith Black Mambazo to join his Graceland project, which was successful but also helped the South Africans to make names for themselves abroad.  Ray was to collaborate with Paul Simon again on Simon’s Rhythm of the Saints album, which saw him perform on stages such as Central Park and Madison Square Garden as well as appearing on top television shows in the USA.  Born to Malawian immigrant worker and South African guitarist nicknamed "Just Now" Phiri.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYJv6nol0Fw

Simple Minds - their first album, as of now - never played

Simple Minds - their first album, as of now - never played.  From 1979, Life in a Day.  More than just the Breakfast Club tune - they are my wive's favorite band.  A poor-man's U2?  I enjoy almost every song of theirs.  Highly polish, post-punk.  We got to see them a few years ago at a very small, very intimate, and very famous venue in Chicago called Metro.  The building also contains the Smart Bar.  Here is clip of the place, by a band called Oasis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNMygbKekw0  Note the Marshall Stacks.  RIP, Jim.  Heaven now goes to Eleven.

The Babys - Head First...Hey. isn't it time...?

The Babys - Head First...Isn't it Time is a great song, one of my all-time favs.  Here is what wiki says about it: "Isn't it Time" is a song that was performed by the English group The Babys in 1977 and was released on their album Broken Heart.  It was not written by members of the group but by a bass guitarist Jack Conrad along with Ray Kennedy and was presented to the public as a song with a distinctive piano introduction by Michael Corby which moves into an opening vocal performance by lead singer John Waite.  The strong vocals of the three Babettes, a specially selected group of singers, balance the tone of the song which moves through the decisions a lover has to make "I just can't find the answers to the questions that keep going through my mind" and "losing this love could be your mistake."  The lyrics are motivated by Ray Kennedy's love for a French woman that he knew during the writing of the song.  The lyrics alone would have a wide appeal and matched with well established musicianship the song still enjoys popularity and numerous recordings can be seen on YouTube. - Click Post Title for a great one.  The drum work of Tony Brock heralds the chorus featuring the Babettes and the slowhand guitar of Walt Stocker brings the song to a close with the Babettes chorus heard alternatively in the left and right channels "isn't it time", "don't have to wait" a result of the production work of Ron Nevison.  The song enjoyed a peak position of #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as #9 on Cashboxand the number one position in Australia in late March 1978.  Denise Sullivan's review in All Music Guide reads as follows: "Isn't It Time" starts out innocently enough but quickly explodes into a showcase for John Waite's underrated talents as a powerhouse vocalist; the song catapulted into the Top 40 in 1977. Straddling the lines that were drawn in the late '70s between hard rock, glam, power pop, and the burgeoning new wave, the Babys tackled it all, but "Isn't It Time" itself is big, old arena rock. Oddly, it is one of two songs on the band's sophomore effort, Broken Heart, which wasn't penned by a Baby. Beginning with a gentle vocal accompanied by a tinkling piano and strings, the song shifts abruptly into a big stage strutter, complete with female background vocals by the Babettes. The girls provide the "female" voice in the story of a guy who resists the temptation to fall in love, but, by the song's end, he's surrendered, with a little urging from her, of course. A descending horn line fills in for the road sign, "Caution, love approaching." Sure it's retro, but as a timepiece it wears well. The fashionably androgynous Babys and their love song-lite went over big with teenage girls, but throughout 1977, people of all stripes were no doubt falling in love to the tune of "Isn't It Time" as the Babys were a ubiquitous presence on the concert circuit.

Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit - on Atlantic Records...

Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit...this is not an original pressing.  Billie Holiday lived from April 1915 to July 17, 1959.   Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Harris, she was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing.  Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.  Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever."  She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues."  She also became famous for singing "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording.   The original album called Strange Fruit (and song by that name) came out in 1939, on the Commodore label.  The one above I own is a compilation record on Atlantic.

Dave Mason & Mama Cass

Dave Mason and Mama Cass...I have lots of records by each of these artists - but I had no idea they made one together!  Dave Mason & Cass Elliot was the only teaming of artists Dave Mason and Cass Elliot. The album was produced by both Mason and Elliot and recorded in 1970. The album was released by Blue Thumb Records.   I read much about Cass in the great Laurel Canyon book two years ago.  Legend has it that it was she who first thought Crosby, Still, and Nash would be get together, and the first time those guys played together was at her house.  I buy that.  Despite receiving co-billing with Mason, Elliot's contributions are limited to background vocals on several of the songs, which highlighted a raspy, more raw side of Elliot’s voice.  When interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine, Elliot stated, “I sing better with David because he’s so good.  You want to do better.  I’m singing notes I never sang with The Mamas & the Papas.”  The music falls into the country-rock harmony sound of its time, but with a bluesier edge.  Mason wrote five of the songs on the album, while Elliot co-wrote two: the single “Something to Make You Happy” and her only solo song on the album, “Here We Go Again.”  This was the first time that Elliot lent her hand in songwriting since her days with The Big 3 and The Mugwumps, and also the last.  Matthew Greenwald, over at allmusic.com says, "Overall, this was a highly underrated album, but in the end, it is also one of the finest from the '70s."

Neil Diamond - Not August Night - the other cover

Neil Diamond - Not August Night - the other cover.  This one might actually be rare.  It is not the usual album cover of this fairly common DLA.  I actually quite like it.  Hot August Night is a 1972 live double album by Neil Diamond. ("Hot August night" is also the opening lyric to Diamond's 1969 single, "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show".)  The album is a live recording of a Diamond concert on August 24, 1972, one of ten sold out concerts that Diamond performed that month at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.  Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls Hot August Night "the ultimate Neil Diamond record ... [which] shows Diamond the icon in full glory."  Many rank it on their top ten DLA list.  The album became a huge success for Diamond, and in Australia, it spent 29 weeks at number 1 on the album charts during 1973 & 1974, a feat only later matched by Delta Goodrem with her Sony BMG-based album Innocent Eyes in 2003.  That figure was surpassed in the 1980s by Dire Straits with their album Brothers in Arms spending 34 weeks at number one on the album charts.  It was the number one charting album in Australia for the 1970s, entering the Australian album charts in late 1972 and was still charting in the top 20 in 1976.  It re-entered the Australian top 10 in 1982.  This album, and its predecessor album Moods, are generally acknowledged to be the two most important recording projects of Diamond's career in terms of defining his signature sound, and in the case of Hot August Night his live performance style, for the future.