I've always been drawn to budget releases, so I was excited to find this one from Holland on Emidisc, a European sublabel of EMI with a strange collection of titles. They have pressed everything from Frank Sinatra to Unit Gloria, a Dutch pop group. They're usually lower quality with weird version of the songs, but this one is loaded with high quality hits from The Animals, from the title track to We've Got To Get Out Of This Place. The keyboard sounds so clear on Story Of Bo Diddley. Eric Burdon sings the blues on I'm Mad Again & Worried Life Blues. There are no suprises of this budget album, just some good old fashion Animals.
I love finding albums by 1-hit wonders & seeing how their other songs hold up. One of these bands, Baltimora, is a dance-heavy new wave outfit from Italy. They are known mainly for their song Tarzan Boy. It's the epitome of campy, mid-80's, pop radio. So how's the rest of the record? There are only 5 other tracks on this release. The title track, Living In The Background has a catchy chorus, & Woody Boogie, which was actually popular in Germany, has a ton of synths & beats that make for a great dance song. The other 3 songs are balladish 80's pop dribble.
With each new Chet Atkins album, he seems to pick up his guitar & go on an adventure into some new style of music, on what seems like an endless musical spectrum, from country to pop to jazz to classical. On each new release he blends what he's done before with something new. With Caribbean Guitar, Chet takes a dip in the Latin rhythm pool. It's generally a relaxing album that covers Mexican tunes like The Bandit, the Haitian composed Yellow Bird, & The Banana Boat Song. There's nothing special on here, but it's nice to listen to on a cold winter night, dreaming of relaxing on a boat in the warm Caribbean.
How about we go stringin' along with some more Chet Atkins on my growing collection of album reviews? This record is actually a reissue of an earlier 10 inch with the same title, with a few singles from 45's thrown in here & there for good measure. It's a great Chet Atkins collection, heavy on the blues, rags, & breakdowns with the right amount of country guitar to bring it all together. Black Mountain Rag stands out as a nice reinterpritation of the classic Wasbash Cannonball, while it's very nice to hear Chet meander through The 3rd Man Theme. There is a lot to like on here.
Mojo Nixon is a strange one, but he pretty much embodies everything right with weird psychobilly rock. With some help from Skid Roper, he wrote one of the ultimate tributes to Elvis, Elvis Is Everywhere. Although it's perfect Mojo satire, there is a bit of truth that Elvis has left his legacy everywhere, even cheeseburgers. The rest of the album is full of ditties about the finer things in life, like drinking, BBQ, freedom & digging up Howling Wolf. There are flavors of blues, Americana, country & even polka all over this record. Honestly though, nothing lives up to Mojo singing about the King. What's the deal with the Bermuda Triangle? "Elvis needs boats."
This is THE surf album to own. The whole album is full of wild waves of early Californian garage rock. The classic song Wipe Out has become an iconic tune when thinking about 60's surf with it's screaming intro & energy-infused drum solos. In fact, if drums are your thing they dirty up the water with a version of Teen Beat & get crazy with the staple Walk Don't Run. I have to mention their cover of Green Onions as well with it's tingy guitar solo & organ. Almost the entire record is instrumentals, with Surfer Joe being the exception. It's a bit more along the lines of an early Beach Boys song. Grab your board & head for the nearest shore.
Here's a cool little Akron compilation from Clone records. Starts out with an early version of the pop hit "I Know What Boys Like" by the Waitresses. Things get bizarre from there, with Denis DeFrange's Kraftwerkian synth works. I'm pretty sure I hear Pac-Man in the background of Sector Wars. Ralph Carney, of Tin Huey fame, lays out some electronic-heavy new wave. David Thomas joins him on Sunset In Hibernia for a Pere Ubu fan's wet dream. The Hurricane Bob track features Chrissie Hynde's brother, Terry, on sax. It's a who's who of the Akron sound's original veterans. Mark Frazier & the Haff Notz also appear on this collection full of weirdos.
Ever heard of the Akron sound? In the late 70's the music industry's spotlight turned to Akron & started picking & choosing bands to sign. That's how you get London's Stiff records releasing a compilation dedicated to Northeast Ohio. This album is pretty diverse. Rachel Sweet, Jane Aire & The Belvederes, & Idiot's Convention pull off some catchy pop rocks, while Tin Huey, The Waitresses & Chi Pig & really weird out with their new wave sounds. Terraplane does ska while Sniper, The Rubber City Rebels, & The Bizarros go for straight rock'n'roll. There are a lot of stand out tracks on this release but Slide by The Waitresses really sums up the Akron sound quite well. Weird funky, jazzy, rock'n'roll.
Anybody who grew up in the 80's remembers the one hit wonder, Toni Basil, jumping around in a cheerleader outfit to Mickey on MTV. Thats the obvious reason to grab this record, but there's a secret hidden in the liner notes of this synth heavy New Wave album. It's that a third of the album was written by & played by those weirdos from Akron, Ohio, Devo. You've Got Problems (which is also called Pity You), Be Stiff & Space Girls are all special releases by those spuds. If you're a Devo fan, this is a cheap & easy way to get your hands on some overly-produced pop heavy versions of those songs, which is great after listing to the versions on Hardcore Devo 1 & 2.
A 63 year old Satchmo knocked The Beatles of their top spot in the charts with a tune from Broadway. How crazy is that? Although Hello Dolly was the chart topper & nearly half the tracks are from Broadway musicals, there are some other great gems hidden in here. A Kiss To Build A Dream On is classic Louis Armstrong. Moon River from the movie Breakfast At Tiffany's & Blueberry Hill are well needed break from the rest of the record. Then there is the jazz standard Jeepers Creepers. Even if you're not much of a fan of Broadway musicals there is something for everyone on this one.
Jazz master, Louis Armstrong needs no introduction. His hoarse voice & unmistakable trumpet has really stood the test of time. This is a "Best of" album. Verve records put out four of these Verve's Choice releases in a row back in the day, including Mel Torme, Gene Krupa, Count Basie & Louis Armstrong to go along with an earlier Ella Fitzgerald release. The highlight of this one is the 8:35 minute song Let's Do It. It takes up half of side two & probably could go twice as long if given more time to improvise. That's the great thing about Louis Armstrong, once he starts going you never want it to stop.
Herb Alpert, who started A&M records, single-handedly spawned a national craze for Latin brass bands in the early 60's that was washed away by the British invasion. His records are a regular find in bargin bins across the nation, but that dosen't mean you should overlook them. By 1967 you would have thought he would have given up, but Herb wasn't done just yet & he worked with the changing music scene to record a James Bond classic, Casino Royale. It's the star of this record, but the whole album comes off as a cheesy Bond soundtrack full of jazzy, trumpet-heavy, mariachi-influenced instrumentals.
"If he had decided to become a farmer, we'd probably be taking six-foot super green beans for granted" says the back of the sleeve. Although I might have enjoyed some giant green beans, I'm okay with just having this record to listen to. It's a pretty reliable Chet Atkins album full of country & western instrumentals, & really, that's the way it should be. Aren't we all getting sick of those "artist does hollywood" albums? The highlights are his renditions of the traditional folk songs Wabash Cannon Ball & Goin' Down The Road. Between Chet's guitar & that banjo, they squeeze evey note out of each song.
One of the most famous guitarists to ever come out of Nashville, Chet Atkins is know for his country instrumentals. Finger-Style Guitar is less country & more classical. It's full of Waltzes, Rhapsodies, & a few surprises. There are very little in backing instruments, just Chet's signature guitar in all it's glory. His version of In The Mood is right in the pocket of what you'd expect. Just don't expect this to be one of your party favorites. I'd call it perfect for a lazy Sunday morning, especially the stand-out cover of Unchained Melody. Intimate is the only word that can describe it.
It's pretty hard to find a Chet Atkins record that isn't a solid listen from start to finish. The Guitar Genius, however, aims to do this by including Chet's brother Jim as a vocalist on half the tracks. Chet does what he does best, fingering his guitar through country & rock instrumentals. His covers of Heartbreak Hotel & It's Now Or Never add a fantastic new layer to Elvis classics. The humerous Blackjack changes the pace a bit, but it works. Then there's Chet's brother. When Jim takes to the mic, Chet is pushed aside & the listener is forced to listen to some lackluster Sinatra style vocals. It's like listening to sibling rivalry. I'm left wishing they put all of Jim's songs on side B, so I'd never have to turn it over.
Named after an ignition, Accel 4 is a raging garage rock band dressed in leather, that has been known to set their arms on fire while playing. Unlike the album title implies, they hail from Tokyo, Japan. The record is loaded with tunes that mix the sounds of 50's rock'n'roll with 70's punk attitude. Right from the start, with Highway Leather Boy, they wail with a combination of Japanese & English, burning through the entire album. You can almost smell the gasoline while listening to tunes that remind you a lot of Guitar Wolf, which makes sense because the frontmen from Accel 4 & Guitar Wolf are brothers. If I were you, I'd turn this up, grab some lighter fluid & a matchbook, then get into some trouble.
