French composer and frequent blog guest Michel Legrand passed away today at age 86. Known for his genius arrangements as well as fresh compositions, most notably (to me at least ) on the Jaques Demy film’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls Of Rochefort as well as The Thomas Crown Affair ( featured on this blog next month), his contribution to music both in film and in general will be missed. His work was genuinely ground breaking
As stated above, Legrand’s work has been showcased on this blog quite frequently (despite the fact that I am still looking of a copy of Young Girls of Rochefort). So in celebration of a remarkable career in music, here is a recap of Legrand records showcased on this blog.
Guitarist J Geils, the name sake of the J Geils Band was found dead yesterday at age 71 in Groton Mass, most likely of natural causes. I believe I paid a dollar for this.
Born in New York in 1946, he formed the band in the late 60’s while attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The band had a good following in the 1970’s as a touring band.
The band’s biggest hit (and 1980s’ staple), “Centerfold” brought them the commercial success which proved a bit elusive in the prior decade. Most people assumed J Geils was the singer. He was not. That was Peter Wolf.
This album was the band’s 7th studio effort, released in 1975. This was another DJ promotion copy, stamped with not for sale, yet here it is purchased on the secondary market. Decent record. Kind of rock, rhythm and blues. Side two really has more of the guitar work, but regardless, this album definitely showcased the band and stood out from the other music of the decade.
In tribute to J Geils, here is with “Mean Love” with a blistering guitar solo.
Two big names in music died over the weekend. Friday, we lost Leonard Cohen and Sunday, we lost Leon Russell. I have no Cohen albums. I thought about posting somebody doing a version of his work, but changed my mine. I do however, have something for Russell.
I knew Russell from an eight track my dad had (maybe cassette, hard to remember for sure). It was a duo album with Willie Nelson. Pretty good stuff. I reviewed it below.
This sample comes from an album he did with his wife at the time, Mary McCreary, aptly called The Wedding Album. It was released in 1976. Here is “Satisfy You”. Good album overall.
Born in Fargo, North Dakota, Vee had 38 singles in the Top 100, 10 of which made the top 20. His bigger hits include “Take Care Of My Baby”, “The Night Has 1,000 Eyes”,and “Rubber Ball” which was posted earlier this month by Jimmy Osmond. He also toured with a young Bob Dylan, before Dylan got famous. As a result, Dylan regarded Vee pretty highly, both personally and professionally.
For a tribute sample, I pulled this record I got somewhere for free by Vee and The Crickets, Buddy Holly’s old band. It is quite fitting as Vee’s career took off after the death of Holly.
Vee was part of a hastily assembled band, The Shadows, put together to play the show in which Holly was supposed to play the night after his crash. This performance would start the chain of events that made Vee a star.
The record itself is very good. Released in 1963, it is a collection of popular rock and roll song of the time with songs from Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Bo Diddley among others. Here in tribute is “Well… Allright”, a Holly song that was also covered by Blind Faith.
Born in 1933 in Paul’s Valley, Oklahoma, Shepard was raised near Bakersfield, playing in an all female band when she was discovered by Hank Thompson. She signed to Capitol Records in 1952 and joined the Opry in 1955.
A true pioneer of country music, as well as one of the influential female singers behind Kitty Wells, she released 24 records and 73 singles to the Hot Country Charts during her career. When she retired from the Opry last year, she was the first female member with six decades of service in the institution.
A note of interest, she married Hawkshaw Hawkins in 1960. Hawkins would die three years later in the plane crash that killed Patsy Cline.
This record was purchased for one dollar. It was a double record that for some reason, followed a logical side/record allotment (i.e. side 1/2 on one record and 3/4 on the other). It was a sampler of the big country hits of the time from the Capitol label.
It includes such stars as Glen Campbell, Sonny James, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Bonnie Owens, Bobbie Gentry, Tex Ritter, Wynn Stewart, and Ferlin Husky. It also featured rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson. Many hits songs are contained here including ” Ode to Billy Joe”, “A World of Our Own”, “By The Time I Get to Phoenix”, and “Gentle On My Mind”. Overall, it is a good pick for $1.
Here from that record is Shepard with her 1967 resurgence hit, “Heart We Did All That We Could”. Note the light fuzz on the track.
The world of music lost one of its giants this week with the death of Prince Buster, the King of Ska. He died in Miami of complications from a series of strokes. He was 78.
Born Cecil Bustamente Campbell in Kingston Jamaica, Prince Buster was influential in the sound system world of Jamaican music. He pioneered ska and rocksteady in the 1960’s. Moreover, without him, there would be no UK ska revival of the late seventies. Madness took their name from one of his songs and the Specials liberally borrowed from him. Both bands also covered his songs extensively.
I had this 7″ of his in my collection so I am posting it in honor of his passing. From 1967, here is Prince Buster’s “The Ten Commandments”. The B-side of this was “Don’t Make Me To Cry”.
Fountain’s health had been in decline as of late. His last public performance was in 2013. From there, he had been in retirement. New Orleans knows how to do funerals and I expect the city to pull out all the stops for their native son of jazz. If you want a further bio of Fountain, check out this post I did of him earlier.
This album was recorded live at Dan’s Bateau Lounge on Bourbon and Toulouse (that is in New Orleans if you can’t figure it out). It features Merle Koch on piano, Don Bagley on bass, and Jack Sperling on drums. It was released by Coral Records in 1960 and I believe it was recorded in 1959, when he returned home to New Orleans after his stint on the Lawrence Welk Show.
Although all the musicians have their bright spots on this record, Fountain’s clarinet is the king here. This album showcases Fountain’s true talents. The songs are all pretty good . The late 50’s and early 60’s were really the high point of Fountain’s output and this is one piece of a good string of records from a five month span. It should be noted that Fountain was also recording with different groups during this period from the quintet on this album to big bands to all in between.
For samples, I went with “Creole Gumbo” (written by Fountain) and “Londonderry Air”. I wanted to use “Mack the Knife” but it skipped.
RIP Pete Fountain. You and Al Hirt can go back to stealing musicians from each other in the afterlife.
Well, 2016 is turning out to be a horrible year for losing musicians. Country legend Merle Haggard passed away today on his 79th birthday.New York Times Obit
With 38 #1 hits, Haggard was a legend. He helped define the Bakersfield sound at a time when all country music came from Nashville. He also helped popularize the Outlaw Country movement. Haggard, himself a small time criminal before his recording days, was influenced by Johnny Cash’s visit to San Quentin in 1958. Haggard was a guest of the institution at this time.
Haggard, who died of pneumonia, had been making plans to tour with Willie Nelson . The two had recorded an album in the last year.
I got this early “Best of” compilation for a dollar. This was and probably still is on the jukebox at Big Star Bar as well as many others. In tribute to Haggard, here is my favorite song of his, which is somewhat biographical regarding his time in the pokey, “Mama Tried”.
RIP, Merle Haggard, one of the last of the true country legends.
Emerson was one of the most talented pianists / keyboardists to play music period, not just within the prog rock genre. His flair or showmanship along with his technical ability made him stand out from his peers.
Personally, I think this early performance at the Isle of Wight, which put them collectively on the map. It was only 6 days after their first performance as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.
This album was one dollar. The record says it was recorded at Olympic Stadium in Montreal in 1977 although Wikipedia suggests not all songs were from the Montreal show. It is a decent album and has some very good moments from the tour. It was released in 1979.
From the album, here is the show intro followed by ELP’s take on Henry Mancini’s “Peter Gunn”.RIP. Keith.
I had done a post on a record he arranged and conducted of orchestration of popular songs of the time. It was done in 1965 and was quite an excellent album.Link to said album.
I sort of already cherry picked the best songs on the above post, but here from the same album, is Martin doing his take on John Lennon’s “No Reply”. ( I believe at times, Lennon thought Martin favored McCartney).
Several people are called the Fifth Beatle, but none so much as Martin. Rest In Peace.