Dionne Warwick's third album bore the title Make Way for Dionne Warwick. But truth to tell, by the time of its release in September 1964, America had already made way for the New Jersey-born singer. She had climbed the charts with the immortal likes of "Don't Make Me Over," "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "Walk on By" and "Reach Out for Me," the latter two of which were included on that LP. Of course, all of those singles were written and produced by the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who
Review: Blood, Sweat and Tears, "The Complete Columbia Singles"
Blood, Sweat and Tears has much in common with Rodney Dangerfield - they get no respect. Though the band founded by Al Kooper, Steve Katz, Bobby Colomby, Jim Fielder, Dick Halligan, Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss produced some of the most enduring pop singles of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the group has long lingered in the shadows of rock's back pages. Eclipsed in fame by Columbia Records labelmates Chicago, plagued by a series of acrimonious departures from the ranks, and pilloried for
Review: Two From Camper Van Beethoven and Omnivore Recordings
And this here's a government experiment and we're driving like Hell To give some cowboys some acid and to stay in motels We're going to eat up some wide open spaces like it was a cruise on the Nile Take the hands off the clock, we're going to be here a while - Camper Van Beethoven, “Eye of Fatima (Pt. 1)” You can take the band out of the underground, but you can’t take the underground out of the band. California’s Camper Van Beethoven had been making its brand of “surrealist, absurdist folk”
Review: Michael Bloomfield, "From His Head to His Heart to His Hands"
“I think we’ve exploited you enough. I just want you to know I’m signing you!” With those words, spoken by John Hammond Sr. and heard on the first disc of Legacy Recordings’ new 3-CD/1-DVD box set From His Head to His Heart to His Hands, Michael Bloomfield became a Columbia Records recording artist. Though he died in 1981 at the age of 37, the blues guitarist extraordinaire left behind a substantial body of work in a variety of musical settings. Perhaps he never fulfilled the entirety of his
Dance a Little Bit Closer with Charo and The Salsoul Orchestra, Loleatta Holloway
Cuchi-cuchi! Charo, or María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza, burst onto the cultural radar with her goofy, slightly suggestive catchphrase during the late-sixties run of the television phenomenon Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Once a frequent passenger on The Love Boat, the comedienne-bombshell still is a familiar face today on television (Dancing with the Stars, RuPaul’s Drag University) and onstage – on land and on sea, even on the good ship Disney Magic. In 1977, Charo
You're Gonna Hear From Her: Dory Previn's Debut Album Reissued on CD
When songwriter Dory Previn died in 2012, The Los Angeles Times noted one of the contradictions inherent in her life and art: “Although she was an Oscar-nominated songwriter, Dory Previn was better known for ballads that spoke to wounded souls.” Truth to tell, even her early film music was often believably personal, intense, and filled with emotion. It’s no wonder that vocalists including Judy Garland, Dionne Warwick, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Bobby Darin, Barbra Streisand, Matt Monro,
Review: The Beatles, "The U.S. Albums"
I. Meet the Beatles! Did The Beatles save rock and roll? If John, Paul, George and Ringo didn’t save the still-young form, they certainly gifted it with a reinvigorating, exhilarating jolt of musical euphoria the likes of which hadn’t been seen before – and hasn’t been duplicated since. The scene was early 1964. Buddy Holly was long gone, and the big hits had dried up – at the moment, at least – for Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. Elvis had served his time in the Army, threatening
Review: Tower of Power, "Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - Live on the Air and In the Studio"
What is hip? Based on the evidence of Tower of Power’s Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - Live on the Air and in the Studio (RGM-0208), the Bay Area band certainly qualifies. Real Gone Music’s crackling first-time release of a 1974 concert recorded for radio is a potent reminder of why Tower of Power’s rip-roaring horns have enlivened a host of recordings from artists as diverse as Elton John, Grateful Dead, Poison, Neil Diamond, Santana, and Aerosmith. Tower of Power scored its
Billy Paul Is "Feelin' Good" On BBR Reissue Of His First Studio Album
Big Break Records and Billy Paul - they've got a thing going on. The label, an imprint of the Cherry Red Group, has just returned to the soul titan's catalogue for the sixth time - and with this release has gone back to the very beginning. BBR's previous reissues from the "Me and Mrs. Jones" singer have explored his Philadelphia International discography as well as his Neptune release Ebony Woman and a post-PIR album for Total Experience Records. Now, the label has turned its attention to
SoulMusic Goes "Loco" with Expanded Reissues From Dee Dee Warwick, The Four Tops
Dee Dee Warwick signed with Mercury Records’ Blue Rock imprint in 1964, the same year her sister Dionne solidified her place in the upper reaches of the charts with songs like “Walk on By,” “Reach Out for Me” and “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart).” Though Dee Dee never saw the same kind of commercial success as Dionne, she carved out a unique vocal identity with her dark, bluesy and intense tone. At Mercury, Dee Dee recorded two albums and a number of singles. In 2012, Soul
"Catch the Love Parade" With Second Volume of Now Sounds' "Book a Trip"
Between 1965 and 1970, Los Angeles’ Capitol Tower – standing then, as it does now, near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine - was the place to be. Capitol Records had The Beatles, and the Beach Boys, too. But the label that Nancy Wilson and The Lettermen called home also hosted a number of bands with groovy names like The Tuneful Trolley, The Sugar Shoppe, The Pink Cloud, The New Kick and (my personal favorite) The Unforscene. These happening acts, and many more, take the spotlight on Book
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Various Artists, "The South Side of Soul Street"
The trusty musical archaeologists at the Omnivore label have the perfect stocking stuffer for those looking for a little bit of southern soul hung by the chimney with care. The 2-CD anthology The South Side of Soul Street (OVCD-68, 2013), collecting the A- and B-sides of 20 singles released by the Minaret label between 1967 and 1976, makes the argument that Valparaiso, Florida’s Playground Recording Studio deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Muscle Shoals, American Sound, Stax and
Holiday Gift Guide Review: "Here's Edie: The Edie Adams Television Collection"
In one of the many testimonials that enhance the booklet to the first-ever DVD release of Here’s Edie: The Edie Adams Television Collection, Carl Reiner may have put it best and most succinctly: “Edie Adams...a combination of beauty, brains and talent...what else do you need?” Based on the evidence in this thoroughly delightful 4-DVD, 12-hour, 21-episode set now available from MVD Visual (MVD 59200), you don’t need anything else. Adams just about had it all, and showed it off for the 1962-1964
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Who, "Tommy: Super Deluxe Edition"
The opening chords of The Who’s Tommy may be among the most famous in all of rock. By the time the horns kicked in, around the forty-second mark, it was already clear that this double-album wasn’t business as usual for the heavy mod-rockers. In fact, the melodic, thunderous, commanding piece of music that opened the 1969 album sounded a bit like the overture to a Broadway musical, weaving together themes that would follow. Thirty-four years later, it would become one. By the time The Who’s
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Matt Monro, "The Rarities Collection" and "Alternate Monro"
How lovely to sit here in the shade, with none of the woes of man and maid/I’m glad I’m not young anymore! The rivals that don’t exist at all, the feeling you’re only two feet tall/I’m glad I’m not young anymore! Matt Monro recorded those Alan Jay Lerner lyrics in January 1973 at just 42 years of age. But by that point, the golden-voiced singer had already acquired enough experience to interpret them with supreme confidence and natural charm. Monro’s reassuring, crisply impeccable tone
Ace Celebrates Soulful Girls with "The Artistry of Brenda Holloway" and "Where the Girls Are"
If you want to know Where the Girls Are, look no further than two of Ace Records’ latest releases. The eighth installment of the label’s Where the Girls Are series is a grab-bag of the best girl-group pop you’ve never heard, while The Artistry of Brenda Holloway gives a much-deserved spotlight to the underrated Motown vocalist who so often found herself in the shadows of Diana Ross or Martha Reeves. Where the Girls Are Volume 8, compiled and annotated by Malcolm Baumgart and Mick Patrick,
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Donny Hathaway, "Never My Love: The Anthology"
This time of year, it’s nearly impossible to spend much time on a holiday music station without hearing the familiar, resonant voice persuasively imploring, “Hang all the mistletoe/I’m gonna get to know you better/This Christmas!” Donny Hathaway’s 1970 single “This Christmas” has become one of the most frequently-sung latter-day Christmas standards, recorded in recent years by everybody from Carole King to Mary J. Blige. In a too-short life that was tragically curbed at 33 in January 1979, the
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Buck Owens, "Buck 'Em! The Music of Buck Owens"
No less an eminent personage than American author William Faulkner once said that "a writer needs three things - experience, observation, and imagination - any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others." Country music legend and Bakersfield Sound pioneer Buck Owens, however, utilized all three of those key elements in his songs, which may help explain their timeless stature. Fifty of those recordings are anthologized on Omnivore's new Buck 'Em! The Music of
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Woody Guthrie, "American Radical Patriot"
The title of Rounder Records’ new box set describes its subject, Woody Guthrie (1912-1967), as an American Radical Patriot. Especially in today’s politically-polarized times, some might find those words a contradiction in terms. But in the late folk troubadour’s world, very little was black-and-white. It’s that world which is explored in such depth in this lavish new collection, a limited edition of 5,000 units. American Radical Patriot (Rounder 11661-9138-2) not only proves why Guthrie
Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Real Gone Christmas With Andy Williams, Patti Page and The New Christy Minstrels
When Andy Williams passed away on September 25, 2012 at the age of 84, the loss was keenly felt by anyone who had ever played the “red album” and the “green album” during the holiday season. The Andy Williams Christmas Album (1963) and Merry Christmas (1965) were the best-selling Columbia LPs that led Williams to embody the title of “Mr. Christmas.” His rich, warm and resonant tenor was ideally suited to holiday music of both the secular and spiritual traditions, and his association with the
Review: James Taylor, "The Essential James Taylor"
In the annals of American popular song, there’s a place reserved for James Taylor. For 45 years, the Boston-born troubadour’s distinctive and soothing baritone has been a reassuring voice bringing light to the darkness with his nakedly emotional, often autobiographical music. Sure, recording technology has changed a bit over the years, but Taylor’s style now is essentially the same as it was then – applying that warm voice and shimmering, precise guitar to those direct, melodic and deceptively
Now Sounds Tip-Toes Thru The Tulips With "God Bless Tiny Tim"
Welcome to my dream, and how are you? Will you be here long, or just passing through? Brush off that stardust, where have you been? Don’t tell me my rainbow was late getting in... When Herbert Buckingham “Tiny Tim” Khaury, 37, married Victoria May “Miss Vicki” Budinger, 17, on December 17, 1969 before Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, The Rev. William Glenesk and a studio audience filled with 268 of the happy couple’s closest friends, roughly 40 million people were watching. It was a high point
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Bobby Darin, "The 25th Day of December" and Various Artists, "Funky Christmas"
Real Gone Music is ensuring that it’s going to be a merry Christmas, indeed, with a number of holiday-themed releases that practically beg to be enjoyed alongside a glass of egg nog and a warm fireplace. Bobby Darin’s The 25th Day of December, the late singer’s only holiday LP, arrived on the Atco label in 1960. However, the album wasn’t the work of Bobby Darin, the splish-splashin’ rock-and-roller, or Bobby Darin, the finger-snapping, tuxedoed crooner. It’s not even the work of Bob Darin,
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Frank Sinatra, "Duets: Twentieth Anniversary"
"May you live to be one hundred and may the last voice you hear be mine." The image of Frank Sinatra, glass in hand, delivering that favorite toast is an indelible one. His wasn't just a voice, after all. Before he was Ol' Blue Eyes or The Chairman of the Board, he was simply The Voice. And through all its many changes, The Voice endured. The pure, romantically-charged timbre that set the hearts of bobbysoxers pounding in the forties transformed into the ultimate instrument of ultimate cool
Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Diamond, Streisand, Williams, Cash, Jones, Wynette and More Join "Classic Christmas Album" Roster [UPDATED]
Legacy Recordings’ Classic Christmas Album series has grown this holiday season. Last year brought volumes from a variety of artists across the rock, pop, country and R&B spectrum including Barry Manilow, Luther Vandross, John Denver, Willie Nelson, Kenny G and Elvis Presley. For 2013, another eight seasonal anthologies have arrived under the Classic Christmas Album umbrella from Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash, Andy Williams, Barbra Streisand, Alabama, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Gladys
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