Talk about throwing it back to the 1980s! These guys channel Manifestoera Roxy, Brit/Industrial (Joy Division) and even Haircut 100 on their latest double LP set (CD included for easy iTunes/iPod loading).
Annie Ross may be best know among the “boomer” generation for the lyrics she wrote for Wardell Gray’s “Twisted,” the tune Joni Mitchell memorably covered on Court and Spark.
While hard-bop tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin’s best known work was with Charles Mingus and his later Prestige albums are regarded as the hub of his solo recordings, this 1961 Candid set offers plenty of muscular grit, superb Nola Penthouse sound and the stellar backing trio of George Tucker on bass, Al Harewood on drums and one “Felix Krull” on piano, most likely a Nat Hentoff-assigned name given to Horace Parlan who was contracted to Blue Note at the time. In fact, Tucker and Harewood were part of Parlan’s quartet, as was Ervin for a spell.
There never has been a spectacular-sounding reissue of this great Cream classic and there never will be. Unfortunately, the original recording was not particularly distinguished.
Jimi Hendrix’s second studio effort upped the outrageousness of his debut (British or American), beginning with what many would say was a sacrilegious, though eye-catching, cover and continuing with the opening bit of “nonsense about space ships and even space people.”
Ed. note: Bishop Allen's new album is set to release March, 2009. This review of the group's debut album ran here December, 2007. It gets better with each play and is highly recommended.
Back in 1956 at the dawning of the hi-fi era, the easy listening piano duo of Ferrante and Teicher, (whose career spans six decades) released an album called Soundproof! on Westminster records (WP-6014).
Elvis delivers the album opening “Santa Claus Is Back In Town” on this fall of 1957 release with bawdy, bluesly, burlesque-like delight. There’s nothing in his voice that’s even remotely subtle when he sings “Santa Claus is coming down your chimney tonight,” or any of the rest of the tune’s normally innocent lyrics. At one point in a break Elvis utters some guttural grunts not normally associated with Christmas no how! This probably had teenaged girls tingling and their parents repulsed.
Good luck finding a copy. They're pretty much sold out and the price of used copies is only likely to rise for this iconic grunge-rock album with the "sell-out" cover.
Conceptually audacious, elegantly designed, executed with space-age precision, and remarkably compact, Grand Prix Audio's direct-drive Monaco turntable ($19,500) aims to turn the tables on the belt-drive designs that have dominated analog playback for three decades.