Time was, and not that long ago (well a decade or so ago), when you could easily find original pressings of this breezy addition to Ella's song book series, either as a double LP set or as two individual volumes. Fitzgerald was as much a popular singer as a jazz great, appearing often on popular venues like The Ed Sullivan Show, so her LP sales were brisk—especially the Verve songbooks. I found my original copies of these at a house in Hackensack, NJ fifteen years ago. What an Ella find that garage sale was! A real fan was jettisoning her LP collection and I was more than happy to oblige for a buck apiece.
The ongoing Verve Records and Acoustic Sounds reissue series has once again delivered a new vinyl edition of an iconic album that is arguably better than the original in most every way. This new reissue of the October 1956 mono vocal jazz classic Ella And Louis features singing legend Ella Fitzgerald at a superstar-ascending crossroads, teamed with one of the architects of modern jazz, Louis Armstrong — a.k.a. “Pops,” a.k.a. “Satchmo,” a.k.a. “Satch.” Read onward to find out why this new 180g edition honors the now-rare originals while improving upon them in many ways. . .
This 1957 Norman Granz-produced jazz version of the George and Ira Gershwin opera (with libretto and key lyrical contributions by DuBose Heyward) starring Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong backed by a string enriched orchestra is a treat for so many reasons.
One of the fascinating aspects of collecting records, particularly if you're willing to haunt Goodwills and hit garage sales, are the variations you often find of the same record.
This impeccably produced (by Norman Granz, who literall built Verve Records and later Pablo around her), career summing concert takes Ella from her beginnings with the Chick Webb Orchestra to her then current quartet featuring Tommy Flanagan, Keeter Betts, Joe Pass and Freddie Waits, all brilliantly choreographed by master showman/producer/record executive Norman Granz along with Newport producer George Wein.
Producer Norman Granz's “songbook” concept, made possible by the invention of the LP, proved to be one of his most popular and enduring ideas. Ella sang Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, and of course Gershwin, but this one, pairing two of the biggest names of the last musical century, with Ella performing with three ensembles, was perhaps Granz's most ambitious undertaking. Ella and the Duke were signed to different labels, and both had busy concert and recording schedules, but after Ella performed with Ellington at a Jazz at the Philharmonic date, Granz set about getting the two together in a recording studio for a songbook production.
Ella's lushly orchestrated songbook albums were popular when first issued in the '50s and '60s and again more recently as reissues. They were not just popular. They were transformational, whether she was re-interpreting Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Ellington, Irving Berlin or Jerome Kern.
A new 180g 2LP edition of Elton John’s classic January 1972’s Honky Château album has just been released, and it includes two sides comprising solely of unreleased session demos. Mark Smotroff gives us his take on the expanded edition one of the Rocket Man’s most hailed early LPs, the one that kicked off an incredible chart runs of six consecutive No. 1 albums. . .
EC has always been a fine interpreter of American soul music as his much maligned but dependable and surprisingly durable and jumpy set Get Happy proves. Though only two songs were not written by Costello ("I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" and "I Stand Accused") much of the album feelsAmerican-sourced, whether country ("Motel Matches") or ghetto. By the way, try to find a UK F-Beat original. Even though it packs 10 short songs per side, it still sounds more dynamic and punchy than Rhino's last CD version and it wallops the flaccid American Columbia LP original. The "ringwear" on the jacket is part of the artwork, though some twit at Columbia removed it fearing you'd be too stupid to get the joke.
When first released by RCA as a single LP back in 1988 (RCA 9589-1-R) this album, probably sourced from digital, created a sensation—at least among the legions of Elvis Presley fans.
In the mid-1990s, Elvis Costello stunned many in the music world with the release of an outstanding song he composed with no less than the great hit-making maestro Burt Bacharach, the composer of many iconic pop standards, acclaimed film soundtracks, and even a Broadway show. Soon enough, they collaborated on a celebrated full album, Painted From Memory, and now, 25 years later, the scope of their work together is being properly feted in both 140g 2LP+4CD and 140g 2LP editions of The Songs of Bacharach & Costello. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see which version of the release immediately belongs in your collection. . .
In January 1993, Elvis Costello spearheaded a fascinating album inspired by a newspaper article about a professor from Verona, Italy who had taken it upon himself to write replies to letters that were addressed to Shakespeare’s tragic — and imaginary — character, Juliet Capulet. Called The Juliet Letters, Elvis’ song cycle imagined and brought these letters to life, as backed by a highly talented string quartet known as The Brodsky Quartet. It may be a good time for reconsidering this wondrous recording, now that The Juliet Letters is available on 180g 1LP limited-edition purple vinyl. Read on to discover more about this new vinyl edition of one of Elvis Costello’s most ambitious musical works. . .
A heavenly pairing of Bacharach's suburban pop melodic intent and Costello's insightful lyrics that well-capture the required Bacharach late afternoon bedroom melodrama produced this 1998 gem of a soap operatic collaboration.
While American soul music— northern urban and southern rural—and UK-via-the-Caribbean-derived Ska course through the veins of the fourth Elvis Costello and the Attractions album, the flesh thankfully remains white limey.
The song "Imperial Bedroom" does not appear on E.C.'s fourth album issued back in 1982 but it does as a bonus track on Rykodisc's twofer CD. The twofer's other album Almost Blue does not include the song "Almost Blue," which is on Imperial Bedroom. Got that?