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Dire Straits, Alchemy – Dire Straits Live, 1984 on Warner Brothers
Wonderful 2xLP live album of early 80s Dire Straits. Recorded in London at the Hammersmith Odeon over two nights in July 1983. Great versions of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Sultans of Swing.” There was also an accompanying film (on VHS, later reissued on DVD and Blu-Ray). My copy – hype stickered as being on Quiex…
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Paul McCartney and Wings, Band on the Run, 1973 on Apple Records
The third Wings album, this time credited to Paul McCartney & Wings. Includes the title track, plus “Jet” and “Let Me Roll It.” This lineup includes Denny Laine, and Linda McCartney (as you see on the labels) but also Ginger Baker and Remi Kabaka on percussion, and Howie Casey on Saxophone. My copy is a…
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Mose Allison, Down Home Piano, 1966 on Prestige
This 1966 release collects instrumental performances from six albums he released on Prestige in the late 50s and early 60s. There’s a similar Mose Allison Sings which collects “the vocal side of his talents.” The performers include Allison, Addison Farmer (Art Farmer’s twin brother) on bass, and Ronnie Free / Nick Stabulas on drums. Liner…
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Gerry Mulligan Tentette & Quartet, Walking Shoes, 1953 on Capitol
This LP was a reissue of what had been a 10″ record – Gerry Mulligan And His Ten-Tette – with two tracks from Gene Norman Presents The Gerry Mulligan Quartet added. Just as labels created bonus tracks when reissuing LPs on CD, these were bonus tracks added when the 10″ became a 12″ LP. The…
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Grandaddy, Blu Wav, 2024 on Dangerbird
New record from 90s indie rock band Grandaddy – their first in ~6 years and the first since bassist Kevin Garcia died. Blu wav is meant to be a portmanteau of “Bluegrass” and “New Wave” but it makes me think of the blue wave we hoped to see in the last election. Tucker Martine did…
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Simon & Garfunkel, The Concert In Central Park, 1982 on Warner Bros
One of the best live albums from one of my favorite duos. Good variety of tempos and tunes, enough stage banter to feel live but no so much that you feel the need to skip ahead. Wikipedia correctly recognizes it as “the” concert in central park – recorded in front of a half million people…
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Jeff Beck, Blow By Blow, 1975 on Epic
Jeff Beck is a guitarists’ guitarist – constantly named by other greats as one of the greatest but not given quite the same public acclaim. This 1975 album – orchestrated, arranged, and produced by George Martin – has two Stevie Wonder songs (“Case We’ve Ended As Lovers” and “Thelonious”), a Beatles cover (“She’s a Woman”)…
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Abbey Lincoln, Abbey is Blue, 1960 on Riverside
I first discovered Abbey Lincoln via Vinyl Me Please’s reissue of It’s Magic from 1958, in the VMP Classics Series. This album was a followup to that, her fourth full-length album and the third on Riverside. Musicians here include Stanley Turrentine, his broth Tommy Turrentine (on trumpet), Max Roach (to whom Lincoln was later married),…
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Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, 1958 on Blue Note
Fantastic late 50s “hard bop” jazz record, with Clark joined by Art Farmer (trumpet), Jackie McLean (alto sax), Paul Chambers (bass), and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, liner notes by Nat Hentoff. This should be in everyone’s vinyl collection whether you think of yourself as a Jazz fan or not.…
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Violent Femmes, Violent Femmes (box set), 2024 on Craft Recordings
This was one of my favorite albums of the 1980s (it came out on Slash Records in 1983), and I’ve been looking forever for a decent copy on vinyl. This box set, as you’d expect from Craft, is amazing. It includes a newly remastered version of the self-titled album itself, plus additional LPs of demos…
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Sinéad O’Connor, The Lion and the Cobra, 1987 on Chrysalis / Ensign
This was Sinéad’s debut album and is still just astonishingly great. The spoken word intro in gaelic by Enya before “Never Get Old” is Psalm 91: For He will give His angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee upon their hands, Lest thou dash thy foot against…
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Traffic, Welcome to the Canteen, 1971 on United Artists
As a result of some contractual disputes, this is credited on the labels and cover directly to Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason, Chris Wood, Rick Grech, “Reebop” Kwaku Baah, and Jim Gordon, with no mention of “Traffic” though the rear cover and labels include the Traffic logo. Recorded live at Fairfield Hall in Croydon…
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Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, Ella at Duke’s Place, 1966 on Verve
The album is divided between “The Pretty, The Lovely, The Tender, The Hold-Me-Close Side” and “The Finger-Snapping, Head-Shaking, Toe-Tapping, Go-For-Yourself Side.” Recorded by Val Valentin and produced by Norman Granz (those are his black & white photos), this is Verve at its mid-60s best. In addition to Ellington and Fitzgerald, personnel included Louis Bellson on…
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Art Farmer, Portrait of Art Farmer, 1958 on Stereo Records
“Stereo Records” was a jazz label made by Contemporary Records in 1958 to push records made with the new-fangled stereo technology: Stereophonic two-channel disc recording utilizing Westrex 45-45 “StereoDisc” cutting system. To be reproduced only with stereophonic cartridge. Warning: use of conventional monaural cartridge without sufficient vertical compliance may well result in damage to this…
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David Porter, Chapter 1: Back in the Day, 2022 on MIME Records
David Porter is maybe best well-known as a songwriter and producer – the staff writer at Stax records who penned “Hold On, I’m Coming” and “Soul Man” among so many others, and who worked extensively with Isaac Hayes in the late sixties and early seventies. He’s also the found of The Consortium MMT in Memphis,…
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Michelle Shocked, The Texas Campfire Tapes, 1986 on Mercury / Cooking Vinyl
This was the debut album for Michelle Shocked, purportedly recorded by Cooking Vinyl founder Pete Lawrence on a Sony Walkman at an unplanned performance at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. Shocked herself has called it a “bootleg” and says it was released without her permission: My music career began as the Bootleg Poster Child.…
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Joe Jackson, I’m the Man, 1979 on A&M
I knew Joe Jackson’s music from the early 80s – he was pretty hard to avoid on mainstream radio at that point – but I don’t think I really appreciated his unique talent until I was a bit older. This was his sophomore album, following 1978’s Look Sharp – and included the title track as…
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Joe Henderson, Mode for Joe, 1966 on Blue Note
This was Henderson’s fifth studio album (as a band leader), joined by: Lee Morgan (trumpet), Chris Fuller (trombone), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Cedar Walton (piano), Ron Carter (bass), and Joe Chambers (drums). Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder. Really wonderful Blue Note 60s jazz. My copy is a 2024 reissue in the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series…