Tag: vinyl me please
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Marty Stuart, Busy Bee Cafe, 1982 on Sugar Hill Records
No, that’s not the same Sugar Hill that put out Rapper’s Delight – it’s a folk/bluegrass label out of North Carolina, later merged in Concord and now Rounder. Although Stuart’s recorded output starts in the 80s, he spent years touring with Lester Flatt and in Johnny Cash’s road band. This was his second album, the…
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Kris Kristofferson, The Silver Tongued Devil and I, 1971 on Monument
This was Kristofferson’s second album, following what was originally released as Kristofferson but later retitled Me and Bobby McGee to capitalize on the hit version released on Janis Joplin’s Pearl. This was a more commercially successful release, including one of my favorite Kristofferson songs “Lovin’ Her Was Easier (than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again).” It’s…
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Black Nasty, Talking To The People, 1973 on Enterprise
Enterprise was a sub-label of Stax, and released the early solo work of Isaac Hayes. It is actually named after the Star Trek spaceship – Al Bell was a big fan. Black Nasty cut three singles and an album (this one) for Enterprise before being dropped by the label. Johnnie Mae Matthews, the “Godmother of…
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Irma Thomas, Down at Muscle Shoals, 1984 on Chess
Thomas recorded for Chess in the late sixties, and made this recording at Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals in 1967, but the album was not released until 1984 (in Japan). It’s very hard to find in the Japanese vinyl, though it was reissued on CD in 1991. There are no credits for musicians, though…
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Nina Simone, Silk & Soul, 1967 on RCA Victor
This was Simone’s second album for RCA, following Nina Simone Sings the Blues, and was recorded in RCA Victor Studio B in New York. It includes great renditions of “The Look of Love” and “Cherish” neither of which I thought of as particularly Nina Simone material, along with a brilliant “I Wish I Knew How…
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Nickel Creek, Celebrants, 2023 on Repair Records
The first Nickel Creek album since 2014 and a welcome reunion for Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, and Sean Watkins, all of whom have been busy doing other things. It become a nominee for best folk album at the Grammy Awards but lost to Joni Mitchell at Newport. It was recorded in 4 weeks at Nashville’s…
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Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska, 1982 on Columbia
Springsteen’s sixth studio album, which he recorded himself on a four track to use as demos but then decided to release them directly. (Somewhere in the vaults exist at least some of these songs in full band versions, but they’ve not surfaced yet). Springsteen has cites as inspiration both the story of Charles Starkweather (who…
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Oliver Nelson with Eric Dolphy, Straight Ahead, 1961 on Prestige / New Jazz
Nelson on sax and clarient, with Dolphy also on sax, bass clarinet, and flute, supported by Richard Wyands on piano, George Duvivier on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. Recording supervised by Rudy Van Gelder. Nelson had earlier recorded Screamin’ The Blues with Dolphy and Richard Williams. It is safe to say that if you…
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La Lupe, Queen of Latin Soul / Reina De La Canción Latina, 1968 on Tico
Guadalupe Victoria Yolí Raymond – aka La Lupe – was a Cuban singer who emigrated from Cuba in the early 60s. (According to Wikipedia, while performing in Havana, she earned fans including Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Marlon Brando – can’t vouch for any of that). She performed and recorded…
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Ray Barretto, Acid, 1968 on Fania
Barretto played with Charlie Parker, José Curbelo and (for four years) Tito Puente. His debut on Fania records, it’s a great boogaloo recording bringing latin jazz to rhythm & blues. “Deeper Shade of Soul” was sampled by Urban Dance Squad on their debut single back in 1990. My copy is the 2023 Vinyl Me Please…
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Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel . . . , 2012 on Clean Slate / Epic
The full title is The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do but most people refer to it just as The Idler Wheel. The title comes from a poem Apple wrote. Fiona Apple’s fourth studio album and her most commercially…
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The Mar-Keys / Booker T. and the MGs, Back to Back, 1967 on Stax
The Mar-Keys were the backing band on lots of early Stax records, and had personnel overlap with what became the MGs & The Memphis Horns. Deanie Parker’s liner notes say “Booker T. & The MG’s . . . is the rhythm section of The Mar-Keys.” This album was recorded live on a Stax/Volt tour in…
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Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour, 2018 on MCA Nashville
Musgrave’s fourth album on MCA Nashville, produced by Musgraves with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, with songs co-written by Musgraves with folks like Shane McAnally, Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird, and the producers. Though still on the MCA Nashville label, it’s very much an album that starts to wander deliberately outside of contemporary country conventions, moving…
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Ray Charles, Ray Charles in Person, 1960 on Atlantic
Recorded live May 28th, 1959 at the WAOK fifth anniversary celebration, Herndon Stadium in Atlanta. Recorded from the audience, reportedly from a single microphone 100 feet from the stage. First time, according to sleeve notes from Zenas Sears, that “What I’d Say” and “Tell the Truth” were played in Atlanta. My copy is the Vinyl…
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Freddie Roach, Brown Sugar, 1964 on Blue Note
Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, with Joe Henderson, Eddie Wright, and Clarence Johnston joining Freddie Roach. As Roach says in the liner notes, describing folks dancing: “I watched that multitude of people pulsing, boiling, melting, looking for all the world like sweet fudge. I thought this is my favorite dessert – Brown Sugar. If only…
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Various Artists, Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver, 2022 on New West Records
Fantastic collection of covers of the original outlaw country troubador. Standouts for me are Miranda Lambert and Margo Price but really all the tracks are wonderful. Produced by Charlie Sexton and Freddy Fletcher. My copy is the limited edition on “Old Chunk of Coal” grey vinyl via Vinyl Me Please.
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Gang Starr, No More Mr. Nice Guy, 1989 on Wild Pitch Records
Houton’s DJ Premier and Boston’s Guru as a Brooklyn based hip hop duo, sometimes credited as the originators of jazz rap / jazz hip hop. “Words I Manifest” does sample “Night in Tunisia” and the album featured the song “Jazz Music.” My copy is the Vinyl Me Please reissue from 2022, with listening notes by…
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Sylvan Esso, No Rules Sandy, 2022 on Loma Vista / Psychic Hotline
My copy is the VMP limited, numbered edition on orange vinyl, pressed at Memphis Record Pressing. There’s a partially opaque slipcover through which you can see the tracklist with “No Rules Sandy” on the slipcover fitting into the ( ) on the printed cover. Amelia Meath and Nicholas Sanborn perform as Sylvan Esso, out of…