Saturday, 30 December 2023

Barbra Streisand

We Now have the third album by Barbra Streisand ! 

1. My Melancholy Baby
2. Just In Time
3. Taking A Chance On Love
4. Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered
5. Never Will I Marry

1. As Time Goes By
2. Draw Me A Circle
3. It Had To Be You
4. Make Believe
5. I Had Myself A True Love
            9. Make Believe     

Glenn Miller & His Orchestra

I'm disappointed with this one !...its another "Electronically Created Stereo" and this one doesn't seem to work they have separated the instruments to give a stereo effect and have lessened the "Glenn Miller Sound" so it sounds just like a random big band !!...the other one I have posted earlier  that had the ECS sounded great and it also a RCA International L/P....So the little man at the controls of the knobs and sliders perhaps wasn't listening too well !! on this one !.....Maybe it's my ears but would like a comment on this one !!


           1. Moonlight Serenade
 

Caterina Valente


 All the tracks on this L/P have been re-recorded by Caterina about 10 years after the originals....Glad she used the same Werner Muller Orch as the original tracks....The difference is the "Stereo"sound....The originals on The "Polydor" label as far as I know where only recorded in "Mono"...unless somebody out there knows different !!!...The tracks are good but you can hear how much her voice had changed over the 10 years.....There are several tracks that definatly don't come under the title "Greatest Hits".....The vocal gymnastics that she does on "The Breeze And I "are different on this version.....Although this is a great L/P I think I prefer her in her "Polydor" Days !!

1. Malaguena
2. Poinciana
3. More
4. La Paloma
5. The Peanut Vendor
6. What A Difference A Day Made

1. The Breeze And I
2. La Golondrina
3. Amapola
4. Estrellita
5. Besame Mucho
6. My Shawl
      1. The Breeze And I

Friday, 29 December 2023

Shirley Bassey.


 Ok lets start this session with some Re-Posts 
  "Dame Shirl" a little older now from the last post.... we are in the 70's and she is now an established performer !!!
 There's not much to say about a "Bassey" live performance except just listen !!.....Recorded as Side One & Side Two !!

1. Star Theme & Does Anybody Miss Me & Something Coming
2. As I Love You
3. You Are My Way Of Life
4. I Must Know
5. You Can Have Him
6. The Lady Is A Tramp

1. Big Spender
2. I'll Never Fall In Love Again
3. I Who Have Nothing
4. The Joker
5. Funny Girl
6. You And I
7 This Is My Life & Star Theme

Li'L Abner (Film).


 This is another of my favorite films....the songs are very good....I think that you would have to see the film to appreciate them.....But a couple of them could be familiar like "I'm Past My Prime" and "Namely You".....so if you want a treat sometime go and see it....its an old film so if it comes on TV or you see it in your local DVD shop give youself a treat....It's corny but good !!

1. Overture / A Typical Day
2. If I Had My Druthers
3. Jubilation T Cornpone
4. Don't That Take The Rag Offen The Bush
5. Room Unuff For Us
6. Namely You

1. The Country's In The Very Best Of Hands
2. Unnecessary Town
3. I'm Past My Prime
4. I Wish It Could Be Otherwise
5. Put Em' Back The Way They Wuz
6. The Matrimonial Stomp And Finale



3. I'm Past My Prime

The Sandpipers.


 A nice set of songs..I think that they only had one "Worldwide" hit and that is the title of this L/P

1. Guantanamera 
2. Carmen
3. Cast Your Fate To The Wind
4. Glass
5. It's Over
6. La Mer

1. Things We Said Today
2. Inch Worm
3. What Makes You Dream Pretty Girl
4. Stasera Gli Angeli Non Volano
5. Angelica


1. Things We Said Today

Liza Minnelli.

 This is Liza at her peak in voice and performance as it says on the cover "A Concert For Television"and its a good one...I believe you can get it on a DVD I've got it on a VHS recorded from the TV ! If anyone can remember that's the way we did it in the dark ages !!

P.S. As this is a live performance there are no gaps in the tracks so I have recorded them as Side 1 and Side 2....Great recording of "You've Let Yourself Go" equals the composer's recording "Charles Aznavour's"!!!!!

1. Yes
2. God Bless The Child
3. Liza With A "Z"
4. It Was A Good Time
5. I Gotcha
6. Ring Them Bells

1. Son Of A Preacher Man
2. Bye Bye Blackbird
3. You've Let Yourself Go
4. My Mammy
5. Medley From "Cabaret"
    a. Wilkomen
    b. Married
    c. Money Money
    d. Maybe This Time
    e. Cabaret


Wednesday, 20 December 2023

The Golden Age Of Dance Bands

If you have got the original recordings of these great tracks then you will not be able to tell the difference !!...here we have.. as it says on the back the Brilliant HI-FI versions of these songs and tunes ! Co's In the 30's & 40's we had the good old brittle 78's.... and 45's... L/P's ...... CD's were  years away !!....Consequently recording techniques were still being developed....So with all that tech guff !...have a download and see if you can tell the difference !!


           2. You Made Me Love You
 

Johnnie Gray


 We now have a multitude of Sax's 

           5. Flamingo

Stan Kenton

Re-post in case you missed it the first time !...and are still curious !

 I wasn't going to post this L/P because even now having bought it 50 odd years ago It's still a mystery to me...Do I Like It ? well that has been going round my brain for the said 50 years !!
It really has no Melody but there is something fascinating about it....You can Compare it to a "Picasso" abstract painting  I suppose !!...Even the composer "Bob Graettinger" states on the back..."The Music Of "The City Of Glass" is primary abstract and non-objective"!!!...whatever that means !!....SOOOOO if you want a challenge and want something that is "Out Of This world"give it a listen and make a comment would love to hear what everyone thinks about it...or am I on my own thinking I might like it in another 50 years !!!.....It is a 10 inch L/P and only lasts for aprox 18 mins....

1. Entrance Into The City
2. The Structures
3. Dance Before The Mirror
4. Reflections


Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass


 Before we go shimmying down to the 30's lets pop into the Tijuana Rhythms and have a jig about !!


         4. Bean Bag

Harry Roy And His Band

Now for some music from the 30's & 40's to get your feet tapping !!..it says that these are the original recording from way back beginning 1933....somebody has done a good job of transferring them from what I imagine would be old shellac 78's....unless of course they have the original masters !!.....I think that the 30's would be to early for Tapes so I imagine that they would have recorded directly onto a master Disc !!....anyway just listen what musically turned people on in the 30's !!


          10. Nobody's Sweetheart

Bucks Fizz


 Forget the "Cheesy" song that won "The Eurovision" for England !!! BOY have this group grown up and improved 100%.....TRUE that this L/P is not one of their commercial successes but it just shows that a group can improve with time....It's defiantly worth a listen to.....To those who are just a bit unsure !!!!! GO ON DO IT !!

1. I Hear Talk
2. Indebted To You
3. Tears On The Ballroom Floor
4. Cold War
5. Golden Days

1. Talking In Your Sleep
2. Breaking Me Up
3. January's Gone
4. She Cries
5. Thief In The Night

          1. I Hear Talk

Geraldo & His Orchestra


 Put on your dancing shoes and have a glide around the floor !! that's if you have the room !!..if not put the Telly on and watch "Come Dancing" 



          7. Carioca

Barbra Streisand


With this L/P Barbra still has not got 100% control over her voice.. but still it's some of the best early vocals of hers...what she does with the track "Down With Love"is nothing but genius...I wonder what it would sound like if she did it now!!!...There is no doubt that her voice has changed and gone deeper and these days she has got full control of her voice....and there is a definite different sound now....Her record company CBS released a 45 single of two songs from this L/P that are different versions "My Colouring Book" & "Lover Come Back To Me"so I am posting them as well so you can hear the difference !!

P.S. Some Production Information....both the L/P and the single was produced by "Mike Bernikar"The L/P was released in England in 1963 and was arranged and conducted by "Peter Matz"....the single was released in England in 1962 and the track "My Colouring Book" was arranged and conducted by "Robert Mersey"..."Lover Come Back To Me" was arranged and conducted by "George Williams"......there is defiantly a difference in the "Colouring Book" track but not much difference to the "Lover" track !!!

1. Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home
2. Right As The Rain
3. Down With Love
4. Who Will Buy
5. When The Sun Comes Out

1. Gotta Move
2. My Colouring Book
3. I Don't Care Much
4. Lover Come Back To Me
5. I Stayed To Long At The Fair
6. Like A Straw In The Wind
7. My Colouring Book ( 45 Single )
8. Lover Come back To Me ( 45 Single )



   3. Down With Love

Monday, 18 December 2023

Madeline Bell


 Now next we have three Different Singers and styles for you to  hear !

Madeline Bell (born 23 July 1942, Newark, New Jersey) is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in Britain during the 1960s, having arrived from the U.S. in the Gospel show Black Nativity in 1962, with vocal group The Bradford Singers.
She worked as a session singer, most notably backing for Dusty Springfield, and can be found on early Donna Summer material as well. Her first major solo hit was a cover version of Dee Dee Warwick's single "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", which performed better on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart than the original.
Madeline then joined contemporary pop combo Blue Mink, with whom she had a number of Top 20 hits with Philips Records in the UK, including "Melting Pot", "Our World", "Randy", "Banner Man", "Good Morning Freedom", "Sunday", "By The Devil I Was Tempted" and "Stay With Me". Before joining Blue Mink in late 1969 she sang solo, and her cover version of "Picture Me Gone" is still a Northern Soul favourite today, as is "What Am I Supposed To Do", from 1968, a two-minute B-side tune co-written with future Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones, then working as one of London's most in-demand session bassists (Bell also sang backup on Joe Cocker's Bye Bye Blackbird in 1969, which featured a guitar solo from another Led Zeppelin member, Jimmy Page) Jones later arranged, produced and recorded Bell's 1973 RCA album Comin' Atcha. She also contributed to the soundtrack of the romance film A Touch of Class (1973).






          11. Ain't Gonna Cry Anymore