This is a Recording

Here's another of the compilation cassettes I bought this summer, having taken home a Denon twin-deck hi-fi cassette player from the local charity shop. All Wrapped Up is a 1983 compilation of singles by The Undertones, with Side One filled with A-sides, and B-sides on Side Two. A cassette must be the least desirable medium for such an arrangement, with a long rewind required if one just wants to hear the hits repeatedly. The Undertones were unapologetically provincial and anti-fashionable, with their songs sharply-written slices of life that pointedly avoided any mention of politics, or of the then-continuing violence in their native Derry. My favourite tracks are the obvious choices: 'Teenage Kicks', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Here Comes the Summer', 'My Perfect Cousin' & 'Wednesday Week'. Their later singles showed increased sophistication but lack the some of the straightforward charm of their earlier work. The B-sides, not unexpectedly, are mo...

For a few years I was haunted by a song I could not identify. On the infrequent occasions I listened to the radio during my time in Rome, whichever station it was I'd settled upon as the least objectionable might play a jazzy-sounding number in which a deep male voice sang in Italian, but with some words of English in the chorus: "It's wonderful... good luck my baby...I dream of you... chips, chips". It was the kind of song where it seemed likelier that these were the chips one might be given in a casino, and not any potato-based foodstuff. I grew to love the song, but each of the half dozen or so times I heard it I never caught the artist or track-title being announced. I resigned myself to its remaining a mystery. But then I heard a snippet of it again a few years later in Amsterdam, issuing from a hotel-room TV as the soundtrack to an ad. On returning from that trip back to the UK, I resolved to see if the internet might be able to solve the puzzle for me. This w...

A few years too young to properly absorb the impact of punk when it was new, I feel now as if I've aged my way past it to some extent, much more often inclined to reach for the musical equivalent of a pipe & slippers than anything shouty or confrontational. In between, I was very much a fan, more so of the pop-punk side of things (The Ramones, Blondie, Buzzcocks, The Undertones) than of its angrier or more politicised aspects. I first bought Singles Going Steady on cassette when I was twenty-one, and it was already ten years old. At that time it felt like the perfect album. I'd mentioned my erstwhile affection for it to my sister, who subsequently (about five years ago) found a well-worn vinyl copy that she kindly gave to me. It turned out to be a US first pressing. Thrilled as I was to hear it all again, I've not often revisited it. Despite that, I don't think I'll be letting it go in the forseeable future, unlike my copies of Never Mind the Bollocks... and t...

A part-smoked Sobranie cigarette with lipstick on the filter tip perched on a fancy ashtray; a single long-stemmed red rose; a bottle of costly-looking booze (cognac?) and a glass poured from it; a cup of coffee and something resembling a half-eaten chocolate truffle; two glasses of Dom Perignon champagne, one of them, again, marked with lipstick; and the open champagne bottle and its cork; a bowl of beluga caviar; a single uneaten prawn; and a pair of high-heeled shoes. Exactly how these these signifiers of affluence and romance relate to the music on Bill Withers' Greatest Hits (1981) isn't obvious, but it is an interesting and eye-catching cover design. I was familiar with the biggest of these hits: 'Just The Two Of Us', 'Ain't No Sunshine', 'Lovely Day' and 'Lean On Me', from radio play back in the '70s and '80s, but at that time these songs, as with most soul music, seemed as if it were a language I didn't quite understand a...

This 2006 box set's full title is simply a list of the six pieces contained within: Asrael | A Summer's Tale | The Ripening | Epilogue | Fairy Tale | Praga - these being the major orchestral works of the Czech violinist and composer Josef Suk (1874-1935). The performances collected here date from between 1985-89, and feature the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, with Václav Neumann conducting 'Asrael', 'The Ripening' and 'Epilogue', and Libor Pešek at the podium for the other three works. On 'Epilogue', the Prague Philharmonic Choir and three solo singers can also be heard. I'd first heard Suk's music on a Naxos CD I bought ca. 2001 on which 'A Summer's Tale' was the stand-out. I especially loved its second and third movements. Seeking to explore further, I acquired an album including both 'Asrael' and 'Fairy Tale', where it was the latter piece that particularly appealed to me. His later works like 'The Ripe...

Remarkably extensive though it is, the Discogs database doesn't contain everything, with its coverage of classical releases patchier than that of rock, pop & jazz ones. Had I continued to rely on the 'Random Item' button there, then I wouldn't have been in a position to write about this 2-CD Anniversary Edition album which brings together notable performances of half a dozen works by the Soviet composer Alfred Schnittke: as far as I can tell, no-one has added it there yet*. The album was released in 2020 on the Russian Melodiya label, intended to mark what would have been the composer's 85th birthday (but a year late for that). It's a handsome package with a very informative booklet in an unusual double-digipak which folds out into an L-shape. I bought it when it came out, being particularly interested to get a recording of his 'Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra' (1979), which I'd been listening to via YouTube. It's represented here by...

Some 'Best Of' compilations are meticulously-curated labours of love; others are lazy cash-grabs. This  The Very Best Of The Lovin' Spoonful CD released in 1998 is nearer the latter end of that continuum than the former. There are some (uncredited) liner notes, but they're on the perfunctory side; the track-listing and credits contain a few errors; and the handful of photographs are unimpressive. Nevertheless, the music itself (26 tracks of it in all) remains strong enough for it to be worth the while: I must have owned it for at least 15 years and it still gets played every now & then. I only knew 'Summer in the City' and maybe one or two of their other songs before I bought a similar compilation on cassette in '89 or '90. I was greatly impressed to discover a round dozen or more classic pop-rock numbers therein and very little in the way of filler. Between '65 and '68. John Sebastian turned out one winning melody after another: 'Daydre...

I knew and loved The Only Ones' 'Another Girl, Another Planet' when I was in my late teens, but wasn't aware of the band's catalogue beyond their best-known song. At some point during my university years I took a chance on a cassette copy of their Peel Sessions Album , then newly-released. At first hearing I wasn't sure I liked the session version of 'Another Girl...' as much as the single version; but subsequent listens changed my mind, and I grew to love many of the other tracks too. When, at length, I found a cassette copy of the band's third album Baby's Got a Gun , I was disappointed by it: I did not care for the production on it at all. I later tried again with their compilation The Immortal Story , but again, found I liked it much less than the Peel Sessions , which, as one Discogs commenter pithily put it, is "like a 'best of' but with even better versions of all their best songs". I let the matter rest there, but then t...

Another of the albums I've re-acquired on vinyl that I formerly owned on cassette is this compilation of some of Sweet Honey in the Rock's best tracks as of 1987. I feel fairly sure I bought it relatively soon after its release. Theirs was among the several kinds of music that Andy Kershaw would play on his Radio 1 show - there's a fair chance I heard of them from him. They're an a capella vocal quintet with a sixth member who provides sign-language interpretations of their songs. At Discogs this is categorised as "Gospel/Soul". There's more here of the socially-conscious, political & inspirational than the outright religious: they're preaching a kind of semi-secular gospel on this record, though their singing must surely derive much of its quality and heft from devotional roots. My favourite tracks here include the rousingly righteous 'Ella's Song' & 'Study War No More', and softer-edged numbers like the title track and ...

Another CD I picked up from the seemingly now-defunct Kriminal Records in Newport is this 2010 2-disc issue on the "Not Now" label. Disc 1 contains the 1958 album Moanin' , while disc 2 has Orgy in Rhythm , originally released on two LPs in 1963. The Jazz Messengers only appear on the former, with the latter the fruits of a separate project where Blakey played with no fewer than three other drummers; along with a quartet of percussionists plus bass, piano and flute. Interesting & unusual as they are, I haven't yet taken a shine to the Orgy in Rhythm tracks. Moanin' , on the other hand, is a firm favourite. From the opening piano notes of the title track, one feels in safe hands, and the quality barely dips though the whole record. The Jazz Messengers on this occasion were Benny Golson on tenor sax; Lee Morgan on trumpet, Bobby Timmons on piano and Jymie Merritt on bass. For me, the most memorable instrumental moments on the record come from Morgan, such the s...

I wouldn't usually write about a record I'd only listened to once, but in this case I'm at least slightly acquainted with most of the music on it; and unavoidably know some of it very well. In Chepstow a couple of weeks ago I picked several records out of a crate on the floor of a charity shop of which this was one: a 1978 double-LP Hendrix compilation. It cost me rather less than the £6.30 price sticker on the cover from a prior sale. As with any compilation I'm more in agreement with some of the editorial choices than others: we have 'Purple Haze' here but not 'Foxy Lady'; 'Little Wing' but not 'Spanish Castle Magic'; 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' but, sadly, not 'Crosstown Traffic'. It also ventures beyond the three Experience records, with the last couple of tracks on Side C and all of Side D taken from some of the many of his posthumously-issued albums like The Cry of Love , Rainbow Bridge , and so forth. These, b...

Johnny Hodges' Mellow Tone is a 1977 double-album which brings together two sets of tracks that I believe had both previously been issued on separate LPs. One disc is ostensibly a 1958 live recording of Duke Ellington's band (of which Hodges had been a prominent member for decades) in Chicago; the other a set of tracks recorded in Paris in 1950 by a smaller, eight-piece group. It's confusing as the track-listing in the gatefold contradicts the labels as to which disc is which. Nor are Charles Fox's sleevenotes exactly a model of clarity. And the Chicago tracks may actually date from 1959. Whenever they were recorded, those live big-band numbers are highly enjoyable; while the other disc I revisit less often. Its tunes are all brief, as if recorded with 78s in mind, and their sound quality, not surprisingly, isn't the best. It's another of the many albums I've bought as part of a 3-for-£10 purchase from the selection upstairs at St. Mary St. Collectables in...

I have to presume that most people who know anything about records know that old Blue Note LPs are collectable and worth money. Their striking cover designs mean they'd be hard to overlook. I don't think I've ever seen a '50s or '60s Blue Note album in a charity shop, and if I have happened to catch sight of the odd one anywhere else, a glance at the asking price has sufficed to make me forget it existed. In the '80s there were a few stabs at cashing in on the Blue Note brand, among them a series of 50th Anniversary Collection double compilation albums (released in '89), one of which, Vol. 3 - 'Funk & Blues' - I was lucky enough to spot in the wild. Also in the series were 'From Boogie to Bop' (Vol. 1); 'The Jazz Message' (Vol. 2); 'Outside In' (Vol. 4) and 'Lighting the Fuse' (Vol. 5). Of those, the track-listings on Vols. 2 & 3 are most to my taste, so it worked out well I found one of those two. The compil...

Here's another 4-CD 8-album jazz compilation of dubious provenance, this one on a label called "Enlightenment", the estimable Julian "Cannonball" Adderley its subject. The albums included are Portrait Of Cannonball ; Jump For Joy ; Things Are Getting Better ; Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago ; Blue Spring ; Cannonball Takes Charge ; The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco and Them Dirty Blues . As the title states, all eight date from between 1958-60, but aren't a complete accounting of his recordings during that period, with the renowned Somethin' Else notable by its absence. Blue Spring is an outlier, being co-credited to trumpeter Kenny Dorham and Adderley, and predominantly featuring the former's compositions. Adderley has a co-star on Things Are Getting Better too, in the shape of The Modern Jazz Quartet's Milt Jackson. ... in San Francisco , as its title implies, is a live album, and a terrific one at that. (Supposedly am...

Between lockdowns in 2020 I purchased a pre-owned vinyl copy of The Singles compilation by Pretenders. It includes sixteen of their golden greats. I always liked the sound of Chrissie Hynde's voice and enjoyed many of these songs when they were new, while being ambivalent about others (notably 'Brass in Pocket', and some of the later hits). I wasn't enough of a fan to investigate their albums, so its a case of a "Best Of" being ideal. In general I prefer the less polished stuff on side A to the glossier material on side B, but I can sit back and enjoy almost all of it, with the exception of the closing track, the version of 'I Got You Babe' Hynde did with UB40 - an interloper in my estimation that doesn't really belong. Hynde wrote or co-wrote eleven of the sixteen tracks, so the album's a testament to her top-notch songwriting skills. A further two songs are from the pen of her one-time partner Ray Davies, and another two, besides 'I Got ...

The Real Gone Jazz label must have issued at least a couple of hundred multi-CD jazz compilations, of which I've haphazardly accumulated seven or eight, the latest of which is this collection of Seven Classic Albums by the trumpeter and composer Richard Allen 'Blue' Mitchell. The seven records in question are Big 6 , Out of the Blue , Blue Soul , Blue's Moods , Smooth as the Wind , A Sure Thing and The Cup Bearers , all dating from between 1958 and 1962. As with all of these compilations, I like some parts better then others. Smooth as the Wind is an attempt at marrying a ten-piece jazz band with a string section, which, despite the efforts of expert arrangers Tadd Dameron and Benny Golson, doesn't hit the spot for me. A Sure Thing boasts arrangements by saxophonist Jimmy Heath played by a nine-piece band, which I like a little better, but not as much as the albums featuring smaller ensembles. Indeed, my favourite of the seven, Blue's Moods, is the only one...

Though James & Bobby were cousins, they didn't share a surname: 'Jim & Bobby Dickey' didn't have the same ring about it, however, and neither did 'Robert & James Purify', so 'James & Bobby Purify' it was. This is a 16-track compilation on the UK Charly R&B label from 1988 of some of the duo's most popular tunes. I'd taken a chance on a '60s album of theirs ( The Pure Sound Of The Purifys ) six or seven years ago, and though the music was marvellous, the disc had been well-used and was in poor condition, so when this record came into my hands it took the place of the other one. It's a well put-together selection, with informative sleeve-notes by John Ridley, who makes a strong case for their being underappreciated talents too often overshadowed by their more successful contemporaries Sam & Dave. James and Bobby benefitted from recording at the renowned FAME Studios in Alabama, with the expert backing of the Muscl...

After I'd accumulated a couple of dozen excellent LPs by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Nat 'King' Cole and Frank Sinatra, it occurred to me to wonder who else had been signing in similar styles in the '50s and '60s whose names were less well-remembered. I went looking on-line and thereby found my way to singers I ought to have heard of, like Nancy Wilson , and to more obscure performers such as Ethel Ennis and Dakota Staton . Staton was blessed with a clear & bright voice capable of near-operatic power. She comes across as an ebullient performer. Her diction was excellent, even if, to my taste, she was sometimes prone to over-enunciate and over-act a lyric. I suspect that, given the opportunity, she could have shone in musical theatre. Crazy He Calls Me is one of no fewer than three LPs Capitol Records released under her name in 1959. Unlike the others it's a compilation of newly-recorded tracks and of material pre-dating her '57 breakth...

With the copyright of many classic jazz recordings having expired in the EU there have been a profusion of public domain re-issues of doubtful provenance and unpredicatable quality. Here is an example: a 5 CD set from 2013 of albums originally on the Riverside label between 1956 and 1960. The re-issue is courtesy of 'Not Now Music'. In this instance the sound quality is plenty good enough for me. Each CD comes in a card sleeve and includes a single album, with no added bonus tracks. There's also a 20-page booklet with notes by Peter Gamble, the whole package contained in a clamshell box. I had downloaded versions of a couple of the albums included here some time ago, but felt the need to acquire hard copies of  his music too. I've never found an affordable Monk LP in the wild, so an inexpensive CD set seemed like a good choice. Of the albums in the box, The Unique Thelonious Monk is, for me, the least interesting, with Monk tackling seven standards accompanied by bass ...

The Best of Peggy Lee , but without 'Fever', her most famous song? This alone might incline one to scepticism about this 1981 compilation, but the packaging doesn't help either. The design is rudimentary, the sleevenotes perfunctory and uncredited, with the pictures on the inner sleeve of other titles from the "MCA Special Price Nostalgia Series" resembling bad photocopies. Fortunately, though, the mastering & pressing are quite adequate and the music itself is marvellous. The record opens in atypical style with the hot-blooded melodrama of 'Lover', where Lee's full-on vocal delivery overlays a boldly percussive arrangement. Elsewhere the singer's voice is oftener more of a croon, and the emotional temperature is cooler (though the version here of Cole Porter's 'Just One Of Those Things' has something of that same energy). Track 2, 'Apples, Peaches And Cherries', is a twee number partly played for laughs; track 3 'Love M...