Reeeeeeally BAD records... You know, ENTERTAININGLY BAD. So BAD that they're actually laughable!

hey toeknee!
This is jazzdre comin' atcha! I remember a few years back that we had some correspondence on this site regarding I believe Wes Montgomery's music or something to that effect. Regarding what you were saying about that Gato Barbieri/Dollar Brand teamup:tongue:lease no offense but apperantly you don't like or don't understand free jazz, because that's exactly what Gato was playing! Around the time that Gato made this, he was trying to be Coltrane in a way, and thought that free jazz was the way to go. He later discovered that he and free jazz wasn't such a great fit. Afterwards, he discovered the music of his country(Argentina), and then that led him down to the path of creating his innovative brand of latin jazz.

I do agree with you: this tune is pretty bad, like the theme to a really bad grade B horror flick, but also another point of interest: I do hear some strands of music in Gato's playing that I would later hear in the music in the movie that he was involved in which was Last Tango In Paris. Also I think it's pretty bad 'cause I myself don't like free jazz! But as the song goes To Each His Own.
 
Hey Rudy!
I really enjoyed Pat Boone's version of "Enter Sandman"! Having never heard the original version(cuz I'm not into heavy metal) I can honestly say Pat 's version is really good. Maybe it's because it is very jazzy, and I wonder: WHO DID THE SAX SOLO? was it Grover Washington Jr? Or was it Sanborn? Or some studio cat? Either way, it was fantastic! I remember his daughter Debby making a joke about on Bill Maher's POLITICALLY INCORRECT show. When the CD came out, it got a LOT of flak, from the Born Again Christian community(he even got kicked off the Trinity Broadcasting Network for this), but got a LOT of love from the college crowd of the 90s. If you have it, it's a cult/collector's item. I'm a Christian, and I wasn't offended by this at all! Like toeknee quoted Pat: it was a joke. Let's lighten up , folks!
 
I just keep finding these things... How about "Shakespeare, Tchaikowsky, and Me!" by...Jayne Mansfield? It's truth in advertising all right; Jayne reading Shakespeare, Browning, Shelley, etc. to backgrounds of classical music. My head spun around three times when I found a 45 in the local vinyl shop, "The Ballad of David Duke" by The Louisiana Miracle... a song salute to the KKK leader turned Louisiana state representative. (He popped up in 2016 to endorse Donald Trump; he has since popped back down again.) Charley Weaver Sings? Yup. Greg Morris of Mission: Impossible reading song lyrics? Uh-huh. (Dot Records must have been flush with success after their launch of Leonard Nimoy's recording career...) "Can You Fix The Way I Talk For Christmas," with Joe Pesci doing a flawless imitation of Mel Blanc's Porky Pig voice? Lucky me.
 
I’ve seen that Charlie Weaver deal somewhere. Had totally forgotten about it.

Jayne Mansfield...hmm, now I have something to hunt for. :laugh:
 
Oh yeah, the Ethel Merman disco album is cringeworthy in the extreme. It's just off the scale bad!



To think this was released by A&M... Herb and Jerry got some 'splainin' to do! :rolleyes: :laugh:

I was laughing like silly listening to this I would say one of A&M s BIG MISTAKE RELEASES of all time I would only buy this as a comedy novelty item or for playing backwards as a weird sound effects l.p. at least me being an old time DJ I could find good uses for it just not as a legitimate music album
 
OMG, I have that album too. It’s a promo copy and I kept it as a joke. The Wayne Newton lp Steppin Out is just as bad. Everyone had to do a disco album back then. All the William Shatner lps are pretty bad.
Loved Mrs. Miller in the 60’s. Her version of Downtown is classic. The Mae West recording are a riot too. Love her version of Light My Fire.
 
Eartha Kitt also did a disco recording...and it was kind of bizarre in a hilarious way. Her growling and purring didn't sit well against the beat. :laugh: "Where Is My Man?" Probably running away from the music... :D

 
Yes, it was bizarre. So was Amanda Lear and of course the amazing Grace Jones was always fun. Don’t forget Sylvester too. One of the ladies I worked with loved his stuff, played it often.
 
Eartha Kitt also did a disco recording...and it was kind of bizarre in a hilarious way. Her growling and purring didn't sit well against the beat. :laugh: "Where Is My Man?" Probably running away from the music... :D


I loved the Eartha Kitt Disco tracks, I actually have the LP & CD. "I Love Men" is better than "Where Is My Man", but as an Eartha fan, at least she was trying to do something different at the time. Her dance tracks are still played in the gay clubs to this day.
 
Hey toeknee:

Long time I haven't talked to you, man! Hope you're doing well! Now about the Gato/Dollar duet: believe it or not, this is the Gato that jazz critics LOVED. I am not kidding you! The same jazz critics that froth over Ornette and Cecil loved this album! Don't believe me? Search the internet for reviews of this record and you'll see what I'm talking about! This was when Gato was in his "free jazz" period and was also in search of his sound. Later, he concluded rightly that latin jazz was his musical destiny, not avant garde free jazz.

His A&M period was critically lambasted...err no I'm mistaken on that one;the first two albums were well received by the critics(I'm talking about !CALIENTE! and RUBY,RUBY) but the last two were really dissed by the critics! Speaking of really bad albums/records check out Gato's TROPICO. Man is that ever a stinker! And believe it or not that is a LOT to say about one of my favorite artists! This was made at the time that disco was all the rage, and I guess A&M wanted a hit from Gato, so he turned to disco to sell records. To say that disco and Gato were a great fit is to say that Felix and Oscar get along. It was an incredibly bad mistake doing this record, and I'm sure Gato cringed when he heard the playback of this record! Yes, it's really bad and his version of the Roberta Flack/Donny Hathaway classic "Where Is The Love" wasn't enough to save this record.

You are right toe: this song is kinda hard to take, but like I said if you search the 'net, you'll find that our opinions differ from a lot of jazz critics out there. But,at the end of the day we all are entitled to our individual tastes, and like the song goes "To Each His Own."

Take care toe and to the rest of my friends out there in A&M internet land!
 
I actually liked Waylon's version but then I like Waylon in general. However, this gave me pause...
Ouch! That was...no so good. :laugh: He could make that work on his Crazy From The Heat EP, which had three well done covers on it ("Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody," "California Girls" and "Cocoanut Grove"), but this one just kind of sounds weird.
 
Regarding my reply yesterday to toe's opinion to the Gato/Dollar duet: I forgot that I had written practically the same reply nearly two years earlier! I even ended my reply on the same note by quoting the title of the standard "To Each His Own"!

Sorry, getting older you forget certain things,,, old age dontcha know...
 
Regarding my reply yesterday to toe's opinion to the Gato/Dollar duet: I forgot that I had written practically the same reply nearly two years earlier! I even ended my reply on the same note by quoting the title of the standard "To Each His Own"!

Sorry, getting older you forget certain things,,, old age dontcha know...

Like maybe mistaking the comma key for the period key, perhaps? Gotta go while I can still spel...
 
Hahaha...(is that period key enough for you,Dan?)Very funny,guys!!! Just for that,you BOTH will be sentenced to a room where you will listen to only Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman, then the Ethel Merman disco album, then afterwards The Archies Greatest Hits!!! So there!!! Nyaaaah!!!(hahahaha)
 
Hey toeknee:
Long time I haven't talked to you, man! Hope you're doing well! Now about the Gato/Dollar duet: believe it or not, this is the Gato that jazz critics LOVED. I am not kidding you! The same jazz critics that froth over Ornette and Cecil loved this album!
His A&M period was critically lambasted...err no I'm mistaken on that one;the first two albums were well received by the critics(I'm talking about !CALIENTE! and RUBY,RUBY) but the last two were really dissed by the critics! Speaking of really bad albums/records check out Gato's TROPICO. Man is that ever a stinker!
You are right toe: this song is kinda hard to take, but like I said if you search the 'net, you'll find that our opinions differ from a lot of jazz critics out there. But,at the end of the day we all are entitled to our individual tastes, and like the song goes "To Each His Own."
Take care toe and to the rest of my friends out there in A&M internet land!

Hey, jazzdre... Hope you're doing well too! And yeah, it's been a while. You know. Life happens, time flies. At any rate...

As for Gato: I am well aware of the critics' love for the early freeform stuff, and conversely their equal amount of disdain for TROPICO. And it's a well deserved disdain, I might add. I remember about 12 or 13 years ago, one Corner member made the accurate, but hilarious comment that the vocals on Poinciana ("We love-a makin' you dan-ce to it, do it, do it, do it...") "just gets me to barfin'." I couldn't agree more. The sad part is... the sax solos and the overall track are both bearable, considering the time period. Not my pick, mind you. But it would be tolerable... if not for the horrid vocals.

But where I differ from the critics immensely is on EUPHORIA. The very first track I ever heard from Gato Barbieri was the brass fanfare on Theme From Firepower. I have loved it ever since, along with Sophia, Carnavalito (that particular version) and Speak Low... all standout tracks IMHO. How they could write off that album is beyond me. But as you've said, "To Each His Own."

Take care, and thanks for chiming in.
 
Glad this thread was resurrected... I own many of the recordings shared here and have listened to just about all of them. They're really not that bad and even Ms. Merman's contribution is an essential part of the history of her career... I find most of these rather enjoyable!

If you want to hear the worst recordings ever you need only listen to Wing. Wing is an Asian singer hailing form New Zealand who does absolutely horrid versions of pop classics. Her discography has man many albums because, I guess, someone actually buys them!

Check her site: wingmusic.co.nz/ or check her out on YouTube. You will not be disappointed!
 
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