The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

John Barry was my favorite soundtrack composer as well. What a great talent he was. I met the President of his fan club, from England, back in the 1980’s. He flew to Los Angeles to meet with my soundtrack collector and industry connected friends. He was quite funny.
 
GDB2LV said:
John Barry was my favorite soundtrack composer as well. What a great talent he was. I met the President of his fan club, from England, back in the 1980’s. He flew to Los Angeles to meet with my soundtrack collector and industry connected friends. He was quite funny.
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If you have not checked it out already there are 2 recent releases of interest.

1. Music by John Barry -494 pgs. A very nice hardcover book.

2. The More Things Change - A new compilation which includes the entire "Ready When You Are JB" album (save for Born Free) for the first time on CD +additional tracks. All remastered from the original tapes. To be released in 4/1.
 
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I wonder if Robert Wood contributed anything to that book? Thank you.
I actually got to go with one of those friends to composer and jazz master Gil Mellé’s home to pick up an unreleased score he did around that time too. His home was a music lovers dream. His sound system was built into his house. No two walls were parallel with each other for musical sound. All the speakers were built into the walls. The grills painted the same color, so you didn’t notice them. The rack of equipment had its own closet too. Tons of it. His wife poured me a glass of wine, and he played us his latest jazz recordings while we talked for a hour or so.
This is in Malibu, Ca. He was into restoring classic cars too as well, which he showed us. I saw a car parked in the driveway at the house next door on the way down his driveway. The license plate said LORIMAR on it. I asked Mr. Mellé’ if Katherine Ross & Sam Elliot lived there. He said yes! How would you know that! I told him my assistant manager at the Music Store saw them at a steakhouse in Pismo Beach, and that same car was parked in the lot. Strange coincidence. Anyway that was the best sounding audio system I’ve ever heard. He said the house built that way to accommodate the music he composed, and for the walls not too affect the sound. Anyway, if was a surreal experience for sure. I had never even heard of him before. I just knew of his score to the Andromeda Strain. Better know for his jazz though.
 
Flipping through a few Fleshtones releases in my library, I took a look at their most recent release, Face of the Screaming Werewolf. Second track is a tribute to someone we all knew well:



😁
 
Female singer Marti Jones debut "Unsophisticated Time" (1985) & her 3rd album "Used Guitars" (1988) (both on A&M) which I download on Apple iTunes. Great stuff. Marti is married to Don Dixon.
 
From what I remember from Mancini's autobiography, the second piano player said that playing her part made her sick to her stomach! Just listening to this now. The detuned pianos are unsettling, as is the film attached to it (Wait Until Dark).

 
AM Matt said:
Female singer Marti Jones debut "Unsophisticated Time" (1985) & her 3rd album "Used Guitars" (1988) (both on A&M) which I download on Apple iTunes. Great stuff. Marti is married to Don Dixon.
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Funny, I just picked up her A&M albums, too! (All vinyl copies, "Match Game" of which was still sealed!) Knew almost nothing about her (though I had remembered reading somewhere that she cut the original demo for "Walk Like an Egyptian" long before the Bangles ever got a hold of the song), but between those three records being issued via my all-time favorite label and also seeing Marshall Crenshaw (who I'm a huge fan of) in the cast of supporting players on her second album, I figured they had to be worth a shot and was not disappointed at all. Excellent records, all.
 
Rudy said:
the second piano player said that playing her part made her sick to her stomach! Just listening to this now. The detuned pianos are unsettling,
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Mancini delivers another winner. We also get to hear the fabulous Sue Raney sing over the closing credits. (The FSM version I have tells the story of how the music was recycled into a TV movie (!?!?) five years later (1972) without Hank's consent...he found about it while watching TV.)
 
JOv2 said:
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Herbie Nichols. Al Lion of Blue Note regarded Nichols as his 2nd greatest discovery (the first being Monk). Becoming a cult figure in the Young Lions jazz world the 1980s (I routinely featured his music on my radio program, 1988-92), Nichols was essentially unknown during his lifetime (he passed away in 1963). As much has been speculated about why his records didn't sell as has been written about the 29 fascinating compositions he recorded, 1952-57. Ever as original as Monk, his music is recommend with the highest esteem.
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Your radio program? Tell me more about it and who you are!
 
Rudy said:
Between Takin' It to the Streets and Minute by Minute, the low-key Doobies album Livin' On the Fault Line also seemed overlooked since it really didn't have many big hits, although a couple made it to their Best Of, Vol. 2 LP. This Patrick Simmons track was always a favorite.




Tom Johnston laid low on this LP (no compositions, no vocals, no guitar work that stands out as his style), as he left after it was completed. If anything, I hear more of Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on this record.
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Wasn’t it Baxter who played the smoking hot guitar on Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff? Incredible blend of rock and disco.
 
Mark-T said:
Wasn’t it Baxter who played the smoking hot guitar on Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff? Incredible blend of rock and disco.
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I wasn't previously aware of Baxter on that song but you're right--the guitar solo does have that trademark sound of his. It's harder to hear in Summer's track but amidst all the reverb, it certainly sounds like his work. (And he is in the credits--I only had the 12" single so never really had credits to look at until I got the HDTracks download.)

So I learnt something today! Thanks! 😁

His solos:



 
Mark-T said:
Your radio program? Tell me more about it and who you are!
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No biggie, actually. I went to two different universities in the '80s and '90s and secured jazz programs on the local NPR affiliates for both. The program at KHSU was my favourite. I called it, "I.e. Black Music" (after the Miles Davis reference: "we don't play jazz we play black...") and featured, you guessed it, jazz from 1955-70. The weekly program was an overnight 3-hour slot; I normally featured 4 complete LPs and occasionally had local musical guests sit in and offer brief comments. Otherwise, the show was known for the "lack of DJ-isms"...I used to state that the musical artists did all the talking -- so I merely font/back announced the recordings with personnel and whatnot (while working on my physics homework!). One nice thing about the show was that I could map out programs months in advance and "advertise" what was upcoming. The timing was good as starting in the late '80s the classic jazz recordings of the '50s/'60s (e.g., Prestige, Riverside, Blue Note) were undergoing a period of world-wide rediscovery (following 20 years-or-so of fusion); so the show filled an emerging musical appetite. I always paired the well known (e.g., Mingus) with the moderately known (e.g, Blue Mitchell) and the relatively unknown (e.g, Tina Brooks). Definitely a good time to be on the radio.
 
Marti Jones song "Talk To Me" (from 1985 "Unsophistcated Love") reminds me of The Zombies 1969 song "Time Of The Season". (audio only & album track)
 
Urgh! A Studio War.

A playlist I made on Qobuz with all the studio versions I could find of the Urgh! A Music War film. Aside from three or four I had to replace, and a couple not available digitally (had to settle for alternate demo versions of Oingo Boingo's "Ain't This The Life" and The Fleshtones "Shadow Line", and an early version of the Alley Cats "Nothing Means Nothing Anymore" from 1978 on the Dangerhouse label).

Open Qobuz

open.qobuz.com open.qobuz.com

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I've been listening to an older disc but a new find for me: Rumer's This Girl's in Love (a Bacharach & David Songbook). It's excellent and even features her version of Close to You. As a KC fan, even though Rumer sings higher here, you can get a flavor of what Karen and Richard might have done in their later years if they had returned to their roots. It's an excellent listen.
 
I picked up a copy of Alannah Myles yesterday at the thrift store. I have always likes Black Velvet and turn the volume up when it comes on. He voice has a bit of a country sound to it on a couple of the selections but it is a very good album.
 
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Oscar Peterson. "...O.P. swings his *#&$ off..." -- as it was explained to me by the senior jazz host at the first radio station I worked at...and after all these years, it's challenging to find another pianist that swings with all the fury and momentum of O.P. Because of this, the classic jazz trio and solo dates are always choice. Peterson exhibits a welcoming almost celebratory approach to music; indeed, it's hard to imagine anyone coming away from an O.P. album in a downcast manner. Night Train may be the best known of his '60s trio dates while the somewhat hard-to-find My Favorite Instrument (cut in '68 for MPS in Deutschland) is one several cherished solo releases.
 
I first heard Oscar Peterson on this gateway drug of a CD back in 1985:

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From this one, I bought Oscar's West Side Story (which remains a favorite), along with the Basie, Bill Evans, Mel Torme, Jimmy & Wes and Stephane Grappelli CDs. I didn't go for the Ella/Louis Armstrong since I'm no fan of his singing, but did get the two Ella CDs with Nelson Riddle.

Bought other Oscars at the time also--We Get Requests, Bursting Out!, Very Tall (with Milt Jackson) and yes, Night Train.

That sampler CD ended up costing me a lot. 😁
 
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