The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

Time for the Delta Bombers. This rolled by on the playlist at dinner this evening.

 
I have been checking out the new Doobie Brothers album today.... it's called Liberte, named for one of the biker bars they used to play in, the Chateau Liberte in California (San Jose maybe?) Anyway, it's good driving music, Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons still sound as good as ever. My favorite song is "Easy," it would have been right at home on any of the classic Doobies albums from the '70s. Another highlight is the closing tune, "Amen Old Friend," a bit of a rarity among Doobie tunes as it's a Tom Johnston ballad. Definitely worth a check-out if you're a fan of the band.

I also recently discovered a new song by Alan Parsons, called "The Never Ending Show," which is the title track to a new live album he's coming out with. This song, however, is a studio creation and is one of the best things he's done since the Alan Parsons Project days. Very atmospheric. It's available on YouTube in a short version and a longer version that has a really cool video:

 
I'm going a little Donato crazy tonight.
I've still been enjoying the two-fer CD I bought a couple of months ago, with two of his earliest albums. Qobuz only had the first album , but the second has a few more I am familiar with ("Tema Teimoso," "Tim Dom Dom," "Minha Saudade").



Donato also was integral to Cal Tjader's The Prophet, playing keys on the album and contributing three or four tracks.
 
I have been checking out the new Doobie Brothers album today.... it's called Liberte, named for one of the biker bars they used to play in, the Chateau Liberte in California (San Jose maybe?) Anyway, it's good driving music, Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons still sound as good as ever.
I've sampled the first few tracks--it's great to hear them again! From the cover photo, they seem to be down to a trio of "original" members (as John McFee joined for one of the later albums in the Michael McDonald years).

I just remembered the Patrick Simmons hit "So Wrong" from 1983...and found that Qobuz has his album Arcade, which I believe is one of his few (or his only?) solo record. It's about as un-Doobies as he'd get, although the album hops through all sorts of styles.

1633436813342.png

I never owned the album (hearing it now), but did find the promo 12" single of "So Wrong" at one of my favorite hangouts in the 80s, who used to get in a lot of these promo singles. Looks as though the fellas from Huey Lewis & The News penned one of the tracks (and the style is very much in the News style), and Michael McDonald assisted on another more bluesy track, also singing backup vocals and contributing keyboards (so apparently, not all that much bad blood between them).

 
I've still been enjoying the two-fer CD I bought a couple of months ago, with two of his earliest albums. Qobuz only had the first album , but the second has a few more I am familiar with ("Tema Teimoso," "Tim Dom Dom," "Minha Saudade").



Donato also was integral to Cal Tjader's The Prophet, playing keys on the album and contributing three or four tracks.

His music is so layered, rich and rhythmic. Now I'm shopping again.
 
I've sampled the first few tracks--it's great to hear them again! From the cover photo, they seem to be down to a trio of "original" members (as John McFee joined for one of the later albums in the Michael McDonald years).

I just remembered the Patrick Simmons hit "So Wrong" from 1983...and found that Qobuz has his album Arcade, which I believe is one of his few (or his only?) solo record. It's about as un-Doobies as he'd get, although the album hops through all sorts of styles.

1633436813342.png

I never owned the album (hearing it now), but did find the promo 12" single of "So Wrong" at one of my favorite hangouts in the 80s, who used to get in a lot of these promo singles. Looks as though the fellas from Huey Lewis & The News penned one of the tracks (and the style is very much in the News style), and Michael McDonald assisted on another more bluesy track, also singing backup vocals and contributing keyboards (so apparently, not all that much bad blood between them).


Back when we were all addicted to reverb.
 
"Madagascar" certainly was an unusual tune! Almost sounds like an outtake from a 60s film soundtrack. Also one of the rare BMB tunes with a sax.

I don't know if you saw it a while back, but I posted Cal Tjader's version of "Fresh Air" that improves on the Baja version quite a bit (opens it up a bit for solos, and less cluttered IMHO).


Adding to the list!
 
I've sampled the first few tracks--it's great to hear them again! From the cover photo, they seem to be down to a trio of "original" members (as John McFee joined for one of the later albums in the Michael McDonald years).

I just remembered the Patrick Simmons hit "So Wrong" from 1983...and found that Qobuz has his album Arcade, which I believe is one of his few (or his only?) solo record. It's about as un-Doobies as he'd get, although the album hops through all sorts of styles.

1633436813342.png

I never owned the album (hearing it now), but did find the promo 12" single of "So Wrong" at one of my favorite hangouts in the 80s, who used to get in a lot of these promo singles. Looks as though the fellas from Huey Lewis & The News penned one of the tracks (and the style is very much in the News style), and Michael McDonald assisted on another more bluesy track, also singing backup vocals and contributing keyboards (so apparently, not all that much bad blood between them).


Sheesh, even among background vocalists, Michael McDonald's voice is recognizable <3 :cool: (unless of course he did all those background vocals 🙃 )
 
I only know "Gimme all your lovin'" by ZZ Top, but I think I like this one better 😎
Eliminator is probably the best of their albums from that era, and that has always been my favorite album track. Eliminator had these two tunes, "Sharp Dressed Man," "Legs" and "TV Dinners." Classic videos, especially "Sharp Dressed Man." The albums after this kind of went too far into synthesizers (Afterburner, Recycler) and it took a few records before they got back to their original sound. Deguello is another good one I've liked. Although the Greatest Hits is a good starting point (even if a couple of the earlier tracks like "La Grange" and "Tush" are slightly remixed).
 
I'm not Finnished with this one yet, but this was released last week. Another take on a couple of Bartok works that I like.

1633736376549.png


Bad pun...
 
Conductor Susanna Malkki makes some interesting tempo changes on this new recording (above). The "Allegro" from "Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta" I usually hear ripped through at a fast pace, which is fun in its own manic sort of way (and I always pictured an Elmer Fudd cartoon set to this 😁), but Malkki changes the tempo quite a few times, playfully exploring different nuances along the way. Same with "Concerto for Orchestra," where she has some fun with the tempo throughout the first movement.

And talk about a good recording! It's full-bodied and dynamic, with plenty of detail. As much as I like the RCA Living Stereo versions of these (Fritz Reiner/Chicago Symphony), this one is also a keeper. Demo quality.

I'm looking into more of her sessions. Qobuz has this one, and a few other recent recordings, in hi-res.
 
Former Playboy playmate November 1980 Jeana Tomasino (known as Jenna Keough former "Real Housewives Of Orange County") appeared in ZZ Top's music videos for "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man" both in 1983 & the remix version of "Legs" in 1984.
 
I finally got a chance to spin this one. Five of the twelve are Bacharach/David tunes and as good as some of the others are, these five outclass the others.

SUqSQlF.png
 
Interesting single release--this was released back in August. Dr. Lonnie Smith with a remake of the title tune from his 1970 album Move Your Hand. This one features his pal Iggy Pop on vocals (they were brought together by producer Don Was)



The Doctor and Iggy Pop recorded two studio tunes for his last album Breathe so I'm not sure if this is foreshadowing a full new album later in the year, or if it's just an extra track from Breathe.
 
Lonnie Smith was also a sideman on this Lou Donaldson hit, "Alligator Boogaloo."



Not quite authentic boogaloo, like Joe Cuba's "Bang Bang" though...

 
Interesting collection on the Blue Note label--favorite picks of Horace Silver and Art Blakey by Joe Jackson (one disc each). Not too familiar with Blakey's work, but recognize most of the cuts by Silver, although some are alternate versions I haven't heard before (like "Que Pasa" which is done as a trio piece at a faster tempo, giving it more of an exotic feel--wish I could find which album this was fron), and the well-known version of "Song for my Father" that sounds oddly muffled compared to the other versions I have. "Nica's Dream" is the version from Horace-Scope.

1634950390083.png

At the moment, my last spin for the evening is the classic album The Jazz Messengers by Art Blakey, the album that started it all. Horace Silver's "Ecaroh" here is my favorite version, and this also has the long nearly-12-minute version of "Nica's Dream."

1634951822071.png

I'll save this one for tomorrow night--plenty of good tunes here also, with Blakey on drums and a rotating cast of bass players:

1634951801626.png
 
So I finally found this--apparently it was a bonus track on the Song for my Father CD, from the 1999 Rudy Van Gelder Edition remaster. The trio version of "Que Pasa." It moves at a good clip! And I'm liking it as much as the original Quintet version.

 
Back
Top Bottom