Big Al

There were a lot of mainstream rock & roll releases from various old established artists that I enjoyed a lot: 1) THAT'S WHY GOD MADE THE RADIO - The Beach Boys. This had far more hits than misses for me, and the closing suite of songs is sheer beauty. What a wonderful thing if they could let this be their swan song, because it would be more than fitting. 2) ANALOG MAN - Joe Walsh. His most enjoyable work since BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS, but hampered by sound so bad I actually whined about it in an Amazon review. 3) AMERICANA - Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Served as a nice appetizer for what came just a few months later... 4) PSYCHEDELIC PILL - Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Starting an album with a half-hour jam on two chords? Works for me. BOY, does it work for me! 5) TANK FULL OF BLUES - Dion. Cat's 72 years old and still sounds as full of fire as he did when he started. And oh my can he play the guitar! YIKES!!! 6) REMEMBER - Micky Dolenz. I realize by now that my credibility was shot to hell ages ago, and I don't care. I heard about this CD because Phil Keaggy is on it. And it's a DAMN good CD! The closing title track is worth the price of admission alone. 7) SUNKEN CONDOS - Donald Fagen. Much in the same vein as MORPH THE CAT, which I loved, so it's all good. 8) CLOCKWORK ANGELS - Rush. These guys just keep getting better and better, and I'm not what you would call a typical Rush fan, only having come around to their music in the last few years. But as Geddy's voice can't hit those shrieking high notes anymore, what remains is a lot more heartfelt. 9) FANATIC - Heart. Best thing they've done since the 70's. May be their finest ALBUM ever. All I know is it rocks like nobody's business. 10) MONSTER - KISS. Credibility.... I know, I know, BUT they haven't sounded this hungry since CREATURES OF THE NIGHT. When these guys cut out all the bullshit, they too rock like nobody's business. Thanks for indulging me.

Sweet! I'm VERY glad to hear this! Mmmmmmmmm!!! I wish! Ben Webster & Jimmy Jones? I'll take that combo ANY day of the week; alas, 'taint Jimmy here!

Thanks HBJ! I'm glad you're enjoying it! I love that Santana album, and found it in the clearance section at Half Price Books. I'll never understand HPB sometimes: multiple copies of various Herb Alpert albums sit in the regular price racks, but THIS was in the clearance??? Oh well, with the lineup on this record, I woulda gladly paid five times what I paid for it! Yes, that is definitely Ben Webster there. I'm curious to see if anyone figures out the piano player. I'm really glad you're enjoying my BFT. That means a lot!

Check this out: http://jazztimes.com...l-their-feeling "I think you're looking for Les McCann..." ROTFLMFAO!!!! Les would have been more than any of them could handle. Who, the Crusaders? The FBI? The SLA? Or all of the above? Alllll...righty then. (nice work, felser) Color me dumbfounded. My mind is in the process of being blown here, and I haven't even gotten around to thinking about the John Klemmer part. "Sam Thomas", eh? Sam Thomas? With tone like that, I've never heard of the guy? (afaicr, anyway). Wow. MUST research this. Al, if you've got anything on Sam Thomas, I can't wait for the reveal. No, I mean literally- I cannot wait. Thankfully, JSngry already took care of all of us by starting the thread and linking the various articles, because this is all I have from Sam Thomas. It's for the reason JS mentioned that this track is on here: the "neighborhood sound" of that guitar! LOVE that sound! Yup, yup, and yup! Batting 1.000 so far!

After lunch. Not Blue Mitchell, either. It's Donald Byrd - 'Bossa' from 'Up'. Oh lord. And it turns out that I've got that Montgomery Bros track, on 'Fingerpickin''. Ah well. Correct all around! I know what you mean about having a track that ends up on a BFT!

Playing ketchup, because this could take a while and it could get all over ya if you're not careful!

DL for me please!

Not John Klemmer, then? Actually, yes, and he's the leader! I'm curious, though: what made you rule him out based on this? I mean, I've heard some Klemmer records from the 70's which sound NOTHING like this! Figuring out the rest of this track oughta be fairly easy. I hope!

Not yet, but I see it in the LP bins at Half Price Books from time to time, and have previously passed up on it. THAT won't happen again until I has my own copy, IcantellyouTHAT!!!!

I don't know what surprises me more: the level of curiosity for this track, or the fact that it hasn't been ID'd. By that, I mean I put that on here without any pretense of stumping anyone: I just love this track and the album from which it came which, if it's any help, gives absolutely zero indication the direction the sax player would eventually take.

Man, I'm still glad you came back! Happy birthday 2013!

Ellington at Newport 1956 The Who at Leeds University, 2/14/70

That's the one I was thinking of when I said "Let 'em Roll." LOVE this one!

Interest here as well. There are so many great jams to pick from, but right off the top I know I'd love "Let 'em Roll" and "The Yodel!" Anything beyond that is gravy to me!

Really enjoying everyone's comments so far! More later as time permits, but once again, this BFT has been a learning experience for me: I never knew the backstory to "Way Back Home!" And once again, the tracks I thought might buffalo folks are the ones everyone's nailing, and the tracks I thought would be relatively easy are stumping folks!

Gonna definitely be on the lookout for that Mulligan record. AND the Bobo record. But this whole BFT was a rollicking good time! Thanks again, Jim!

Going out today, my man! Two discs, because like any good double-LP, it won't fit on one CD!

Signup list updated. If you've received two PM's from me, use the Rapidshare link! The mediafire link was a bust thanks to my inability to properly remove tag info in the middle of the night...

The download has been sent out. Let the discussion begin! This was a pretty tough one to put together, despite the fact that I've been jotting down ideas for the last six months. I just haven't bought much music at all since my last BFT, and certainly nothing that would challenge anyone (as far as I was concerned). Funny thing is, as it was slowly coming together, a few themes started popping up here and there; whether or not they'll make sense to anyone besides me will be one of life's great (or not-so-great) mysteries, I s'pose. At the last minute, I decided this should be experienced like a double-album, so I sequenced the songs to be listened in that way. To that end, I titled each track "Side #, track #" in hopes that your player will recognize the names. There is a joke behind the "artist name" for each track, and if your player shows the album art I put together for this BFT, you may figure out that joke as well. For that matter, the album art has its own reason for existing, so add to the fun by trying to figure THAT out as well! And yes, at some point this month I'll explain the whole "daughter's wedding" thing that a few of you asked about in the "delay" thread!

To all- Due to a boatload of circumstances over the last month (holidays, daughter's wedding, son's band stuff, church stuff, and the occasional financial crisis), my BFT is being delayed by about a week. I apologize for the delay, and will get everything out by the weekend.