Kalo

A-farkin'-men to to THAT!! That first "Funky Donkey" album is EXACTLY the kind of thing I was thinking of when I started this thread. I first read a review of that record in the late-'70s, by Francis Davis I believe, in Musician Magazine, and kept an eye out for it for years and years. When it was finally reissued on Atavistic I snatched it up. It lived up to and exceeded the expectations of that decade-plus period of anticipation. I digs me some avant-groove...

The most difficult music for me to listen to is what is commonly called "easy listening." Yet I take to the stuff that most people call "diificult' like a duck to water.

Good for you! Some good stuff is comin' your way! I should pull these out again myself. As much as these forums make me covet new music, they also remind me of the gems I already own!

Be well soon!

J.S. Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

eee-YES!

Who was the third, Darlene or Jonathan?

Hey - I hear "Helen Wheels" on the radio last week and it rocked like crazy. Close enough. (P.S. - anybody ever notice that McCartney never lost the abilty to, when push came to shove, "rock" really well in the good ol' "old fashioned" sense? Or that that he's the only one of the X-Fabs to seemingly have retained this primal skill?) I like his post-Linda art therapy rock'n'roll record Run Devil Run as well or better than anything he did post Beatles. And he certainly was an amazing bass player in the context of pop/rock. Even his bassline on the critically-reviled "Silly Love Songs" is actually quite nice. Listening to Run Devil Run again. Even better than I had recalled. In the wake of Linda's death, McCartney revisits the music of his youth with amazing fervor. Sure as hell beats Lennon's Rock'n'Roll. I'm a Lester fan, but I agree emphatically that the cult of Bangs has gone way overboard. The dude was a rock critic/Kerouac-wanabee... He warn't no fuckin' Thoreau, that's for sure. Not holding my breath for a Library of America edition of Bangs, though some celebrated second-raters like Chandler and Dick have made that grade. I don't always agree with you, Clem, but you fucking NAILED Lester here... Wait. Are you saying that you don't revel in the sheer majesty of "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"? Guess I cain't blame ya. I don't always agree with you, Clem, but you fucking NAILED Lester here... "...often dopey..."

I wish he'd come to Boston soon.

If this is Klosterman at his best, then I've been exactly right in my rating of him as a wrriter to ignore.

And the winner of the "Hippest Listener Award" goes to whoever requested "El General" - The Dynamic Sound Patterns of Rod Levitt (Riverside). I swear it wasn't me.

Nothing wrong with the ending of Gun Crazy! Agreed!!! However, there is that strange scene where he asks Peggy Cummins why she has to kill people, "...Why can't you let them live?" Several commentaters have maintained that this odd, flat, frankly nonsensical little scene must have been imposed by the studio ex post facto, and I'm inclined to agree. I'll have to watch the film again. Kind of off-topic, but I just found out that the 1957 film Night of the Demon, directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Dana Andrews, also stars Peggy Cummins. I've been on the fence, but now I'm definitely going to get it. I should have taped it when TCM showed it. Oh well. BTW, as you probably already know, the studio forced Tourneur to actually SHOW the demon, which inevitably compromises the film somewhat. Night Of The Demon is a MUST HAVE. There are only a couple of shots of the "studio imposed demon"...it really doesn't have an adverse effect on the film as a whole. It's so much fun to watch Andrews be a skeptic of all things supernatural...while everyone around him (and the audience) knows different. I'm gonna buy it and then just close my eyes when the "studio imposed demon" is on screen.

Doesn't this Mosaic have strings on it? (If so, I'm assuming they're tasteful.) Here's a quote from the anonymous liner notes: "Ralph Burns' marvelous arrangements called for three different and widely varying orchestras: one accenting strings, harp, and light rhythm; another swinging much in the manner of the old Red Norvo band, with trumpeter Nick Travis and trombonist Urbie Green doing most of the solo work; and the third a tightly woven jazz band, starring Billy Butterfield on trumpet, "Peanuts" Hucko on clarinet, and Lou McGarrity on trombone." The string arrangements rate as tasteful, in my book. I like this session a lot, but I still prefer her earlier stuff. By the time this session was cut, her voice sounds a touch more phlegmy and her vibrato more wobbly than before. I have this on Japanese RCA vinyl LP from 1981 (RJL-2547(M)) . The weird thing about this version is that one of the LP sides has pronounced reverb on it and the other doesn't. I assume that this odd phenomenon is limited to this pressing and was not present on the original or later reissues. Anyone know what's up with this?

Nothing wrong with the ending of Gun Crazy! Agreed!!! However, there is that strange scene where he asks Peggy Cummins why she has to kill people, "...Why can't you let them live?" Several commentaters have maintained that this odd, flat, frankly nonsensical little scene must have been imposed by the studio ex post facto, and I'm inclined to agree. I'll have to watch the film again. Kind of off-topic, but I just found out that the 1957 film Night of the Demon, directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Dana Andrews, also stars Peggy Cummins. I've been on the fence, but now I'm definitely going to get it.

I'd say it's a noir. A real firecracker of the film, and one that definitively puts the lie to the canard that Elia Kazan was a stagy director. Great villains, too, in Jack Palance (in his film debut) and... wait for it... Zero Mostel! Also features a nice early turn by Barbara Bel Geddes as Widmark's wife.

A genre highlight, indeed. A rare leading role for the Gravel-voiced McGraw, who appeared in more noirs than anyone this side of Elisha Cook, Jr. Hear, hear.

Nothing wrong with the ending of Gun Crazy!

I've got the Japanese Victor LP, too, which always sounded good to me. Haven't ever really compared it to other versions. One of my favorite Rollins sessions.

This clip won't load for me either. While others on the same page play fine. Annoying, to say the least.

I've read Ulysses twice. Once in college, and again a few years ago. The last time I read it it was something of a shock to realize that I was now several years older than Leopold Bloom was on June 16, 1904! Try reading Ulysses along with one of the many guidebooks. Harry Blamires has a good one, but my favorite is James Joyce and the Making of Ulysses by Frank Budgen, a painter who spent a lot of time with Joyce as he was writing Ulysses . Joyce was more open about discussing his creative process with a visual artist than he might have been with a fellow (rival) writer. So Budgen had a front row seat at the creation of this masterpiece.

WTF??? Who the Hell is that, Paul Whiteman? Not Whiteman. It's Johnny Richards! Did they mix up their Johnnys? What's with the bathrobe, I wonder. Bathrobe make me so relax when I listen jazz all through night!

That one is downright disturbing! Talk about your jazz nightmares. And only one of those five faces looks anything like Farmer. (The one in the middle if you're keeping score.)

Light Blue is a nice session. The tuba/guitar band playing Monk. Came out in 1983, shortly after his death.

Just got Billy Bauer's Plectrist myself, along with Andrew Hill's Compulsion!!!!! and Change. All three ordered from Walmart.com, of all retailers. The last place on the internet to have a new copy of Plectrist at the suggested retail price. I got their very last copy, BTW! Hopefully my first and last order from them.

Nothing wrong with that.