The Magnificent Goldberg

Thanks. Sometimes I get a feeling I'd like some French chamber music again. MG

:wub: And you are invaluable for your unique perspective TTK. MG

This is a really nice album. Not a 'special' album, but just nice music played well. I like it a lot. MG

The only Double Time albums I've got are the ones by Hank Marr. None of the others look much like Soul Jazz. I suspect Hank only got on the label because he was local. MG

Which quotes did Bird use in "Ruislip/Northolt Blues"? Rocket Man? Crocodile Rock? Although I hear the 60s through the conventional pop rock soundtrack I suspect the reality was more Two Way Family Favourites - the latter has something of a retreat from Empire ring to it. Absolutely. Family Favourites followed by the Billy Cotton Bandshow, then Archie Andrews, with 'Ancock. Later, the Navy Lark, or Beyond Our Ken - but I think that was approaching the seventies. Sure Kenneth Williams very naughty double entendres wouldn't have made it in the early sixties. MG

I've got most, if not all of the Mel Rhyne albums and the Lonnie Smith. CCJ isn't really a label I go much for, however. Too much like jazz, if you ask me. But there are a couple of nice ones I've got and enjoy greatly. Harold Ashby - What am I here for Bit of a different album from most CCJ releases, Ashby was a longtime Ellington player, much influenced by Ben Webster. But they put him with a modern rhythm section and the results are very nice. Ray Drummond - Camera in a bag Some nice work from Fathead Newman on this - of course, the reason I bought it These two are both different to the regurgitated hard bop that CCJ generally do (even the Rhyne albums are a bit that way inclined, to tell the truth). If you're looking to go for something a bit different, these are worth a try. MG

Think I'll go for this, too. My view of Granz is probably far too simplistic. MG

I worked in West Drayton for 4 years. Swinging it definitely wasn't. The 'lunchtime entertainment' in some of the pubs was interesting though. I worked for Joe Lyons in West Drayton during the summer of 1960, packing Wispas - Joe's answer to Maltesers. We could eat as much as we wanted and, to this day, I'm off Maltesers. My Missus can GUARANTEE that, if she gets Maltesers for herself, I won't snaffle them. Lunchtime entertainment there was - would you believe? - WORKERS' PLAYTIME!! On the radio in the factory canteen. MG

Stan ALWAYS wore Cosby sweaters, (probably berfore Cosby did). I didn't know Siebert was with Mosaic. He used to produce albums for Muse. Including a couple of nice ones by Gator Tail. If you see him, tell him thanks. MG

That was in Spillers yesterday at fifteen quid. Because I was kinda knocked out by his half LP on Felsted, I toyed with my scruples about it but, in the end, decided to wait for a recommendation before I bought it. OBO110X!! Well, maybe it'll still be there when I go in next time. Earlier Lynn Hope & his tenor sax - Aladdin (Pathe Marconi) now Bobby Timmons - Chicken & dumplin's - Prestige (Transatlantic UK) next Joe Liggins - Great R&B oldies - Blues Spectrum (Bulldog UK) MG

Now Dudu Pukwana & Spear - In the townships - Caroline Got this the day it came out - was in the shop when the Virgin man came in and I leaped on it. next Bobby Ellis & the Professionals meet the Revolutionaries - Black Unity - Third World With Tommy MCook MG

Not unrelated to this sad story is the story of my trying to book a short trip to Paris today. I went into Thomas Cook's branch. I used to work for Cook's in 1960-62, in the Harrods branch, so I do remember how things used to be After the usual discussion of where, when and how much I wanted to pay, the guy at the desk finds something that looks right. Good; it's only been a quarter hour. So he tries to book it on his computer, through some organisation that's apparently another part of Thomas Cook. After several tries he apologises and says there's something wrong with their site and he'll have to phone the booking through. (I'm supposed to be meeting daughter and grandson for lunch and want a quick flip through Kelly's LPs first, so this worries me.) Things haven't changed much, because he gets put on hold, just like we used to fifty years ago. Only instead of Brrr Brrr... he gets rock music, which he hates, and the same song over and over. Eventually he gets through to a human being, who takes the details and asks him for a password. Now the password changes daily. It's a password for the whole shop and it comes up on their computers. OK, so far so eccentric... but every day, IT COMES UP IN A DIFFERENT PLACE!!!! so they have to hunt the fucking password! SO after a loud discussion with the other members of the staff, an Indian lady tells him the password for the day is 'villa'. Oh yes, loudly enough to be heard by everyone in the shop. So he has to try again, because the human being on the other end had closed him down when he couldn't give the password - another wait. More of the same rock song. So I ask him, while we're waiting, to give me a quote for holiday insurance, and he asks my age, then starts doing that. After a couple of minutes, he says, 'that's not working, either!' So, if you listen closely, KKDA might play the music of the Dogon, or Henry Treadgill one day. Oh yes, I did get the booking. The phone calls and other stuff took four times as long as sorting out what I wanted, but I did get to Spillers for an hour before lunch. MG

Hm. Technical question - is a traffic report really what I think it is? Some kind of survey of listeners or phone calls to the DJ? Or is it stuff like, 'traffic on highway 45G at a standstill because of three naked women cavorting on the central reservation'? MG

Playing my newie. As I'd thought, when I got this one this morning, the centimetre or so of dust, bits of white paint (apparently) and general shit cleaned up nicely with an oily rag. Listening to it now and enjoying it tremendously! One wonders why someone who bought this would leave it to get into such a disgusting shape, but keep it for thirty-something years without bothering to play it. I didn't ask Kelly's guvnor where he got it from, because I didn't think of it 'til I got it home. Well, it wasn't expensive and it plays fantastic. Not to mention the music, which is all it should be. MG

I never knew you could still get Supraphon records. Is that a CD or an old LP, Paul? Supraphon put out quite a lot of French stuff that became the backbone of my classical collection in the sixties. MG

Having grown up in Australia on a diet of sober Black and White English late 50's/60's films, usually programmed on winter weekends or school holiday Midday Movie timeslots - I can understand that. Once you got out of the West End of London that's what the Sixties were really like in Britain! But West London - out of the West End - Ealing, Kew, Southall, Hayes, Uxbridge, Wembley, Harrow, Alperton, Kingston, Richmond, were swinging sixties places. Now, North London was enemy territory. I only went there once, with a friend whose aunts lived there. I NEVER went to the East End or South London, except when passing through - Balham, Gateway to the South. MG

A little trip to Cardiff to book myself a few days in Paris next month and a slide into Kelly's snagged me Milt Jackson Ray Brown Jam - Pablo live (UK) Not a red transparent plastic job, just ordinary black vinyl and absolutely covered in dust (with a split cover). I bought it unheard simply because this MUST have been something someone bought and never played. I expect it'll clean up pristine after a wipe with an oily rag. MG

Lots of Pop goes the weasel, too. MG

Two old honkers - one still honkin' Joe Houston - Doin' the twist - Crown The other playing sixties pop ballads Sil Austin - Honey Sax - SSS International (Polydor UK) MG

Tyrone & Estelle Parsons Marlena & Robert Shaw Russell & Dorothy Malone Pee Wee & Julianne Moore Sonny & Sian Phillips Oh, missed this one! Richie & Whoopie Goldberg Ronnie & Jessie Matthews (do English actresses count as Hollywood?) MG

Larry & Loretta Young MG

Etta & Tommy Lee Jones Shirley & George C Scott Hilda & Richard Harris (Hilda was one of the CTI background singers) Marilyn & Samuel L Jackson (another CTI lady) Dodo & Grahame Greene Carol & Danny Kaye MG

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Albert COllins - DOn't lose your cool - Alligator (Sonet UK) MG

Stan & Kim Hunter Jonah & Shirley Jones Jimmy & Ann Shirley Ernie & Helen Hayes Martin & Marian Rivera George & Patty Duke Jimmy & Maggie Smith Rudy & Margaret Rutherford John & Linda Hunt Leon Jr & Octavia Spencer John & Teresa Wright Wilbur & Marcia Gay Harden Les & Ann Baxter Eddie & Barbara Harris George & Amy Adams Nathan & Geraldine Page Roland & Jane Alexander Big & Karen Black Ron & Helena Bonham Carter Buddy & Toni Collette Ramsey & Juliette Lewis Bennie & Samantha Morton Joe "King" & Edna Mae Oliver Earl & Lesley Ann Warren MG