JSngry

More gambling, please! https://theathletic.com/5357619/2024/03/20/shohei-ohtani-translator-theft-gambling/

The Upstairs Horses - Bless This House

Honk Wilcox - The Decidedly Non-Phlegmatic Honk Wilcox!!!

If the Delphonics count, then so do The Stylistics: Both are really good songs.

I used to have a visceral hatred of Webern's music. No more, and this set helped seal the deal.

Rockin' was a Columbia record, with the concept of remaking songs that had been hits on Mercury. Laine had a clause that stipulated that he could not re-record any Mercury songs for 6(?) years after leaving the label. So, he was already "rockin'" more than most of his ilk. A LOT more. As for the title, well, ok. But...Laine was already a star, so he didn't need any extra pull to sell records then. I think it shows how, at the time, nobody would be surprised that Laine "rocked" in a non-teen way. The teen market was not the only one that was evolving. Society as a whole was evolving, and Laine was having a hand in that. And don't sell Paul Weston short. That dude could write! I'd never make the case that Frankie Laine was some sort of lost genius or anything. But I will make the case that he was working in a niche that he created, a conduit of sorts, a transitional music that poked holes in the wall around White Pop. Current history overlooks this, but after having actual;ly listened to the music, I don't think that's right. There's a body of work there that still sounds good today. And a lot that doesn't. But it's better to actually listen to the records and decide for yourself than it is to just swallow the whole narrative whole. That does not suck!

If it needs to be narrowed down, just do the "live" Capitol dates and scrape the barrels to make sure there's nothing extra to add,

And then there's this oddity(?) from early 1956, Laine and the Four Lads?!?!?!?! going full-on Statesmen Quartet Go figure that.

There's a bigger equation beyond just teenagers here that involves the overall "loosening up" of the White Pop market. And this is where Laine (and maybe a very few others) fit in. And the "conventional wisdom" don't seem to get that. So we end up with all of a sudden Elvis and all of a sudden Sinatra came back and 'm now like, all of a sudden my ass! Boomer vanity/history again, it all started with them. Besides, even if Laine was being directed in that direction, the point is that he was STILL bringing a drive and a bounce that was more 'black" in feel than not. So, the influx was coming from both sides, so to speak. And as the saying goes, resistance was futile. This is competent, unaffected swinging. I can't stress enough how Laine was in this pocket years before Sinatra, so that's another corrective to the traditional narrative. Of course, Laine did not have Sinatra's overwhelming power of personality/mojo, but he certainly was soing the "Swingin'" thing first. And imo, pretty well. Just sayin'...

Not really. Objectively, they're all pretty much the same harmonically and melodically. Definitely rhythmically. The distinction comes from the vocals, individually and group.

Ok, I have used Spotify and YouTube to research Frankie Laine through gto the end of his Columbia contract. Some conclusions: * The traditional narrative the pre-Elvis White Pop was all bland and sexless and shit is mostly true, but for a while, Frankie Laine was definitely not that. * Frankie Laine "sounding black"... maybe you had to be there? But there's also no denying the he was plugged into a certain black "feel" rhythmically that was rare for it's time. * It's also true that Frankie Laine could and did swing naturally in his own way before Sinatra was able to figure that out for himself. The Laine records with Paul Weston more often than not are a toe-tapping delight! * Evolution was not kind to Frankie Laine. His switch to more "folk" styles might have been sincere, but...I can't care for or about that. Both albums with M. Legrand are pretty dire, worlds colliding with neither being even slightly aware of the other. And a later album with Frank Comstock, Torchin', is built to be a Sinatra album, but Laine is having none of it and stays true to his earlier, more rhythmically bouncy style. It's not bad, but it's not right either. Too bad. * Still, Frankie Laine had a certain pop mojo, and for a bit of a window there, he seems to have been very, very popular with a style of singing that was an exception to the rule of White Pop of the era. And his voice seems to have stayed true all his life. So...attention should be paid, imo. * YouTube can give you some of the Atlas 78s. The Mercury collection is not complete and seems to have a hard break where good stuff stops and Mitchy Millery stringy stuff takes over. * Spotify is your friend (mostly). Check out Mr. Rhythm, Rockin', and Command Performance. These are mostly Paul Weston joints, and mostly are very pleasing to my tastes. Avoid any and all off-brand looking stuff, because it is indeed sketchy and worse. I've enjoyed this little research project and now feel comfortable in rejecting the traditional narrative, at least the point about there being no life at all in post-Swing White Pop until Elvis. Now - what about Kay Starr?

Vitamin D is very important, especially as we get older.

Clint Humminger - Inverse Pleasure

Me too!

Then there is no light?

Land yachts. Great for highway trips. Nightmares in town.

Nothing wrong with trade school.

Same.

Grant Brisbee speaks some truth: https://theathletic.com/5350735/2024/03/18/sf-giants-renel-brooks-moon-departure/?source=thewindup_newsletter&campaign=9299880&userId=14372387P

If you have a story to tell, tell it with whatever tools get it told. If you don't have a story to tell...nothing to stop you from having a career anyway.

Is Vol. 8 out anywhere yet?

Inspired by the TV Talk thread