Teasing the Korean

I have accumulated a large number of their LPs over the years, and while I don't consider myself a huge fan, when I'm in the mood nothing beats them. They have a very European sensibility to my ears. I especially like the titles that MG refers to as "fanciful," including "Odds Against Tomorrow," "Third Stream," and "No Sun in Venice." I have found over the decades that they were sort of a gateway jazz act for many people, along with Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, and Miles. I have seen large collections with very little jazz except for a couple of MJQ albums.

The Kinks did the English music hall thing about 1,000 times better than McCartney could ever hope to.

I like it, especially from a visual perspective. The lighting in the office scenes has that oversaturated look of 1950s - 60s color film. The characters may be bastards, but at least they have a sense of style and fashion. The assholes today are just as bad, if not worse, and they don't know how to dress. The rat pack aspect of the era is a big part of what I like about that time.

A generation of ill-informed rock critics, like Dave Marsh, totally viewed rock music in terms blues, C&W and R&B influence. They completely ignored the influence of Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley songwriters on rock acts.

Supposedly, during a house cleaning period, ABC multi-track masters and mono mixes were all trashed. The stereo mixes are all that is left. Too bad in the Mamas and Papas case, cause those stereo mixes are really weak. I have several of the 45s I've picked up over the years.

If you call him, you need to ask him about the greatest album ever made, which is of course "Jazz Heat Bongo Beat."

Any Duke Ellington Any Sun Ra Any Cal Tjader Any decent Blue Note album at an affordable price Any Morricone until maybe the late 70s Any album by an aging jazz or easy listening artist getting hip to the sounds of today Virtually any jazz album with congas or bongos (up until the disco era) Any cool soundtrack from, say, the late 50s to the mid 70s Anything that looks different or interesting that I probably won't stumble across again.

Probably half of my LP accumulation, which includes tons of exotica, now sound, "easy" listening, crime jazz, spy music, outer space exotica, Euro cult soundtracks, library music, and various other oddball stuff. And that's OK with me - it means there are fewer people to wrestle at the dollar bin.

Welcome back MG! We've missed you!

Frank Comstock - Project Comstock: Music from Outer Space - WB (stereo) Possibly the greatest outer space album ever!

Just listened to both versions. The "Out of the Cool" version is definitely more abstract; I don't think the melody kicks in - overtly, at least - until 2/3 of the way into the arrangement. The Sauter-Finegan version is 2 parts Les Baxter exotica, 1 part "Sketches of Spain" - which is a great recipe where I'm calling from. Both versions are really nice in different ways.

Actually, they did two albums for UA - I have both. The better one is called "Return of Doodletown Fifers," which has updated arrangements of their more famous RCA stuff. I forget the name of the other; IIRC, the first track on each side is blatantly more commercial/easy listening, but the remainder of both sides are pretty solid.

Porgy and Bess always struck me as more of an afternoon record - preferably a sunny afternoon spent in the shade.

He did, and it was on Crown!

Is "I've Written a Letter to Daddy" a bonus track on either of these?

The little clock's stopped ticking now We're swallowed in the stomached rue The only sound to tear the night Comes from the man upstairs His bloated belching figure stomps He may crash through the ceiling soon The window sees trees cry from cold And claw the moon But we know don't we And we'll dream won't we Of Montague Terrace in blue The girl across the hall makes love Her thoughts lay cold like shattered stone Her thighs are full of tales to tell Of all the nights she's known Your eyes ignite like cold blue fire The scent of secrets everywhere A fist filled with illusions Clutches all our cares But we know don't we And we'll dream won't we Of Montague Terrace in blue oh in blue

I like their Fever and Smoke album.

What's that?

I've gotten to a point where the only Beatles I can listen to is by aging easy listening artists from the late 60s and early 70s. Especially like EZ covers from the psych era.

Here is a video of "African Echoes," one of their prepared piano pieces. I did not realize they were still doing this stuff this late in their career:

Their photos were almost never on the records from the period I reference - Columbia, Westminster and ABC Paramount. The one album with their photo - Blast Off on ABC - They are wearing bubble helmets, and one of them has a crew cut. The shiny hair came later. The early stuff is brilliant.

Sorry, but "That Means A Lot" is about a thousand times better than a clunker like "Tell Me What You See." Eh, I like 'em both equally. Truth be told, I've REALLY been enjoying (what would be referred to in the old days as) side two of HELP! I don't know if it's the remastering or whatever, but SOMETHING is causing me to enjoy these songs like never before. All I know is: when I heard the first CD of HELP years&years ago, it was my first time to hear "Dizzy Miss Lizzie," and it seemed to me waybackthen that song should've leapt outta the speakers. The Capitol Box almost got it right; it wasn't perfect, but miles better than the old '87 CD. This issue got it right on the nose! That guitar riff screeched outta the speakers and Ringo's crashing thunder 'bout blew out the windows! In other words, what I was expecting 22 years ago!!! I always loved the US version of Help; great Beatles tunes, Indian source music and spy jazz underscore. It is a pretty perfect album in that delirious, schizophrenic style of 60s soundtracks. I always thought side two of the UK Help album was a mish-mash, with several weak cuts. I never could even get through the whole thing. It would have been much better, IMHO, if they had dumped "Act Naturally," "You Like Me to Much," "Tell Me What You See" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzie;" and replaced them with "Yes It Is," "I'm Down," "That Means a Lot" and "Wait." IMHO.

I used to have like 10 Sauter-Finegan albums, decided I didn't need that many, and unloaded two or three. This is one of the ones I unloaded.

Teicher checked out in 2008, now Ferrante: latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-arthur-ferrante21-2009sep21,0,5788034.story While they certainly came to epitomize schlock, their early prepared piano recordings are both entertaining and adventurous. Their "Heavenly Sounds" album on ABC is like a proto-ambient record.

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