Teasing the Korean

Bill Evans Trio - Live at Montreux (1968) - Verve

Albert Harris - Bacchanale (conducted by Frank DeVol) Columbia 6 eye stereo (1960) An orchestral suite depicting the gods of ancient Greece, composed by Les Baxter collaborator Albert Harris.

Was a HUGE fan in my teens and early 20s, but never saw them live. To me, the records were what they were about. By the time I was old enough to go to concerts, they had essentially become an oldies act, and weren't doing much that interested me. After Dennis died in 1983, I kind of regretted not seeing them, but by then it seemed too late. I did end up seeing Brian on the Smile tour, which was closer to my ideal of a Beach Boys concert than what the group was doing for past few decades. One other note on the Beach Boys live: Around the time of their comeback, circa 15 Big Ones/Love You, there was an NBC TV special. This would have been summer 1975 or 76. I don't think this has been released in its entirety, but clips have been recycled for subsequent documentaries. Anyway, the live footage included in the show featured THEE ABSOLUTE WORST sound and singing I have ever heard in any live Beach Boys clip from before or after. Voices were cracking, and they were woefully out of tune. (I have an audio cassette someplace to prove it). I was 11 or 12 at the time, and this played a huge role in discouraging me from seeing them live. It was only later that I realized how good they were capable of sounding in concert (as evidenced on the Reprise live double album). Amazing that anyone from the group signed off on using this footage.

As Bird said: "When I first heard Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, in the language of the streets I flipped." Yes. Soon will be spinning the full ballet on London/Decca ffrr.

Years ago I found an OJC vinyl reissue of Mongo Santamaria's Fantasy album "Yambu," which has one of the greatest album covers ever. This one disappeared pretty early on, even when OJC was still pressing vinyl. Very happy to have found this one.

Kostalanetz made a couple of decent records, though they were few and far between. These include "Lure of the Tropics" which uses theremin on a couple of cuts, and "Exotic Nights," for a "serious" album of eastern/pseudo eastern classical pieces.

Now listening to Nathan Van Cleave's excellent score for the episode "Two." This score was later used liberally for the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre in the 1970s.

Stravinsky - Firebird Suite (1919 version) - Ormandy Philadelphia (Columbia Masterworks mono)

I like the show, but I agree that the music may have been the best thing. It was of a consistently high quality, while the episodes were hit or miss. Obviously not every single episode was a "classic" but I'd say it had to be "consistently high quality" to sustain its appeal all these years. "Hit or miss" doesn't exactly capture that, and I'm just astounded that anyone could find greater pleasure in the music than in the stories themselves. In all seriousness I can't say that I have ever made note of the music at all. Dan, that's fine. However, a number of great respected composers contributed to that show, including Herrmann, Goldsmith, Leonard Rosenman, and many others. It was a great period for film and TV scoring. The sensibilities of composers from that era combined with the sci-fi/fantasy elements of shows like "Twilight Zone," "Outer Limits" and others meant that composers could really stretch out in terms of color, effect, etc. You may not have noticed the music, but the opinion that the music is the best part of those shows is hardly an uncommon one. For what it's worth, I have the 4 CD TZ box set and the 2 disc Herrmann TZ set, yet I don't own a single episode on VHS or DVD. I prefer the music to the show, though there were some very cool episodes. I try to catch it on the Sci Fi channel every now and then.

I lived in Boston for many years, and my St. Patrick's day celebrations consisted of bolting the doors and hoping I made it alive to the next day. Taking the subway on SPD could be a frightening experience.

I like the show, but I agree that the music may have been the best thing. It was of a consistently high quality, while the episodes were hit or miss.

There's a great 4 CD set of TZ music, with a disc devoted to Bernard Herrmann and another to Jerry Goldsmith. Well worth it. Edit: There is also a 2-disc set with re-recordings of Herrmann's music.

Anyone into the Twilight Zone music? Jerry Goldsmith composed some great jazzy stuff for the series.

The hour long episodes are uncomfortably long, as if they took half-hour scripts and stretched them out to fill an hour. The worst offender is the Robert Duvall episode about the doll house. You're not missing anything if you haven't seen these.

What is the status of these tapes? Do they all exist? Any chance they could make it to DVD?

I love those first two Shorty Rogers 10 inch LPs on RCA. Some of the tracks you list were on them. These were my early introduction to west coast jazz. Really interesting and intense stuff, nothing like the popular stereotype of west coast jazz.

As I've stated elsewhere, the beard, long hair and leisure suit really scared me off of Bill's 70s records for a long time. I had to shut my eyes and take the leap, eventually, but it was worth it.

I hear you. Still, those are some good albums, regardless of who did the work or who was credited.

I love Walking in Space, and knowing your taste, I think you would too. I'm guessing jazz purists would likely dismiss it though. Not necessarily...I think it's a pretty good album, and it was actually a bit of a "hit". Pretty stellar lineup, and a classic version of "Killer Joe". Recommended with the caveat that it is "slick", and if that's not something you dig, then hey. I will add that it is "slick" in a groovy pre-1975 way, which is a different aesthetic (generally).

I love Walking in Space, and knowing your taste, I think you would too. I'm guessing jazz purists would likely dismiss it though.

Many LPs that have Q's name on them are really great, regardless of who made them happen.

Yeah, I know he's controversial, but Happy Birthday.

I have the Anna CD. Also have the 3 CD Cinema de Gainsbourg set. Also have, in the same series, some individual discs each featuring music from, say 2 to 4 films. These feature a more substantial amound of music from a given film than they were able to fit on the 3 CD set.

Stravinsky - Firebird Suite (1919 version) - Monteux, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, RCA Victrola (mono).