Teasing the Korean

Lalo Schifrin - Bullit OST (WB German reissue, stereo)

With that cover art, it couldn't possibly be any other way.

Elis Regina - Elis (1972, Philips)

So which tracks/artists do you think should be represented on Verve Downsized Volume 1? I vote for "Hard Latin" by Kenyon Hopkins, "Fried Bananas" by Gary McFarland, and something from The Distant Galaxy by Don Sebeskey, but I haven't decided which track yet. Let's put together the perfect compilation and propose it to Verve before they go belly up. I'll add some more suggestions soon.

"Verve Downsized" should be the title of Verve's next series of compilations.

Much as I love "Younger than Yesterday," the Byrds were NEVER better than when Gene was with them. The Preflyte stuff is essential. He was really shafted by those guys. If they didn't appreciate what they had, they didn't deserve to have him in the first place. Have you ever heard his album with the Godsin Brothers in MONO?

Maria Creuza with Toquinho e Vinicius, "eu sei que vou te amar..." (RGC stereomono, whatever that means)

Can't wait to see him joust with Mick Jagger.

Well, the Burt album did the trick. I was wearing a polyester shirt and flare pants. I felt like a guy who would've written in to Playboy in 1970 asking what kind of wine would be appropriate to bring to his boss's holiday party...

The Aussie stuff was reissued at the height of their disco popularity, with cover art suggesting it was by the cocaine 70s Bee Gees. The stuff on this box is right after the Aussie period and it's the best of their career, hands down.

Burt Bacharach - Reach Out (A&M) We're getting ready to go to the boss's holiday party, and I felt the need to put on some music that young adults in 1970 may have listened to while getting ready to go to a holiday party. I'm ready for a Cutty Sark...

I absolutely LOVE soundtracks from this period, especially ones done by jazzsters who were given half a budget and no creative limits. The best ones contain an insane mix mutant pop, jazz, and dissonant symphonic mayhem. And the "pop" music never sounds like anything the kids were really listening to. Taken as a whole, its almost as if the composers collectively created a soundtrack for an alternate universe that existed only in pages of Vogue and Playboy.

I saw the film too. The filmmakers did a really good job considering the lack of material they had to work with (i.e. hardly any footage of Gary). I like both the aforementioned "Scorpio" and "Point of Departure" on Impulse. I think on these two albums he came closest to reconciling his jazz and pop alter-egos. I wish his scores for 13 a.k.a. Eye of the Devil and Who Killed Mary What's-Her-Name will be released someday. 13 was actually slated for a Verve release, but it was canned at the last minute for unknown reasons.

Monkees enthusiasts I've known generally agree that "Pisces Aquarius" is their best and most solid album. Even the Davey songs are tolerable...Ya gotta hear it in mono though. Back to the BGs: The stuff from their freakbeat/psych period is terrific, and if you only know the hits from this period (Massachusetts, Joke, Message, To Love Somebody, Words), you haven't heard the Bee Gees.

Somewhat off topic, but if you're into the Bee Gees psych period this set is great. The first 3 albums in mono and stereo, along with a bonus disc for each album with singles, b-sides, alternate takes and mixes, etc. Only dissapointment is they didn't provide mono mixes for some of the singles, but that's life.

Aside from the fact that the organ part was inspired by - or ripped off from - Bach, this case touches on an issue that has interested me for a long time: The degree to which a distintive riff in a pop song contributes to the overall presentation of a tune, consequesntly, its popularity. It gets more complex when you consider that many of these riffs were invented by people other than the composer. For example, Dylan didn't write the 12 string "Mr. Tambourine Man" riff, and Carol King didn't write the "Pleasant Valley Sunday" riff. Still, these riffs are so great and distinctive they surely boosted sales of the records. If you were to write new songs based around those riffs, someone would probably try to sue, but who would it be? That said, I agree with Booker's assertion - or his lawyer's - that deciding in favor of Fisher creates a slippery slope in future similar cases.

For the last fifteen years or so - at least - Verve has had no clue as to reiussing its back catalog. Maybe whoever buys them will know better...

I'm all for it. Any suggestions?

I posted about this record a few months back asking if he'd done anything similar, and the answer was no. (I was hoping I'd run across the non-existent Tomes I-V someday). I have a room full of albums and CDs and I must say this is one of those records that doesn't quite sound like any other. Of course, it contains elements of ubiquitous stuff from that era, including electronics and modal structures, but the whole created by these elements leaves its own imprint. On me, at least. Most if not all of the electronics involve looped delay effects on the sax (used sparingly and to good effect). To me, the album has an introspective feel, even during the more frenetic passages. It provides great late night listening, especially if listenened to while drinking red wine in a room with mid-century European furniture.

The Bossa Tres (Audio Fidelity)

That worked. Thanks. I wanted to hear some reports on the album before I bought it for my pet White Dolphin for Christmas...

I'm doing a search to see if there has been discussion of Solomon Ilori's album "African High Life." I'm getting pages and pages of hits. While I realize discussions can veer off topic, I find it hard to believe this album got discussed over the course of the "Charlie Brown Christmas" and "White Dolphin Extinct" threads. Is it not working properly now? Even worse, I seem to have posted this in the wrong section. Feel free to move it.

Clare Fischer - Great White Hope (Revelation)

Deep groove, NY pressing, RVG in deadwax.