Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Talking Heads - Fear of Music (1979)

“Fear Of Music” by Talking Heads (1979)

Release Date: August 3, 1979
Produced by Brian Eno, Talking Heads
Genre: New Wave, Post Punk, Rock, Art-Rock
Label: Sire

Chart Positions: #21 (US), #1 (Holland), #11 (New Zealand), #27 (Canada), #33 (UK), #35 (Australia)
Certifications: Gold (US)
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions:
“Life During Wartime” #80 (US)
“I Zimbra” #28 (US Dance)
“Cities” (No Chart Data)
 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A

Best Tracks: ALL TRACKS: This album is a staple of the 1970s and beyond. A must-have album for any music collector.


Trivia: Fear of Music is the third studio album by American new wave band Talking Heads, released on 3 August 1979 on Sire Records. It was recorded at locations in New York City between April and May 1979 and was produced by the quartet and Brian Eno (this was the second of three albums in which Eno worked with Talking Heads). The album reached number 21 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and peaked at number 33 on the UK Albums Chart. Three songs were released as singles between 1979 and 1980: "Life During Wartime", "I Zimbra", and "Cities". The record was certified Gold in the U.S. in 1985.

Fear of Music received favorable reviews from critics. Praise centered on its unconventional rhythms and frontman David Byrne's lyrical performances. The record is often considered one of the best Talking Heads releases. It has featured in several publications' lists of the best albums of all time. Britain's Channel 4 named the record at number 76 in its 2005 countdown of The 100 Greatest Albums. In 2006 it was remastered and reissued with four bonus tracks.

Talking Heads' second album More Songs About Buildings and Food, released in 1978, expanded the band's sonic palette. The record included a hit single, a cover of Al Green's "Take Me to the River", which gained the quartet commercial exposure. In March 1979, the band members played the song on nationwide U.S. music show American Bandstand. In the days after the performance, they decided they did not want to be regarded simply as "a singles machine". Talking Heads entered a New York City studio without a producer in the spring of 1979 and practiced demo tracks. Musically, the band wanted to expand on the "subtly disguised" disco rhythms present in More Songs About Buildings and Food by making them more prominent in the mixes of new songs. The recording plans were shelved after the quartet was not pleased with the results during the sessions. A decision was taken to rehearse in drummer Chris Frantz's and bassist Tina Weymouth's loft, where the band members played before they signed to a record label in the mid-1970s. Eno, who produced their previous full-length release, was called to help.

On 22 April and 6 May 1979, a Record Plant van manned by a sound engineering crew parked outside Frantz's and Weymouth's house and ran cables through their loft window. On these two days, Talking Heads recorded the basic tracks with Eno. Instead of incorporating characters in society like in More Songs About Buildings and Food, Byrne decided to place them alone in dystopian situations.Weymouth was initially skeptical of Byrne's decisions, but the frontman managed to persuade her. She has explained that Byrne's sense of rhythm is "insane but fantastic" and that he was key to the band's recording drive during the home sessions. As songs evolved, playing instrumental sections became easier for the band members. Eno was instrumental in shaping their sound and recording confidence and worked on electronic treatments of tracks once they were all crafted.

Fear of Music is largely built on an eclectic mix of disco rhythms, cinematic soundscapes, and conventional rock music elements. Album opener "I Zimbra" is an African-influenced disco track and includes background chanting from assistant recording engineer Julie Last.

The album begins with "I Zimbra", whose lyrics are based on a nonsensical poem by Dadaist writer Hugo Ball. The sound of lyrics, together with the tribal sound of the song, enhanced by guest star virtuoso guitarist Robert Fripp, gave it an "ethnic" style; Jerry Harrison has said that this song influenced what the band was to do on their next album, Remain in Light. "Cities" details a search for the perfect urban settlement to live in and was borne out of Talking Heads' preferences for urban homes, especially in Manhattan. "Paper" compares a love affair with a simple piece of paper. In "Life During Wartime", Byrne cast himself an "unheroic urban guerrilla", who renounced parties, survived on basic supplies like peanut butter, and heard rumors about weapons shipments and impromptu graveyards. The character is only connected to the imminent collapse of his civilization. Byrne considered the persona "believable and plausible". "Air" is a protest song against the atmosphere, an idea Byrne does not consider "a joke". Inspired by The Threepenny Opera, the lyricist wanted to create a melancholic and touching track about a guy who feels so down that even breathing feels painful.

"Life During Wartime" was the first single from their 1979 album Fear of Music in 1979. It peaked at #80 on the US Billboard Pop Singles Chart. In David Bowman's book This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century Byrne is quoted as describing the genesis of the song: "David wrote nine of the album's eleven tracks. Two numbers came out of jamming. The first would be called "Life During Wartime." David's lyrics describe a Walker Percy-ish post-apocalyptic landscape where a revolutionary hides out in a deserted cemetery, surviving on peanut butter. 'I wrote this in my loft on Seventh and Avenue A,' David later said, 'I was thinking about Baader-Meinhof. Patty Hearst. Tompkins Square. This a song about living in Alphabet City.'”
AllMusic's Bill Janowitz reviewed the song, calling attention to its nearness to funk, saying that it is a "sort of apocalyptic punk/funk merge" comparable to Prince's later hit single "1999". In 2012, The New Yorker described "Life During Wartime" as, "an apocalyptic swamp-funk transmission in four-four time," adding "[it] is the band’s pinnacle, and the song is still a hell of a thing to hear."

"Life During Wartime" (1979)

"I Zimbra," the second single from their 1979 album Fear of Music.
The song's lyrics are an adaptation of Dadaist Hugo Ball's poem "Gadji beri bimba". According to Sytze Steenstra in Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present, the music draws heavily on the African popular music Byrne was listening to at the time.

"Cities," the third single from the album, is a fast-paced bass and keyboard-led song. Tina Weymouth's bass playing in the song is described as both "melodic" and "funky", while David Byrne's guitar is said to be jittery, but clean-sounding. The song fades both in and out with a very aggressive funky rhythm and the fade-out makes a building-up feeling as it transitions into the next song, "Life During Wartime." The song's meaning is simple: it is mainly about a man looking for a city to live in, though lead singer David Byrne's surrealistic yet humorous delivery of the song is anything but simple. The lyrics are both deadpan and silly causing a mixed humor in the song. This combination can be seen in lyrics such as "Did I forget to mention, forget to mention Memphis, home of Elvis and the ancient Greeks.

"Heaven" has been called "the calm after their unusual ominous storm" by AllMusic as well as something "psychologists would certainly have a field day with" by journalist Ian Gittins. Dave Bell, writing for quarterly UK magazine Ceasefire, argued that the song "epitomises" pop as Samuel Beckett might write it: tedious, beautiful and desperate"

The following is a Rolling Stone Magazine Review:
Time stands still when you're cracking up. At the brink of mental overload, there's a revelatory instant — a freeze frame in which everything fits together in new ways. Logic dissolves, paralogic reigns. And in that precarious moment, the world is fixed in place, skewed and renewed.

David Byrne's lyrics on Talking Heads' Fear of Music are paralogical visions stated with almost childlike directness: he thinks that air hits him in the face, that animals want to change his life, that "someone controls electric guitar." By itself, this perspective makes Byrne's songs fascinating. But what makes Talking Heads my favorite and probably the best rock band anywhere is that they've invented an audio analog to their view from the brink: rock music that warps and suspends time.

They use a simple device: repetition. Unswerving rhythms, immobile harmonies. Each tune is a chain of sections linked by rhythm, each section a matrix of interlocking riffs. "I Zimbra" stakes Talking Heads' claim to pure mechanization. One by one, the instruments click into place in a rhythm pattern fleshed out by Afro-futurist harmonies and topped by the meaningless chanted syllables of a poem by Twenties Dadaist Hugo Ball. At composition's end, Robert Fripp's guitar phases through the whole pulsing assemblage like the shuttle of a high-speed loom.
Even in the more conventional numbers — those built on ordinary major and minor chords — anything repeatable gets repeated. "Heaven," Byrne sings in his minimalist anthem of the same name, "is a place where nothing happens," and while his songs aren't by any means completely static, their harmonies don't move as fast as most pop progressions do. When a tune lingers on one chord, riffs that go with that chord are played over and over. As for rhythm, drummer Chris Frantz will sometimes hold one lick for an entire cut: for example, the steady hi-hat eighth notes he plays throughout "Mind" and "Heaven." It's deliberately mechanical, but because the riffs are complexly intertwined and there's a solid backbeat, the repetition doesn't inspire Kraftwerk-style boredom or disco claustrophobia. Instead, there's a sense of time being held at bay.

Yet Byrne's vocals keep the music in the present tense. He sings like a Mouseketeer trapped in an endless anything-can-happen day: rattled, wide-eyed, quavery, breaking into glossolalia whenever he runs out of words. Sometimes he slides into sync with the other members of the band, sometimes he dithers above them in lunatic abandon. Though his cohorts play like an efficient machine, David Byrne maintains the beauty of human error.

Last year's More Songs about Buildings and Food signaled that the group, on its second album, had perfected its tech-mech music. The LP was a manic, oddly funky, hard-edged, catchy masterpiece. On Fear of Music, Talking Heads take that style and proceed to torture-test it under every distortion they and co-producer Brian Eno can devise. "Animals," with its dissonance and odd meters (5/4 and 7/4), radically extends the band's musical vocabulary, while other liberties (the jumpy, angular countermelody in "Air," Tina Weymouth's off-the-beat bass line in "Mind") are infiltrated into the more "normal"-sounding numbers. And the new record is programmed to emphasize its most ominous cuts: it opens with "I Zimbra," winds up side one with "Memories Can't Wait," and closes side two with "Animals," "Electric Guitar" and "Drugs." Whereas More Songs about Buildings and Food was crisp and outgoing, Fear of Music is often deliberately, brilliantly disorienting. Like its black, corrugated packaging (which resembles a manhole cover), the album is foreboding, inescapably urban and obsessed with texture.

Fear of Music is Talking Heads' most elaborate production so far, teeming with overdubs and effects the group doesn't try to reproduce in concert. Sounds emerge out of nowhere, echoes tangle the beat, instrumental timbres form unholy alloys. For the LP's spookiest tune, "Memories Can't Wait," the mix is as murky as a film-noir interior. Byrne's vocal is echoed, reverbed, tape-reversed and dizzyingly sped up while he sings about an endless "party in my mind." In the final verse, when suddenly "Everything is very quiet," his voice slips out front, the key changes and the echoes slink away. It's hardly subtle, but it works.

"Drugs" is a radical reworking of a song the band had been performing live and calling "Electricity." Onstage, "Electricity" was an easygoing, almost countryish, guitar-vamp number. On Fear of Music, Eno and Talking Heads eliminate the vamp, reverse the beat, stick a bell on every downbeat (like Jimmy Cliff's "Sitting in Limbo"), change some lyrics, rewrite the bridge in a different key and fill the hole left by the vamp with echoes and strange noises, including slow breathing, garbled voices and — just when the tune threatens to get too serious — what sounds like a bullfrog croak.
Though New Wave conservatives may be appalled at such elaborate studio tinkering, the songs don't suffer a bit. They're not sweetened — they're seasoned. In "Mind," Byrne double-tracks his vocals in ragged octaves on the chorus (which is inspired: e.g., "I need something to change your mind"), ostensibly making it twice as plaintive. But all the while, a giddy, slapstick synthesizer line is busy cutting away any trace of sentiment.

For me, Fear of Music's least interesting track is the rock-disco-like "Life During Wartime," which sounds almost live. The problem isn't the production but the song itself. While "Life During Wartime" is both structurally and harmonically conventional, boasts a silly chorus lyric and even adds a conga player to the group, the tune's real trouble is that it lacks Talking Heads' usual counterpoint. On the other hand, some of the words are arresting: "I got three passports, a couple of visas/You don't even know my real name."

Byrne has drastically shifted his verbal approach for Fear of Music. In his lyrics for earlier records, he let himself be self-conscious: he'd observe, analyze and make judgments. His new lyrics virtually eliminate abstraction — he doesn't consider, he feels. There's very little past and no future, just a jumble of sensations as if it's all he can do to handle right now. The songs are invariably in the first person and mention very few outside characters: the singer's inner world is his last refuge.

This way lies solipsism perhaps. But David Byrne's private, paranoid universe is dangerously close to yours and mine. "Cities," in which a homeless Byrne has to find himself "a city to live in," fades in with a riff and the sound of sirens. I'd played Fear of Music more than a dozen times before I realized that the sirens weren't outside my window.

The following review appeared in the August 18, 1979 issue of Billboard Magazine.

By far the groups strongest LP yet, this third album fully realizes the producing talents of Brian Eno and the lyrical/musical abilities of the art rock new wave band. The sensuous subtle rhythms applied sparingly in the past as in "Take Me To The River" and "Psycho Killer," predominate here with "I Zimbra" and "Mind" merging into disco though they are plainly avant-garde. The centerpiece is "Life During Wartime, a chilling account of what life in the US may be like in the next war. Despite more commercial instrumentation, David Byrne's vocals and lyrics can be as obtuse and irritating as ever.
Best Cuts: "Life During Wartime," "Mind," "Air," "I Zimbra."
Dealers: Last LP went top 30 and produced a top 39 single with Takee Me To The River."

Talking Heads (1979) 
From left to right: Tina Weymouth, Chris Franz, David Byrne, Jerry Harrison






TALKING HEADS



Sunday, November 11, 2018

Faze-O - Riding High (1977)

“Riding High” by Faze-O (1977)

Release Date: November 1977
Produced by Tight Corporation (Clarence Satchell)
Genre: R&B, Soul, Funk
Label: She Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records)

Chart Positions: #98 (US), #19 (US R&B)
Certifications: N/A
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions: “Riding High” #9 (US R&B)
Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A

Best Tracks: ALL TRACKS: Solid album from start to finish


Trivia: “Riding High” is one of those classics that most people do not know exists, but those that know this album love it.

Dayton, Ohio band Faze-O released their debut album “Riding High” in 1977. They made their mark on the US charts reaching #98 on the US Top 100 albums chart as well as making it to #19 on the R&B albums chart. The lead single “Riding High” got them into the top 10 reaching #9 on the US R&B singles chart. Unfortunately, this success was not duplicated on their next two albums.

The album was produced by Tight Corporation which is actually the funk band Ohio Players lead by the production talents of Clarence Satchell.

Several of the songs on the album have a similar sound to Ohio Players’ signature sound such as “Funky Reputation,” “Toejam” and “Get Some Booty.”

"Riding High (1977)


The following is a user review I found on AllMusic:

Good ole dirty FUNK played like nobody's business, the album boasts the massive cut "Ridin High" which is their only huge hit and the album cuts Funky Reputation, Toe Jam, Get Some Booty & Test - This Is Faze-O. This album needs no introduction to the FUNK world as it was produced by the biggest FUNK band of the time "Ohio Players" now this is where we get to the reals, all these guys are great musicians in their own right and can throw down the FUNK but deeply listening to the sounds, one who knows their music can point out that they were deep rooted with the band who produced them. FUNK fans it's a must have but for newbies, this is the only one u need and ur good to go.

The following is a short review from Picadilly Records:

Having made an impact on the Billboard charts in 1978 with their most successful single “Riding High”, Faze-O stake their claim as masters of soulful, groovy funk music. Produced by Clarence Satchell of the Ohio Players, the whole album percolates with heavy guitar and a medley of fresh, funky keyboards.

The following is a review found on Funk My Soul:

A spacey soul classic with a sound that never gets old!
Faze-O will be forever remembered for their massive cut “Riding High” a stretched out slow funk jam that has amazing keyboards, floating guitars, and a super-dope groove that’s stayed fresh from the moment it was first set to wax back in 1977! This album’s the group’s first, and best — and it’s a really wonderful record that blends together funky fusion and heavy soul filled with killer cuts arranged by the Ohio Players, and with lots of great keyboards by the group! Includes, of course, the hit “Riding High” — plus “Toe Jam” and “Funky Reputation.

This group was produced by the Ohio Players and this album by these midwest funkers have all the earmarks of an Ohio Players production: deep and heavy drums and fills, funky ass bass, familiar horn lines, burbling keyboards, clavinets, and synths, and funky vocals. The track that gets the most attention from this album is “riding high”, an all time funk bomb! There wasn’t a time back in the late 70’s that you did not hear this cut on the radio or at one of your relatives or friends houses, especially at a late night party. This is a real mid-tempo smooth ride all the way until the end of the song. 2 songs on the album deserve special attention: the throbbing bass/synth funk of “funky reputation”, a blazing funk jam that you just have to blast out of your speakers on a hot saturday afternoon, and also “get some booty”(!) (yes, that is the title of this short,3 minute track! don’t worry, nothin’ nasty, just a fast paced funk frenzy with much emphasis on getting the boo-tay on the dance floor!). Other songs follow in the Ohio Player(s) style, but these 5 guys make a good funky sound all on their own.

The following review is December Decmber 3, 1977 issue of Billboard Magazine:

Five man disco/R&B group debuts on the new She label distributed by Atlantic. The sound is a cross between Slave and The Ohio Players who arranged all seven selections. Synthesizer, percussion, clavinet and guitar spark the instrumentals which range from out and out funk and R&B flavored mid-tempo ballads. Best Cuts: Riding High, Funky Reputation, Toe Jam.

The song “Riding High” is a classic R&B tune that is occasionally heard on the airwaves from time to time. Many consider it to be a Quiet Storm classic.

Faze-O








FAZE-O

Saturday, October 27, 2018

Nancy Wilson - Now I'm A Woman (1970)

“Now I’m A Woman” by Nancy Wilson (1970)

Release Date: September 1970
Produced by Gamble-Huff Productions
Genre: Vocal, R&B, Pop, Jazz, Adult Contemporary
Label: Capitol Records

Chart Positions: #54 (US), #5 (US R&B)
Certifications: N/A
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions: “Now I’m A Woman” #93 (US), #41 (US R&B)
Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: “Now I’m A Woman,” “Joe,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “The Real Me”


After an extended period of albums with producer David Cavanaugh, Wilson did this 1970 album with Gamble-Huff productions, featuring producers/arrangers including Thom Bell, Bobby Martin, and arranger-conductor Lenny Pakula. Cavanaugh did show up as executive producer.

Around this time the Philly production team was best known for their work with artists like Jerry Butler, Billy Paul, and the Delfonics, among many others. Wilson falls right into the production style.

The title track is a customary strong outing from Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The beautiful "Joe" has the sound of a prime Thom Bell production, and Wilson gives an amazing performance and a particularly emotional note that might go through a listener. Wilson shines on "Lonely, Lonely" and "Let's Fall in Love Again"; both benefit from Bobby Martin's patently brassy and sweeping Philly production. “Now I'm a Woman” is an important album in Wilson's oeuvre and the Philly sound.

The release of Nancy Wilson's Now I'm a Woman album coincided with her distingué performance in an episode of Hawaii Five-O's third season ("Trouble in Mind") as the heroin-addicted jazz vocalist Eadie Jordan. In one scene, the no-nonsense Steve McGarrett confesses to being an Eadie Jordan record collector and fanboy.

The album’s only single, the title track, “Now I’m A Woman,” is a soul-stirring song that Wilson sinks her teeth into. The song about a woman reflecting on her past hurts, once as a baby, then as a lady, and now as a woman. Once again displaying their remarkable ability at song-tailoring, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff craft a beauty for Wilson, utilizing an understated rhythm section and stately, well-spaced strings. Wilson was as comfortable and compelling in contemporary settings as she was with jazz and more elaborately arranged sessions.

Now I'm A Woman (1970)

Album highlight, “Joe,” a Kenny Gamble/Norman Harris/Allan Felder song that the Philly innovators also recorded with Dusty Springfield; Nancy Wilson's quite comfortable in this contemporary setting and demonstrates her inherent ability to sing in perfect diction, making the availability of lyrics unnecessary. Trademark Philly horns provide a familiar opening, and Wilson's exquisite, longing enhances the lush track. She misses Joe badly; check out her sorrowful, womanly cry before the chorus, it catches you by surprise.

Other album highlights “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a soul-stirring rendition that brings an aura to the song that is as moving as any other cover of the Simon and Garfunkel classic. “The Real Me” is one of the three best songs on the album showcasing Wilson’s finesse with jazz and blues.

The following is a review of Nancy's album in the November 21, 1970 issue of Billboard Magazine:
A talent of consistent fine quality - that's Nancy Wilson. In this album, she demonstrates her versatility and professionalism with a selection of today's top hits "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Long and Winding Road," "Close To You" and "Now I'm A Woman."

The following review showed up in the Spotlight Singles section of the October 10, 1970 issue of Billboard Magazine:
Miss Wilson is at her ballad best with this beautiful Gamble-Huff material that should prove an Easy Listening and Soul smash and carry her over to the Top 100 as well. First-rate production work.


Nancy Wilson (1970)









NANCY WILSON

Friday, October 12, 2018

Dean Friedman- Dean Friedman (1977)

“Dean Friedman” by Dean Friedman (1977)

Release Date: April 1977
Produced by Rob Stevens
Genre: Pop, Rock, Ballads, Adult Contemporary
Label: Lifesong

Chart Positions: N/A
Certifications: N/A
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions: 
“Ariel” #26 (US), #19 (Canada, New Zealand), #47 (Scotland)
“Woman Of Mine” #52 (UK), #47 (Scotland)
Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A

Best Tracks: “Company,” “Ariel,” “Woman Of Mine,” “Humor Me”



Trivia: Dean Friedman is one of those artists that pretty much has gone unnoticed by the masses but has maintained a healthy enough audience to continue releasing albums into this current decade and perform a steady stream of concerts to this very day.

Dean’s popularity began with the hit single “Ariel,” it was the first of two hits from Friedman's eponymous debut LP, Dean Friedman. "Ariel," however, was his only hit in North America. It reached number 26 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 17 on the Cash Box Top 100 and number 19 in Canada. The song spent 22 weeks on the Billboard chart and 24 weeks on Cash Box.

"Ariel" has been described as a "quirkily irresistible and non-categorical pop song about a free spirited, music loving, vegetarian Jewish girl", from Paramus, New Jersey, where Friedman grew up. The lyrics describe the young girl from "deep in the bosom of suburbia," who sang "mighty fine," with "'Tears on My Pillow' and 'Ave Maria'" perhaps implying that he was Roman Catholic. It describes the girl Ariel, "standing by the [since dismantled] waterfall at Paramus Park", one of the many shopping malls in Paramus. The quarters she was collecting for "the friends of BAI" refers to the New York radio station WBAI, and their listener association, while the song also makes reference to "channel 2," which refers to local CBS affiliate WCBS-TV.
Chicago radio superstation WLS, which gave the song much airplay, ranked "Ariel" as the 60th most popular hit of 1977. It reached as high as number four on their survey of August 20, 1977.

Lifesong, the record label which produced "Ariel" insisted Friedman change the song's second verse, which refers to the eponymous Ariel as "a Jewish girl", believing that radio stations might use it as an excuse not to play the record. The third verse was also removed to make the single shorter for radio. The management company received threats from the Jewish Defense League protesting against the edit and, at Friedman's insistence; the original version was put on the album.

"Ariel" (1977)

“Woman Of Mine” a more serious adult contemporary tune was Friedman’s first chart appearance in the UK reaching #52 and also scored on the charts in Scotland at #47. The song combines acoustic guitar with a super-smooth classic rock styled electric guitar solo in the middle of the song. Many that have heard this song have felt the song should have been a top ten hit.

“Humor Me,” an album standout is described by Dean Friedman as a love song for hopeless romantics. The song blends an irresistible combination of acoustic guitar and electric keyboards with an understated backing vocal chorus. The song is somewhat similar to a Michael Franks tune.

Here's a little lesser known trivia... Tony Levin, who is best known for playing electric bass with famous musicians such as King Crimson and Peter Gabriel as well as contributing to more than 500 albums for artists such as Paul Simon, Cher, Alice Cooper, Bryan Ferry, Seal, James Taylor and Carly Simon, also performed electric bass on Dean's first two albums.


Dean Friedman 1977






DEAN FRIEDMAN

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Rose Royce - Rose Royce II: In Full Bloom (1977)

“Rose Royce II: In Full Bloom” by Rose Royce (1977)

Release Date: July 29, 1977
Produced by Norman Whitfield
Genre: R&B, Soul, Quiet Storm, Disco, Pop, Ballad
Label: Whitfield

Chart Positions: #9 (US), #16 (Canada), #18 (UK), #1 (US R&B)
Certifications: Platinum (US), Gold (UK)
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions: 
“Do Your Dance” #39 (US), #30 (UK), #66 (Canada), #20 (US Dance)
“It Makes You Feel Like Dancin’” #16 (UK), #20 (US Dance)
“Ooh Boy” #35 (Canada), #46 (UK), #72 (US), #3 (US R&B)
“Wishing On A Star” #1 (France), #3 (UK), #14 (Belgium), #15 (Netherlands), #101 (US), #52 (US R&B)
 Singles Certifications: “Wishin’ On A Star” Silver (UK)
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: All Tracks – “Wishing On A Star,” “Ooh Boy,” “Do Your Dance,” “Fun Factory”


Trivia: “Rose Royce II: In Full Bloom” is the 1st true studio album by Rose Royce. Their first actual album was the Original Soundtrack album for the film “Car Wash” from which they achieved two major hit singles “Car Wash” and “I Wanna Get Next To You.” “In Full Bloom,” though it did not have any major hits in the US was a bigger hit than “Car Wash” in the US and was certified Platinum by the RIAA. This was their only platinum in the US.

The album is solid and is full of dance and quiet storm hits. “Ooh Boy” one of the albums rhythmic ballads gives us a Michael Jackson sort of feel.

“You’re My World, Girl” not released as a single is very similar to “I Wanna Get Next To You.” Most of the songs on the album feature the lead vocals of the incomparable Gwen Dickey but “You’re My World, Girl” features the vocals of Kenny Copeland as does “I Wanna Get Next To You.

“Do Your Dance” and “It Makes You Feel Like Dancin’” both follow in the same vein as “Car Wash” both made it to #20 on the US Dance/Disco charts. “Do Your Dance” made it to US #39, becoming Rose Royce’s 3rd US top 40 hit out of four total.

The album highlight “Wishing On A Star” ironically was not a hit in the US. It only made it to #101 on the US singles chart and #52 on the US R&B chart. As time has gone by the song though has become a classic in the US. In other parts of the world, the song was a huge hit reaching #1 in France and #3 in the UK. The song was certified Silver in the UK.

"Wishing on a Star" was written by former Undisputed Truth member Billie Rae Calvin. The song was covered by several artists and was finally a hit in the US in 1992 by the Cover Girls but it is the original version by Rose Royce that is now most recognized in the US and around the world.

Wishing On A Star (1977)








ROSE ROYCE

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Tanya Tucker - TNT (1978)

“TNT” by Tanya Tucker (1978)

Release Date: November 1978
Produced by Jeff Goldstein
Genre: Country, Country Rock, Rock, Pop
Label: MCA

Chart Positions: #54 (US), #52 (Canada), #2 (US Country, Canada Country)
Certifications: Gold (US, Canada)
Awards: Nominated for the “Best Female Rock Performance” Grammy Award (Donna Summer won the award that year)

Singles and Chart Positions: “Texas (When I Die)” #3 (Canada Country), #5 (US Country), “I’m The Singer, You’re The Song #6 (Canada Country), #18 (US Country), #25 (Canada Adult Contemporary)
 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: “Not Fade Away” #70 (US)
Best Tracks: “Not Fade Away,” “Lover Goodbye,” “Angel From Montgomery,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Bown Eyed Handsome Man,” “Texas (When I Die)”



“TNT” was Tanya Tucker’s 9th studio album and was her first to be certified Gold in both the US and Canada. The album also received a Grammy nomination in the category of "Best Female Rock Performance." This was Tanya's third of 10 Grammy nominations. She has yet to win a Grammy.

With “TNT” Tucker made a bold departure from her classic country music style to do a more rock-flavored album – but for good measure kept a slight hint of that country there for her longtime fans. The departure proved to be extremely successful for Tucker as the album is her second highest charting on the US Country chart and her highest charting on the Canadian Country chart. The album was also her highest charting on the US Billboard Top 200 albums chart reaching #54. Only 1991’s “What Do I Do With Me” and 1992’s “Can’t Run From Yourself” have charted higher reaching #48 and #51 respectively. IN Canada “TNT” is Tucker’s highest charting album on the pop charts reaching #52. It was also her first album to make it onto the Canadian Country charts.

Because of the success of “TNT” Tucker followed the album with 1979’s “Tear Me Apart,” another rock-influenced album but captured much less success and by 1980 returned to her country music roots.

Featuring a playful somewhat flirtatious exuberant attitude from Tanya, "TNT was in many ways her coming of age album. She had just turned 20 a month before it's release and was ready to prove she was more than just a cute country music sweetheart.

The album opens with Phil Everly’s synth drum rocker “Lover Goodbye” and sets the mood for the album. Her remake of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” is a beautiful southern rock ballad. Prine wrote and recorded this song for his 1971 debut album “John Prine.” Seals and Crofts helped on backing vocals on the ballad “The River and The Wind.”

The album’s first single “Texas (When I Die)” was the only true country number on the album. The song peaked at #5 on the US country chart and with time has become one of Tucker’s signature songs.

Tucker’s rendition of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” is a real scorching treat. The song was released as the b-side to “Texas (When I Die).” Receiving a fair amount of radio airplay and fan requests it ended up charting on Billboard’s Top 100 Singles chart reaching #70, making it the third highest charting pop single of her career.

Not Fade Away (1978)

Easily one of the album highlights is her rockin’ rendition of Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” why they did not release this as a single is a mystery to me. Tucker puts in a flavorful rockabilly rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man.” The song was originally released on Chuck Berry’s 1957 debut album “After School Session” and was used as the b-side to his 1956 single “Too Much Monkey Business.”

Often "TNT" sounds as if Tanya's aim was to crack the AOR radio format and would have done well alongside the queens of AOR such as Pat Benatar, Linda Ronstadt and Anne & Nancy Wilson (Heart).



TANYA TUCKER (1978)








TANYA TUCKER

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Barry White - Can't Get Enough (1974)

“Can’t Get Enough” by Barry White (1974)

Release Date: August 6, 1974
Produced by Barry White
Genre: R&B, Disco, Soul, Pop, Quiet Storm
Label: 20th Century

Chart Positions: #1 (US, Italy), #2 (Canada, France), #4 (UK, Austria), #5 (Germany), #9 (Norway), #28 (Australia), #1 (US R&B)
Certifications: Gold (US, UK)
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions:
“Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love Babe” #1 (US), #2 (Canada, France), #3 (Italy), #8 (UK),  #12 (Netherlands, South Africa), #13 (Belgium), #23 (Australia), #25 (Germany), #1 (US R&B), #26 (US Adult Contemporary)
“You’re The First, The Last, My Everything” #1 (UK, Italy), #2 (US, South Africa), #3 (Brazil), #4 (France), #5 (Canada), #6 (Ireland, Belgium), #7 (Australia, Austria, Switzerland), #9 (Germany), #13 (Netherlands), #1 (US R&B), #2 (US Dance)
 Singles Certifications: “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love Babe”  (US Gold), “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything”  (US Gold, UK Silver)
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: All Tracks – Solid Album from start to finish



“Can’t Get Enough” is Barry White’s third album and his first to crack the top five in the US and in many other parts of the world. This was Barry’s breakout, the one that launched him to worldwide superstardom.

The album topped the R&B albums chart, his third to do so. It also topped the US Billboard 200 and peaked at #4 on the UK Albums Chart as well as #1 in Italy and #2 in Canada and France.

Barry White wrote all the songs on the album as well as producing, arranging and engineering the album. White was a super talent well worth the recognition he received throughout the 70s and into the 90s.

Despite featuring two of his biggest career hits the album is a solid work with every song worthy of having been a single release.

“Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe” was released as the first single from his album Can't Get Enough in 1974, the song topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts and was a big hit throughout much of Europe. It was his second U.S. chart-topper, after "Love's Theme". The song is a pop-soul track with lush string arrangements and a disco-influenced beat behind it.

Barry White fell in love in 1973 with Glodean James, who was one of the members of his Love Unlimited backing trio of singers. He wrote, “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love Babe” for her one night when he had troubles falling asleep. Barry and Glodean married in October 1974 and for a time were one of the best-known couples in showbiz. The pair separated in 1988 but never divorced and remained good friends for the remainder of White's life.

“You’re The First, The Last, My Everything” has gone on to become Barry’s biggest career hit and was the second single from the album. The song was White's fourth top ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, reaching #2; it spent a week at #1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. The early disco classic made it to number two on the disco/dance charts. In the UK Singles Chart, it fared even better, spending two weeks at the top in December 1974. It was also #1 in Italy, #2 in South Africa, #3 in Brazil, #4 in France and #5 in Canada and reached the Top 20 in another dozen countries around the world.

"You're The First, The Last, My Everything" (1974)

White's friend Peter Radcliffe started writing this as a Country song called "You're My First, You're My Last, My In-Between," but he couldn't get it recorded for 21 years. White recorded this as a Disco song, keeping most of the structure and two-thirds the title, but he rewrote the lyrics.

The album was a big winner at the 1974 NAACP Awards, which were presented in January 1975. White won Album of the Year ("Can't Get Enough), Male Vocalist of the Year and Producer of the Year. He attended the awards ceremony with his (then) wife Glodean.

The following review appeared in the July 20, 1974 issue of Billboard Magazine in the Top Single Picks section:
"Can't Get Enough Of Your Love Babe"
"Short talking intro leads into strongest vocal Barry has come up with in some time. Most uptempo thing he's done in a while, which includes his usual strong production work and distinctive beat which should be perfect for discos. Could cross easily into pop."


Barry White 1974






BARRY WHITE

Thursday, August 9, 2018

J. Geils Band - Sanctuary (1978)

“Sanctuary” by J. Geils Band (1978)

Release Date: November 1978
Produced by Seth Justman, Joseph Wissert
Genre: Rock, Classic Rock
Label: EMI

Chart Positions: #49 (US), #53 (Canada)
Certifications: Gold (US)
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions: 
“One Last Kiss” #6 (France), #35 (US), #58 (Canada), #74 (UK)
“Take It Back” #67 (US), #94 (Canada)
“Sanctuary #47 (US)

 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: “One Last Kiss,” “Take It Back,” “Sanctuary,” “Wild Man,” “Just Can’t Stop Me”



“Sanctuary” was J. Geils Band’s 8th studio album (10th album overall including live albums). It was their first to have 3 songs make it on to the US singles chart. After having achieved success with Atlantic Records, J. Geils Band switched over to EMI to produce their three most successful albums of their career.

“Sanctuary” was the band’s tightest sounding record in years. They produced a leaner and cleaner sound as they play up the keyboards more than in their past albums, giving the album an overall contemporary sound.

The first single release “One Last Kiss,” although not their highest charting hit, received a fair amount of airplay and put J. Geils Band in the minds of music listeners across the US. The hooky hit single was their first Top 40 since 1974’s “Must Of Got Lost.”



The second single “Take It Back” hints at what was to come in 1981 when J. Giles Band entered the realm of commercial pop and had their biggest hits with “Centerfold” and “Freeze Frame,” “Take It Back” was a very distant prototype for those songs.

“Sanctuary,” the album’s third single just barely missed the Top 40 making it to #47 on the US chart. The song sports a Rolling Stone feel that is inescapable. This may have been a good direction to further explore.

Stand out track “Wild Man” continues with that Mick Jagger Rolling Stones vibe and begins with a dramatic keyboard opening. “Just Can’t Stop Me” brings in a glam feel with it’s “Rebel Rebel” sounding opening working into a rough jam band sound.

J. Geils Band





J. GEILS BAND

Friday, July 27, 2018

Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)

“Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.” by Bruce Springsteen (1973)

Release Date: January 5, 1973
Produced by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos
Genre: Rock, Heartland Rock, Folk Rock, Classic Rock
Label: Columbia

Chart Positions: #35 (Sweden), #41 (UK), #60 (US), #71 (Australia), #181 (Japan)
Certifications: 2xPlatinum (US), Gold (Australia), Silver (UK)
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions: 
“Blinded By The Light” (No chart data)
“Spirit In The Night” (no chart data)
 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A

Best Tracks: All Tracks – Solid album from beginning to end



Trivia: This is where it all started for Bruce Springsteen. It was a humble start as the album only made it to #60 in the US and #41 in the UK. But the critics loved him as they called him a “daring new artists” with comparisons to Bob Dylan. It would take another 2 ½ years, with the release of “Born To Run,” before the public realized the genius of Bruce Springsteen.

Springsteen and his first manager Mike Appel recorded the album at the low-priced, out-of-the-way 914 Sound Studios to save as much as possible of the Columbia Records advance and cut most of the songs in a single week.

There was a dispute not long after the record was recorded—Appel and John Hammond preferred the solo tracks, while Springsteen preferred the band songs. As such, a compromise was reached—the album was to have five songs with the band ("For You", "Growin' Up", "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?" "It's Hard to be a Saint in the City", and "Lost in the Flood") and five solo songs ("Mary Queen of Arkansas", "The Angel", "Jazz Musician", "Arabian Nights", and "Visitation at Fort Horn").

However, when Columbia Records president Clive Davis heard the album, he felt that it lacked a hit single. As such, Springsteen wrote and recorded "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night". Because pianist David Sancious and bassist Garry Tallent were unavailable to record these songs, a three-man band was used—Vini Lopez on drums, Springsteen on guitar, bass, and piano, and the previously missing Clarence Clemons on saxophone. These two songs bumped "Jazz Musician", "Arabian Nights", and "Visitation at Fort Horn", leaving a total of seven band songs and two solo songs. The album was originally slated to be released in the fall of 1972, but it was moved back to early 1973 to avoid the pre-Christmas crush.

Both "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night" were released as singles by Columbia, but neither reached the US charts. Manfred Mann's Earth Band released a version of "Blinded by the Light" on their album The Roaring Silence, which reached #1 on both Billboard's Hot 100 and the Canadian RPM chart. This recording of "Blinded by the Light" is Springsteen's only number one single as a songwriter on the Hot 100. His best showing on the Hot 100 as a performer was in 1984, with "Dancing in the Dark", which peaked at number two for 4 weeks.[4] Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. first charted in the United Kingdom on June 15, 1985, in the wake of Springsteen's Born in the USA tour arriving in Britain; it remained in the top 100 for ten weeks.

According to Springsteen, “Blinded By The Light” came about from going through a rhyming dictionary in search of appropriate words. The first line of the song, "Madman drummers, bummers, and Indians in the summers with a teenage diplomat" is autobiographical—"Madman drummers" is a reference to drummer Vini Lopez, known as "Mad Man" (later changed to "Mad Dog"); "Indians in the summer" refers to the name of Springsteen's old Little League team; "teenage diplomat" refers to himself. The remainder of the song tells of many unrelated events, with the refrain of "Blinded by the light, cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night".

"Blinded by the Light" was the first song on, and first single from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Springsteen's version was commercially unsuccessful and did not appear on the music charts.

Manfred Mann's Earth Band's recording of the song changes the lyrics. The most prominent change is in the chorus, where Springsteen's "cut loose like a deuce" is replaced with "revved up like a deuce." This is commonly misheard as "wrapped up like a douche" (the V sound in "revved" is almost unpronounced, and the S sound in "deuce" comes across as "SH" due to a significant lisp). Springsteen himself has joked about the controversy, claiming that it was not until Manfred Mann rewrote the song to be about a feminine hygiene product that it became popular.

Blinded by the Light (1973)

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band also released their version of “Spirit In The Night” which made it to #40 on the US Billboard singles chart. The song was originally featured on their 1975 album “Nightingales and Bombers” and was released as a single to moderate success. After the huge success of “Blinded By The Light”, they re-recorded the and rereleased as a single in 1977.

Although "Spirit in the Night" was one of the last songs written for the album, it did grow out of an earlier version of the song that Springsteen had played live prior to receiving his recording contract. The lyrics themselves describe a group of teenagers — Wild Billy, Hazy Davy, Crazy Janey, Killer Joe, G-Man and Mission Man, who is the person in the song telling the story — going to a spot called "Greasy Lake" near "Route 88" for a night of freedom, sex, and drinking. But their escape to the freedom of Greasy Lake is short-lived, the emphasis is on the friends' togetherness. The lyrics of the song echo the Crazy Jane poems of Irish poet William Butler Yeats.
The follow-up album to “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.,” “The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle,” features a song entitled "Wild Billy's Circus Story".

In an attempt to capitalize on the success of “Blinded By The Light” and to a lesser degree “Spirit In The Night,” Manfred Mann’s Earth Band” recorded and released a third song, “For You,” from “Greetings For Asbury N.J.” They only made it to #106 in 1981 with the song.

The lyrics of “For You” are about a woman who has attempted suicide. She does not need the singer's "urgency" even though her life is "one long emergency" as Springsteen sings in the chorus (along with "and your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free"). The singer is committed to doing anything to save her and admires her ability to hang on. Once again, the lyrics are evocative of images and not details.

The following review was written by Lester Bangs for the July 5, 1973 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine:
Remember P.F. Sloan? Sure you do. It was back when every folk rocker worth his harmonica holder was flushed with Dylan fever and seeing how many syllables he could cram into every involuted couplet. There was Tandyn Almer, of "Along Comes Mary" fame ("The psychodramas and the traumas hung on the scars of the stars in the bars and cars" -- something like that), and David Blue had his own Highway 61 too, but absolutely none of 'em could beat 'ol P.F. He started out writing surf songs, but shook the world by the throat with his masterpieces "Eve of Destruction" and "Sins of a Family," and all his best material was just brimming with hate.

Boy howdy, the first thing the world needs is a P.F. Sloan for 1973, and you can start revving up yer adrenaline, kids, because he's here in the person of Bruce Springsteen. Old Bruce makes a point of letting us know that he's from one of the scuzziest, most useless and plain uninteresting sections of Jersey. He's been influenced a lot by the Band, his arrangements tend to take on a Van Morrison tinge every now and then, and he sort of catarrh-mumbles his ditties in a disgruntled mushmouth sorta like Robbie Robertson on Quaaludes with Dylan barfing down his neck. It's a tuff combination, but it's only the beginning.

Because what makes Bruce totally unique and cosmically surfeiting is his words. Hot damn, what a passel o' verbiage! He's got more of them crammed into this album than any other record released this year, but it's all right because they all fit snug, it ain't like Harry Chapin tearing right-angle malapropisms out of his larynx. What's more, each and every one of 'em has at least one other one here that it rhymes with. Some of 'em can mean something socially or otherwise, but there's plenty of 'em that don't even pretend to, reveling in the joy of utter crass showoff talent run amuck and totally out of control:

"Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat/In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat" begins the very first song, and after that things just keep getting more breathtakingly complicated. You might think it's some kinda throwback, but it's really bracing as hell because it's obvious that B.S. don't give a shit. He singshoots his random rivets at you and you can catch as many as you want or let 'em all clatter right off the wall which is maybe's where they belong anyway. Bruce Springsteen is a bold new talent with more than a mouthful to say, and one look at the pic on the back will tell you he's got the glam to go places in this Gollywoodlawn world to boot. Watch for him; he's not the new John Prine.

This review showed up in Billboard Magazine – February 1973
“The comparisons with Dylan as far as lyrics are concerned will be inevitable, but this new artist proves himself highly original and able to run the gamut from humorous to rather sad songs. Best cuts include "Blinded By The Light," "Growin' Up," "Lost In The Flood," "For You" and "Spirit In The Night." LP should gain strong play from FM stations.”


Bruce Springsteen (1973)





BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Joan Armatrading - Joan Armatrading (1976)

“Joan Armatrading” by Joan Armatrading (1976)

Release Date: September 1976
Produced by Glyn Johns
Genre: Rock, Pop, Folk-Rock, Blues
Label: A&M

Chart Positions: #11 (New Zealand), #12 (UK), #52 (Australia), #67 (US)
Certifications: Gold (UK, Canada)
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions: 
“Love And Affection” #10 (UK), #16 (Ireland)
“Down To Zero” (no chart data)
 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A

Best Tracks: “Love and Affection,” “Water With The Wine,” “People,” “Join The Boys,” “Like Fire,” “Tall In The Saddle”



Trivia: “Joan Armatrading” is Joan’s third studio album and her first to chart anywhere in the world. This is the album that put Joan on the map. The album mixes acoustic work with jazz-influenced material and displays Joan’s range of interest in music. The album was a big hit in the UK reaching #12 accompanied with a Top 10 UK hit “Love and Affection.”

"Love and Affection" 1976

In 1976, Robin Denselow wrote in The Guardian that the album "showed that we now have a black artist in Britain with the same sort of vocal range, originality (in fact even greater originality in terms of musical influences) and lyrical sensitivity" as Joni Mitchell.

Producer Glyn Johns has produced albums for many greats including Steve Miller Band, Eagles, Humble Pie, The Who, Boz Scaggs, Eric Clapton and more. He helped launch Joan Armatrading’s career when he was hired on to produce this album. He remained with her on her next three albums.

Joan signed to A&M Records is 1972 but it wasn't until after A&M gained worldwide rights to Joan's music that they decided to pour a good amount of money and effort into promoting Joan. A 3 1/2 minute film clip of the singer/guitarist performing "Love and Affection." A&M spent an unprecedented nine months promoting Armatrading's self-titled album, which included magazine ads, television spots (such as an appearance on Saturday Night Live) and promo copies of the album sent to every music critic and concert promoter throughout the world as well as a few film clips one of which shows comments from reviews. A&M spent near $300,000 promoting the album before it was even released.

Up to this point, Armatrading had shown that she had a lovely voice and an ear for interesting arrangements, but her work had been steeped in the folk idiom of the early '70s. Her third album changed all that, with producer Glyn Johns bringing in members of Gallagher & Lyle, Fairport Convention, and the Faces to punch up her folksy sound with elements of rock, country, and disco. The result is her most muscular music to date, with Armatrading adopting a swagger that showed her tales of unluckiness in love didn't have to have dire consequences ("Tall in the Saddle," "Water With the Wine"). Of course, it helped that the record featured her best material delivered in a wonderfully expressive voice that can capture the shades between song and speech like a sweeter version of Ian Anderson. "Down to Zero" (which features pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole) and "Love and Affection" are the album's most memorable tracks, the latter breaking into the U.K.'s Top Ten (the album itself made the U.K. Top 20). But what endears this record to fans is the quality of each song; it wouldn't be fair to call anything here filler. The artsy and eclectic "Like Fire," the beautiful ballad "Save Me," and the ingratiating melodies of "Somebody Who Loves You" are just as likely to strike a chord with listeners as the better-known cuts. While Glyn Johns deserves credit for bringing Joan Armatrading's songs into a more flattering setting -- it's not coincidental that the record feels like a polished version of The Who by Numbers -- his real stroke of genius was letting the artist flower to her full potential. For many, this album remains the high point in her catalog.

Joan Armatrading 








JOAN ARMATRADING

Monday, June 25, 2018

Antonio Carlos Jobim - Jobim (1973)

“Jobim” by Antonio Carlos Jobim (1973)
Release Date: January 1, 1973
Produced by Claus Ogerman
Genre: Bossa Nova, Jazz, Latin Jazz
Label: MCA

Chart Positions: N/A
Certifications: N/A
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions: N/A
 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: “Aguas de Marco,” “Mantiqueira Range,” “Nuvens Douradas”


“Jobim” is heavily orchestral and more on the easy listening side and less Bossa Nova, but not to fear the album certainly has it’s share of the Bossa Nova sound for which Antonio Carlos Jobim is famous.

“Jobim” was an experiment for Jobim putting less of an emphasis on the bass and rhythmic style of bossa nova and more priority on a bigger symphonic sound. The record lets listeners in on another side of Jobim, a classical interpretation of moody instrumental tone poems for films based on the works of Debussy and Villa Lobos. Jobim continued with his symphonic orchestrations throughout the 70s.

It is the symphonic orchestrations which brings this album to life. Jobim hired Claus Ogerman to produce the album. Ogerman had worked previously with Jobim (since 1963) on a total of five albums before this one and two more afterward. Ogerman also arranged and conducted the orchestral arrangements. Ogerman a famed German composer, conductor and arranger also worked with Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and in his later years with Diana Krall. Though he worked mainly with in the jazz genre arranging musicians such as Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery and Cal Tjader, Ogerman did foray into pop music and composed arrangements for several pop hits including Solomon Burke's "Cry To Me" and Leslie Gore's "It's My Party," "Judy's Turn To Cry" and "She's A Fool."

Aguas de Marco (1973)

“Aguas de Marco” has grown to become a classic for Jobim. He wrote the lyrics for the song originally in Portuguese and later in English. The inspiration for the song came from Rio De Janeiro's rainiest month. March is typically marked by sudden storms with heavy rains and strong winds.


Antonio Carlos Jobim (1973)






ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Barbra Streisand - Superman (1977)

“Superman” by Barbra Streisand (1977)

Release Date: June 1977
Produced by Gary Klein, Charles Calello (produced “My Heart Belongs To Me)
Genre: Pop, Easy Listening, Adult Contemporary
Label: Columbia

Chart Positions: #1 (Canada), #3 (US), #11 (Australia), #23 (Netherlands), #32 (UK), #33 (New Zealand), #44 (Japan), #46 (Sweden)
Certifications: 2xPlatinum (US, Canada), Gold (Australia)
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions:
“My Heart Belongs To Me” #4 (US), #3 (Canada) #1 (US Adult Contemporary, Canada Adult Contemporary)
“Superman” #29 (US Adult Contemporary) #18 (Canada Adult Contemporary)
 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: "My Heart Belongs To Me," "Superman," "Cabin Fever," "New York State Of Mind"



Trivia: “Superman” is Barbra Streisand’s 19th studio album (if you include the soundtracks it is her 27th album). At this point in time “Streisand Superman” was her second most successful album worldwide topped only by 1976’s “A Star Is Born” soundtrack. As the years progressed other such as 1980’s “Guilty,” 1985’s “The Broadway Album” and 1997’s “Higher Ground” have outperformed “Streisand Superman.”

Having been released only 7 months after the “A Star Is Born” soundtrack, “Superman” follows with a similar pop-rock feel. Two of the song that showed up on the album (“Answer Me” and “Lullaby For Myself”) were written for “A Star Is Born” but did not make it into the movie. Streisand co-wrote “Answer Me” with Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher. Streisand also co-wrote the rock inspired “Don’t Believe What You Said.”

Many have stated Streisand’s cover of “New York State of Mind” fit her so well that it has become the definitive recording. Billy Joel, who wrote the song claimed, “I thought, ‘This is one of the greatest woman singers ever, doing … me? Me?’ I really loved it, though, because it kind of finally made me legitimate in this business to my mother.”

The first single release was the classic ballad “My Heart Belongs To Me” which was a huge success reaching the Top 5 in both the US and Canada. Columbia Records and Barbra put together a “publicity film” for “My Heart Belongs To Me.” It was shown at Columbia’s 1977 convention to industry insiders. Barbra lip-synched to the track. During the musical interlude, she “conducted” the orchestra, then started coughing from the smoke machines, all very comedic. At the end of the video, she spun toward the camera and made a funny face.

My Heart Belongs To Me (1977)

The second single, the title track “Superman,” was released about a year and a half after the album and did not fare to well, but was a moderate hit on Adult Contemporary radio.








BARBRA STREISAND

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)

“Unknown Pleasures” by Joy Division (1979)
Release Date: June 15, 1979
Produced by Martin Hannett
Genre: Post-Punk
Label: Factory

Chart Positions: #1 (New Zealand, Holland), #71 (UK), #82 (Australia), #85 (Italy), #1 (UK Indie Albums)
Certifications: Gold (UK)
Awards: N/A

Singles and Chart Positions: N/A
 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: “She’s Lost Control,” “Disorder,” “New Dawn Fades,” “Shadowplay” but realistically all tracks on this album are outstanding!!!



Trivia: “Unknown Pleasures” is the debut studio album by English rock band Joy Division, released on 15 June 1979 on Tony Wilson's Factory Records. It followed an abandoned session for RCA Records, and was recorded and mixed over three weekends at Strawberry Studios, in Stockport, England in April 1979 with record producer Martin Hannett. The cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville.

The album cover perfectly captures the raw emotion and attitude of the album. The ten songs inside, quite simply, are stone-cold landmarks, the whole album is a monument to passion, energy, and cathartic despair.

Factory did not release any singles from the album, and it did not chart (at the time) despite the relative success of the group's non-album debut single "Transmission". “Unknown Pleasures,” which sold more than a million copies worldwide during it's release year, has gone on to receive sustained critical acclaim as a pioneering and influential post-punk album. The album did eventually chart having made it to #1 in New Zealand and Holland.

Though there weren’t any singles released from the album it does include several classic Joy Division tunes including “New Dawn Fades” a song which has been popularized from it’s inclusion in several films such as “Heat,” “House of Wax” and “The Equalizer.” John Frusciante (former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist) has recorded the song and most widely known, Moby, did an outstanding version that received airplay and is one of his best-known recordings.

"New Dawn Fades" (1979)

“She’s Lost Control” has been highly popular, so much, that one would think the song was released as a single. Along with  “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” “She’s Lost Control” is Joy Division’s signature tune. A re-recording of the song was released on a 12” single in 1980 with more electronic parts added. This was one of the last recordings released by Joy Division.

Sadly “Unknown Pleasures” is only one of two albums that were completed and released by Joy Division. On the morning of May 18, 1980, lead singer Ian Curtis, watched Werner Herzog's "Stroszek," played Iggy Pop's The Idiot, and then hung himself in the kitchen. This was the end of a band that was on the rise and with only two albums has become one of the most influential bands in the history of rock music.




Joy Division (1979)




JOY DIVISION