What Are You Listening To?

[Dennie]

Like Never Before -- CD

Taj Mahal

1991 Private Music

From Gemm.com

Styles: Modern Blues.

Taj Mahal is a walking encyclopedia of black music and one of its most genial, enthusiastic partisans. To the catalog of genres he has mastered, both as a musician and as a scholar, contemporary R&B now can be added. Like Never Before finds him integrating synths, programming, turntable trickery and high-gloss studio polish on certain tracks. Understandable, that: Like everyone else, he wants to be heard. But unlike everyone else, he has assimilated a broad inventory of styles, sees them all as part of an evolving continuum and wants to share that wisdom.
Taj Mahal has been processing acoustic and electric blues, ragtime, calypso, reggae and native African forms for a quarter of a century now. So while Like Never Before makes its timely nods to current trends, it also slips into older, more rough-hewn modes. The album can be seen as a guided tour, starting from a point familiar to contemporary listeners and then gradually backtracking into the blues and other roots styles. Because it also is the most crisp, detailed recording Taj has ever made – fuzzy sound quality has been a hindrance on some of his wonderful early work – Like Never Before might just be the definitive Taj Mahal album.

Track Listing
1. Don't Call Us
2. River of Love
3. Scattered
4. Every Wind (In the River)
5. Blues With a Feeling
6. Squat That Rabbit
7. Take All the Time You Need
8. Love Up
9. Cakewalk into Town
10. Big Legged Mamas Are Back in Style
11. Take a Giant Step

 

[Dennie]

Souled Out -- CD

Tower Of Power

1995 Epic Records

My fave of all TOP recordings, December 25, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Souled Out (Audio CD)

I am a long time (20 plus years) fan of Tower. I saw the original band (Lenny Williams, Brent Byers, Mic Gillette etc.) when I was in High School. I stopped listening after a few bad records like "Power" and the strange disco stuff. My copy of "Souled Out" would be worn out if were not digital! The new blood in the band keeps them fresh with ideas and a new interpretation of the Tower feel and trademark sound. I saw the band last year on the BB King tour and they were as tight as ever. My only question is: "Why is the lifespan of the Lead singers so short?

1. Souled Out
2. Taxed to the Max
3. Keep Comin' Back
4. Soothe You
5. Do You Wanna (Make Love to Me)
6. Lovin' You Forever
7. Gotta Make a Change
8. Diggin' on James Brown
9. Sexy Soul
10. Just Like You
11. Once You Get a Taste
12. Undercurrent

 

[Botch]

"Skateaway" has one of the best rock intros ever recorded! :bow-blue: :bow-blue: :bow-blue:

 

[Dennie]

Forever -- 2 CD Set

Chick Corea, Stanley Clark & Lenny White

2011 Concord Records

Album Notes
This double-disc set documents Return to Forever's unplugged tour of 2009. Its 19 tracks consist mainly of rearranged RTF tunes and jazz standards for piano trio, though there are wonderful surprises on disc two. Disc one is taken directly from concert appearances across the globe. The standards work well -- considering how busy Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White can be together as well as solo. "On Green Dolphin Street," "Waltz for Debby," and "Hackensack" all swing, though they do feature moments of RTF's requisite knotty counterpoint. Originals include Clarke's new tune, the beautiful "La Canción de Sophia," as well as "Bud Powell" and "Windows" from two Corea solo recordings, and "Señor Mouse" and "No Mystery," both RTF tunes, round it out. The small complaint is that these three play so stridently and "perfectly" that they sound more like a studio band instead of a quick-thinking live unit. Everything is exceptionally played and recorded. The gems are saved for disc two, which consists mainly of rehearsals for the tour recorded at Mad Hatter Studios in San Francisco, complete with off-mike banter. Corea dons his Rhodes and other keyboards for an excellent version of "Captain Marvel" and a fully fused-out "Señor Mouse," "Space Circus," and "After the Rain," all with original RTF guitarist Bill Connors playing his ass off with his former and future bandmates (Frank Gambale will assume guitar duties on tour). Violinist Jean-Luc Ponty will also join the new band formally in 2012, and he begins in that role here, appearing on "Armando's Rhumba" (he played on the original off Corea's My Spanish Heart LP), his own "Renaissance," a fine rendition of "I Loves You, Porgy" (one of two tunes with Chaka Khan on vocals), "After the Cosmic Rain," and "Space Circus." The other two surprises on disc two are a very soulful duet between Corea (on acoustic piano) and White on John Coltrane's "Crescent" and a stellar acoustic trio version of RTF's standard "500 Miles High," which was recorded at the Monterey Jazz Festival and contains plenty of fire. With its looseness, this second disc offers the real dynamic potential for RTF in the future and reveals the depth of near symbiotic communication between the bandmembers. ~ Thom Jurek

Track Listing

DISC 1:
1. On Green Dolphin Street
2. Waltz for Debby
3. Bud Powell
4. La Canción de Sophia, La
5. Windows
6. Hackensack
7. No Mystery
8. Señor Mouse

DISC 2:
1. Captain Marvel
2. Señor Mouse
3. Crescent
4. Armando's Rhumba
5. Renaissance
6. High Wire - The Aerialist
7. I Loves You Porgy
8. After the Cosmic Rain
9. Space Circus
10. 500 Miles High

 

[mzpro5]

 

[heeman]

 

[mzpro5]

 

[heeman]

:banana-dance: :banana-rock: :banana-rock: :banana-dance:

 

[heeman]

:banana-rock: :banana-rock: :banana-dance: :banana-rock: :banana-rock:

 

[mzpro5]

 

[heeman]

Track Listings
1. Never Been Any Reason
2. One Against The Other
3. Love Me Tonight
4. City Of Gold
5. Fly By Night Lady
6. Jefftown Creek
7. Lovin' Me Along
8. Ticket Back To Georgia
9. Brother Jacob

 

[heeman]

And now for something completely different...................

:music-rockout: :music-rockout: :music-rockout: :music-rockout:

Track listing

Side one

"Kill the King" (Ronnie James Dio, Ritchie Blackmore, Cozy Powell) – 5:32
"Medley: Man on the Silver Mountain/Blues/Starstruck" (Dio, Blackmore)/(Blackmore)/(Dio, Blackmore) – 11:12

Side two

"Catch the Rainbow" (Dio, Blackmore) – 15:35

Side three

"Mistreated" (David Coverdale, Blackmore) – 13:03

Side four

"Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" (Dio, Blackmore) – 7:36
"Still I'm Sad" (Paul Samwell-Smith, Jim McCarty) – 11:01

WHAT A GREAT LINEUP

Personnel

Rainbow

Ritchie Blackmore – Guitar
Ronnie James Dio – Vocals
Tony Carey – Keyboards, Orchestron
Jimmy Bain – Bass Guitar
Cozy Powell – Drums


This is a GREAT live album. The sound quality is excellent, Martin Birch is a producing genius. The playing is equally brilliant, and Blackmore tears it to pieces on the guitar. Dio's voice is powerful as usual, and blows me away.

This album came out after the self-titled "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" and "Rising," and before "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll." That being said, it is quite strange that there is only one song from the very album they were touring for! It is "Starstruck" from the Rising album, and they don't even play the whole song: they do a little bit of it in the middle of "Man on the Silver Mountain." Instead of promoting their newest release, they included 4 songs from their debut, a cover of Deep Purple's "Mistreated," and a song that would later appear on the Long Live Rock 'N' Roll album ("Kill the King").

Basically, for all the songs except for "Kill the King," they jam on the songs for like 10+ minutes each. Need I say that this is awesome? I love listening to Blackmore play the guitar.

However, the best part of the album is at the end of "Man on the Silver Mountain" when Dio goes "You're all the maaan!!!" It's cool. If you are a fan of Rainbow, Dio or Ritchie Blackmore, you will not be disappointed. If you are not, then start with something else (Rainbow Rising, Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell, and Deep Purple's Machine Head, respectively).

 

[heeman]

Here is an awesome classic, I have not listened to this one in years!

Track Listings
1. Refugee
2. Here Comes My Girl
3. Even The Losers
4. Shadow Of A Doubt (A Complex Kid)
5. Century City
6. Don't Do Me Like That
7. You Tell Me
8. What Are You Doin' In My Life?
9. Louisiana Rain

 

[heeman]

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "What I Am" Edie Brickell, Kenny Withrow 4:54
2. "Little Miss S." Brickell, Withrow, Brad Houser, Brandon Aly, John Bush 3:37
3. "Air of December" Brickell, Withrow, Houser, Aly, Bush 5:54
4. "The Wheel" Brickell, Withrow, Houser, Aly, Bush 3:53
5. "Love Like We Do" Brickell 3:13
6. "Circle" Brickell, Withrow 3:11
7. "Beat the Time" Brickell, Withrow 2:58
8. "She" Brickell, Withrow, Houser, Aly, Bush 5:06
9. "Nothing" Brickell, Withrow 4:49
10. "Now" Brickell, Withrow, Houser, Aly, Bush 6:00
11. "Keep Coming Back" Brickell 2:42
12. "I Do" (Hidden track) Brickell 2:00

 

[Dennie]

Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson -- CD

Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson

1957/1990 Verve Silver Collection

Since Louis Armstrong just about invented jazz vocals if not popular singing itself, it was inevitable (and fortunate) that someone like producer Norman Granz would set Armstrong down in the studio with a modern '50s combo like Oscar Peterson's trio and watch the seminal musician strut his stuff. Aside from the Dixieland-derived All-Stars live show, Armstrong spent most of the late '40s and early '50s singing it straight for Milt Gabler at Decca Records. Here at Verve in 1957, Satchmo finally gets to ease up a little and stretch those famous gravelly vocal chords on a collection of romantic standards. Unlike Fats Waller, Armstrong rarely undermined the message of a love song with virtuoso clowning. For instance, he provided a wonderfully romantic foil to Ella Fitzgerald on their essential duet sessions. On his own, he proves to be a rhythmically adept contemporary troubadour with such deeply melodic material as "I'll Never Be the Same," "Moon Song," and "You Go to My Head." It should be noted that the earthy Louis gets the last word on the eight-minute version of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It" that closes the set.

1. That Old Feeling
2. Let's Fall In Love
3. I'll Never Be The Same
4. Blues In The Night
5. How Long Has This Been Going On
6. I Was Doing All Right
7. What's New
8. Moon Song
9. Just One Of Those Things
10. There's No You
11. You Go To My Head
12. Sweet Lorraine
13. I Get A Kick Out Of You
14. Makin' Whoopee
15. Willow Weep For Me
16. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)

Personnel: Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet); Oscar Peterson (piano); Herb Ellis (guitar); Ray Brown (bass); Louie Bellson (drums)

 

[Dennie]

Oscar In Paris - Live at the Salle Pleyel -- 2 - 20 Bit CD Set

Oscar Peterson

1997 Telarc Jazz

Just Incredible August 27, 2003
By Jeff Phillips
Format:Audio CD

I have collected over 100 Peterson recordings and this has to be my favorite. First of all, this CD was recorded AFTER his stroke. In fact, I have played this CD for people that have no idea that they are listening to a man essentially using one hand. Oscar has limited use of his left, as I saw at the Blue Note in 1998.
The fire that he has going in this recording is truly astounding. In fact, on Sweet Georgia Brown, he plays some of the most inventive lines that I have ever heard him play on this tune. This CD is important. It shows, to an even greater extent, the true genious of Oscar Peterson. To have a health setback like that and to "come back" as he did is remarkable. This CD changed my entire practice regiment after I heard what he was able to do with what amounts to one hand. This recording was earth shattering for me. Buy this CD....you won't regret it.

Disc: 1
1. Falling In Love With Love
2. Nighttime
3. Tranquille
4. Smudge
5. Love Ballade
6. Sushi

Disc: 2
1. Kelly's Blues
2. She Has Gone
3. You Look Good To Me
4. Peace
5. Sweet Georgia Brown
6. Here's That Rainy Day/We Will Love Again
7. We Will Love Again

 

[Dennie]

And now for something completely different...................

:music-rockout: :music-rockout: :music-rockout: :music-rockout:

Track listing

Side one

"Kill the King" (Ronnie James Dio, Ritchie Blackmore, Cozy Powell) – 5:32
"Medley: Man on the Silver Mountain/Blues/Starstruck" (Dio, Blackmore)/(Blackmore)/(Dio, Blackmore) – 11:12

Side two

"Catch the Rainbow" (Dio, Blackmore) – 15:35

Side three

"Mistreated" (David Coverdale, Blackmore) – 13:03

Side four

"Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" (Dio, Blackmore) – 7:36
"Still I'm Sad" (Paul Samwell-Smith, Jim McCarty) – 11:01

WHAT A GREAT LINEUP

Personnel

Rainbow

Ritchie Blackmore – Guitar
Ronnie James Dio – Vocals
Tony Carey – Keyboards, Orchestron
Jimmy Bain – Bass Guitar
Cozy Powell – Drums


This is a GREAT live album. The sound quality is excellent, Martin Birch is a producing genius. The playing is equally brilliant, and Blackmore tears it to pieces on the guitar. Dio's voice is powerful as usual, and blows me away.

This album came out after the self-titled "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" and "Rising," and before "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll." That being said, it is quite strange that there is only one song from the very album they were touring for! It is "Starstruck" from the Rising album, and they don't even play the whole song: they do a little bit of it in the middle of "Man on the Silver Mountain." Instead of promoting their newest release, they included 4 songs from their debut, a cover of Deep Purple's "Mistreated," and a song that would later appear on the Long Live Rock 'N' Roll album ("Kill the King").

Basically, for all the songs except for "Kill the King," they jam on the songs for like 10+ minutes each. Need I say that this is awesome? I love listening to Blackmore play the guitar.

However, the best part of the album is at the end of "Man on the Silver Mountain" when Dio goes "You're all the maaan!!!" It's cool. If you are a fan of Rainbow, Dio or Ritchie Blackmore, you will not be disappointed. If you are not, then start with something else (Rainbow Rising, Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell, and Deep Purple's Machine Head, respectively).

NICE!!! :music-rockout:



Dennie bscene-drinkingcheers:

 

[Dennie]

Live and in Living Color -- CD

Tower of Power

1976/1990 Warner Bros. Records

timeless soul-funk, July 21, 2010
By Mr. E. Daniel "palty" (townsville, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

The main problem for me was its length, (why so short!) but i reminded myself the album was made in the days of vinyl so that made it easier..
so tight, captivating and moving-it is a delight to listen to if you want some party funk stuff- I doubt if you'd be sorry with this in your mix!
i also found it engrossing enough for a late night listening session, with creativity and inventive solos to keep you looped. and then there is the last track... a true funking on a cake if i ever heard one!


"Down To The Nightclub" - 2:30
"You're Still A Young Man" - 5:14
"What Is Hip?" - 6:35
"Sparkling In The Sand" - 8:12
"Knock Yourself Out" - 23:08

 

[Dennie]

Stompin' At The Savoy - LIVE -- 2 CD Set

Rufus and Chaka Khan

1983 Warner Bros. Records

Rufus & Chaka Khan In Rare Form...Simply Blazing!!, April 28, 2001
By chakasworld "chakasworld" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Live: Stompin at the Savoy (Audio CD)

By the time this CD was released, Chaka was no longer a member of Rufus (she agreed to this recording to fulfill her contract with the group!), and I am glad that they went out blazing!! The music is in high gear, and Chaka HITS ALL OF HER NOTES!! The CD can almost be called 'The Greatest Hits..Live!', but we are treated to an extra live song (Ain't That Peculiar), which was never recorded by Chaka & Rufus!! With the decision to devote 3 of the 4 sides to live music, a few songs were omited (including 'Everlasting Love' & 'The Best Of Your Heart'), BUT the 4th side contains studio songs. Included are the CLASSIC 'Ain't Nobody', which sounds like it should've been on a solo Chaka CD, and Khan's TOUR DE FORCE rendition of 'Don't Go To Strangers'!! I have a rare live version of this song, and Chaka tears a hole in it, SERIOUSLY! Just awesome! 'Don't Go To Strangers' may be Chaka's finest interpretation of a Jazz Standard, and when it's over, you really want more from The Diva!!! F.Y.I. - The omitted live version of 'Everlasting Love', which Chaka also sang the sh** out of, can be found on the soundtrack album for 'Night Shift' (1982, Warner Brothers). Good luck finding that one! Also, 'Stompin' at the Savoy' (PLUS 'Everlasting Love'!!) CAN FIT onto a single CD, so what's Warner Brothers waiting for ?
Peace, SD (of 'Chaka's World')

Side One

"You Got the Love" (Khan, Parker) - 5:36
"Once You Get Started" (Christopher) - 5:05
"Dance Wit' Me" (Christopher) - 3:36
"Sweet Thing" (Maiden) - 3:28

Side Two

"Tell Me Something Good" (Wonder) - 3:39
"You're Welcome, Stop on By" (Thomas, Womack) - 5:41
"Pack'd My Bags" (Khan, Maiden) - 4:31
"I'm a Woman (I'm a Backbone)" (Washburn) - 4:06
"At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up)" (Maiden, Washburn) - 3:39

Side Three

"Ain't That Peculiar" (Moore, Robinson, Rogers, Tarplin) - 3:29
"Stay" (Calhoun, Khan) - 5:50
"What Cha' Gonna Do for Me" (Doheny, Stuart) - 4:24
"Do You Love What You Feel" (Wolinski) - 6:50

Side Four

"Ain't Nobody" - Studio recording - (Wolinski) - 4:41
"One Million Kisses" - Studio recording - (Murphy, Osborne) - 4:10
"Try a Little Understanding" - Studio recording - (Khan, Maiden) - 4:42
"Don't Go to Strangers" - Studio recording - (Evans, Kentz, Mann) - 4:14



Bonus Picture......

 

[Dennie]

Crazy Vibes and Things -- CD

Down To The Bone

2002 GRP Records

From the Marvin Gay-esqe CD cover....(I want you), May 25, 2002
By gq_online@yahoo.com (T dot-O dot, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Crazy Vibes & Things (Audio CD)

You can tell that DTTB means business.Echoes of Brother Jack McDuff, Brecker Bros, Players Assn, Roy Ayres, even Cannonball Adderley and Brian Auger ring true from each one of the ten splendidly crafted tracks. Don't listen to the samples to get a flavor, that would be like listening to one instrument and believing you have an orchestra. Electra Glide opens up with a slow groovin'double sax attack reminicent of Adderley's Work Song. The next track, On a Roll is DTTB doin their thang jammin tighter than a bra on Pamela Anderson. The title track...well is classic, right up there with "Always There-Ronnie Laws", "Mr. Magic-Grover" and "Birdland-Weather Report". DTTB's first vocal track My One and All sounds admittedly like Incognito at it's best-but with definitely better musicianship and arrangement. Special recognition has to go to Neil Angilley the hardest working keyboardist in show business and producer Stuart Wade. DTTB is by far is the best live jazz show on the road and guaranteed to have you bumpin' in the isles.....

Track Listing
1. Electra Glide
2. On a Roll
3. I Softly Surrender (To You)
4. Music Is My Drug
5. Crazy Vibes and Things
6. My One and All
7. Glow
8. Stargazer
9. Searching for a Simple Groove
10. Cooking with Gas