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Showing posts with label Artist's Choice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artist's Choice. Show all posts

Friday, March 07, 2008

Flambée Montalbanaise - Wang Yi



Described as a "jeune chinoise" in the YouTube notes, Yi does a nice turn on Gus Viseur's signature song. Mr. D. includes Viseur's original on the Starbucks Artist's Choice selection, noting in part...

"Whenever I hear a song like this, it doesn't matter where I am or what the weather is like. Suddenly I'm on a rain-soaked street in France underneath an awning drinking an espresso noir with a beautiful raven-haired Parisian."
Gus Viseur was born in Belgium and became one of the emblematic players of musette accordion alongside Jo Privat, who Dylan also mentions in his notes. His Flambée Montalbanaise was inspired by the bombing and destruction of Montauban during World War II.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Stuff Smith - "Lullaby of Broadway"



Stuff Smith in a straighter mode than Mr. D. portrays him in the Artist's Choice CD liner notes,

"...Stuff was a wild character. He was a fiddle player who used to wear a stovepipe hat. He looked like a cross between Fagin and the Pied Piper of Hamlin..." - Bob Dylan
Artist's Choice uses Smith's (and His Onyx Club Boys) I'se a Muggin' (Part 1), apparently a long-time favorite of Our Host for all of his talk of "songs of the minute," as both Parts 1 and Parts 2 of I'se a Muggin' also are on the playlist of the infamous Lost Theme Time iPod.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Billie Holiday - I Hear Music (Remix version)



I'm not much of a fan of remixed music - especially of classics, but this version of Billie Holiday doing I Hear Music, remixed by Swingsett and Takuya, is an exception to the rule. A lot of my liking is due to Karina Correa's aka "SpecialK" (coincidentally one of Top Cat Curly Lasagna's nicknames) excellent and touching video work which somehow evokes both the `40s and these modern times simultaneously.

The remix album or individual songs can be picked up at Amazon as mp3s, and while you're at it, pick up the original - straight from the 78 - too as an mp3. Of the original, Mr. D. says on his Artist's Choice CD:

"You could throw a dart at a Billie Holiday record and put that song in this collection and it would sound sublime. I chose this one because it's a snapshot of that feeling you get early in the morning, when all things are possible and there's music everywhere..."

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Wanda Jackson - Cool Love



Mr. D. includes Wanda Jackson's I Gotta Know on his Artist's Choice CD. I had originally posted a better-quality version of that clip back in 2007, but it's been removed, and the only version of I Gotta Know currently on YouTube has distracting flanging on the audio. So I've substituted Cool Love, also from Tex Ritter's 19 and 58 Ranch Party TV show. As with I Gotta Know, Cool Love shows Wanda with feet firmly in both country and rockabilly, as Our Host notes in the Artist's Choice liner notes. Joe Maphis also provides backing guitar on his double-neck Mosrite in this clip.

"...She was an atomic bomb in lipstick. She was the queen of rockabilly. I like to think of rockabilly as country music with the beat of the big bands. Here Wanda has a foot in both worlds, switching back and forth between straight country and rockabilly, helped out more than a little by Joe Maphis, whose guitar solo sends this song into the stratosphere." - Bob Dylan

Monday, March 03, 2008

Ray Price - I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me)



Haven't done a video in a bit, and given that we've been talking about the Artist's Choice CD, I thought I'd feature some of its music as I find it. First up is Ray Price and his I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me). Originally released in 19 and 54, the clip is from 1957.

"Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys were the first band I ever saw in Nashville... A lot of great musicians came in and out of the Cherokee Cowboys-Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons and Johnny Paycheck. Just like Ray got a lot from Hank Williams, the next generation would get an awful lot from Ray Price." - Bob Dylan

Dylan Artist's Choice CD Available Through Amazon




... through resellers at prices ranging from $14.97 to $27.99(!), plus $2.98 shipping. The price at a U.S. Starbucks shop for the CD is $15.99, and it can also be ordered online (by U.S. residents) at that price plus shipping at starbucks.com.

As I noted in the Expecting Rain TTRH forums, the music on the CD is a bit of a mixed bag, kind of like TTRH itself, and I can't wholeheartedly recommend it at a pricey $15.99, which works out to .99 cents a track.

The liner notes add some value - for instance, Dylan
knows a guy named Harold who usually shows up when he plays Fort Worth, and always gives him a bag of unlabeled CDs - but it's really a caveat emptor sort of thing. If you're a True Fan and not entirely rational - which pretty well describes me - you'll probably pick up the CD no matter what. If you're on the fence about it, I'd go check iTunes /Amazon for some of the cuts first.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

"Artist's Choice" CD Liner Notes?

UPDATE:

As it turns out the information below was apparently fan-created notes, but still interesting information.

I picked up the CD on Tuesday, fanboy that I am driving through a snow storm to do so, and was amused to find in the credits:

Compilation produced by Tim Ziegler.

Apparently ol' Tim's complaints to Our Host back in the "Lock & Key" show impressed him. Maybe there's hope for us yet.

Dylan's liner notes could have come straight from TTRH. In fact, I'll have to go back to my own notes, but the story he tells about Junior Parker and I'm Going to Murder My Baby sounded very familiar. It also looks like XM and the TTRH team are still taking advantage of cross-promotion when they can There are blurbs both for the TTRH show and for Starbucks XM Cafe on XM Radio.

***

Courtesy of our friends at the All Along the Watchtower.dk forums, what may be the liner notes for the upcoming Starbucks' "Artist's Choice" Bob Dylan CD.

MUSIC THAT MATTERS TO HIM
Artist's Choice: Bob Dylan
Starbucks Entertainment
B0014A6DZQ



1. Pee Wee Crayton - Do Unto Others (2:23)
Connie Curtis "Pee Wee" Crayton (1914-1985), guitarplayer and singer, went like many others from Texas to California and started in 1944 in the music business after working in the shipyards. One of his main inspirations was Charlie Christian, but he learned from T-Bone Walker who he met and befriended. He seems to be the first blues guitarist who played a Fender Stratocaster. Recording since 1947, he signed in 1954 with Imperial, and had Do Unto Others, written and produced by Dave Bartholomew, out in June of that year ("this obscure cut is nothing less than a revelation").
On: Complete Aladdin & Imperial Recordings (1996).

2. Clancy Eccles - Don't Brag, Don't Boast (2:32)
Clancy Eccles (1940-2005), ska & reggae singer, songwriter, promoter,but most of all pioneering producer, started his singing career when he moved to Kingston in 1959. He was one of the first Jamaican singers with socially-oriented lyrics, connected with the Rastafari movement and the Jamaican Labour Party.
On: Clancy Eccles Presents His Reggae Revue (1995).

3. Stanley Brothers with The Clinch Mountain Boys - The Fields Have Turned Brown (2:32)
Carter (1925-1966) and Ralph (1927) Stanley started their famous bluegrass career after the war.This song by Carter was the b-side of their 1950 single Old Home.
On: Angels Are Singing (1966); The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers (1996); The Roots Of The Grateful Dead & Jerry Garcia (2001); The Definitive Collection 1947-1966 (2007).

4. Gus Viseur - Flambée Montalbanaise (Valse) (2:02)
Belgian/French accordionist (1915-1974) started playing the streets of Paris. Met Django Reinhardt in 1934 and was a member of the Hot Club de France. Helped create the accordion-jazz style known as manouche or Gypsy Swing. Recorded all the genres of the musette repertoire: valse, tango, paso-doble. On many compilations. Worked also with Edith Piaf. Lived 1960-1969 in Canada.
On: De Clichy A Broadway (1962).

5. Red Prysock - Hand Clappin' (2:38)
Wilbert Prysock (1926-1993) was one of the first big tenor sax players of rhythm & blues and rock & roll with a honking and growling sound. He played with Tiny Bradshaw and Lonnie Johnson before he joined the band for Alan Freed's stage shows in 1955. Hand Clappin', his instrumental classic and signature song came out in 1955 with That's The Groovy Thing as a single for Mercury.
On: Rock 'N Roll (1955).

6. Sol Hoopii & His Novelty Quartette - I Like You (2:.?)
Solomon Ho'opi'i Ka'ai'ai (1902-1953) was the youngest of 21 children. He came as stowaway to America in 1919 and had his first recording in 1927. He often mixed jazz and blues with traditional Hawaiian music and performed in many movies. He developed a C# minor tuning (BDEG#C#E) oposed to open A or G tuning. I Like You (1933) by Andy Lang and Sam Koki was the last recording before he switched from acoustic to electric guitar. In 1938 he joined evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson and ended his active career.
On: King Of The Hawaiian Guitar, Acoustic & Electric 1927-1936 (2006); Classic Hawaiian Steel Guitar Performances 1933-1934 (2007).

7. Ray Price - I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me) (2:26)
Ray Noble Price (1926) started singing in 1948 after serving in the Marines. He met with Hank Williams Sr. and took over his band when he died. In 1953 he formed the Cherokee Cowboys, with famous members like Roger Miller and Willie Nelson. He is well known from songs like Release Me, Crazy Arms, Danny Boy and Heartaches By The Number and wrote this song with Rusty Gabbard.
On: The Essential Ray Price 1951-1962 (1991).

8. Stuff Smith & His Onyx Club Boys - I'se A Muggin' (part 1) (3:13)
Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (1909-1967) started playing classical violin but was influenced by Louis Armstrong to play jazz. In the 1920's he moved from Texas to New York, where he soon was a regular at the Onyx Club with his own band. He also performed with Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Sun Ra and others. He must be the first to play electric violin and was famous long ago. This song, a scat-like novelty, was a hit in 1936. From 1965 he lived and worked in Europe. He died in Denmark and is burried there.
On: Complete 1936-1937 Sessions (2007).

9. Charley Jordan - Keep It Clean (2:48)
Charley Jordan (1890-1954) was a singer, guitarplayer and talent scout. This song, from 1930, was one of his biggest hits. He worked also with Memphis Minnie, Roosevelt Sykes, Peetie Wheatstraw, Big Joe Williams and others. Also a bootlegger besides his musical work, he was shot in the spine in 1928 and therefore had to walk with crutches.
On: The Essential Charley Jordan (2003).

10. Junior Wells - Little By Little (I'm Losing You) (3:11)
Amos Blakemore (1934-1998) better known as Junior Wells, was a blues singer/harmonica player. As a boy of 18 he was working with Muddy Waters. He also played with Buddy Guy and others and even the Stones and Van Morrison.
On: Coming At You (1968).

11. Patty & The Emblems - Mixed-Up, Shook-Up Girl (1:59)
Soul group around lead singer Patty Russell (+1998). Kind of one-hit wonder with this Top 40 hit from 1964 by Leon Huff.
On: Golden Classics (1997).

12. Gétatchéw Kassa - Tezeta (fast) (4:01)
Gétatchéw Kassa is one of the most succesful Ethiopian singers from the early 70s with more than 5000 copies sold of his hit record. The song starts slow and ends fast, so this is the second part. Tezeta is not only the title of this song, it's the name of a whole style. The word, pronounced: te-ze-TAH, means memory, or nostalgia. It's a genre like the blues or the fado.
On: V.A.: Ethiopiques, Vol. 1, Golden Years Of Modern Ethiopian Music 1969-1975 (2002).

13. Flaco Jiménez with Toby Torres & José Morante - Victimas De Huracan Beulah (4:03)
Flaco Jiménez (1939) is a wellknown and Grammy winning Tex-Mex accordion player. He worked ofcourse with Doug Sahm, but also notably with Dr. John, Ry Cooder and others.
On: Un Mojado Sin Licencia (1977).

14. Wanda Jackson - I Gotta Know (2:30)
Wanda Jean Jackson (1937) was as Little Miss Dynamite the first female rock & roll singer, later country & western. This is her solo debut from 1956.
On: Greatest Hits (1979); Queen Of Rockabilly (2000); Rockin' With Wanda (2002).

15. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra - I Hear Music (3:59)
Eleanora Fagan Gough (1915-1959), better known as Billie Holiday, was one of the greatest blues singers of all time. This Columbia recording from 1940, written by Frank Loesser and Burton Lane, is not with "her" orchestra, but with the Teddy Wilson band. Famous members are Kenny Clarke, Don Byas and Roy Eldridge.
On: Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia Vol. 6 (2001).

16. Junior Parker - Pretty Baby (4:15)
Herman Parker Jr. (1932-1971), aka Mr. Blues, was influenced as a harmonica player by Sonny Boy Williamson. He worked also with Howlin' Wolf, Bobby Bland and B.B.King. He started his own band in 1951 and got a record contract first with Modern Records, in 1953 with Sun and later with Duke. This song was a single with That's Alright in 1957.
On: Backtracking: The Duke Recordings, Vol. 2 (1998); Way Back Home (2000).

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Dylan "Artist's Choice" CD Available in Starbucks Feb. 26


Another CD compilation to add to the "nearly-Theme Time Radio Hour" list. This one's track listing (courtesy of Uncut magazine actually courtesy of the All Along the Watchtower.dk forums) includes:


1. Pee Wee Crayton - Do Unto Others
2. Clancy Eccles - Don't Brag, Don't Boast
3. Stanley Brothers with The Clinch Mountain Boys - The Fields Have Turned
Brown
4. Gus Viseur - Flambée Montalbanaise
5. Red Prysock - Hand Clappin'
6. Sol Hoopii & His Novelty Quartette - I Like You
7. Ray Price - I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me)
8. Stuff Smith & His Onyx Club Boys - I'se A Muggin' (part 1)
9. Charley Jordan - Keep It Clean
10. Junior Wells - Little By Little (I'm Losing You)
11. Patty & The Emblems - Mixed-Up, Shook-Up Girl
12. Gétatchéw Kassa - Tezeta
13. Flaco Jiménez with Toby Torres & José Morante - Victimas De Huracan
Beulah
14. Wanda Jackson - I Gotta Know
15. Billy Holiday & Her Orchestra - I Hear Music
16. Junior Parker - Pretty Baby

To say that the track listing is interesting is an understatement.