Vinyl Wednesday!

    Posted because I converted an old LP into MP3 files over the weekend.  I used to do this a lot, but have slacked off lately.  Will post the album details in a few days, probably Sunday.

RIAA Metadata

    Did anyone else notice the warning from Amazon that record companies are (once again) inserting metadata identification info into the MP3 downloads you buy there?

    I'm not sure what the ramifications are; I'm sure there will be some articles on it in the coming weeks.  Personally, I buy very little MP3 music from Amazon, so its effect, whatever it is, on me is minimal.  Most of my music acquisitions are from Freegal, used-CD stores, and LP conversions.

Joy of Cooking - Joy of Cooking (Album)

Artist  :  Joy of Cooking

Album  :  Joy of Cooking  (1971)

Genre  :  Folk Rock

- Tracks (favorites in pink) -

01. Hush
02. Too Late, But Not Forgotten
03. Down My Dream
04. If Some God  (Sometimes You Gotta Go Home)
05. Did You Go Downtown
06. Dancing Couple
07. Brownsville/Mockingbird
08. Red Wine At Noon
09. Only Time Will Tell Me
10. Children's House

    Joy of Cooking was a short-lived folk-rock band, formed in 1967.  This is their debut, eponymous album.  It came out in 1971; by 1972 the band was split up.

    I picked this LP in Seattle for about $8.  Amazon has a 2011 CD version of it for $39.99 (an import, probably), and a much more reasonably-priced MP3 version for only $9.49.  There are no bonus tracks included.  Visually, the album was in good shape, but it had a lot of scratches, and I had to use the de-scratcher program to clean it up.  The software did a nice job.

    The two stellar tracks are Did You Go Downtown and the hybrid Brownsville/Mockingbird.  The whole album is good, and a fine example of a "hippie California" sound that sprang up in the greater San Francisco area (Joy of Cooking is out of Berkeley) in the late 60's.

    According of Wikipedia, Joy of Cooking is reputed to be the first rock band to be fronted by a pair of women.  The band's sound is a pleasant fusion of rock, folk, jazz, and blues.  A number of the songs were feminist-themed, which put them 5-10 years ahead of their time.

    Sadly, Joy of Cooking only put out three albums before disappearing into the San Francisco fog.  I searched YouTube for live videos of their performances, but didn't find any.  I also picked up their third album, Castles, at the record store in Seattle.  It is equally good, and I will post a review of it sometime in the future.

    The Wikipedia article on JoC is sparse.  I have no idea whether any or all of the founding members are still with us, but I for one would love to see them get together again, if only for a single reunion tour.

The Brothers Four - A New World's Record

Album  : A New World's Record

Artist  :  The Brothers Four

Genre  :  Folk

Year  :  1967

- Tracks -  (favorites in pink)

01.) Walkin' Backwards Down The Road
02.) Umbrellas In The Rain
03.) Shenandoah
04.) Have You Got A Light Boy?
05.) It Was A Very Good Year
06.) Meantime
07.) Here Today And Gone Tomorrow
08.) No Sad Songs For Me
09.) Changes
10.) The First Time Ever
11.) All I Need Is You

    A New World's Record was album #17 from The Brothers Four.  It came out in 1967, towards the end of their recording career, and no singles were released from this album.  The heyday of The Brothers Four was in the early 60's, with their three big hits being Greensleeves, The Green Leaves of Summer, and Yellow Bird.  They still tour, release CD's, and have a website.

    This album will never grow to be my favorite album by TBR.  For the most part, it consists of slow, mostly-sappy love ballads.  Folk albums will always have those, but they need to be balanced with peppy and witty songs.  Here, the only track that fits that bill is Have You Got A Light, Boy, which is by far my favorite song from the album.  Not surprisingly, no one had posted it to YouTube, so I made and posted my own video of it.

    But I don't want to bash this album too much.  The harmonies are still great, and if you're in the mood for Easy Listening music by an accomplished folk quartet, this will serve you just fine.  And if you're unfamiliar with them, YouTube does have a nice selection of Brothers Four videos, including a stunningly beautiful 4-song calypso medley.

    I picked up this LP for $1 out of the bargain bin at Half Price Books.  The cover is in poor shape; the LP can fall out of two opposite sides of it.   So it was a pleasant surprise to find the disc itself in very good condition.  This is another one that was clean enough to remove the scratches manually.

    Wikipedia lists 19 albums by The Brothers Four, fully admitting it is a "selected discography".  If you go to the TBF website, they list 45 albums, but only offer 18 of these for sale, and A New World's Record is not one of them.  So if you want to add it to your MP3 collection, digitalization is the only option.

Kenny Rogers - Eyes That See In The Dark

Album  :  Eyes That See In The Dark

Artist  :  Kenny Rogers

Genre  :  Pop

Year  :  1983

- Tracks -  (favorites in pink)

01.) This Woman
02.) You And I
03.) Buried Treasure
04.) Islands In The Stream
05.) Living With You
06.) Evening Star
07.) Hold Me
08.) Midsummer Nights
09.) I Will Always Love you
10.) Eyes That See In The Dark

   This is another LP from the height of Kenny Rogers' career.  Produced by Barry Gibb, with guest appearance by the Bee Gees, the Gatlin Brothers, and of course, Dolly Parton dropping by to sing the mega-hit duet, Islands In The Stream, which I found to be interesting in the fact that they trade off singing the lead and harmony.

   For some inexplicable reason, Eyes That See In The Dark, like the KR album Gideon (reviewed here), is not available as MP3 downloads from both Amazon and iTunes.  At least it is somewhat more-remembered than Gideon: 31 people have left ratings/and reviews for it at Amazon.

    This LP actually comes from my personal collection.  It is Liz's personal favorite Kenny Rogers album, and it is likely she who purchased it.  I eschewed the scratch-removing software again, because I am somewhat of an audiophile.  It is slightly embarrassing then, to admit that the bargain-bin Gideon LP was in better shape than this one.  Both had about a half-dozen significant scratches, but my LP had a lot more minor ones.

    I'm impressed how smoothly the Bee Gees and Kenny Rogers blend together.  I like this album almost as much as Gideon.  My only quibble is that it contains too many sappy ballads for my taste, especially Side 2.  But then again, what would you expect from something produced by one of the Bee Gees?

Kenny Rogers - Gideon

Album  :  Gideon

Artist  :  Kenny Rogers

Genre  :  Country, Pop

Year  :  1980

- Tracks -  (favorites in pink)

01.) Goin' Home to the Rock
02.) Gideon Tanner
03.) No Good Texas Rounder
04.) Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer
05.) The Buckeroos
06.) You were a Good Friend
07.) Call Me Up
08.) These Chains
09.) Somebody Help Me
10.) One Place in the Night
11.) Sayin' Goodbye
12.) Goin' Home to the Rock

    You're Kenny Rogers.  You've had two straight smash-hit albums ("The Gambler" (5x-platinum; 1978) and "Kenny" (3x-platinum; 1979).  How do you possibly follow them up?

   Answer : by doing a concept album, a retrospective story of a cowboy (and somewhat of a scoundrel) named Gideon Tanner.  All songs were penned by Kim Carnes, who wrote them with Kenny Rogers specifically in mind.  He returned the favor by singing a duet with her on the one radio-play hit from the LP, Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer.

    I picked this LP up a couple weeks ago for $2.99 at Half Price Books.  It was in pristine condition; maybe a dozen scratches or so.  So I removed them manually, which helps preserve the original audio quality, especially the highs and lows.

    Gideon was a wonderfully pleasant discovery for me, with fantastic lyrics (thank you, Kim!), excellent musicianship, smooth vocals, and almost no filler.  Tracks 10 and 11 are ballads, which I found to be a bit ...well... slow.  But I could've marked all the other tracks above in pink.  Track after track is one treat after another.

    Truth be told, Gideon didn't quite meet the dizzying success of its two predecessors.  It only achieved single-platinum status.  Surprisingly, Amazon doesn't offer this album as MP3 downloads, and the audio CD will run you a mind-numbing $49.99.  Presumably because it's an import.  Over the years, only nine people have left comments/ratings for the album on Amazon.  Fame is apparently fleeting.

    If you come across this album - vinyl, CD, or otherwise - snatch it up, and give it a listen.  You'll not be disappointed.

Deep Purple - Stormbringer

Album  :  Stormbringer

Artist  :  Deep Purple

Genre  :  Rock

Year  :  1974

- Tracks -  (favorites in pink)

01. Stormbringer
02. Love Don't Mean A Thing
03. Holy Man
04. Hold On

05. Lady Double Dealer
06. You Can't Do It Right (With The One You Love)
07. High Ball Shooter
08. The Gypsy
09. Soldier of Fortune

    It was 1974.  The Beatles had broken up,  Jimi, Janis, and Jim Morrison were dead, and a dark and monstrous force called Disco was  about to jump onto the music scene.  Rock & Roll had lost its  creative momentum, and was searching for its identity.

    This was especially true of Deep Purple, who had shed its Prog Rock mantle, but wasn't quite sure what to be next.  In a couple years, they would redefine themselves, and quite successfully so, as a kick-ass Hard Rock band, but for now they were in limbo.

    Et voila, Stormbringer, one of DP's least-remembered albums.  Ian Gillan and Roger Glover had quit the band, the lead singer was a new guy named David Coverdale, and Ritchie Blackmore had one foot out the door.  There are arrangements for horns and if you listen closely, you can hear Disco and Pop trying to edge their way in.

    For all that though, Stormbringer is still is good album.  Without a doubt, its title track is the showpiece, but there are enough guitar licks, drum riffs, and synthesizer showing-off to make this a worthwhile album.  The members of the band simply have too much talent and musicianship to let the marketing suits ruin the album.

    I picked the Stormbringer LP up in Seattle for $1.99.  It was in decent shape, although there were enough scratches to warrant using the de-scratching program to automatically take them out.  And while it isn't my favorite DP album (those would be Shades of Deep Purple and The Book of Taliesyn), it still is a treat and a delight to listen to.  Amazon offers the album both as a CD ($13.99) and MP3-files ($8.99).  Purple peeps should give it a try.

Bonnie Raitt - Nine Lives

Artist  :  Bonnie Raitt

Album Title  :  Nine Lives  (1986)

Genre  :  Rock

-  Tracks  -  (favorites in pink) 

01. No Way to Treat A Lady
02. Runnin' Back To Me
03. Who But A Fool (Thief Into Paradise)
04. Crime Of Passion
05. All Day, All Night
06. Stand Up To The Night
07. Excited
08. Freezin' (For A Little Human Love)
09. True Love Is Hard To Find
10. Angel

    Bonnie Raitt is a fantastic Blues guitarist/singer, with a string of successful albums beginning in 1989.  But before that, she also put out a bunch of critically-acclaimed but modestly commercially-successful LP's, during the years of 1971-1986.

    I picked this album up for $1.99 in a small record shop in Federal Way, Washington, and digitalized it last week.  The record was in pristine shape - a couple small scratches at the beginning/end of the tracks, and that was about it.  I ttok those out manually, and then didn't even have to use the de-scratch program.

    If you can get over the fact that Nine Lives doesn't contain a lick of Blues on it, you will find it to be a very enjoyable album.  Yes, it's 80's music, with horns and synthesizers and stuff.  But there are some nice guitar riffs injected into the majority of the songs, and even a way-kewl reggae tinge on a couple of them.  My two favorite tracks are No Way To Treat A Lady (a Bryan Adams cover) and Stand Up To The Night.

    Wikipedia gives some fascinating details about the making of this album.  Apparently, Bonnie was having some severe record company (Warner Bros.) problems at the time.  So Nine Lives was under-sponsored, lacked a promotional tour, and unsurprisingly, did not sell well.

    Warner Brothers and Bonnie parted ways after this album, and a couple years later she signed with Capitol Records, redefined herself as a Blues artist, put out the smashingly-successful album Nick Of Time, and never looked back.  And while it was a fantastic career move,  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that her earlier albums are pretty decent as well.

    FWIW, Nine Lives is available at Amazon for $15.96 (CD) or $9.49 (MP3).

Great Men of Music - Franz Joseph Haydn

Title  :  Great Men of Music - Franz Joseph Haydn

Artists  :  Various.  (it's the composer that counts)

Description  :  4-LP Box Set

Year Released  :  1976 (and a revised version in 1978)

    Okay, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky are in a class by themselves when it comes to Classical Music.  But composers like Franz Joseph Haydn and Antonio Vivaldi aren't far behind.  So it was a treat to convert this Time-Life boxed-set to MP3 files.

- Tracks - (favorites in pink)

Side 01
    Symphony No. 60 in C Major ("Il Distratto")
Side 02
    Piano Sonata No. 33 in C Minor
    Trumpet Concerto in E Flat Minor
Side 03
    String Quartet No. 34 in D Major; Opus 20, No. 4
Side 04
    Symphony No. 88 in G Major
Side 05
    Piano Sonata No. 50 in D Major
Side 06
    String Quartet No. 76 in D Minor; Opus 76, No. 2
Side 07
    "The Creation"
    Mass No. 12 in B Flat Major ("Harmoniemesse")
Side 08
    (The rest of) Mass No. 12 in B Flat Major

    I picked this up for $3-$5 at Half-Price Books a while back.  Someone had unloaded a whole bunch from this series there, and I scarfed up 5 of the boxed-sets.  I converted the Vivaldi edition last year; it is shown here.  Bartok, Strauss, and Dvorak still await digitalizing.

    Once again, the LP's themselves were in very good shape.  There were some scratches, but few enough to where I opted to remove (most of) them manually.  There were no skips.

    The format was the same as was used in the Vivaldi set:  three of the LP's were instrumental; the fourth was vocal/opera.  Also included was an excellent booklet about Haydn's life.  The copyright therein cited 1976, but with a proviso that an amended edition was issued in 1978.  I presume they discovered that they had some biographical facts incorrect.

    I'm a huge fan of Haydn's symphonies, so Side 01 and 04 were a real treat.  But all of the first 6 sides are good.  I really don't care for opera, so didn't enjoy the final LP as much.  But if you're going to mix in vocals with my classical music, this is probably as good as it gets.

    ISTR there were about 18-19 sets issued in this Time-Life series.  It was somewhat picked-over by the time I came upon them at Half-Price books, and I didn't buy the remainder all at once.  But I'll be keeping my eyes open for any of these sets that might find their way back to the bookstore.

Aretha Franklin - Sweet Passion

Artist  :  Aretha Franklin

Album Title  :  Sweet Passion  (1977)

Genre  :  Soul

- TRACKS -  (favorites in pink)

01. Break It To Me Gently

02. When I Think About You

03. What I Did For Love

04. No One Could Ever Love You More

05. A Tender Touch

06. Touch Me Up

07. Sunshine Will Never Be The Same

08. Meadows Of Springtime

09. Mumbles

10. Sweet Passion

    I'm not much of a Soul Music fan. but thanks to my wife and son, I am slowly developing a taste for it.  Which is easy to do when the singer has the pipes like Aretha does.

    I found this LP in the clearance bin at my local Half Price Books store, for the modest price of $1.  The album has no major scratches, but lots of small ones.  And no skips.  Conversion was easy, but I tried to take the scratches out manually, and it is iffy whether I caught enough of the minor scratches to justify skipping the De-Popper Software Program.  I'm beta-listening to it as I write this; so far only two tracks need significant cleansing.

    For some reason, Sweet Passion has never been released in the US on CD.  To boot, neither Amazon nor iTunes offers it in digital form.

    Aretha's voice is impeccable here, and the backing musicians are up to the task of complementing her singing.  Other than the "I got the music in me" intro to Track 9, none of the songs are familiar to me, but that's probably a function of my not listening much to Soul.

   For the life of me, I cannot fathom why this hasn't been released as a CD yet.

Swingle Singers - Anyone for Mozart?

Artist  :  The Swingle Singers

Title  :  Anyone for Mozart?  (1965)

Genre  :  Classical, a cappella

  - Tracks  (favorites in pink) -

01. Sonata No. 15

02. Ah! vous Dirais Je Maman

03. Allegro from Sonata No. 14

04. Fugue 

05. Eine Kleine Nacht Music

    The Swingle Singers had a brief heyday way back in the late 1960's.  They were (and still are, for that matter) a mostly a cappella group, with only a modicum of bass fiddle and drum accompaniment.  ISTR their most popular album featured Bach tunes.

    I found  Anyone For Mozart?, the stereo version no less, at the local Goodwill store, and snagged it for $0.99.  Released in 1965, this means this is a 49-year-old LP, so it had a fair amount of scratches, but no skips.  The scratch-removal program had its normal efficiency, removing about 95% of the scratches, without noticeably compromising the highs and lows of the music.

    The main problem with this LP is its brevity, even by 1965 standards.  Each side was only about 12-13 minutes in length, which is unforgivable, given the copious amount of Mozart music available.  Was this a "rush to release" issue, or did the record company just decide the public would buy it without checking out the times on the back of the album?

   That being said, I like the album.  I doubt it will ever be released as a CD, although I wouldn't be surprised to see it packaged with several other Swingle Singers albums.  There are a couple YouTube videos featuring the group singing some of these Mozart offerings, although ISTR they were all "live" concert videos.

    If you like classical music, especially lively take-offs of it (see : Apollo 100), then you should enjoy this LP.

Henry Purcell - Twelve Overtures

    Name a composer of Baroque Classical Music?  Sure, that's easy.  Bach, Pachelbel, Handel, Vivaldi.  But how about an English composer of Baroque Classical Music?  That's a bit tougher.  I can think of only one.  Henry Purcell.

    The title says it all - 12 Overtures written by Purcell in his prolific, but all too brief career.  He died at 35 or 36 years old  (1659-1695).  The tracks are performed by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, which was an offshoot of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and existed from 1968 until 1999, when it disbanded for lack of funding.  They put out a sh*tload of albums in their lifetime, including this one (MHS 4524, Musical Heritage Society), in 1980.  You can read all about them in Wikipedia.

- Tracks - (favorites in pink)

01. King Arthur - Overture : Act 1
02. King Arthur - Second Music
03. Dido and Aeneas -Overture
04. The Married Beau - Overture
05. Bonduca - Overture
06. The Fairy Queen - Sonata - Act IV

07. Timon of Athens - Overture to the Masque
08. The Rival Sisters - Overture
09. Abdelazer - Overture
10. The Old Bachelor - Overture
11. Distressed Innocence - Overture
12. The Indian Queen - Trumpet Overture

    I think I picked this LP up for free from the local used record shop as part of their "buy one of our rock-&-roll LP's, get one of these classical LP's that nobody wants for free" deals.  The disc was in average shape, with a bunch of scratches throughout both sides, and a positively nasty forward-skip in Track 06.

    It cleaned up fairly well.  You can still hear "hollow thuds" where a couple of the major scratches were.  And of course, there's nothing to do about the skip.

    I'm a sucker for Baroque music of any kind, so I naturally like this whole album.  Purcell was big into trumpet fanfares, and although most of these were written for plays by Purcell's contemporaries, nowadays they'd fit perfectly in some 1950's "Knights in Shining Armor" black-&-white action movies.

    All in all, a nice pick-up, although if you're not into Baroque, you may be yawning by Track 2.  A bunch of these are posted on YouTube, including the best of the bunch - The Fairy Queen.

Hillbilly Jazz Rides Again - Vassar Clements

    Hillbilly Jazz Rides Again was the second (of three) Vassar Clements albums that fused the Bluegrass ("New Grass" actually) genre with the old-time Swing sound.  There's a Benny Goodman song (Airmail Special), as well as a Duke Ellington one (Caravan).  The album came out in 1986.  I picked it up somewhere for $6.99.

- Tracks  (favorites in pink) -

01. Hillbilly Jazz
02. Don't Hop, Don't Skip
03. Airmail Special
04. Say Goodbye to the Blues
05. Swing Street
06. Woodsheddin'
07. Be A Little Discreet
08. Your Mind Is On Vacation
09. Caravan
10. How Can I Go On Without You
11. Triple Stop Boogie
12. Take A Break

   The album cover is in fantastic shape - no signs of wear; but a cut-out corner at the top.  The record had no skips, and the scratches were few enough to where I removed them manually.  I don't know that I'd call it Jazz, but then again, trying to categorize any Vassar Clements music is always a challenge; he simply defies being confined to a single genre.

    If you wiki Vassar Clements, you'll see he has put out of sh*tload of LP's, but you rarely find them in used-record stores.  This is the 6th one I've come across, and as with any of his albums, the musicianship is superb.

    I first became acquainted with Clements on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band triple-LP album, Will The Circle Be Unbroken.  One of these days I'll have to convert that one as well.

    Of the 12 tracks listed above, I'll probably take Airmail Special and Be A Little Discreet and make YouTube videos from them, most likely within the next couple months.  I've already collected the images for the slideshow, so it's just a matter of putting it together.

    To close, this is a fantastic Vassar Clements album, but all of his LP's hit me that way.  If you run across it, pick it up and give it a spin.

Blues Project - Reunion in Central Park

   
    Recorded June 24th, 1973 in Central Park, New York, this is both a double-LP and a live album.  It was also the end of an era - being the 7th, and final Blues Project album, not counting two compilation albums put out 15-20 years later.

- Tracks - (favorites in pink)

101.) Louisiana Blues
102.) Steve's Song
103.) I Can't Keep From Cryin' Sometimes

201.) You Can't Catch Me
202.) Fly Away
203.) Caress Me Baby

301.) Catch The Wind
302.) Wake Me, Shake Me

401.) Two Trains Running

   The LP's were in good shape - no major scratches and no skips.  Which motivated me to remove the scratches manually.  Alas, I found there were more small scratches than I anticipated, so I also used the software program to de-scratch the tracks.

    The musicianship and the track selections are great.  Really, I could've marked every track in pink.  I have two quibbles, and they are minor.  First, the total length of each side is very short - 12 to 14 minutes.  I suspect this means they really only enough music for three sides.  So instead of culling a couple tracks, they "stretched" it into four sides.

    Not surprisingly, the second quibble is the amount of clapping after each track.  Another "stretching" ploy.  I deleted quite a bit of it when I converted the LP.

    Neither Amazon nor iTunes has this album available as MP3 downloads, although both offer it as an Import CD.  For beaucoup dollars, of course.  So it made sense to convert it.

    If you're on FaceBook (and who isn't?), the Blues Project has a page there.  Mostly it's Danny Kalb and Steve Katz.  They don't appear to post a lot of updates, but I've only "liked" it for a week or so.

    Also, I made the Catch The Wind track into a YouTube video, mostly because no one seems to have posted the tracks from this album there, and the guitar solo on CTW is positively bitchin'.  The YouTube video is easy to find - just type in "Blues Project Catch The Wind" and look for the back cover image shown above.

    Don't let the clapping and brevity put you off; this is a fantastic album.  If you run across it, snap it up.

Vivaldi - 4-LP Boxed Set (Time-Life)

    In the 1970's Time-Life Records put out a sh*tload of boxed sets of Classical music, generally grouped by composer.  Recently, a bunch of them showed up at my local used-book store, which also carries used records.  I picked up four of the sets - Franz Joseph Haydn, Antonin Dvorak, Richard Strauss, and this one, issued in 1978 - Antonio Vivaldi.

    There are 4 LP's in each set, and the bookstore was selling them for $3-$5, which is a fabulous price to pay for roughly 4 hours of music,  And owners of Classical records tend to take meticulous care of the discs.

- Tracks  (favorites in pink) -

Side 01 : L'Estro Armonico, Op. 3
(101) Concerto No. 10 in B Minor
(102) Concerto No. 11 in D Minor
(103) Concerto No. 1 (sic) in E

Side 02
(201) Sonata in C for Flute and Continuo, Op. 13, No. 5 (Il Pastor Fido)
(202) Sonata in C for Lute and Continuo

Side 03
(301) Credo
(302) Stabat Mater

Side 04
(401) Flute Concerto in A Minor
(402) Concerto in C for Two Trumpets
(403) Bassoon Concerto in F

Side 05
(501) Lute Concerto in D
(502) Concerto in G for Two Lutes

Side 06
(601) Beatus Vir

Side 07 & 08  :  The Four Seasons
(701) Concerto No. 1 in E  (Spring)
(702) Concerto No. 2 in G Minor  (Summer)
(801) Concerto No. 3 in F  (Autumn)
(802) Concerto No. 4 in F Minor  (Winter)

    The LP's were generally in good condition, so I de-scratched them manually.  Some were pristine; but a couple were in poorer shape and took some time.  Sides 03 and 06 are "church music", which means they are almost 100% choir-singing, and thus, although quite good, they are not to my taste.

    The Four Seasons are Vivaldi's most popular and well-known works, and deservedly so.  But  most of the concertos and sonatas were stellar too.

    You can find all of these on YouTube.  And FWIW, this is just a drop-in-the-ocean of Vivaldi's total library.  Per Wikipedia, he composed 500+ concertos, 46 operas, and 90 sonatas.

    Vivaldi's music here is full of life and quick in tempo.  I wouldn't play it while trying to go to sleep, but it does make for some great background music at work.

Kitaro - My Best

    Kitaro - My Best is, naturally enough, a compilation album.  Released in 1986, it contains "early" Kitaro music, and comprises of tracks from his first 6 or 7 albums.

    There are no lyrics, just 11 tracks of good, relaxing, multi-layered, ambient music.  Great to read a book by.

- TRACKS (favorites in Pink) -

01. Rising Sun
02. Aqua
03. Oasis
04. Westbound
05. Silver Moon
06. Four Changes
-
07. Sacred Journey II
08. Revelation
09. Silk Road Fantasy
10. Shimmering Light
11. Time

    It's hard to pick favorites for this album, even listening to it now as I write this.  To a certain degree, the tracks all sound similar, and it doesn't help matters when you zone out and let it fade into background music.  The truth is - they're all equally good tracks.

    I purchased the LP for $2.99, probably at Revolver Records.  IIRC, I cleaned them out of Kitaro vinyl one night.

    I converted the album a couple months ago, and ISTR I didn't think it was badly scratched.  But listening to it full-blast right now, Track 01 didn't clean up well.  The rest of the album did, though.  I may have to go back and manually remove the scratches from that first track.

    The biggest problem with converting K-MB was chopping it into its tracks.  Kitaro likes to fade out of one song while simultaneously fading directly into the next.  In two cases, (Tracks 02 & 03, Tracks 09 & 10), I just kept them combined.

    Kitaro has been putting out albums since the 1970's, but I've only recently started to listen to his stuff.  I've converted two LP's, downloaded 2 CD's via Freegal, bought another 3 CD's (used), and have a couple more LP's sitting in the TBD (To Be Digitalized) pile in my man-cave.  Needless to say, I highly recommend his music, especially to bibliophiles.

Age Of Revolution - Time-Life Series

    I picked this 4-LP boxed set up for $3.00 at the local Half-Price Bookstore.  This is an out-of-print 1966 Time-Life release; part of their Story of Great Music series.

    As noted in the lower-left corner, the music consists of works by Beethoven, Rossini, Schubert, and one Karl Maria von Weber, who, frankly, I had never heard of.  In addition to the music, there's a 60-page booklet giving the biographies of the four composers, and a 36-page "Listener's Guide", which you can memorize and impress your peers.

    That being said, Beethoven is clearly the dominant composer here - 5 album sides are devoted to his music.  Rossini gets one side ("The Barber of Seville"); Schubert 1½ sides; and poor Weber gets just about ½ side.

    If you're expecting "war" music (I was), you'll be disappointed.  The tie-in apparently is that all the music was written around the time of Napoleon, and that all the composers did some 'revolutionary' things to classical music.  In addition the three non-Beethovens apparently had contact with Ludwig himself, albeit sometimes in a very minor way.

-TRACKS -

01.) Leonore Overture No. 3 (Beethoven)
02.) Overture to "Der Freischutz" (Weber)
03.) Symphony No. 5 (Schubert)
04.) Songs from "Die Schone Mullerin" (Schubert)
05.) Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)
06.) Piano Sonata No. 27 (Beethoven)
07.) Selections from "The Barber of Seville" (Rossini)
08.) String Quartet No. 16 (Beethoven)
09.) Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)

    The tracks are given in order, but some take up more than one side.  All of the selections are enjoyable, but none of them will make you gasp in awe.  Beethoven clearly outshines the others, but Weber was a pleasant surprise, and you'll laugh when Rossini's Barber of Seville starts up with the "Figaro" chorus.

    The discs themselves were in variable conditions.  Side 1-3 were almost pristine, but 4 and 5 had lots of scratches.  As usual, the de-popper scratch-removal program struggled with the scratches that were in the "low-volume" portions.  I had to amp up the volume of the "cleaned" music by about 30%.

    Time-Life numbered the discs so you could stack them on your 60's turntable and listen to sides 1-4, and then just flip them all over and listen to sides 5-8.  That's nice, but modern turntables (is that an oxymoron?) aren't stackable, and honestly, four straight hours of classical music is a bit much.

    At $3.00, this boxed set was a good deal, but I'll probably delete Tracks 04 and 07, which are from operas.  I prefer my Light Classical music without any singing.

Outlaws - Outlaws

    I have grown to like Southern Rock.  Primarily because its bands almost have two lead guitars, which inherently means some bitchin' guitar solos.

    That being said, I don't know how I've missed out on Outlaws for so long.  Fortunately, a friend posted one of their songs on FaceBook a couple weeks ago, and that spurred me to go get a bunch of their albums to convert.

    Outlaws is their 1975 eponymous debut album, and it frickin' rocks.  The vinyl was in good shape and cleaned up nicely.

- Tracks  (favorites in pink) -

01.) There Goes Another Love Song
02.) Song For You
03.) Song In The Breeze
04.) It Follows From Your Heart
05.) Cry No More

06.) Waterhole
07.) Stay With Me
08.) Keep Prayin'
09.) Knoxville Girl
10.) Green Grass & High Tides

    There Goes Another Love Song got all the airplay, and worthily so.  But Green Grass & High Tides is really the high point of the album.  Waterhole is just the band showing off on their musical talents, which is jaw-dropping.

    The whole album is strong.  The vocals are great, the guitar-work is tight, and the songwriting is superb.  This is what Crosby, Stills & Nash should've sounded like.  For some reason, their used LP's are cheap, and I think four others are on the floor, waiting to be converted.  So you can expect to hear me drool some more over these guys.

Richie Havens - Richie Havens On Stage

    Richie Havens On Stage is a 1972 2-LP release and according to Wikipedia, one of only two "Live" albums from Richie Havens.  It's been sitting in my To-Be-Digitalized pile for a while, and in light of Mr. Havens' passing away earlier this year, I decided to convert it.

Side 01

01. From The Prison
02. Younger Men Get Older
03. Old Friends
04. God Bless The Child

Side 02

01. The Dolphins
02. Nobody Knows
03. My Sweet Lord
04. No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed

Side 03

01. Tupelo Honey
02. Just Like A Woman
03. Teach Your Children
04. Minstrel From Gault

Side 04

01. High Flyin' Bird
02. San Francisco Bay Blues
03. Where Have All The Flowers Gone
04. Rocky Raccoon

   These are mostly covers; the track numbers of the three songs penned by Havens are marked in blue.  As usual, my faves are in pink.  It took me a while to place The Dolphins; It's A Beautiful Day also covered it.

    The LP's were in fair shape, but cleaned up nicely.  As with any live album, I removed a couple minutes' worth of clapping.  The music for this album comes from three different concerts.  There are a couple very nice segues from one song to the next.  Kewl, except it makes it tough to find exactly where to clip the tracks.  A few times I just left them together. 

    One curiosity - the cover image shown above is actually the back cover.  The front image is just a head shot of Richie from one of the concerts, with no text at all.  Richie Havens On Stage seems to be a bit of a rarity - Amazon doesn't offer it as a CD or as MP3 files.  iTunes doesn't list it either.

    I suppose this means that his albums haven't been selling much lately.  That's a shame, since Richie Havens was a Rock-&-Roll fixture in the late 60's and early 70's.  He was an activist without being a radical; a champion of the poor and oppressed; and a black guy who wasn't afraid to cover music by white folks.  I wouldn't call him a guitar genius, but he could make strumming sound every bit as good as a guitar solo.

    RIP, Richie Havens.  You will be missed, but not forgotten.

Vangelis - Ignacio (from "Entends-tu les chiens aboyer?")

    This is the latest LP I've digitalized.  It's a French release, which is très kewl.  "Entends-tu les chiens aboyer?" translates into "Do you hear the dogs barking", and apparently is a movie.  I've never heard of it, but they got Vangelis to do the music for it, so it's gotta be good. 
 

     The album was in rather poor shape.  No skips, but lots of scratches, big and small.  The de-popper program cleaned it up quite well.  This is a 1977 release, and I've got three or four more Vangelis albums sitting around, waiting to be cobverted.

    I get the impression this is not a well-known album.  However, there is a 15-minute YouTube video that someone made of this, with some simply bitchin' surreal images to go with it.  Search "Vangelis Ignacio" and it will come right up.  I'll probably be posting it as Friday Night Chill Music on FB this weekend.  If you know me there, come give it a listen/watch.