Monthly Archives: December 2018

In Memoriam: 2018

Lorrie Collins, 1942-2018

Some of the musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers, managers, agents, broadcasters, journalists, industry executives, and studio and club owners who passed away in 2018.

Listen to a selection of these artists on Spotify.

January
Robert Mann, violinist and member of the Juilliard String Quartet
Betty Willis, soul singer
Tony Calder, record promoter (“Love Me Do”) and label executive
Rick Hall, record producer, songwriter and studio owner (FAME)
Ray Thomas, singer, songwriter and flutist (Moody Blues)
Jerry Van Dyke, comedian, actor, banjo player and singer
France Gall, French singer and Eurovision winner
Chris Tsangarides, British engineer and producer (Judas Priest)
Denise LaSalle, blues singer and songwriter
Moriss Taylor, country musician, radio and television entertainer
Eddie Clarke, British rock guitarist (Motörhead, Fastway)
Doreen Tracey, actress and singer (The Mickey Mouse Club)
Barbara Cope, rock ‘n’ roll groupie
Bill Hughes, jazz trombonist (Count Basie)
Marlene VerPlanck, jazz singer
Edwin Hawkins, gospel singer, choir master, composer and arranger
Dolores O’Riordan, Irish rock singer and songwriter (The Cranberries)
Dave Holland, English rock drummer (Trapeze, Judas Priest)
Christian Burchard, German multi-instrumentalist (Hof, Embryo)
Steve Nisbett, British reggae drummer (Steel Pulse)
Jim Rodford, English rock bassist (Argent, The Kinks)
Robert Arthur, composer and conductor (The Ed Sullivan Show)
Hugh Masekela, South African jazz trumpeter (“Grazing in the Grass“)
Lari White, country singer (“Now I Know”) and actress (Cast Away)
Mark E. Smith, English singer and songwriter (The Fall)
John Morris, film composer (The Elephant Man, Young Frankenstein)
Cliff White, Grammy-winning British music journalist (NME)
Buzz Clifford, singer and songwriter (“Baby Sittin’ Boogie“)
Floyd Miles, blues musician and singer
Neil Harris, British punk rock guitarist (Sham 69),
Coco Schumann, German jazz guitarist and Holocaust survivor
Eddie Shaw, blue saxophonist (Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf)
Mark Salling, actor (Glee) and musician

February
Dennis Edwards, soul and R&B singer (The Contours, The Temptations)
Leon “Ndugu” Chancler, pop, funk and jazz drummer (“Billie Jean”)
John Perry Barlow, lyricist (Grateful Dead) and co-founder of the EFF
Mickey Jones, drummer (Trini Lopez, Kenny Rogers) and actor
Pat Torpey, rock drummer (Mr. Big)
Algia Mae Hinton, blues singer and guitarist
Lovebug Starski, rapper and disc jockey
Craig MacGregor, rock bass guitarist (Foghat)
“Sunshine” Sonny Payne, blues radio DJ (KFFA’s King Biscuit Time)
Troy Blakely, talent manager (Iggy Pop, MC5, Fleetwood Mac)
Vic Damone, pop singer and songwriter
Jan Maxwell, actress and singer (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Follies)
Tom Rapp, singer and songwriter (Pearls Before Swine)
Daryle Singletary, country singer (“I Let Her Lie”)
Scott Boyer, songwriter and musician (Cowboy, Duane Allman)
Klaasje van der Wal, Dutch bassist (Shocking Blue)
Barbara Alston, pop singer (The Crystals)
Little Sammy Davis, blues singer-songwriter and harmonicist
Boyd Jarvis, house producer and remixer (“The Music Got Me”)
Didier Lockwood, French jazz violinist (Magma)
Heiner Stadler, German jazz musician, producer and label owner
Norm Rogers, Americana drummer (The Jayhawks)
Harriet Fier, magazine editor (Rolling Stone) and newspaper editor
Nanette Fabray, actress, singer, Tony and Emmy winner
Eddy Amoo, British soul singer (The Real Thing)
Bruce Nelson Stratton, hall of fame country radio broadcaster
Harvey Schmidt, musical theatre producer and writer (The Fantasticks)

March
Jay B. Ross, entertainment lawyer (James Brown, Muddy Waters)
Brandon Jenkins, red dirt singer-songwriter
Ronnie Prophet, Canadian country singer
Russ Solomon, retail executive and founder of Tower Records
Frank X. Feller, radio broadcaster (WIBG, WYSP)
Jeff St John, Australian pop and rock musician (“Big Time Operator”)
Gary Burden, Grammy-winning album cover artist (Neil Young, CSN&Y)
Nokie Edwards, Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame guitarist (The Ventures)
Craig Mack, rapper (“Flava in Ya Ear“)
Matt Dike, hip hop producer, mixer (Paul’s Boutique) and executive
Claudia Fontaine, English singer and backing vocalist (Pink Floyd)
Charlie Quintana, drummer (Social Distortion, The Plugz, Cracker)
Olly Wilson, composer, musicologist and jazz musician
Jimmy Wisner, pianist, producer and songwriter (“Asia Minor”)
Leroy Anderson, British radio broadcaster
Alfred Lynn, vocalist (Wu-Tang Clan)
Liam O’Flynn, Irish uilleann piper (Planxty)
Buell Neidlinger, cellist and jazz bassist
Greg Sill, television music supervisor (Falcon Crest, Justified)
Frank “Killjoy” Pucci, singer (Necrophagia)
Hazel Smith, country music journalist, publicist and songwriter
Peter “Mars” Cowling, British bassist (Pat Travers Band)
K. Mann, Ghanaian highlife musician
Shawn Elliott, hardcore rock singer (Capitalist Casualties)
Robert McAllister, mobile recording engineer (Rolling Stones, The Who)
Lys Assia, Swiss singer and winner of the first Eurovision Song Contest
Mike Harrison, British singer (Spooky Tooth)
Seo Min-woo, K-pop singer (100%)
Jerry Williams, Swedish singer (“Darling Nelly Grey”)
Kenny O’Dell, country singer-songwriter (“Behind Closed Doors”)
Caleb Scofield, rock bassist and singer (Cave In)
Alias, rapper and record label founder (Anticon)
John Mack Flanagan, radio broadcaster (KFRC)

April
Ron Dunbar, producer and Grammy-winning songwriter (“Patches”)
Cecil Taylor, jazz pianist and poet
Jacques Higelin, French rock singer and songwriter
Nathan Davis, jazz saxophonist and educator
Liam Devally, Irish singer, television host and lawyer
Yvonne Staples, soul singer (The Staple Singers)
Viliam Karmažin, Slovak Guinness World Records-holder conductor
Timmy Matley, Irish singer (The Overtones)
Maurice “Sax Man” Reedus Jr., saxophonist
John Amirante, U.S. anthem singer (New York Rangers)
Big Tom McBride, Irish country music singer
Randy Scruggs, guitarist, producer and songwriter
Stuart Colman, English musician, record producer and broadcaster
Avicii, Swedish electronic dance DJ and producer
Brian Henry Hooper, Australian bassist (Beasts of Bourbon)
Don Bustany, radio and television broadcaster (American Top 40)
Bob Dorough, pianist and composer (Schoolhouse Rock!)
Arthur B. Rubinstein, television and film composer (WarGames)
Paul Gray, Australian singer and songwriter (Wa Wa Nee)
Alain Milhaud, Swiss producer and manager (Los Bravos)
Kato Khandwala, record producer (The Pretty Reckless)
Charles Neville, New Orleans saxophonist (The Neville Brothers)
Roy Young, British singer and pianist
Rose Laurens, French singer and songwriter (“I Dreamed a Dream”)
Tim Calvert, rock guitarist (Nevermore, Forbidden)

May
Stu Boy King, rock drummer (The Dictators)
John “Jabo” Starks, funk drummer (James Brown)
Steve Coy, British drummer (Dead or Alive)
Takayuki Inoue, Japanese rock guitarist and singer (The Spiders)
Tony Kinman, rock singer and bass guitarist (Rank and File, The Dils)
Abi Ofarim, German-Israeli singer (“Cinderella Rockefella”)
Dick Williams, singer (The Williams Brothers)
Big T, rapper (“Wanna Be a Baller”)
Søren Hyldgaard, Danish film, television and new Age composer
Maurane, Belgian singer and actress
Gayle Shepherd, singer (Shepherd Sisters)
Ben Graves, rock drummer (Murderdolls)
Carl Perkins, New Zealand musician (Herbs, House of Shem)
Scott Hutchison, Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist
Glenn Branca, composer and guitarist
Hideki Saijō, Japanese singer
Reggie Lucas, songwriter, jazz guitarist and record producer (Madonna)
Glenn Snoddy, recording engineer and inventor of the fuzz pedal
Phil Emmanuel, Australian guitarist (The Tralblazers)
Andy MacQueen, Australian bass guitarist (Exploding White Mice)
Russ Regan, music business executive (Uni, 20th Century, Polygram)
Stewart Lupton, rock singer (Jonathan Fire*Eater)
Josh Martin, grindcore guitarist (A.C.)
María Dolores Pradera, Spanish singer and actress
Jürgen Marcus, German Schlager singer
Demba Nabé, German reggae singer (Seeed)

June
Eddy Clearwater, blues singer and guitarist
Clarence Fountain, gospel singer (The Blind Boys of Alabama)
Norman Edge, American jazz musician
Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, singer-songwriter (The Last Poets)
Brian Browne, Canadian jazz pianist
Jimmy Gonzalez, Grammy winning Tejano singer (Mazz)
Teddy Johnson, English singer and UK Eurovision representative
Ralph Santolla, metal guitarist (Deicide, Death, Iced Earth)
Peter Stringfellow, 77, English nightclub impresario
Danny Kirwan, British guitarist (Fleetwood Mac, Tramp),
Leo Sarkisian, musicologist and radio broadcaster
Lorraine Gordon, jazz club owner (Village Vanguard)
Ras Kimono, Nigerian reggae musician
Yvette Horner, French accordionist
Jon Hiseman, English drummer (Colosseum)
D.J. Fontana, rock drummer (Elvis Presley)
Nick Knox, drummer (The Cramps)
Matt Murphy, blues guitarist (Howlin’ Wolf, The Blues Brothers)
Rebecca Parris, jazz singer
Lowrell Simon, soul singer and songwriter (The Lost Generation)
David Bianco, record producer, engineer and mixer (Tom Petty)
Vinnie Paul, rock drummer (Pantera)
George Cameron, drummer and vocalist (The Left Banke)
Dan Ingram, national radio hall of fame broadcaster (WABC)
Big Bill Bissonnette, jazz trombonist, drummer, producer and label owner
Joe Jackson, band manager (Jackson 5), patriarch of the Jackson family
Steve Soto, punk rock bassist (Agent Orange, The Adolescents)
Eugene Pitt, doo-wop singer (The Jive Five)

July
Roy Carr, British music journalist (NME, Vox)
Henry Butler, jazz pianist
Alan Longmuir, Scottish bassist (Bay City Rollers)
Bill Watrous, jazz trombonist
Richard Swift, singer, songwriter, producer and musician (The Shins)
Jim Malloy, Grammy-winning recording engineer (Elvis Presley)
Vince Martin, folk singer (“Cindy, Oh Cindy”)
Bret Hoffmann, death metal singer (Malevolent Creation)
Garry Lowe, Jamaican bassist (Big Sugar)
Tab Hunter, actor and singer
Ponty Bone, accordionist (The Squeezetones)
Nancy Barbato Sinatra, mother of Nancy, Frank Jr. and Tina Sinatra
Theryl DeClouet, funk singer (Galactic)
Stan Lewis, record store and  label owner (Jewel Records)
Adrian Cronauer, disc jockey, inspiration for “Good Morning, Vietnam”
Archie Marr, British keyboardist (Bay City Rollers)
Shelly Cohen, musical director (Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett)
Mark Shelton, heavy metal guitarist (Manilla Road)
Sam Mehran, singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer (Test Icicles)
Eddie Baker, jazz pianist, composer, arranger and educator
Irvin Jarrett, Jamaican reggae percussionist (Third World)

August
Neil Argo, film and television composer (Wild America, Dynasty)
Lorrie Collins, rockabilly singer and songwriter
Jill Janus, rock singer (Huntress)
Randy Rampage, Canadian metal singer and bassist (D.O.A., Annihilator)
Aretha Franklin, singer, pianist and songwriter
Count Prince Miller, Jamaican-born British singer and actor
Danny Pearson, R&B singer
Jack Costanzo, percussionist (“Mr. Bongo”)
Eddie Willis, studio guitarist (The Funk Brothers)
Ed King, guitarist & songwriter (Strawberry Alarm Clock, Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Lazy Lester, blues singer, harmonica player and guitarist
DJ Ready Red, hip hop producer (Geto Boys) and DJ
Kyle Pavone, rock vocalist (We Came as Romans)
Tony Hiller, British songwriter (“United We Stand”) and producer
Tony Camillo, record producer, orchestrator and arranger

September
Randy Weston, jazz pianist and composer
Conway Savage, Australian keyboardist (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
Don Gardner, R&B singer (“I Need Your Lovin'”) and club owner
Siegfried Linkwitz, audio engineer
Frank Serafine, film sound designer and editor
Max Bennett, jazz bassist and session musician
Maartin Allcock, English multi-instrumentalist and producer
Big Jay McNeely, R&B saxophonist
Joseph Hoo Kim, Jamaican record producer (Channel One Studios)
Marty Balin, rock singer and musician (Jefferson Airplane/Starship)
Otis Rush, blues guitarist and singer

October
Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer, lyricist and actor
Jerry González, Latin jazz bandleader and trumpeter
Geoff Emerick, English recording engineer (The Beatles)
Hamiet Bluiett, jazz saxophonist
John Wicks, British singer and songwriter (The Records)
Andie Airfix, British album cover artist (Def Leppard, Metallica)
Carol Hall, composer and lyricist (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)
Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin, studio guitarist (The Funk Brothers)
Tony Joe White, singer-songwriter (“Polk Salad Annie”)
Sonny Fortune, jazz saxophonist
Freddie Hart, country singer, songwriter and musician
Todd Youth, punk and metal guitarist (Warzone, Murphy’s Law, Danzig)
Roy Wunsch, record industry executive

November
Josh Fauver, rock bassist (Deerhunter)
Roy Hargrove, Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter
Glenn Schwartz, guitarist (Pacific Gas & Electric)
Francis Lai, Oscar-winning French film composer (Love Story)
Roy Clark, country singer, musician and television host (Hee Haw)
Scott English, songwriter (“Brandy”) and record producer
Al James, British bassist (Showaddywaddy)
Norris Weir, Jamaican singer (The Jamaicans)
Cyril Pahinui, slack-key guitarist and singer
Eddie Reeves, songwriter (“All I Ever Need Is You”) and label executive
Bill Caddick, English folk singer and guitarist
Roy Bailey, English folk singer
Eddie C. Campbell, blues singer, songwriter and guitarist
Trevor McNaughton, Jamaican reggae singer (The Melodians)
Angelica Cob-Baehler, music industry executive, cancer
Devin Limasinger, pop and hip-hop singer (LFO)
Casey Anderson, songwriter, TV host, father of Lynn Anderson
Johnny Maddox, pianist and historian
Erik Lindmark, death metal vocalist and guitarist (Deeds of Flesh)
Robert Plotnik, record store owner (Bleecker Bob’s)

December
Calvin Newborn, jazz guitarist
Jody Williams, blues guitarist
Paul Trouble Anderson, British DJ
Perry Robinson, jazz clarinetist
Ace Cannon, saxophonist (“Tuff”)
Floyd Parton, songwriter (“Rockin’ Years”) and brother of Dolly Parton
Pete Shelley, English musician and songwriter (Buzzcocks)
Victor Hayden, artist and musician (Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band)
Lucas Starr, rock bassist (Oh, Sleeper, Terminal)
Fred Wieland, Australian guitarist (The Strangers, The Mixtures)
Nancy Wilson, Grammy-winning jazz singer
Joe Osborn, bassist (The Wrecking Crew)
Jerry Chesnut, songwriter (“Good Year for the Roses”, “T-R-O-U-B-L-E”)
Galt MacDermot, Canadian-American composer (Hair) and pianist
Jimmy Work, country singer and songwriter (“Making Believe”)
Honey Lantree, British pop drummer (The Honeycombs)
Jerry Riopelle, musician, songwriter and producer (The Parade)
James Calvin Wilsey, rock guitarist (Avengers, Chris Isaak)
Malani Bilyeum, vocalist and founding member of Kalapana

Fastball: All the Pain Money Can Buy

Twentieth anniversary edition of Austin band’s commercial high point

Twenty years on from the success of their 1998 single “The Way,” the album from which it sprang still sounds fresh. The band’s sophomore release for the Hollywood label produced two more hits (“Fire Escape” and “Out of My Head”), and sold more than a million copies in its first six months of release. The album drew inspiration from pop, soul and psych, but expressed them through a then-modern-rock aesthetic. The effortless melodies and instrumental focus on guitar, bass and drums has aged well, giving away its ‘90s origin without feeling boat-anchored to the decade’s trends. This anniversary edition augments the original thirteen tracks with compilation tracks, two excellent B-sides, and of particular interest to fans, four previously unreleased demos highlighted by the original 4-track cassette recording of “The Way.” The collection closes with bonus covers of the Replacements “Androgynous,” Bacharach & David’s “This Guy’s in Love With You,” and an acoustic take on “The Way.” Scott Shindler’s liner notes include newly sourced interviews with the band, and the booklet includes numerous period photos. This is a nice upgrade for those who’ve long loved this album, and the perfect entry point into Fastball’s catalog for newbies. [©2018 Hyperbolium]

Fastball’s Home Page

Marianne Faithfull: Come and Stay With Me – The UK 45s 1964-1969

English songbird in a gilded cage

Although she had four Top-40 Billboard hits in 1964 and 1965, Marianne Faithfull’s early years as a singer are largely remembered in the U.S. for her original version of “As Tears Go By.” She gained worldwide fame with her 1979 comeback, Broken English, but her early years as a UK hitmaker have remained relatively unknown in the States. More surprisingly, Faithfull herself doesn’t reflect with great fondness on these early records, suggesting at the time of her late-70s re-emergence, “I’ve never had to try very hard. I’ve never really been expected to try at all. I’ve always been treated as somebody who not only can’t even sing but doesn’t really write or anything, just something you can make into something.” She continued, “I was just cheesecake really, terribly depressing. It wasn’t depressing when I was 18, but it got depressing when I got older because you’re a person just like anyone else, even if you are a woman.”

The truth of her early works lays somewhere between her own negative reaction and the positive commercial success bestowed upon her. After debuting with “As Time Goes By,” Faithfull tackled Dylan’s well-covered “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and B-sides – “Greensleeves” and “House of the Rising Sun” – drawn from the trad catalog. Her fragile tremolo seems overmatched by the ornate arrangements, but her shy delivery is bolstered by a sense of determination. It’s that balance between introversion and steadfastness that makes these singles so intriguing. Her third single, Jackie DeShannon’s “Come and Stay With Me,” demonstrates Faithfull’s growing confidence, as does the anguished questioning of “What Have I Done Wrong.” The harp and strings of her next single, John D. Loudermilk’s “Little Bird,” leave more room for her voice, and she takes flight with the Tennessee Williams-inspired lyrics.

Faithfull’s catalog includes titles by Goffin & King (“Is This What I Get For Loving You?”) and Donovan (“The Most of What is Least”), and a sprinkle of original material (“Oh Look Around You” and “I’d Like to Dial Your Number”). Her final single for Decca was 1969’s “Something Better,” written by Gerry Goffin and Barry Mann, and performed by Faithfull in the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus. The B-side featured the rare, original recording of “Sister Morphine,” released two years before the Stones included it on Sticky Fingers. Her transformation from English songbird to ravaged chanteuse is foreshadowed in the desperate lyrics and vocal, and despite Jagger’s dramatic performance on the album, it’s Faithfull’s original that resounds with the personal truth that reclaimed her songwriting credit for the lyrics.

These early sides don’t reflect the lived life of Broken English, but you can hear Faithfull gaining experience at light speed. Her 1965 cover of “Yesterday” and the following year’s “Tomorrow’s Calling” are filled with melancholy, and her 1967 cover of the Ronettes’ “Is This What I Get For Loving You?” might not have been an expression of doubt about Mick Jagger’s fidelity, but seems to bely a fundamental insecurity. The collection pulls together the mono A’s and B’s of her eleven singles and a three-song EP, as released by Decca between 1964 and 1969. The 24-page booklet includes liner notes from journalist and longtime Marianne Faithfull fan Kris Needs, as well as numerous period photos, sheet music, label reproductions, and song credits. With the concurrent release of Faithfull’s new album Negative Capability, and its newly struck version of “As Time Goes By,” this is a timely spin for fans who’ve never taken the opportunity to enjoy Faithfull’s early work. [©2018 Hyperbolium]

Marianne Faithfull’s Home Page

NRBQ: All Hopped Up

1977 debut of the classic NRBQ lineup, with bonus tracks

Originally released in 1977, NRBQ’s fifth album marked the first appearance of drummer Tom Ardolino, and the debut of the band’s Red Rooster label. Having spent time on Columbia and Kama Sutra, the responsibility of producing and recording for their own imprint seems to have brought both freedom and focus to their music. To be sure, all the NRBQ trademarks are here, including oddball originals like Terry Adams “Call Him Off, Rogers,” lovingly selected covers of “Cecillia,” “I Got a Rocket in My Pocket” and “Honey Hush,” a ragged, minor key send-up of the theme to Bonanza, and generous helpings of the Whole Wheat Horns.

As usual, the band mashed up a wide array of pop, rock, soul, blues and jazz influences, but the original material from Adams, Al Anderson and Joey Spampinato includes some especially fine pop songs. Anderson’s nostalgic lead-off, “Ridin’ in My Car” has a double-tracked vocal and sunshine backing harmonies, and Terry Adams’ “It Feels Good” mixes ‘50s romanticism with, in true NRBQ fashion, a Japanese koto solo. Adams also offers an echo of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys with “Things to You,” and Joey Spampinato’s “Still in School” and “That’s Alright” have harmonies that sound like Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe channeling the Everlys.

This reissue adds four bonus tracks recorded during the album’s two years worth of sessions. A cover of Bill Justis’ “Chicken Hearted” offers a heavier dose of chicken-pickin’ than Roy Orbison’s original, while the originals include the jazz-country hybrid “She’s Got to Know,” rockabilly “Start It Over,” and low-key New Orleans funk “Do the Bump.” The latter was originally issued as a B-side, while the other three were woven into Rounder’s Ridin’ in My Car sort-of reissue of All Hopped Up. Omnivore’s tri-fold slipcase augments one of NRBQ’s best albums with new liners by John DeAngelis and vintage photos. [©2018 Hyperbolium]

NRBQ’s Home Page

Willie Nile: Children of Paradise

Fine set of rock ‘n’ roll originals drawn from a seemingly bottomless well

Anyone who’s been listening to or writing about Willie Nile over the past decade is likely running out of things to say. Nile’s twelfth studio album continues a string of incredibly consistent releases that dates back to 2006’s Streets of New York, and his enduring belief in rock ‘n’ roll’s redemptive powers is a welcome tonic amid social and political turbulence. Recording with his longtime road band, Nile offers up straight-ahead rock music with no apologies for the guitars, bass and drums, and topical songs that offer both concern and salvation. The title track’s recognition of those on the fringe is echoed by Cristina Arrigoni’s striking album cover portraits, and “Gettin’ Ugly Out There” seeks to hold on to a strand of human goodness amid the torrent of deceit that is our current political climate. Though mostly written in singalongs and anthems, Nile turns down the volume for the intimate ballad “Have I Ever Told You” and the solemn closer “All God’s Children.” If you like Nile’s last half-dozen albums, you’ll find more to like here; and if you haven’t yet listened to Willie Nile, this is a great place to dive in. [©2018 Hyperbolium]

Willie Nile’s Home Page

Various Artists – The Complete Christmas on the Ponderosa

A warm and inviting Christmas with the Cartwright clan

Originally released in 1963 just as television’s Bonanza was climbing to #1 in the Nielsen’s, Christmas on the Ponderosa was one of several commercial tie-ins that accompanied the show’s success. Released by RCA, the thirteen tracks feature the golden throats of Bonanza’s four stars – Dan Blocker, Lorne Greene, Michael Landon and Pernell Roberts – performing in character, along with the backing vocals of the Ken Darby Singers. The album is structured as a story, with the Cartwright clan’s caroling neighbors invited into the Ponderosa’s ranch house for a Christmas party. The music includes both traditional and new Christmas songs, and they’re held together by continuity that includes toasts, elegies, dramatic conversations and humorous dialog.

Pernell Roberts proved himself the family’s standout singer on his lone track,“The Newborn King.” His solo album, Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies, was also released by RCA the same year, and here he sings in a similar folk style. Michael Landon is appealing on “Oh Fir Tree Dear” and the novelty “Santa Got Lost in Texas,” and though Dan Blocker gives it a go on “Deck the Halls,” his gifts are better applied to the recitation of “The First Christmas Tree.” Lorne Greene uses his sonorous voice to conjure both gravitas and humor in his performances, as he would later employ on the chart-topping single, “Ringo.” In addition to the Christmas album’s thirteen tracks, this reissue adds the first-ever CD release of Lorne Greene’s 1965 seasonal album, Have a Happy Holiday, and both sides of his 1966 single “Must Be Santa” b/w “One Solitary Life.”

The Bonanza characters provided a surprisingly sturdy platform for acting, singing and merchandising. The Christmas album followed the cast’s initial 1962 foray into recording, Ponderosa Party Time, and was in turn followed by Lorne Greene’s 1964 album Welcome to the Ponderosa (both of which are included in Bear Family’s Bonanza box set). This Christmas collection includes remastered audio by Mike Piacentini at Sony’s Battery Studios, liner notes by The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese, and rare cast photos. Christmas on the Ponderosa’s sing-along party theme will add a celebratory spark to your own holiday gathering, and the addition of Lorne Greene’s follow-up album and single adds another gift under the tree. [©2018 Hyperbolium]

Lefty Frizzell: An Article From Life – The Complete Recordings

The exquisite, final word on a country legend

Born in Texas, and raised in Arkansas, William Orville “Lefty” Frizzell took in the seminal influences of Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Tubb and others, and forged an original vocal style that impacted an entire generation of singers. His next-generation disciples included Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, George Jones and Roy Orbison, and his influence continues to reverberate today through the works of Brennen Leigh and many others. His 1950 debut topped the charts with both “If You’ve Got the Money (I’ve Got the Time)” and its flip, “I Love You a Thousand Ways,” and the hits that followed stretched into early 1953. But Frizzell was a mercurial artist, firing his manager and band in 1952, joining and quitting the Grand Ole Opry, and moving to Los Angeles, where he joined the Town Hall Party. His 1954 single “I Love You Mostly” would be his last Top 20 hit for four years, and though he’d move to Nashville and regain the top slot with 1964’s “Saginaw Michigan,” his health and success steadily declined until his death at the age of 47 in 1975.

Bear Family has pulled out all the stops to honor Frizzell’s legendary career, gathering 361 tracks on 20 CDs, including all of his singles (45s and 78s) and albums, demos and session material, and a wealth of newly discovered material. The discs are packaged in double digipaks, which are themselves housed in a 12-½” x 12-½” x 3” box that includes a massive 264-page hardcover book. This box set represents the third iteration of Bear Family’s archival work on Frizzell, having previously issued the 14-LP set His Life, His Music in 1984, and the updated 12-CD set Life’s Like Poetry in 1992. This is a superset of both earlier releases, and though a few scraps might still be hiding in a dusty vault, this is likely to be the definitive statement on Frizzell’s recording career. In addition to complete coverage of his 25-years of commercial releases, the demos, private recordings, radio airchecks and U.S. military program transcriptions stretch back into the 1940s. The set’s final eight discs feature Frizzell’s younger brother David reading his biography I Love You a Thousand Ways.

Discs 1 through 9 repeat the same commercial material as was originally offered on Life’s Like Poetry. Discs 10-12 include demos, radio airchecks and transcriptions that provide a rich picture of the artist in development. These latter recordings vary in quality, and some of the earliest material is rough in spots, but Frizzell’s voice always manages to emerge from the surface noise of acetates and metal parts. New to this box are two dozen full and partial demos and non-session recordings, including late-40s covers of Ernest Tubb (“I’ll Always Be Glad to Take You Back” and “I’ll Always Be Glad to Take You Back”), Jimmie Rodgers (“My Old Pal of Yesterday,” “Jimmie the Kid” and “California Blues”), Ernest Tubb (“Mean Mama Blues”), Hank Williams (“I’m a Long Gone Daddy,” “Last Night I Heard You Crying in Your Sleep” and “There’ll Be No Teardrops Tonight”), and 1950 band recordings of Frizzell originals “If You’re Ever Lonely Darling,” “I Love You A Thousand Ways” and “Lost Love Blues.” Of particular interest among the new tracks are three solo acoustic takes of “I Won’t Be Good For Nothin’” that show how Frizzell developed his approach to the song.

The transfers and mastering of the studio material highlight the microphone’s love for Frizzell’s voice. His presence is palpable sixty years after he first stood and sang these numbers, and his feel for a song’s tempo remains unerring, never rushing a lyric, but never dragging the beat. As described by Merle Haggard, Frizzell would “hold on to each word until he finally decided to drop it and pick up the next one.” Charles Wolfe’s biographical essay, updated and revised by Daniel Cooper and Kevin Coffey, pieces together Frizzell’s personal and recording history from a variety of sources. Frizzell was apparently not fond of being interviewed, and the authors augment the artist’s own memories with those of his family, friends, supporting musicians and colleagues. The book (weighing in at a somewhat unwieldy five pounds) is laced with archival photos, and supplemented by Richard Weize and Kevin Coffey’s detailed discography. This collection is the epitome of the Bear Family box set, overwhelming in its completeness, attention to detail and love for the artist. [©2018 Hyperbolium]

Permanent Green Light: Hallucinations

After the Three O’Clock

In the late ‘80s, after an EP and four LPs with the Three O’Clock, bassist/singer/songwriter Michael Quercio found himself without a band for the first time in a decade. His long-time association with Game Theory led to touring and recording in San Francisco, but by the early ‘90s he’d returned to Los Angeles. Back in the southland he connected with guitarist/singer/songwriter Matt Devine, and together with drummer Chris Bruckner, formed Permanent Green Light – the group’s name seemingly lifted from the closing song of the Godz 1967 album Godz 2. As a trio, the band returned Quercio’s to the pre-Three O’Clock format of the Salvation Army, but with a co-founder sharing singing and songwriting duties, PGL had more range to draw upon.

The band debuted in 1992 with the single “We Could Just Die.” The song’s signature guitar riff and vocal hooks put this in a class with Michael Quercio’s most memorable songs. The trio played with the sort of fervor that had electrified the Salvation Army, but with less overt psychedelic and punk undertones. The single’s B-side, “The Truth This Time,” opens with a funky wah-wah guitar riff, but breaks into the sort of melodic verse for which Quercio is known. The single begat a self-titled EP, from which Quercio’s “Ballad of Paul K.” is included, but Matt Devine’s songs and and lead vocals are left behind.

A fuller picture of Devine’s contributions is drawn from tracks selected from the band’s first and only full-length alum, 1993’s Against Nature. The six tracks anthologized here include solo writes from from both Quercio and Devine, as well as several co-writes that include the single “(You and I Are the) Summertime.” Devine’s “Marianne Gave Up Her Hand” has a baroque-rock feel, while “Portmanteau” adds Spanish-styled acoustic guitar to the trio’s near prog-rock. Devine’s voice is pleasant, though not the instantly recognizable, idiosyncratic instrument that is Quercio’s. The jointly written “Wintertime’s A-Comin’, Martha Raye” recalls the tripiness of Quercio’s early songs with the Three O’Clock.

Fans will enjoy this collection’s vault finds, starting with 1991 demos of “(You and I Are the) Summertime” and Quercio’s otherwise unknown “Lovely to Love Me.” The former is played faster and harder than the single, the latter highlights the quirkiness of Quercio’s voice, with Merseybeat harmonies sung against crashing cymbals. The B-side “Street Love” is served up in demo form that’s more raw and urgent than the final version, and stray tracks from Flipside’s RAFR compilation and a Sassy magazine phone promo round out the rarities. Those new to the band will find this a balanced intro, but with such a slim catalog, the original EP and LP are worthwhile follow-ups. Those who are already hooked will dig the demos and other bonus tracks. [©2018 Hyperbolium]

Dan Mangan: More or Less

The philosophical road from troubadour to parent

Dan Mangan’s fifth album finds his life in transition from globetrotting musician to mid-30s parent. The confluence of emotional changes that marked this life change provides rich ground for an introspective singer-songwriter, and Mangan confronts both the loss of his youthful degrees of freedom and the satisfactions of adult responsibilities. On a meta level, his six-year hiatus from touring also finds him re-entering a music industry that’s drastically different than the one from which he laid out. In addition to his album, he’s developed a behind-the-songwriting video series and accompanying playlist for Spotify, as well as a live variety show for Instagram – all the accoutrements of a modern music artist.

The set opens with Mangan contemplating the emotional wreckage and resulting rebirth born of questioning and destabilizing one’s beliefs. He sees life’s lynch pins as containing both risk and opportunity, a mechanism whose tension stores energy. He ponders the dichotomy of his innocent infant son being born into a world whose balance was swung by the 2016 presidential election, and he seeks to insulate himself from the unknown that then lay ahead. The lies and half-truths of the election cycle inform “Troubled Mind,” as Mangan seeks to balance the urge to stay informed with the reflex to avoid the deceit of the political class. The song’s anxious rhythm suggests an intellectual timebomb threatening to explode from the rising cognitive dissonance.

Such philosophical quandaries are balanced with the seemingly mundane responsibilities of parenthood. Having given up the adventure of a musician’s world travel, Mangan surprises himself with the satisfaction of staying put and exploring the complexities of growing up and staying put. On “Cold in the Summer” he’s pulled into middle-age even as his youth tries to hang on. He’s trading the footloose freedoms of youth for the repetitions of adult life, but he’s unsure whether to lament the loss of the former for the gain of the latter. The solemn sounding “Fool For Waiting” is as close as Mangan gets to a love song, though even here he’s inside his own head, analyzing the experience of his feelings.

Mangan writes of approaching the album with a new-found sense of minimalism, but there’s a lushness to the music that belies the lack of thickly woven instrumental layers. The arrangements are minimal, but the album never sounds spare; that’s because Mangan’s voice is itself quite rich, and Drew Brown and Simone Felice’s production supports him with smooth bass tones, crisp drums and cymbals, and instrumental touches that occasionally lead to light psychedelic moments. It’s the right sound for such contemplative lyrics, inviting listeners to both feel the mood and interpret the lyrics. Though recorded in bits and pieces over several years, the album feels whole, and offers an eye-opening step forward. [©2018 Hyperbolium]

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