1/19/99 to 2/14/99

Title:  Kenny Rogers - Through The Years - A Retrospective (boxset)

Label:  Capitol 33183 2

Comments:  The rock and roll Dentist has never been a fan of Kenny Rogers, so
how to explain giving Discollector a day's pay for a four CD boxset of his
music? Well, the same thing happened with the easy listening music (Percy
Faith, Mancini) my parents played while I grooved to the Beatles. After years
of denying the appeal of a well-crafted tune in the hands of professional
record makers, you just have to finally give in to the comfort the music - let
it bathe your neurons with synaptic sugar. According to Whitburn, Rogers has
had a hand in charting 40 singles on the hot 100 pop charts. This is the
first cross-label retrospective of his career and comes close to being the
perfect summation. Curiously, the only hit that he sang not included is "Heed
The Call" (from his days with the First Edition). Why in heavens name they
left that song off is beyond my comprehension. The other thing that keeps
this from being perfect is the lack of session data in the liner notes.
Rogers talks about his first band the Scholars, for example, yet never
mentions the names of the members. Ditto the Bobby Doyle Three (though we can
surmise that he and Bobby Doyle were two of the three). Each song has a short
comment from Rogers and chart position, but curiously the date it peaked is
missing. Little things like that can't detract from the quality of what is
included. Spread over four CDs are 80 songs including an astounding 20 #1 pop
or country hits. Rogers' appeal is somewhat hard to explain. His voice isn't
the best in the world and he wrote few of his hits, yet somehow he managed to
come up with instantly memorable songs like Lionel Richie's "Lady", Mel
Tillis' "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" and "The Gambler" which spawned a
TV movie. The fun part of this set is the first 12 songs that show a
developing artist doing doo-wop and cocktail jazz in the late '50s/early '60s.
In those days, Rogers' pleasant rasp of a voice was not in evidence. It
wasn't till he developed some grit in his larynx to sand off the edges to the
songs that the hits came. While it has been almost a decade and a half since
he's had a pop hit, the later songs aren't throughaways. Perhaps the best
song he's ever done is the sentimental "Twenty Years Ago" from 1986 that never
fails to bring a catch to the rock and roll Dentist's cynical critics throat.
Alright, so it's not cool to like this stuff, but who cares?

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist   2-14-99

Title:  Link Protrudi And The Jaymen - Hit And Run

Label:  Get Hip GH-1051

Comments:  Gosh, you don't suppose that the band name is supposed to sound
anything like Link Wray And The Raymen do you? Well, turns out that if you
like Wray, you'll like Protrudi. This CD is a first time on CD collection of
23 slammin' guitar instrumentals including tips to Wray's catalog in the songs
"Rumble," "Rawhide," "Branded," etc. Heck, you got's to love any band who
cover the often overlooked genius Dave Clark 5 instrumentals ("No Stopping"
and "Chaquita"). The set starts with the obscure "Avalanche" and barely let's
up on the rock-o-meter till the final live version of "Batman." Do not expect
professional production and a wall of instruments. Do expect cheesy slabs-
o'rock and a wall of sludge.

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 2-14-99

Title:  Manual Scan - All Night Stand - The Best Of Manual Scan 1980-1992

Label:  Get Hip GH-1043

Comments:  By now you should recognize that if it's on Get Hip, it's cool/cheesy
'60s rock served lovingly by '90s musicians. It should come as no surprise,
then, that out of the 26 tracks you get a cover of Them's "I Can Only Give
You Everything" and Max Frost & the Troopers' "Shape Of Things To Come." The
best songs here sound like a Flaming Groovies tribute (you do have Shake Some
Action don't you?) with jangley guitars and earnest garage vocals. There's
even a song titled "I Want To Hold Your Hand" which isn't by the Beatles and
is actually pretty good. They have the audacity to cover Pink Floyd's
"Fearless" in the first of five hidden tracks. The best song here ("Come See
Me")sounds like a Nuggets track. Check it out.

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 2-14-99

Title:  New Salem Witch Hunters - Colonial Root Cellar

Label:  Get Hip GH-1056

Comments:  Here we go with more Get Hip sleezoid '60s rips. These guys are from
Cleveland which, as Ian Hunter informed us, rocks (and has a football team no
thanks to Art Modell - whatta moron. Even us Denver Bronco fans hated to see
him grab for the cash and move the Browns). There are 14 tracks on this CD
including a cover of the Gestures pop/rocker "Run Run Run" (not to be confused
with another song on this CD also titled "Run Run Run" - hey wouldn't it be
cool if some band had the audacity to record a whole album of songs with only
one title. My suggestion for the song title - "It's Over"). This disc sounds
not unlike a great lost Chocolate Watchband LP (wobbly vocals and jangley 12
strings over a layer of farfisa organ). This is apparently the Witch Hunters'
fourth LP (can anyone tell me if their others are worth checking out?). Key
cuts are "One More Time" and "Fall On Me."

Posted by:  George W. Krieger, the rock & roll Dentist   2-14-99

Title:  Doctor Explosion - The Subnormal Revolution Of Doctor Explosion
The Neatbeats - Far And Near

Label:  Get Hip GH-1077 and GH-1066

Comments:  Here's were the Get Hip catalogue separates the men from the boys.
You gotta have the Kaisers and the Neanderthals. You probably need Link
Protudi, Manual Scan and the New Salem Witch Hunters. But, do you need like-
minded bands from Spain (Doctor Explosion) and Japan (The Neatbeats)? Well,
it depends on how crazed your love of the '60s sound really is bubba. Doctor
Explosion represents the crazed garage '60s with totally out of control (and
at times out of tune) vocals on numbers like "Surf 'N' Shake" (imagine the
Trashmen as Spanish punks) and "Rompi La Television" (oh yes, they even scream
four songs in Spanish). Thee Headcoatees help on on a few cuts including the
well-chosen Music Explosion cover "Let Yourself Go." Far less crazed, but no
less vocally challenged, are the Neatbeats. You gotta give them points for
wanting to be the Searchers, but couldn't they have at least mastered English
before trying to sing "Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah"? It is kinda cool, but might have
been cooler if sung in Japanese. They manage to work their way through "Hi-
Heel Sneakers" and "Everybody Loves A Lover" with their version of the Big
Three's "I'm With You" coming out as a garbled alphabet soup of made up
English. They've got the slightly out of tune guitars and slammin' cymbals of
a high school coverband in the '60s down cold. Where's the Kyu Sakamoto cover
guys?

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 2-14-99

Title:  Elvis Presley - Sunrise

Label:  RCA 67675-2

Comments:  For Elvis fans, this two CD set must smell like nirvana (heaven, not
the group). I mean you can almost smell the sweat and testosterone these boys
were kickin' up back in the early '50s before the rest of us knew that there
was music beyond the many mood(s?) of Mantovani. RCA have done just about a
perfect job of retooling the Elvis catalog for the CD era (too bad they've
pretty much passed on the rest of their artists). This shines the light of
laser on all the pre-RCA Sun tracks that Elvis, Scotti and Bill layed down
with Sam Phillips (19 on disc one). Disc two is the reason to buy, however.
You get all four sides together (for the first time) of both of Elvis'
personal acetates (including the previously unreleased "I Wouldn't Be the Same
Without You"). You get alternate takes including the previously unreleased
"Blue Moon" plus a badly damaged but still fun live acetate presentation of
six songs including "Tweedlee Dee" complete with audience shrieks at the end
attesting to the hold Elvis was already exerting on teen America. Most of
these tracks may not be for the casual listener and are of archival interest
only, but everybody that loves rock and roll needs to own "That's All Right,"
"Mystery Train" and "Baby Let's Play House" in some form. The enclosed liner
notes are useful while the pictures are priceless.

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 2-14-99

Title:  Ventures - New Depths (Wild Again 2)

Label:  GNP Crescendo GNPD 2259

Comments:  A couple of years ago the Ventures pulled off quite a stunning
comeback with their CD Wild Again which managed to snag #1 on my list for
1997. With the death of drummer Mel Taylor it looked to be the end of the
line for these guys, but here they are again with another surprisingly strong
new CD. Taylor's son Leon has taken over the drum chair and does a pretty
fair imitation of his dad's style. The Ventures' style of guitar instrumental
rock has always had a following in Japan and it appears that this CD was
recorded with that market in mind. Most of the songs have been hits in Asia
by the Ventures or by other bands such as Colorado's own Astronauts (hi
Stormy). There are 20 tracks on this CD and while a few are a bit dull (I
mean does anyone really want to hear them do Booker T & the MGs' "Time Is
Tight" when they can hear the soulful original?), it generally cooks. The
first track may be the best with "Hurricane" being a cover of an old
Honeycombs Japanese hit. They are more successful on originals or on
obscurities than when they cover chestnuts like "Peter Gunn." The original
"Web Surfin'" and the cover of the old Raybeats song "Calhoun Surf" are
highlights. One track on the album (Kanari Kiteru Koi) features the girlgroup
wannabe's The Rice Girls. Your's truly prefers the instrumental version,
however "Trailblazer." A surprise cover is the Beatles' "Cry For A Shadow"
which doesn't beat the original, but is still a good choice. There are a host
of guest including Duane Eddy on twang for "I Fought The Law" and "Spanish
Armada." Other guests are Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (Doobie Brothers -guitar),
Larry Taylor (Canned Heat - bass) and Bruce Gary (the Knack - drums). The
late Mel Taylor even turns up on "Wipeout 2017" and "Axel F". It would be
nice if just once, their former lead man Nokie Edwards would rejoin for a CD.
The CD package has some nice photos and info about each song. If you like
guitar instrumentals, buy it.

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 2-9-99

Title: The Kaisers - Wishing Street

Label:  No Hit/Imperial (UK import - US distribution by Get Hip) CD-025

Comments:  Fans of early Merseybeat '60s rock simply must have this in their
collections. Where the last CD Squarehead Stomp sounded like the great lost
Faron's Flamingos LP, this one comes down as a lost Searchers album. A few of
the songs are a bit tougher than those guys ("Time To Go" notably), but
generally the sweet vocal harmonies and shiny guitars could easily have been
recorded by Pender and company back in 1963/64. Two of the tracks are
instrumentals from the Joe Meek school ("The Mighty Atom") or the Shadows zone
("Lonesome"). The best tracks are "I Will" (your intrepid reviewer is a
sucker for handclaps on record) and "Patricia Ann." There are 14 tracks here
and all are good. They even look like a bunch of oldies plus the CD is in
mono. Check it out kiddies.

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 2-9-99

Title: I Was Part Of The 50's by Paul Evans

Label: S-Star 1214

Comments:  Here's a gem of a compact disc that has just recently been released by Paul Evans.  Up until now, none of Paul's hits had been available in the United States and now they are all found on this one compact disc of his greatest hits.   His 4 top 100 chart hits are here (in mono) plus 13 others including his original demo of Bobby Vinton's hit "Roses Are Red" and the demo of "When" a hit for the Kalin Twins.  The very last track is an interesting 8 minute interview with Paul.  This is the way an oldies cd should be assembled - go for it!

Posted by: Pat Downey 2/5/99  e-mail patdowney@uswest.net

Title:  The Belmonts - The Laurie, Sabina & United Artists Sides Vol. 2

Label:  Ace (UK import) CDCHD 685

Comments:  You all know that Dion & the Belmonts were perhaps the quintessential
white doowop dudes and that when Dion decided to go it alone, he had huge
success with cool rockers like "Drip Drop" (my fave) and "The Wanderer." What
you may not recall is that the Belmonts didn't immediately disappear from the
musical scene and indeed charted six more records on their own from '61 to
'63. The biggest hits (including "Tell Me Why") were already released by Ace
UK on a nifty compilation called, amazingly enough, The Laurie, Sabina &
United Artists Sides Vol. 1 Ace CDCHD 580. Picking up the disc really whetted
the rock and roll Dentist's appetite for more which is really surprising as
I'm not a huge doowop fan. Frankly it's the rockers that always stirred my
blood till the Beatles came along. Well these guys did rock a bit and even
recorded some great vocal pop that didn't chart during the time when you had
to be British (or pretend to be - ask the Sir Douglas Quintet), so check out
volume one. After all the nifty songs (many in great stereo mixes) from vol.
1 you might worry that a vol. 2 would be scraping the bottom so to speak.
Aside from a couple of Dutch versions of their records (I'm not Dutch, so who
cares is my attitude), the music here is just a worthwhile as vol. 1. The
guys backed up friend Pete Barin at times and his uncanny Dion-like rockers
are included here ("Lookout For Cindy" kicks tail) as are lesser single sides
like "Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive" which is a nice ripoff ala "Zip-A-Dee-
Doo-Dah." Other good rockers are "C'mon Everybody [Do You Wanna Dance])" and
"That American Dance." The United Artists tracks from '64 to '65 are
especially good not unlike what the Vogues were doing on Co&Ce. Lotsa stereo
and some studio chatter are included. The liner notes are great and even give
further info on the first volume that you will find useful if you already own
it (just buy it otherwise).

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist    1-29-99

Title:  The Neanderthals - The Latest Menace To The Human Race

Label:  Get Hip GH-1063CD

Comments:  This is a label with a mission apparently. Every single release on
this label seems to fit nicely into the garage or pop-rock of the '60s. Not
only that, but most of them seem to be in mono. This is one of the better
releases on the label and if you find out that Eddie Angel of Los
Straitjackets wrote the songs and plays guitar here (if you don't have his
Guitar Party CD on Mai Tai you really need it by the way), I assume you'll
automatically buy this. Just in case you need convincing, check out some of
the song titles: "Jungle Zombies," "Werewolf From Outer Space" and "Girl And
A Hot Rod." One of the rockers (actually they all rock) is a direct takeoff
of Bobby Freeman titled "Betty Lou's Got A New Tattoo." Surf guitars, Music
Machine-like punk vocals and cheesy production values - what more do you want.
This was first released in the UK on No Hit vinyl only, but here it turns up
with two bonus cuts "Ballbuster Baby" and "Mascara, Miniskirts And Madness."

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist    1-29-99

Title:  Randy Newman - Guilty: 30 Years

Label:  Warner Archives/Reprise/Rhino R2 75567

Comments:  Ok, so it has been out for a bit, but the ole rock and roll Dentist
didn't have enough coin to spring for it till now so don't yell at me. Till
now I didn't own a single album of Newman's and I feel so bad about it that
I'm currently flailing myself in penance. This is an absolutely brilliant 4
CD boxset. It looks good, it sounds good, each CD is loaded to the gills with
tunes (105 in all Bubba) and the book is actually informative for a change.
The first 2 discs are chockfulla cuts from Newman's studio oevre (always
wanted to use it - not sure how to spell it - so what). His wit was/is
sardonic/sarcastic/cynical/
Caustic/biting/(go look up more words in your own thesaurus-I give up).
"Short People" is either making fun of the height challenged or calling for
world brotherhood and free-love for all (actually I haven't a clue what he was
thinking, but it was a hit kids). "I Love LA" is either making fun of the
beautiful folk in the land cars and drive-bys or it too is calling for world
brotherhood and (ok it wasn't funny the first time - you can stop reading any
time Mongo). Truthfully, his music started at a highnote and just got better.
"It's Money That I Love" really hits home and sounds good to boot. With this
much music you'd think that you'd start fast forwarding, but I got so lost in
each song that a whole day of my life disappeared into the land of Newman.
Probably the thing I like best about this package is that in reading about
Newman and his songs, I have decided that he would be a really cool person to
sit down and share a pepperoni pizza with (what you say, Randy, I'll treat?)
and talk life. Newman is really an oldman in his musical approach combining
the oldstyle musical craft of a Jerome Kern or a Sammy Kahn with a ragtime
feel of Eubie Blake and a goofy rock sense of Joe Walsh plus the danger of a
Jerry Lee Lewis. On the Cd of movie music ("Toy Story", "The Natural" etc.)
you can even throw in a lot of Aaron Copland. Cd 3 is a mixed bag and is a
bit disposable. You get his 1962 single (produced by Pat Boone boys and
girls!) "Golden Gridiron Boy" that shows his singing voice might actually be
getting worse (sorry Randy, but you do have an odd croak of an acquired taste
voice - it does fit the quirky nature of the songs, however). "Gone Dead
Train" from the awful movie Performance is a real stompin' rocker and redeems
the 3rd Cd (thanks for reminding me - had the LP as a kid than dumped it at
Trade-A-Tape for a Searchers LP probably). Mostly what this rambling
discourse is saying is that there is still hope that Warners might start to
become a decent reissue label if this is any indication (how's about an Alice
Cooper box guys?). Buy this Cd now!

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 1-26-99

Title:  The Lears - The Story So Far

Label:  The Story So Far Get Hip GH-1058CD

Comments: Short and sweet this time, these guys worship the Byrds and make
music that sounds a lot like Byrds outtakes sung by someone who doesn't sound
like Roger McGuinn. The vocals really are not up to the 12 string guitar
attack unless they sing in harmony. Still, it is a decent Cd that really
only need to be resequenced (memo to Get Hip: put the best tracks first, not
the worst). Skip to track 3 immediately and you get into the goodies right
away. The best track by far is the song "Coming Home Today" which has a feel
not unlike "Mr. Spaceman". It really is all about the songs with these kind
of Cds and out of 14 tracks, 7 are very good. What it is missing is that one
really standout track, but that's ok - it's worth the purchase (memo to The
Lears: guys, it's not a sign of weakness to record someone else's material -
even the Byrds had Bob Dylan).

Posted by: George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist    1-26-99

Title:  Eydie Gorme - The Best of…

Label:  Missing Records MISS 009

Comments:  30 tracks of Ms. Gorme's middle of the road pop turns up on this ok
CD. Since there is no easy way to get Gorme's greatest on CD, this'll have to
do. The problem is that the sound is mostly just ok and at times is pretty
obvious that a questionable record was used as a master. Most of the songs
are in mono which is too bad ("I Want You To Meet My Baby" was a great
bluebeat confection ala "My Boy Lollipop" and I would love to hear it in
stereo. Does anyone know if it ever was issued that way?). The other gripe
has to be that when you chart 15 songs (without hubbie Steve Lawrence) between
1956 and 1972, you figure to find them all on a 30 track CD. This is not the
case with 5 tracks m.i.a. The pictures on the cover are nice, but there is no
info included on the single sheet insert. So who knows, "Blame It On The
Bossa Nova", but this is a mixed bag. Buy it for now and hope for better
later.

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist    1-19-99

Title:  The Walker Brothers - The Collection

Label:  Karussell 550 200-2 (Australian)

Comments:  With Mike blowing these out fairly cheaply, I had to buy one and
report what you get for your buck. The news is definitely mixed. The good
news is that there are 18 tracks of generally pretty decent sounding overblown
'60s productions here. The songs are pretty good overall (though you don't
expect these guys to break in to "Iron Man" given the ballad nature of most of
the songs). The neat part is that the compiler has included 3 solo tracks
each by John Walker and the more readily recognized Scott Walker. John's
tracks are nice Brit-pop, but are mono (I live for stereo, I'm sorry).
Scott's tracks could just have easily have been group tunes and sound great
("Joanna" and "Jackie for example). The only other mono track here, by the
way, is "Love Her." The liner notes give a brief discussion of the guys'
career. OK, so the downside is that with the brothers charting 3 hits in the
U.S., 2 are missing (huh, why?): "Make It Easy On Yourself" and "My Ship Is
Comin' In." That leaves "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" as the sole hit
here for us Yanks. What to do? Well, if you have the other tracks on CD
already, buy this as it's a cheap way to get some pretty rare tracks. If you
don't, then start with a decent U.S. compilation (ask Pat or Mike to recommend
one).

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist    1-19-99

01/19/08