4/2/99 to 5/21/99

Title:  The Cars - The Cars Deluxe Edition

Label:  Elektra Traditions/Rhino R2 75700

Comments:  21 years ago the Cars released this New Wave classic LP which still
sounds good today. This is a two CD deluxe version that presents one disc of
the original LP in the best sound so far. The second disc is a 50+ minute
bonus featuring all the songs from that LP in demo form (except "Good Times
Roll" which is presented live owing to the loss of the demo) and five
unreleased bonus tracks. OK, listening to the demos it becomes clear that
the Cars had the goods worked out before Roy Thomas Baker pumped up and
smoothed over the sound, but it is doubtful that you will ever want to listen
to those demos more than once. That leaves the five bonus tracks to carry to
extra cost. They were unreleased for a very good reason originally - they
are not as good as what was released. Still the last two ("You Just Can't
Push Me" and "Hotel Queenie") are pretty fair if more conventional rockers
and probably make the disc worth owning by themselves. The other three
bonuses are "They Won't see You," "Take What You Want" and "Wake Me Up." The
package is very attractive housed in a cool fold-out and fold-up design and
the booklet has some nifty band pics and stories. Casual fans don't need
this reissue, but it serves the memory of the band well. One final note,
these guys must really hate each other not to have succumbed to reunion fever.

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 5-21-99

Title:  Soundtrack "The Big Chill" 15th anniversary remaster

Label:  Motown 314530953

Comments: I have been asked to comment on whether the new 15th anniversary edition remaster of the soundtrack to "The Big Chill" is worth picking up to replace the original compilation issued back in the 80's.  There is no easy answer here and I will simply present the evidence and you must weigh the merits of each cd and make your own judgement.  First let's consider the total running time of the original (43:38) vs the remaster (31:28).  The extreme difference in time is due to the fact that the remaster has only 10 tracks while the original has 14.  The first 10 tracks are identical but the tracks dropped on the remaster are "It's The Same Old Song" by the Four Tops, "Dancing In The Street" by Martha & The Vandellas, "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye and "Too Many Fish In The Sea" by the Marvelettes.  Note that Motown didn't simply lose the licensing to these four songs because rights to the songs involved are owned by  the Motown label.   On the positive side, there are some noticeable audio improvements on the remastered edition particularly on the songs "My Girl" and "Tell Him".    "My Girl" was mono on the original release and stereo on the remastered release and as I have pointed out in my book, some of the background vocals lose their punch on the stereo versions due to phase cancellation.  A "Whiter Shade Of Pale" was (E) on the original issue and (M) on the remaster and sounds slightly better on the remastered edition.  Other audio improvements are marginal but overall the sound is improved on the remastered edition.  There are the facts, you make the decision as to whether you need this new cd in your library.

Posted by:  Pat Downey 5/8/99  e-mail patdowney@uswest.net

Title:  Guess Who's Greatest Hits

Label: RCA 67774

Comments:  RCA finally did a great job of releasing the Guess Who's hits on a single cd.  18 tracks and a total time of 69:20 make this a nice package indeed.  The only hit missing is "Shakin' All Over" which RCA does not own the rights to.  Included are "These Eyes", "Laughing", "Undun", "No Time", "American Woman" (LP version), "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" (LP version), "Hand Me Down World", "Share The Land", "Hang On To Your Life" (LP version), "Albert Flasher", "Rain Dance", "Sour Suite", "Heartbroken Bopper", "Guns, Guns, Guns", "Follow Your Daughter Home", "Star Baby", "Clap For The Wolfman" and "Dancin' Fool"

Posted by: Pat Downey  5/8/99  e-mail patdowney@uswest.net

Title:  Alice Cooper - The Life And Crimes Of Alice Cooper

Label:  Warner Archives/Rhino R2 75680

Comments:  Thank you Rhino for finally prying open the seemingly closed
Warner/Reprise vault. Previously these guys were only one step better than
Cameo/Parkway at reissues (who don't reissue anything apparently waiting till
the next format shift to try and make cash off their catalog). This 4 CD
boxset holds the real goods at 81 tracks of mayhem from all phases of Alice
Cooper's career.
Right off the bat you get 3 rarities from Alice Cooper's first
incarnation as the Spiders and 1 as the Nazz all of which show the band's
development from Yardbirds copyists to the dark weirdoes they became (witness
the next track, an early Cooper demo titled "Nobody Likes Me" appropriately).
The first Cooper group LP Pretties For You is represented by "Levity Ball"
(here in an unreleased studio version) and "Reflected" which sounds a lot
like his/their later hit "Elected." The second LP Easy Action also has 2
tracks represented here in "Mr. And Misdemeanor" and "Refrigerator Heaven" (I
would have liked "Return Of The Spiders" - oh well).
The LP that finally broke the band Alice Cooper to the big time was Love
It To Death and 4 tracks from that LP appear here including the song that
began it all "I'm Eighteen" (yours truly was indeed 18 and certainly didn't
know what he wanted other that the LP with that song on it back in 1971 - I
still think this is their best LP). The Killer LP is well represented with 5
cuts though this reviewer would have preferred "You Drive Me Nervous" to
"Desperado." The only LP poorly represented of the classic group period is
School's Out which donates only the title track (in a single mix) and "Gutter
Cat Vs. The Jets."
Billion Dollar Babies and Muscle Of Love were the last Alice Cooper
group LPs and are condensed here to 10 tracks plus a bonus demo "Respect For
The Sleepers." This reviewer prefers this group era music to the rest of the
CD which is solo Alice, but there still are some great songs here from later
years including the new wavy "Clones (We're All)," the heavy "Hey Stoopid"
and the surprisingly nice ballads "You And Me," "I Never Cry" and "Only Women
Bleed." Totally distasteful, however, are the lyrics to "Cold Ethyl" an ode
to necrophilia. In light of gangsta rap and Alice wannabe Marilyn Manson it
sounds reasonably tame, but seems totally indefensible nonetheless. Perhaps
the biggest surprise are how good the tracks from Cooper's last 2 studio LPs
are (especially "It's Me" and "Is Anyone Home" his jokey attack on computer
geeks). The only charting single of Cooper's career not included here is
"House Of Fire," but the other 20 are all here (so why skip one?). His work
on motion picture soundtracks also turns up with selections from movies like
Class Of '84 and Friday The 13th, Part VI Jason Lives.
The box is attractive and the book includes a history and short thoughts
about each song by the principals involved (plus the LP cover fronts are all
reproduced - a plus).

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 5-4-99

Title:  The King - Gravelands

Label:  Ark 21 10037

Comments:  Wherein a British Elvis imitator slides through an odd, but engaging
assortment of covertunes.
Have you ever wanted to here Nirvana's "Come As You Are" or Otis Redding's
"Dock Of The Bay" done Presley-style? If you haven't, don't pick up this CD,
but if that sounds cool than this is your cup of tea. The reggae hit "No
Woman, No Cry" actually makes a good ballad (with a quote not unlike "Can't
Help Falling In Love" included) and ACDC's "Whole Lot Of Rosie" rocks
bigtime. The Sweet cover "Blockbuster" is lame as is "New York New York,"
but Skynard's "Sweet Home Alabama" works ala Elvis. Your's truly really
likes his version of Eddie Cochran's "Something Else" which positively smokes
(after a false intro when the King halt things to tell the boys that it just
doesn't move him - yowzah).

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 5-4-99

Title:  Tal Bachman - Tal Bachman

Label:  Columbia CK 67956

Comments:  We don't normally review new music CDs, but this one is interesting
enough that it deserves a mention. Randy Bachman of the Guess Who and BTO
fame's son Talmadge doesn't follow in dad's heavier footsteps, but instead
comes on like Michael Penn (his LPs are classic thinkingman's Beatle-pop),
James Iha ("Be Strong Now" with balls, if you remember that cut from last
year) and even some "Big Boy" era Sparks (check out "Looks Like Rain" for
proof). There's some Cheap Trickishness going on at times and some nice pop
hooks. His voice is better than his dad's, but not up to Burton Cummings
(who is the voice). The 12 tracks are all good (though a BTO cover would
have been cool)

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 5-4-99

Title:  Gene Pitney - 25 All-Time Greatest Hits

Label:  Varese Sarabande VSD-6002

Comments:  Along with Chad & Jeremy's early hits, Gene Pitney may be
anthologized on the most labels of any '60s artist. Is there a reason to buy
this package over any other? Well, it depends on your depth of interest. In
the rock and roll Dentist's collection, this will replace the 1986 Rhino set
which was good for it's time at 16 tracks, but pales in sound and length to
this 25 track Varese release (size does matter when an artist with as many
records as Pitney is collected). On import there are other longer, but more
expensive compilations for the Pitney-phile. Heck, Sequel have repackaged
Pitney's UK LPs as nifty 2-fers if you really have a (Pit)need to go all the
way. The booklet is functional, but could be more complete.
How to describe Pitney? While a native of Connecticut, Pitney looked
and sounded southern in an Everly-esque way. He enunciated and emoted in an
Orbison-esque way. He moved from genre to genre in a Darin-esque way (pop to
country to even Italian pathos). His best songs sounded wistful and full of
a longing well beyond a teenagers ken (check out "The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance"). In an era of the manufactured pop star, Pitney was writing hits
like "He's A Rebel" for the Crystals while playing every instrument and
singing every note on his first hit "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away" (and you
thought McCartney did it first). From swank hipster on "Town Without Pity"
to pinched rocker on "She's A Heartbreaker", Pitney was versatile.
From '61 to '69 Whitburn tells us that Gene charted 24 top 100 hits, so
you gotta figure a 25 track 'best-of' collects them all-right? Wrong. The
missing are "Yesterday's Hero," "I've Got Five Dollars And It's
Saturday Night," "Billy You're My Friend" and "She Let's Her Hair Down (Early
In The Morning)." That would be inexcusable except that the replacements are
pretty nifty rarities such as the UK hits "Yours Until Tomorrow" and "Nobody
Needs Your Love." Frankly the only duff cut is Pitney's version of his own
"Hello Mary Lou" which simply pales next to Ricky Nelson's hit version.
Another of the substituted cuts is the UK hit "Something's Gotten Hold Of My
Heart" (which became a hit for Pitney overseas again in 1989 with a new duet
version featuring Marc Almond of Soft Cell fame). This and the missing
charters beg for a second volume (which probably wouldn't sell, but is fun to
think about). This reviewer's favorite Pitney 45 was "Playing Games Of Love"
(which can be found on the Sequel 10 Years Later/New Sounds Of CD NEM CD 898)
and could well be added to a Pitney Vol. 2. Heck, Pitney released over 45
singles while some of his LP cuts are worthy contenders (such as "Country
Dancing" from The Gene Pitney Story). For now, this is a great set to bring
some Pitney to your life. To paraphrase Gene, "oh it isn' very pretty, a
house without Pitney".

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 4-25-99

Title:  Discoveries Presents: Stereo Oldies! and Stereo Instrumental Oldies!

Label:  Varese Sarabande VSD 6008 and VSD 6009

Comments:  While these sorts of compilations have to be tough sells for labels,
various artists releases offer some of the best values for the collecting
dollar going. For example, who really wants to buy a Skip and Flip or a Reg
Owen compilation? All you want is "It Was I" and "Manhattan Spiritual" more
than likely and that's what you get on these two discs done in conjunction
with the collectors magazine Discoveries (who will be hopefully soon printing
an article on the Astronauts written by yours truly). Each disc contains 14
tracks with the oldies set generally centered on '59 to '62 pop rock and
light r&b. The instrumental set is basically mor (the kind of record you
could have played for your mom in 1960) with a few rockers thrown in. The
cuts are generally not overly anthologized (except for Lawrence Welk's
"Calcutta" which should have been thrown out in favor of his far superior
"Scarlett O'Hara" - come to think of it, Varese could do a nice Rock And Roll
With Welk CD and include stuff like "Breakwater" and "Addams Family" - just
a thought).
Perhaps the main reason to buy these, however, are the first time
stereo tracks. Wherever you may come down on the mono/stereo fight, yours
truly would always rather hear any song in true stereo than mono (heck, to
show you how sick I was as a kid I even liked some of the duophonic on
Capitol). On the vocals set you get: The Vogues "Five O'Clock World" in a
mix with vocals and instruments split (not the fake Reprise stereo version
with strings), Joe Henderson's Brook Benton sound-alike "Snap Your Fingers,"
"Nag" by the Halos, Johnny Thunders' "Loop De Loop," "You Can Never Stop Me
Loving You" - Johnny Tillotson, Della Reese's "Not One Minute More" and
"You'll Lose A Good Thing" by Barbara Lynn in first time CD stereo. The
first timers on the instrumental set are less generous: Johnny & the
Hurricanes' "Reveille Rock," "Manhattan Spiritual" by Reg Owen and a weird
phased sounding "Rebel-Rouser" by Duane Eddy (not unlike what was done on
other CD's with Charlie Rich's "Lonely Weekends" and "La Bamba" by Ritchie
Valens). Some of the other tracks on the instrumental set are hard to find
elsewhere including Steve Allen's "Gravy Waltz" and The Islanders "The
Enchanted Sea." Ok, I admit that I already have the Annette boxset, but this
is a better way to get "Pineapple Princess" (unless you wanna see her in the
strange swinsuit with the mesh over the cleavage). "Patricia" and "Tracy's
Theme" by Perez Prado and Spencer Ross respectively weren't exactly rock, but
they were good songs and sound great in stereo on CD.
FOOTNOTE: On the Varese release sheet is a compilation that you may want to
keep your eyes open for at the end of June. Penciled in is a first time
collection of the best singles on the White Whale label which hopefully will
finally get great songs like Professor Morrison's Lollipop-"You Got The Love"
and "Wild About My Lovin'" by the Everpresent Fullness on CD.

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 4-25-99

Title: Discoveries Presents Stereo Oldies

Label: Varese Sarabande 6008

Comments:  14 tracks here of stereo oldies as the title indicates, 4 of which appear in stereo for the first time in the US in stereo (not 7 as the track lineup indicates).  Buyer beware that two tracks advertised in prepublicity flyers that were supposed to be included are not included and those tracks are: Arthur Alexander "Anna" and Bob Beckham "Just As Much As Ever".  The most stunning stereo effect I think is noticeable on "Five O'Clock World" by the Vogues.   Here is the complete track lineup--Vogues "Five O'Clock World", Jimmy Clanton "Go Jimmy Go", Skip & Flip "It Was I", Joe Henderson "Snap Your Fingers", Castells "So This Is Love", Halos "Nag", Marcie Blane "Bobby's Girl", Johnny Thunder "Loop De Loop", Chris Montez "Let's Dance" (with countoff), Della Reese "Not One Minute More", Barbara Lynn "You'll Lose A Good Thing", Johnny Tillotson "You Can Never Stop Me Loving You", Annette "Pineapple Princess" and Jan & Dean "Heart And Soul".  Nice liner notes are included by Cub Coda.

Posted by: Pat Downey 4/22/99  e-mail patdowney@uswest.net

Title: Discoveries Presents Stereo Instrumental Oldies

Label:  Varese Sarabande 6009

Comments:  I've been waiting for the release of this cd for quite a while as I love these old instrumental hits.  As the title indicates, all tracks are stereo and three of these 14 tracks appear here in stereo in the US anyway for the first time.   Here is the track lineup--  Duane Eddy "Rebel Rouser", Reg Owen "Manhattan Spiritual" (this is the 45 version but not the 45 mix and this is the first time appearance in the US of this song), Kenny Ball "Midnight In Moscow", Steve Allen "Gravy Waltz", Mongo Santamaria "Watermelon Man" (Battle Records version), Arthur Lyman "Yellow Bird" (lots of hiss audible on the ending), String-A-Longs "Wheels", Perez Prado "Patricia", Spencer Ross "Tracy's Theme", Bent Fabric "Alley Cat", Islanders "Enchanted Sea", Johnny & The Hurricanes "Reveille Rock", Vince Guaraldi "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" and Lawrence Welk "Calcutta".  Some informative liner notes by Cub Coda are included.

Posted by: Pat Downey 4/22/99  e-mail patdowney@uswest.net

Title: The Golden Age Of Underground Radio Vol. 2 featuring B. Mitchel Reed

Label:  DCC Compact Classics 130

Comments:  This cd has been out for a while but just recently came to my attention.  As many of you regular readers know, I generally do not approve of cd's like this where the dj talks over the music but I must recommend this cd because you not only get great music of an era as well as airchecks of a legendary dj but the dj doesn't talk over the music!   For those of you not familiar with the name B. Mitchel Reed, he was a Los Angeles dj on KMET from 1968-1971 and also one of the WMCA good guys in New York City earlier in the 60's.  All songs on this cd are original recordings in stereo: Spirit "I Got A Line On You", Donovan "Barabajagal", Ike & Tina Turner "Honky Tonk Women", Canned Heat "Rollin' And Tumblin'", Electric Flag "Killing Floor", Dave Mason "Only You Know And I Know", Nilsson "You Can't Do That", Byrds "Eight Miles High", Love "Alone Again Or", Steppenwolf  "The Pusher", Spirit "Nature's Way", Jefferson Airplane "Wooden Ships", Brewer & Shipley "Witchi-Tai-To" and Mark-Almond "The City".  Quite a pleasant mix of underground radio dj personality and music.

Posted by: Pat Downey  4/18/99  e-mail patdowney@uswest.net

Title:  Dusty Springfield - The Look Of Love, You Don't Have To Say You Love Me, Ooooooweeee!, Stay Awhile and Dusty

Label: Mercury (domestic releases)

Comments:  Lots of inquiries about the 5 new Dusty Springfield cd's on Mercury so I'll try and tackle all 5 at once.  In general, the only surprise stereo amongst Dusty's top 40 hits  is the bonus track "I'll Try Anything" which appears on "The Look Of Love" in stereo.  Other "manufactured" stereo tracks that appeared previously on Taragon are all mono in this new release series from Mercury.  Here is a rundown on all of the top 40 hits to appear on these 5 new cd's: "The Look Of Love" and "I'll Try Anything" appear in stereo on the "Look Of Love" cd.  From the "Dusty" cd, "All Cried Out" is mono.  From the "Stay Awhile/I Only Want To Be With You" cd, "I Only Want To Be With You" is mono, "Stay Awhile" is mono and "Wishin' And Hopin'" is stereo.  From the "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" cd, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" is stereo.  And from the "Ooooooweee" cd there were no top 40 hits.  Each of these cd's has 3 to 4 bonus tracks which helps make up for the meager running times of the orginal vinyl albums .

Posted by: Pat Downey 4/13/99  e-mail patdowney@uswest.net

Title:  The Pastel Six - Cinnamon Cinder

Label:  Garland GRZ-025

Comments:  Pre-Beatles era garage band makes good should be the title. Between
1961 and 1963 the Pastel Six released 11 of these 20 songs on 45s. Coupled
with nine other previously unreleased tracks we have the first CD to compile
the music of this houseband of the Cinnamon Cinder club in North Hollywood.
All but the title track are in stereo to boot. Generally the songs are sax
driven instrumentals that sound not unlike the Piltdown men. The title song
and "Rendezvous Rods" feature a cameo by the voice of Huckleberry Houndog
(and others) Daws Butler. Perhaps the best tracks are the hopped up version
of Brahm's Lullaby ("Brahm's Nightmare") and the previously unreleased ode to
clothing removal "Take It Off" (not to me confused with the like-minded
stomper by the Genteels to be found on Rhino's various artists disc with the
same title). These guys were better off with instrumentals as the previously
unissued vocal sides show, but it's nice to have them anyway. While there is
no skimping on the music (thanks to Steve Hoffman), the packaging befits a
budget set with no photos or liner notes.

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 4-4-99

Title:  Before They Where The Mamas & The Papas - The Magic Circle

Label:  Varese Sarabande VSD 5996

Comments:  This is the kind of concept CD that the rock and roll Dentist simply
eats up; a collection of rare tracks showing the formative years of the
members who would make up the Mamas & the Papas. The effect is not unlike
that Seinfeld episode where the ending comes first than works backward to see
how the concept started. First, please understand that fans purchasing this
16 track CD expecting more gems like "California Dreamin'" will be
disappointed (though that song is included as the last track to show where
the other tracks would lead). Generally John, Denny, Michelle and Cass were
working in the folk idiom and so you will get wonderful versions of songs
like "Oh Mary Don't You Weep" and "Rider." As detailed in the liner notes,
the other players with those four future Ms & Ps weren't exactly throwaways.
In the Smoothies you get Scott McKenzie, in the Big 3 Tim Rose, in the
Mugwumps Zal from the Spoonful and in the New Journeymen the Mamas & Papas
are in place except Marshall Brickman take Cass' place.
The other Mamas & Papas track is the single mix of "Creeque Alley" in
which John does an exceptional job of telling his band's family tree in a
3:45 minute single. The glaring omission is John's band the Journeymen who
while already represented with a CD on Capitol would have been nice to
shoehorn into this collection with a song or two. The most commercial
sounding songs here are by the two by the Mugwumps ("Searchin'" would follow
Zal into the repertoire of the Lovin' Spoonful). Five of the songs are
previously unreleased including versions of "Oh Susanna" and "Tom Dooley"
where Cass and friends attempt to graft a rock sense onto classic folk (not
unlike what the Byrds did).
This is a pretty nifty CD and hopefully will spawn others of a similar
bent (how's about CDs showing the genesis of bands like the Eagles, Bread and
Poco just to name three).

Posted by:  George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 4-2-99

Title:  Johnny Tillotson - It Keeps Right On A Hurtin' - The MGM Years-The Very
Best Of…

Label:  Varese Sarabande VSD 5997

Comments:  Teen idol Tillotson charted 17 tracks on Cadence between 1958 and
1963 before switching labels to MGM (where would we be without Joel
Whitburn's or Pat Downey's Top Singles books when it comes to this kind of
trivia?). Nine more waxings hit the hot 100 pop charts on the MGM label
before the end of 1965. It is those country-lite sides that this 17 song set
focuses on. Strangely four of his MGM charters didn't make this set, but
three note perfect remakes of Cadence era songs did (including the title
track). Missing are "Our World," "Angel," "She Understands Me" and "Worried
Guy." Perhaps a better title would be "Talk Back Trembling Lips" as that #7
hit epitomizes the rest of the set - pleasant orchestrated countrified pop.
Tillotson's versions of Bobby Darin's "Things" or Jack/George Jones' "The
Race Is On" are not definitive, but they are pleasant and sound evocative of
a period. That is perhaps the strength of the set, the wide-stereo
heavily-produced sound is most appealing. In addition to hits like "I Rise,
I Fall" and "Then I'll Count Again" there is a previously unreleased version
of "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain." There are some nice 45 picture sleeve
reproductions in the booklet plus a brief overview of Tillotson's career. Do
not buy this if you want a definitive Tillotson collection, but do buy it if
you want his mid-60s countryish sides.

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 4-2-99

01/19/08