4/12/00 to 6/9/00

Title:The Isley Brothers - Shake It Up, Baby
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 066 103 2

Comments:For an act with such a long and successful career, it's interesting
to note that their climb to success was slow and fitful (taking place over
several labels). This disc gathers 16 tracks from the 1959 single "Shout
(parts 1&2)" on RCA Victor through the 1964 Wand release "I'm Laughing Just
To Keep From Crying." "Shout" charted once in '59 just outside of success at
#47 and again in '62 at only #94 which is hard to believe considering how
many spins it gets on oldies radio today. "Twist & Shout" did better at #17,
but is remembered more for the Beatles' cover. The only other chart record
here is "Twistin' With Linda" which was a rocker covered by many garage
bands. Indeed, covers of the Isley's from this era are more well known such
as the Human Beinz version of "Nobody But Me" (which in truth is a drastic
reworking of the original) and the Outsiders' "Respectable." Making it's US
CD debut is a cover of "Make It Easy On Yourself" which Jerry Butler hit
with. Stand out tracks are "Rubber Leg Twist" and the chestnut "Time After
Time." A few years later, the Isley's would score on Tamla and T-Neck to
greater success, but these early tracks are still essential American r&b.
The package is attractive and includes no new stereo.

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 4-12-00

Title:Chad & Jeremy - The Very Best Of Chad & Jeremy
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 066 098 2

Comments:During the British Invasion of '64, there were two main duet groups
from over the water: Peter & Gordon and Chad & Jeremy. The former through
Peter Asher's sister's ties to Paul McCartney managed to score some choice
hits on the charts. Not as lucky to have a sister dating a Beatle, Chad &
Jeremy still managed two chart placements that resonate on oldies radio
today: "A Summer Song" and "Yesterday's Gone." As a hotshot teenager in
love with demon rock and roll, the rock and roll Dentist would have never
admitted to enjoying the dreamy ballads (read 'songs for girls') these Brits
released, but in retrospect they sound pretty nice. Their heyday spanned two
labels: World Artists and Columbia. For some reason, the World Artists
stuff has been packaged and repackaged ad-nauseum while the Columbia stuff
came out on a decent Legacy release a few years back titled Painted Dayglow
Smile. It would be great too if someone would decide to finish up their LPs
on disc since only I Don't Want To Lose You Baby was released on a hard to
find CD on Scorpio/Sony Special Music (where is Before & After for
instance?). But I digress. This set mostly repackages the World Pacific
stuff for the umpteenth time, but at least has the smarts to cross-license
four of the Columbia tracks to make this the first CD to include songs from
both eras of Chad & Jeremy. Five Columbia singles charted and three of them
are included here (the title songs from both the previously mentioned LPs,
"Teenage Failure" and their nicest song "Distant Shores"). Missing are "I
Have Dreamed" and "You Are She" by the way. None of the 18 tracks are
exactly raw rock and roll, but if you had to have one representative set only
for Chad & Jeremy, this is currently the leader in the clubhouse. Having met
Chad & Jeremy on their comeback tour in the '80s, I can tell you that they
were great guys with Chad being especially friendly to an aging fan. For
that reason alone, I'm sure you need to buy this CD. Who knows if they'll
ever work together again (if you do, don't wear the striped sweater from the
back cover of the CD, ok Chad?).

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 4-12-00

Title:Deep Purple - Shades Of / The Book Of Taliesyn / Deep Purple
Label: Spitfire 6-70211 5062-2 / 5063-2 / 5064-2

Comments:Finally someone has done right by the first three Deep Purple
records. Avoid the old Passport releases like the plague as they sound like
they were mastered from a record played on an old Victrola. Much better were
the imports on Harvest/Parlophone, but they were pricey and don't carry the
nifty bonus tracks found here. Those bonus tracks are mainly BBC takes of
songs like "Hush," "Wring That Neck" and "Emmaretta." Each disc carries five
bonus songs to go with the original great LPs that arguably where Purple at
their best. Yeah, I liked the Ian Gillan era band a lot, but some of these
songs are of the best that Purple ever recorded with organist Jon Lord at the
fore as he never would be again as guitarist Blackmore would hog more and
more of the solo space. From the first LP, "And The Address" and "Hush"
combine for a hot one two punch. The second record featured "Wring That
Neck" and "Anthem" while "Chasing Shadows" and the orchestral "April" stand
out from the last LP here (all three originally were on Bill Cosby's
Tetragrammatron label). The improvement in the sound is most noticeable on
the first LP which clears away the haze from the old record using the masters
ostensibly for the first time. The packaging, however, leaves something to
be desired. The first record is fine with a nice booklet and a reproduction
of the US and UK covers. The second record, however, suffers from a very
strange duplication of some of the liner notes and a lack of other notes
which hopefully will be straightened out by the label. The third LP is a bit
of letdown also since the original cover was a foldout Bosch painting while
the booklet only duplicates one side of the folder - WHY! At any rate, fans
of "Smoke On The Water" may not be comfortable with this earlier band since
Rod Evans on vocals was more of a crooner than Ian Gillan (Nicki Simper was
on bass instead of Roger Glover, too), but really the best tracks were
instrumentals anyway. These are three excellent records from a group finding
their progressive legs from covers of the Beatles ("Help") to Donovan
("Lalena").

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 4-12-00

Title:Small Faces / Humble Pie - The BBC Sessions / Natural Born Boogie
Label: Fuel 2000 302 061 051 2 / 052 2

Comments:Steve Marriott possessed one of the best made-for-rock voices ever
as these two BBC releases attest (r.i.p. Steve). While the Small Faces are
remembered as his pop band and Humble Pie his heavy band, the line blurs when
these two CDs are played back-to-back with the Small Faces stuff a lot harder
edged than on record while the Humble Pie material avoids the endless
noodling that marked some of their songs. The Small Faces disc contains 15
music tracks and 5 short interview segments with a shy Marriott and drummer
Kenny Jones. While US fans mostly remember "Itchycoo Park," that song isn't
here. Indeed, the only 'cute' number is "Lazy Sunday" which actually manages
to sound tougher than on record. Standouts are "Hey Girl," "Shake" and "Sha
La La La Lee." While it would have been nice to hear a pure rocker like "Tin
Soldier," that also isn't here, but "All Or Nothing," "Jump Back" and "E Too
D" are. While the liner notes are sparse on the Small Faces set, the rare
photos are really spiffy. Conversely, the Humble Pie set has lousy packaging
from a photo standpoint, but more notes. The Pie CD includes the usual "4
Day Creep" and "Rolling Stone," but at least the latter is a more stripped
down version than on Rockin' The Fillmore. The only downer here really is
the awful sound on "I Don't Need No Doctor" which sounds desperately sick.
Of the 10 tracks, the best are "Black Coffee" and "Natural Born Boogie."
There is a nice version of Steppenwolf's "Desperation," but no later goodies
like "30 Days In The Hole." These two discs belong together, but if you
buy but one, buy the Small Faces CD.

posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 4-12-00

Title:The Warmth Of The Sun - Songs Inspired By The Beach Boys (various 
artists)abel:Varese Sarabande 302 066 117 2

Comments:20 years ago, Sony put out a CD called California USA which 
consisted of 20 previously released songs under the influence of the sunny 
harmonies of the Beach Boys. This new 19 song set doesn't so much replace 
the old CD as it compliments it. The only shared songs are Rick Henn's "Girl 
On The Beach" and The Euclid Beach Band's great slab of the obvious "There's 
No Surf In Cleveland." Both sets also feature a Hondells song ("You're Gonna 
Ride With Me" on this one) and a differing version of the bright and poppy 
"Yellow Balloon" (this set has the superior Yellow Balloon version). Next to 
obvious groups like First Class ("Beach Baby"), the Tradewinds ("New York's A 
Lonely Town" and Ronny & The Daytonas ("GTO") are the less obvious, but still 
great. Songs like "Rendezvous" by the Hudson Brothers and Eric Carmen's "She 
Did It" are good choices. The Astronauts 'why-wasn't-it-a-hit?' "Competition 
Coupe" is also here plus the Sagittarius single version of "My World Fell 
Down" (the LP version without the weird sound effects is better - buy the 
Present Tense CD). Certainly kudos for including Jeffrey Foskett (whose 
first CD Thru My Window on New Surf is a must have) and The Fraternal Order 
Of The All (this Andrew Gold project is also a must have CD). The label is 
styled after the Capitol swirl (wasn't that a bedtime maneuver on Seinfeld?) 
while the booklet has nice pictures and a short commentary on each song.
**CD alert**On July 25, Varese is releasing one of the great summer records 
of the '70s Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids - Sons Of The Beaches. 
Keep your eyes open.
Also, dial up www.gogaga.com and click on the oldies channel. Pat Downey is 
in charge of the music with your's truly doing a 2 hour Hidden Treasures show 
on Saturdays 2-4 mountain time.

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 6-9-00

Title:Barry Scott Presents The Lost 45's Of The '70s & '80s-Vol.2 (various 
artists)
Label:Varese Vintage 302 066 1122

Comments:Anything released under the Barry Scott or Dick Bartley label is a 
keeper. This second set of later day single rarities doesn't disappoint 
with nine tracks making their CD debut out of the 18 here. Many others 
aren't easily obtained without buying pricey imports. You can put you 
singles of Larry Santos' "We Can't Hide It Anymore" and Silver's "Wham Bam 
Shang-A-Lang" in the basement now. Also new to legit CD are "Sausalito 
Summernight" by Diesel, "Una Paloma Blanca" by George Baker Selection and "I 
Couldn't Say No" by Carlene Carter and Robert Ellis Orrall. This reviewer 
has been patiently waiting for Night's "Hot Summer Nights" to hit CD. The 
good news is that band's "If You Remember Me" debuts here, but not my hoped 
for song. So, buy this CD and hopefully they will do another volume with 
that song plus perhaps Jay Ferguson's "Shakedown Cruise" or Tim Moore's "In 
The Middle" or the Tarney Spencer Band's "No Time To Lose" or (you fill in 
the blank). 

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 6-9-00

Title:Claudine Longet - The Very Best Of
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 066 118 2

Comments:On a continuum of female singers with Janis Joplin being at one end 
as far as vocal power, Claudine Longet would be at the other extreme. With a 
breathy wisp of a voice wedded to a French accent, it was up to the producer 
to make the songs appealing. Luckily Tommy Lipuma and Nick DeCaro were up to 
the task thus placing her firmly in the guilty pleasure category. The 
arrangements are bubbly and sweet (brush your teeth after listening). Her 
version of the Sopwith Camel song "Hello Hello" is cute while "Here There and 
Everywhere" and "Every Night" from the Paul McCartney pen fit her 
surprisingly well. Four of the 16 songs here are from her previously 
unreleased LP Sugar Me. The title track is a cover of her vocal soundalike 
Lynsey dePaul's UK hit (dePaul's "Ooh I Do" also would have made a good 
cover). This is the first time A&M and Barnaby label Longet has appeared 
together on disc. Fine, but you would really expect a set labeled as a 'best 
of' to include all four of her charting records. The only one here is "Hello 
Hello." Perhaps there was a licensing problem or whatever, but where is 
"Love Is Blue" for crying out loud? It was her biggest single. Why the 
previously mentioned McCartney songs, but not the single "Good Day Sunshine?" 
Where's "Meditation?" The notes are ok without ever mentioning her gun 
trial r.e. Spider Savich (sp?). Being Mrs. Andy Williams didn't hurt her 
chances of getting a recording contract and neither did her looks (just take 
a look at the ooh-la-la photo of Claudine in a frilly nothing while on a 
white horse - my stars, I can't breathe.).

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 6-9-00

Title:Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point 4th Grade Class
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 066 121 2

Comments:You have to give points to any record label that would release an 
obscurity like this. Back in 1970, I admit to never having heard or seen 
this record (perhaps it was because I was more of a Hendrix kind of guy 
then). Apparently Miss Abrams was writing songs for her students to sing in 
class and managed to catch the ear of producer Erik Jacobsen who found the 
sound charming and innocent. The song "Mill Valley" sung by a bunch of tykes 
to a spare piano combo actually managed to chart (albeit not above the 90s). 
It's cute and so are several other songs like the single "Wonder" and 
"Floating Away." There are 13 similar songs here including the singles "The 
Happiest Day Of My Life" and "America, Let's Get Started Again." Wonder if 
anyone would refuse to support Jello in a commercial today because of the 
sugar? Well, the rock and roll Dentist approves of anyone who looks out for 
America's teeth.

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 6-9-00

01/20/09