2/27/00 to5/20/00

Title:Andy Williams - Lonely Street
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 066 119 2

Comments:Ok, I admit it, I really love "Can't Get Used To Losing You" by Andy
Williams which of course leads to "Charade" and "Almost There." Heck, the
dude realld could sing in his prime and the songs were great. This is a
reissue of a 1960 Cadence LP from just before Williams was always found on
your parents' Motorola (piled with Mitch Miller no doubt). These songs find
Williams in a more subdued mood using he voice to envelop the listener in a
wash of melancholy over a more restrained 'lounge' setting instrumentally.
"You Don't Know What Love Is" leads off and would fit well next to a Julie
London record in the tasteful use of a cocktail groove. Indeed, this is
pretty swank stuff through standards like "Willow Weep For Me" and "Unchained
Melody." To the original LP is added a stereo single version of the title
track (more overdubs than the LP version), "Dreamsville" (from Mancini's
music for Peter Gunn), "It's All In The Game" and the single sides "Twilight
Time" and "Don't Go To Strangers." Rather than the overblown Columbia
arrangements, it's fun to hear Williams in a cooler setting. The booklet is
a short telling of his early career while the CD reproduces the Cadence label.

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

Title:Devo - Pioneers Who Got Scalped - The Anthology
Label:Warner Archives/Rhino R2 75967 (2 CD)

Comments:Certainly the definitive Devo in a 50 song set with a spiffy '3-D'
cover that lassos and hauls in the materialistic kid in most of us. Rhino
has been doing an admirable job of finally addressing the Warner/Reprise
catalog (I'm still waiting for a Fanny CD, however). Really there is more
Devo here than you'll ever need. These discs show the growth of a band from
the very sparse machine-like "Jocko Homo" through the more assured and full
synth men on covers of "Are You Experienced" and "Working In A Coal Mine."
Your's truly really dug (and still digs) "Freedom Of Choice" which comes on
like some moronic Brontosaurus stomp. "Beautiful World," "Whip It" and
"Peek-A-Boo" are all here, but it's the non-LP and previously unreleased
tracks that make this a better purchase than the old Greatest Hits CD. I
hadn't remembered how good later day Devo was with songs like "Baby Doll" and
"Stuck In A Hole." The two songs from the movie Meet Wally Sparks are also
surprisingly great "Thanks To You" and "Communication Break-Up." Mark
Mothersbaugh and company even chip in a new 'Booji Boy' vocal version of "The
Words Get Stuck In My Throat" showing that the band may still be up for
pulling out the old flower pot hats and the yellow raincoats for one more
spud invasion of the hinterlands. Mothersbaugh is now hot stuff in TV and
movie scores for a reason. He can construct catchy songs . The book is
lavish indeed.

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 5-20-00

Title:Tommy James - Tighter, Tighter
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 066 105 2

Comments:This is a collection of the Shondelless James when from '75 to '77
he was signed to the Fantasy label and couldn't forge a hit in the dreary
days of disco. That he was still capable of making great sounding records is
evident by the 16 tracks included here, but America's tastes were not in line
with the pop music he was best at. It's interesting that while your's truly
was lapping up the British glitter (Slade, Alvin Stardust, Mud and especially
Gary Glitter) which was at least a rock alternative to vapid disco, producer
Kenny Laguna also saw it's merits recording James on glitter-beat staples "I
Love You Love Me Love" and "(Do You Wanna) Touch Me." The versions of these
songs are great, but the U.S. wasn't interested. As a side note, Laguna
tried the same tack with Joan Jett in the '80s and managed to finally score a
hit.
The version of "Tighter, Tighter" here is decent, but not up to the
Alive and Kickin' version in hit potential. Better tracks are the MCA single
"Glory Glory," a spiffy rockin' version of the Elvis hit "Treat Me Nice" and
a previously unreleased track "Candy" which is the best thing on the CD. The
fact that this song went unreleased at the time shows how far America's
tastes had fallen since this pop confection would have been a hit for the
Shondells in the bubblegum years, but sounded out of place against the
Eagles. At least you can dig it now. There is also a long tribute track by
producer Jeff Barry to pop star Bobby Bloom who died too young "Bobby, Don't
Leave Me Alone." This set probably will be a tough sell since there aren't
any hits attached to it and that's a pity since musically it's as strong as
any of the other stuff he put out. Really, the only misstep is the prominent
chest hair on the back cover pic ( looks too much like Gino Vannelli-yipes).

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 5-8-00

Title:B.J.Thomas - Greatest Hits Volume 1
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 066 104 2

Comments:Don't come around here if you're looking for "Raindrops Keep Fallin'
On My Head" since this is a reissue (with three bonus tracks) of the
collection released just short of that hit. What you get is "Hooked On A
Feeling," "Billy And Sue," "Eyes Of A New York Woman," etc. You remember
this LP of course since it was gold and had a fuzzed out picture of B.J.'s
head and neck. In addition to the original 12 songs you get "Tomorrow Never
Comes," "It's Only Love" and "Pass the Apple Eve." The hits stand along side
covers of "Love Me Tender," "Crying In The Chapel" and other non-hits. It's
interesting in hindsight to listen to the Chips Moman productions and hear
how these songs had the same background as the Box Tops hits, but with a
smoother voice. Comparing this to the old Rhino hits set, it's interesting
to note that someone has changed their story. In the Rhino notes, songwriter
Mark Charron takes credit for getting Thomas to record "I'm So Lonesome I
Could Cry" while in the new notes Thomas credits his dad. This is good music
however you get it. As an aside, the rock and roll Dentist is still waiting
for someone to put the best non-hit Thomas song ever on CD "Never Tell."

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 5-8-00

Title:Procol Harum - BBC Live In Concert
Label:Fuel 2000 302 061 055 2

Comments:The rock and roll Dentist is a huge Procol Harum fan having seen
them in concert a bunch of times over the years. While they made great
records, in concert they were more powerful than most people gave them credit
for. Heck one of their biggest hits was a live version of "Conquistador" and
that's the track that leads off this 11 track CD of radio sessions. Of
course these are not polished versions - check out the LP's for those, but
for some raw Mick Grabham guitar and a B.J. Wilson stick magic - this is the
place. Fans looking for early stuff like "A White Shade Of Pale" and "Shine
On Brightly" will need to look elsewhere since this set draws heavily from
the Chrysalis era records meaning great versions of "Butterfly Boys" (a slap
at Chrysalis according to the notes) and "Nothing But The Truth." Why these
guys and the Moody Blues aren't ever considered for the Rock & Roll Hall Of
Fame is a crime since between them they started a genre - prog rock, but no
matter - buy the music.

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

Neil  Sedaka
Label: RCA 67402

Comments: This is a terrific 2 cd compilation of Neil's hits. Disc 1 has every top 100 RCA single (20) while side 2 has
some more obscure LP tracks and flip sides along with some newly recorded medleys. Very nice liner notes included to
make this a must have for Neil Sedaka fans. The only drawback to this set is that it includes only the RCA material and none
of the Rocket material.

Posted by: Pat Downey 3/9/00 email patdowney@uswest.net

Title: Nipper's Greatest Hits - The 60's Volume 1

Label: RCA 67871

Comments: I have been bombarded with requests to review the newly remastered Nipper's Greatest Hits - The 60's cd's so
here are my thoughts on Volume 1. As you may or may not know, this cd was originally issued in 1988 and I thought at the
time the cd was excellent. The new remastered edition has exactly the same track lineup as the original with one exception
and that is the track "Chain Gang" by Sam Cooke has been replaced with "Love Letters" by Ketty Lester (in mono by the
way). All other tracks are stereo as before. Do I hear any significant improvement in the sound of the cd now that it has
been remastered? I can hear some difference but that difference is marginal, so my recommendation would be don't
purchase this cd expecting to upgrade your collection if you have the original issue but if you don't have the original issue, this
is a great cd to add to your collection. Some tracks included are-- "Tell Laura I Love Her", It's Now Or Never", "Love
Letters", "Last Date", "I Just Don't Understand", "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", "Love Me Warm And Tender", "Breaking Up Is
Hard To Do", " The End Of The World", " I Will Follow Him". 20 tracks in all

Posted by: Pat Downey 3/1/00 email patdowney@uswest.net

Title: Nippers Greatest Hits - The 60's Volume 2

Label: RCA 67872

Comments: Volume 2 of the Nipper's Greatest Hits Of The 60's cd at least has some significant differences between the
remastered versioin and the original issue from 1988. First thw song "Twistin' The Night Away" by Sam Cooke has been
replaced with Elvis Presley's "Return To Sender". "Abilene" by George Hamilton IV was the original hit version on the 1988
cd but has been replaced with a rerecording (or possibly an alternate take - it's difficult to say) and that is always a bummer.
Perhaps on the brighter side, "Ringo" by Lorne Greene appears now in the album version (same as the 45 but with a :20
introduction). Again as far as sonic quality, there is only a marginal improvement I feel on the remastered editiion so if you
have the original issue and don't care about the 3 changes I mentioned above, you might just as well stick with your original.
Like the original there are 20 tracks on the remastered edition, all in stereo. A few of the tracks included are "The Old
Lamplighter", "Please Help Me I'm Falling", "On The Rebound", "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Return To Sender", "A
Steel Guitar And A Glass Of Wine", "(Dance With The) Guitar Man" and "Detroit City".

Posted by: Pat Downey 3/01/00 email patdowney@uswest.net

Title: The Ulitimate Grammy Box

Label: Columbia/Legacy 69783

Commenst: True to its title, this is truly the ultimate grammy box set. A 4 cd box set that I would gladly rate at 5 stars for
content and concept. Included is a 31 page booklet detailing the history of the Grammy's, and detailing song by song (there
are 73 of them) exactly what awards the individual songs won and the year awarded. As you will discover in the liner notes,
the first Grammy awards were handed out on May 4, 1959 to honor the best records of 1958. The box covers classical,
country, rhythm & blues, jazz and rock award winners, as it truly represents the Grammy's mission to recognize all genres of
music each year. You even get the hard to find 45 version of Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman". Mastering is superb and
I should note that this box set was released prior to the 2000 Grammy awards so there are no 2000 Grammy winning songs
included.

Posted by: Pat Downey 2/26/00 email patdowney@uswest.net

Title: Whole Lotta...Soul 6 cd series

Label: Eclipse Music Group catalog #64662 - #64667

Comments: Some times nice things come from small unknown companies and Eclipse Music Group definitely falls into this
category. They actually have quite a catalog of cd's ranging from from blues, to soul and rock & roll. This particular series is
a 6 cd series that covers the years 1966&1967 on the first cd, 1968&1969 on the second etc. up to 1976&1977. The
mastering is done by the special markets division of either EMI, Sony or Polygram and is very nice. Each cd by the way
contains 18 tracks which is unheard of in today's market place. Even more surprising is the fact that you don't get the run of
the mill songs that appear on dozens of other compact discs. In fact one of my favorite grading criteria is always "how many
top 40 hit songs do I get that have never been released on cd before?" and in this series the answer is 2 which again is
unheard of for "special markets" type compact discs. The two top 40 first time appearances by the way are Barbara
Mason's "Give Me Your Love" (in stereo) and Oscar Toney Jr.'s "For Your Precious Love" (in mono). I'm not going to stay
up all night typing in the individual track lineups of 6 cd's with 18 tracks each but if you are interested, you should contact
Discollector.

Posted by: Pat Downey 2/24/00 email patdowney@uswest.net

Title:If You Wanna Be Happy - The Best Of The Norfolk Sound
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 066 065 2

Comments:Collecting 16 tracks from Frank Guida's Legrand and SPQR labels,
this CD is a good intro to the hot rockin' R&B coming out of Norfolk,
Virginia in the pre-Beatles '60s. Certainly the best know artists here are
Gary U.S. Bonds (with "New Orleans," "Quarter To Three" and "Dear Lady
Twist") and Jimmy Soul (with four tracks here including his number one "If
You Wanna Be Happy"). If you already have those guys' best-of CDs, the other
nine tracks here are still pretty nifty to own. The only other true hit here
is the original Virginia version of Tommy Facenda's "High School U.S.A."
which came out in 1959 as the first Legrand single. It went on to chart
nationally on Atlantic with a series of regional re-recordings. The other
tracks here are by unknowns like the Sheiks ("Why Should I Dance"), Garland
Owens ("Hula Wobble Shake") and the Rockmasters ("Raining Teardrops"). One
of the best tracks comes from a 1966 single by Lenis Guess ("Working For My
Baby") which sorta sounds like garage rock with an evil R&B tilt. Guida's
sound was certainly weird makin' every record sort of a live party
atmosphere. How else to describe the wall-of-sludge-in-a-telephone-booth
sound of Bonds' "Quarter To Three" which seems to have lead hand claps with
everything else sounding like an audience-recorded bootleg? Heck, even the
half that are in stereo sound like only the handclaps and echos are
separated, but that's the charm of these recordings - they sound like no
others. The pictures are cool and the liner notes informative if you can get
beyond Guida hyping himself for the umpteenth time.

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 2-23-00

Title:Johnny Cash & the Tennessee Two - The Complete Original Sun Singles
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 066 056 2

Comments:Wow - this is the real deal, 40 tracks of Cash's
not-quite-rockabilly and not-quite-country recordings for the Sun label on
two CDs (which even reproduce the label on the CD). While you get hits like
"I Walk The Line" and "Ballad Of A Teenage Queen," you also get other lesser
known tracks like "Luther Played The Boogie" and "Belshazah." There's the
first version of "Folsom Prison Blues," plus "Get Rhythm," "Guess Things
Happen That Way," etc. The basic elements on all these songs are Cash's
plaintive vocal over a heavily reverbed guitar. To this, elements such as
vocal chorus, piano and rudimentary drums might have crept in, but Cash's
appeal wasn't in production gimmicks. Obviously Cash has had a long and
successful career, but this is where it all started and frankly this CD set
is essential Americana heartland music. The sound is obviously mono and the
folder insert is dressed in Cash black with some cool vintage photos and ads
to supplement the liner notes.

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 2-23-00

Title:The Lovin' Spoonful - Live At The Hotel Seville
Label:Varese Sarabande 302 065 995 2

Comments:Let's get the objections out the way right at the start. Obviously
when you think of the Lovin' Spoonful you think of John Sebastian and the
songs he wrote. Well, the songs are here, but not Sebastian. The cover
states that this is "A new acoustic recording of their hits" so you know at
least somewhat the direction of the CD. Casual fans may not know from the
cover that Sebastian (and Zal) aren't on this release since there is no
personnel list on the back and the photo of the band is too small to tell
anything. Longtime fans will realize, however, that the Spoonful has been
reconfigured around rhythm section Steve Boone and Joe Butler with Zally's
replacement Jerry Yester also on board. Additionally, Yester's daughter Lena
moves from guitar to keyboards. New member Mike Arturi with original drummer
Butler share percussion duties with Butler playing occassional autoharp and
handling the lion's share of the lead vocals. In the old day's, Butler
handled lead at times when Sebastian was in the band ("Full Measure" for
example which is on this CD) and was the vocalist on the LP Revelation:
Revolution 69 (which featured "Never Goin' Back" which is also on here).
Butler's vocal style is different than Sebastian's and certainly if you want
to hear the definitive version of "Summer In The City" you need the original,
but this is still a good-time CD which is what the Spoonful were always
about. The only 'new' track among the 15 here is Yester singing the
non-Spoonful oldie "Don't You Just Know It."

Posted by:George W. Krieger DDS, the rock and roll Dentist 2-27-00

01/19/08