Category: Music

Facebook showed me this post for some reason:

I am not sure where this purported CD case comes from, but the actual soundtrack on CD only contains the first 11 tracks listed.

The “Bonus Tracks” are in the movie, but are not included on the soundtrack nor in the closing credits, which explains why VodkaPundit and I had a hard time learning about Leonard Cohen in 1993.

Maybe if I’d have clicked More…. I would have seen text to this effect.

Note that this soundtrack is on my top-five list of soundtracks of all time.

Some promoted post from some David Gilmour something something appeared on my timeline:

The text doesn’t identify her, but I know Liona Boyd. As a matter of fact, I have the Persona album it mentions as well as Virtuoso which I bought later (in 2021).

Both are shelved right if you know what I mean (and if you don’t, I can explain).

St. Louis’ must-see concerts in August include Diana Ross, Rod Stewart and Wilco

He’s playing the Touhill Center for Performing Arts in August. I’ll be there if he is.

I saw him when he was in Springfield…. eight years ago? Already?

We’d hoped to catch him somewhere else in the intervening years, but the closest he came as Kansas City. Man is 90 years old. He’s not likely to pass this way again.

Ted Gioia mentions the release of some new Gal Costa tracks:

The late Gal Costa (1945-2022) is one of my favorite Brazilian vocalists. And I’m not alone in my admiration. How many popular singers get invited to share a piano bench with Herbie Hancock?

During her storied career, Costa performed and recorded with all the leading stars of Brazilian commercial music, and gained international renown as an exponent of the Tropicália style.

Now—out of the blue—Universal Music releases three tracks that have been sitting on the shelf since 1972. These capture Costa at absolutely peak expressive power.

I was thinking about Gal Costa yesterday.

As you might remember, gentle reader, the LP library at Nogglestead (now even fuller than shown in that post with the unboxing of my mother-in-law’s folk collection, given to us when she downsized a couple years ago, and another year’s worth of gleanings from antique malls and book sales) is not organized.

So, as it happens, records I don’t like that much end up on the left end of shelves. I pick things out of the library, play them, and then stack them on the desk. When it comes time to reshelve them, I shove all the records on the shelf to the left and then put the ones I’ve listened to on the right. So things I listen to frequently or like most end up sorted to the right, whereas the left extremes of each shelf ends up holding my wife’s folk records (and eventually the ones that had belonged to my mother-in-law), my own sainted mother’s sixties pop collections and Elvis records, the country or seventies folk records (including Olivia Newton-John, Lynda Carter, and Linda Ronstadt) that I bought because the covers had pretty women on them), and probably a copy of Firefall’s Elan somehow.

But this weekend, for a change of pace, I took from the most left of the top shelves, and discovered my only Tommy Reynolds 33⅓ LP (the rest of my collection are 78s or 45s). So I started working my way to the right from that left-most edge. I found and played Beth Carvalho’s Sentimento Braśileiro record, and I thought about Gal Costa since I bought a couple of her LPs at the same time as I bought a bunch of Brazilian LPs in 2016. Specifically, I thought of Fantasia which depicts a possibly nude Gal Costa on the cover which scandalized my boys some years later when they saw the cover.

So, to make a short story long, I knew the artist Gioia was talking about and had thought about her very recently indeed.

Unlike Gioia, Costa is not my Brazilian singer (Mizuho Lin, ultimately, has not surpassed Astrud Gilberto as my favorite).

(So how did some favorites end up on the left? I presume it’s because I had box sets there before I built the most recent set of record shelves, and when I moved all boxed sets to under the console stereo, I backfilled with some LPs that were actually favorites.)

WSIE just played “Tropical Disco” by Starwolf, apparently a recent St. Louis band.

I thought it was a Bob James song I’d not heard before.

The science fiction series are Starwolf by Edmond Hamilton (I read The Weapon from Beyond in 2016) and Starwolves by Thorarinn Gunnarson (I read Battle of the Ring in 2023).

Probably unrelated to the band name, but look! I read books!

I thought that kind of sounds like Ghost, but what album is “Archetypes Collide” on?

Oh: Archetypes Collide is the name of the band. “Ghost” is the name of the song.

It’s not just a mental exercise (also); it’s also an actual source of confusion for me sometimes.

Speaking of Archetypes Colliding, I might have to pick up their autographed CD since it’s only ten bucks.

Maybe when I get a job.

“I have eclectic music tastes. And a gift card to use.”

On Wednesday, as part of our comebackation, we ran some errands. Basically, the youngest needed new shoes, and the Entertainmart is just down the road a couple of shopping centers. My beautiful wife got me a gift card for our anniversary much like she got me one at Vintage Stock for Valentine’s Day. As I’m accumulating quite a backlog of movies to watch based on the Valentine’s Day gift card and recent estate sale purchases, I was not eager to buy more films.

So I got some CDs.

I’d kind of hoped to get some jazz CDs, but the sections in their small music offerings were not clearly labeled, and I think the jazz was mixed in with the pop. And although this is not a proper Musical Balance post, it does kind of track with the metal and songbirds bit.

I got:

• Drops of Jupiter by Train.
• All My Tomorrows by Grover Washington, Jr. I have a lot of his records on vinyl; this is my first CD.
• “The End of Heartache” by Killswitch Engage. The joke’s on me; this is a single from the Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack, but it was priced like a full album.
• The Lightness of Being, a 3 disc set of ambient lounge and chill out tracks. Only two of the CDs ripped. I hope the first did not install malware.
• Two old Pink Floyd albums, Obscured by Clouds and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn from their early Syd Barrett bluesy acid sound days before their big success working out Roger Waters’ daddy issues.
• Four Chords and Seven Years Ago by Huey Lewis and the News. A later album which I hadn’t gotten around to getting.
• Three by Diana Krall: All For You, Love Scenes, and The Girl in the Other Room. I think I have a crush on Mrs. Costello.

The ten CDs/sets ran $49.62, leaving me with 38 cents on the gift card which I might never use.

It was only after I finger-walked through the CDs that I saw the cheap records in bins below a new record display. It’s just as well, though; I haven’t listened to all the records I got at the book sale in April yet.

So I have already listened to the Pink Floyd albums and part of the Krall collection, but I’m still mostly streaming WSIE at the desk. So maybe I shouldn’t run out and buy stacks of CDs any more. Although Tokyo Groove Jyoshi has a new album coming out next week….

Yesterday morning, I drove my beautiful wife to the airport so she could jet away to speak at a conference. And the airport is practically at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds (where the scale of Springfield means everything is “practically at” or nearby to everything else compared to actual large cities), and the Friends of the Springfield-Greene County Library was having their semi-annual book sale and it was bag day. Since it was on the way home (“on the way” meaning “not actually on the airport property”), my youngest son and I stopped.

I found some records.

More than four, actually:

• Dylan Thomas Reading A Child’s Christmas in Wales and Five Poems. I was just thinking about the Edna St. Vincent Millay record I have here somewhere, and now I have Dylan Thomas as well. I also have Rod McKuen, no doubt, but probably not Robert Frost. Which would be a good score. It’s the only LP I got from the Better Books section, so I paid a buck for it. Discogs says it is worth two. As it has “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” on it, I think it’s priceless.
• Mancini Country which I probably already have, but it was four bits.
• Baroque and Contemporary Concertos for Trumpet and Orchestra. Because I can always bring home more trumpet music.
• Light-Airy and Swinging by George Shearing. A later record, as he looks older on the cover.
• Italian Baroque Trumpet Concerti. I might already have it. As a matter of fact, my other copy might even be on the desk in the parlor where I’ve stacked recently played records. But at fifty cents, I’d be a fool not to.
• Trumpet Concertos by Johann Wilhelm Hertel, Leopold Mozart, Johann Nepomuk Hummel. A Nonesuch record I surely do not already have.
• I’m Yours by Dean Martin. I probably already have it, but I had to be sure.
• The Dancing Sound by Les Elgart and His Orchestra.
• Our Golden Favorites by The McGuire Sisters.
• I’m a Dreamer by Gale Robbins. Pretty Woman on Cover (PWoC). Discogs classes it as Jazz/Pop listed at $4.
• Let’s Dance with the Three Suns. Might already have it, but….
• In a Sentimental Mood by Los Indios Trabajaras. I have one or more record by this artist. Maybe one or more copies of this platter.
• Elgart Au Go-Go by Les & Larry Elgart. A lot of the Elgarts today. Less when I finished my pass.
• Französische Blockflötenmusik, a collection of French recorder music.
• Romeo and Juliet by Jackie Gleason and his orchestra.
• The Baroque Trumpet. I have another collection by this name. Perhaps the same collection with a different cover. Perhaps not.
• Verities and Balderdash by Harry Chapin Carpenter. I don’t generally buy 70s folkies, but I was with my son in one of the dwindling number of instances we’ll do this together (it might be the last–it might always be the last), so I was feeling all “The Cat’s in the Cradle”. Which is the lead cut on this record.
• Baroque Flute Sonatas which is not as welcome, quite, as trumpet, but my beautiful wife also plays the flute and won a regional high school jazz award on it.
• Polka Dots and Moonbeams by the Johnny Hamlin Quintet. Why? Because I was rolling.
• Harry James and Tommy Dorsey’s Greatest Hits, a compilation album. “What does Harry James play?” I asked my son. “Here’s a hint: You don’t play it.” Which is true: After his freshman year, he stopped playing his horn after, what, five years?
• Making Our Dreams Come True by Cyndi Grecco. PWoC. I’ve discovered (now) that it’s the theme from Laverne and Shirley.
• Love in the Afternoon by the Three Suns. I don’t think I have it, but I might soon run out of new Three Suns records you can find easily in the wild.
• That’s All by Vikki Carr. Spoiler alert: It was not, in fact, all.
• Love is Blue by Claudine Longet, whom I’ve not really cottoned to. Maybe I should give her another chance.
• Scottish Splendor: The Pipes and Drums and Regimental Band of the Black Watch.
• Artie Shaw in the Blue Room in the Café Rouge.
• Today’s Romantic Hits / For Lovers Only Volume 2 by Jackie Gleason. Probably already have it. But, apparently, I must HAVE THEM ALL.
• Four Centuries of Music for the Harp. My youngest asked me if I had given up on learning the guitar and wanted to learn the harp. I responded that failing at six or four strings and moving onto more strings and having to wear a gown did not seem like a logical progression.
• My Kind of Girl by Matt Monro. PWoC. Three times.
• Big Band Hootenanny by Les and Larry Elgart.
• I Suoi Success by Perry Como.
• The Fabulous Victoria de Los Angeles. PWoC. But opera.
• Warm and Tender by the Three Suns. Didn’t have it, I don’t think. I do now.
• Latin Luboff by the Norman Luboff Choir. PWoC.
• The Band with That Sound by Les Elgart.
• The Best of Cugat by Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra. PWoC. And, it would seem, on the vocals.

That’s like 37 records or two-record sets, and it cost $18.50. You can’t beat that with a stick.

As we–well, I was flipping through the records, a college-aged young lady was joined by a friend, and she, the young lady flipping through the records, told her friend she was looking for jazz records.

Jumping Illinois Jones, she passed the Elgarts, the Cugat, the Shearing, the Jackie Gleason…. Was she hoping to find Miles Davis records for fifty cents? Dealers coming in on the preview night would have snapped that up. Half price day is about taking fliers on bands you’re not familiar with. Or about setting your taste to match what you can buy for a dollar or less (as I do).

I greeted my wife on her arrival in the conference city with the innocent question, “You know how we set the stereo on a set of record shelves? What if we did that with the sofa, too? Wouldn’t that be cool?”

It’s a wonder I’m still married. Which I presumably am, but this time might have gone too far.

New (to me) music: The band The Defect. Atmospheric metal. Lyrics are not that deep/evocative, but they fit a mood. Plus, it looks like they play in Madison, Wisconsin, a bunch, so they might be countrymen.

The band’s Web sites are down, which is unfortunate. If I could snag a signed CD, I would.

The CD is available through Amazon, though, so I might end up with an unsigned copy.

Ah, gentle reader. Yesterday, I cleaned the main level of the house and then hit the gym with my beautiful wife for some cardio training since I will probably do one or two more triathlons at the end of the summer and don’t want to suck or don’t want any of my family to beat me in them. After a snooze, I was not sure what to do with the afternoon, so I thought I’d spend an hour or so at Relics, ostensibly looking for presents for birthdays, the wedding anniversary, and/or Christmas. Nothing in that regard leaped out to me, but I did find a couple of records to bring home.

I got:

• Heads by Bob James. It features David Sanborn, Eric Gale, and Grover T. Washington on it, and it was at the low end of what records go for these days at antique malls ($3.95). Still, my musical tastes are going to fly under the radar–the youngsters who put records in the big antique malls–they won’t recognize Bob James. Or maybe people just won’t buy it, so they’re properly pricing it.
• Jeffery Osborne’s debut album. I got a later album, Emotional, last fall (I was pleased to see this was not a duplicate). It was priced $1.00, but it was in a bin that said fifty cents. Either way, it was worth it.
• Sincerely Yours by Sweet Sensation, a female trio a la Expose from the late 1980s. This is a 12″ single with four different mixes of the same song, so I won’t really spin it that often. But, Brian J., you didn’t buy it to listen to it, you might accuse. At which point I might look away and admit I paid $2.00 for this record because of the pretty women on the cover. Which not enough people did in the 1980s, or the group would be remembered.
• Down Two Then Left by Boz Scaggs who gets some rotation on WSIE (I just said that in 2022 when I got my first Boz Scaggs record, Silk).

I paid for it with the cash in my wallet, so it really wasn’t like spending money at all. And I got change to use in the offering plate for a doughnut and cup of coffee since I’m not tossing twenties in there these days because I’m even now the kind of fellow who will go for some retail therapy now and then, even if it’s only eleven dollars’ worth.

Senior officials who wish to remain anonymous have told MfBJN that the Police’s song “Spirits in a Material World” is a spirited (ahut) defense of Manicheanism:

We will continue to interrupt regular programming as needed with further updates.

Apparently, the Police song “Roxanne” is about a prostitute!

Keep your radio tuned to Musings from Brian J. Noggle for more updates from 1979!