Travelling music if there every was any. No matter the vehicle, you roll with this in the deck and it's just nice. Guitar in overdrive, Echo effect in full effect, vocals... hey we've been there. The lone guitar note break is the bomb if you are playing air guitar.

Music to literally SHAG to. Adam Horowitz has definitely evolved into more than just a Beastie Boy.

There's an instrument in the background (harp? xylophone?) that really appeals to me. The song is pretty mellow which is cool. Corgan's voice tends to be screechy at times but the magic instrument (in the background) along with some nice (well timed) bass evens it out.

this is a twisted sort of house/techno number that will appeal to non-lovers of house. Its heavy enough, tweaked enough, etc. and the vocals are nice and twisted. dark, but still humorous "im losing my mind"

This is a strong piece of turntablism. Kid Koala scratches a wicked trumpet solo over a nice swing tune.

Nice groovy dancetrack with electric sounding guitars, trumpets and a rockbeat....

Tom Waits is so cool. All of his songs do a really good job of making you feel like you remember a time and place you've never seen... his world is one of boxcars, whiskey, and five o'clock shadow. This song is much less bizarre than some of his others; it's more mournful. But it's just... nice to hear. He is a sad old man.

I love this song, the lyrics are really beautifull and the sounds are very unique. very nice song

Off the LP "Orlan Divo" Orlan Divo's first release on the Musidisc label. A collaboration with Ed Lincoln, Waltel Branco and other Musidisc luminaries. This LP/CD is available as a reissue from whatmusic.com

A laid back bossa/balanco track. Nice easy vocals by Orlan Divo who has a great voice (although I don't speak a word of Portugese so I couldn't say what he's singing about) and some really sweet understated organ licks from the usually over-the-top Ed Lincoln especially durring the vibes break. It's a great track off an even greater LP. I think the only other consistently solid LP like this one is that comes to mind would be Eumir Deodato's "Tremendao" on the equipe label.

Melancholy,nice smooth rocking groove.

A song from the 1980's that nobody heard but should of.A nice little dig to the music industry.

this is not the mod band, but a soul outfit, pretty much around the same time (1960s). Very nice melody. I'm not good at technical stuff so i will merit this mainly on beefed up adjectives. seriously though, it's just a simple song about love (with equally simple lyrics) but its got the energy good for dancing.

nice bitter sweet Irish-punk dittie

A French title by a Japanese group with an Italian name. Nice. Unfortunately I don't understand Japanese, but you don't need to know the language to enjoy Pizzicato Five's post-modern, jet-set sound. Complete with Apollo 11 countdown and nod to the fab four.

Kenetic and edgy....a nice dig to big business.

a couple of great spy jazz tracks from the movie "si j'etais un espion" by my favourite old pervert..funky guitar/strings combination followed by a morricone-like piano part. (this entire soundtrack seems to be quite inspired by some of morricone�s work...) there's a really nice repetetive bass line that pops up a couple of times during the track.

this is possibly the oldest hip hop track i�ve heard... nice 60�s instrumentation, though the track feels surprisingly modern. cool repetive structure, really nice delivery of the lines, great rythm. amazing song to put on at parties. i love it.

great version of the classic gainsbourg song. this is one of the bonus tracks on the rerelease of "oh ah", and it features some absolutely fantastic backing guitars courtesy of alex chilton. a pretty lo fi recording, but the feel on this is quite a few notches up from the album version. it basicly gives me the chills and stops me from doing anything productive each time i hear it. probably the most played track in my itunes folders right now.

(original recording by serge gainsbourg. think there�s an english language version by mick harvey.)

beautiful
-yes-
beautiful acoustic cover of the campy iron maiden song. nice driving beat. great melancholy vibe going on, it manages to give the �berstupid lyrics some sense of metaphorical meaning.. I first heard it on the soundtrack to the film "spun" by jonas �kerlund, where it plays during the opening credits. however, i don't think there's an official soundtrack out there, but it's pretty easy to find on various file-sharing networks.

unbelievably cool track, one of my top ten gainsbourg compositions. great jazzy sex beat, smooth vocals.
it's one of his more agressive songs, similar to the also recommended "un poison violent c'est l'amour".
there seems to be a bit of a bit of a prog vibe going on (in lack of better words, i'm not exactly an expert in the technicalities of music).
nice guitar hook. though the track is pretty repetitive, it's by no means boring. the repetition only helps to make it more intense and interesting.
taken from the film le pacha. i think a lot of gainsbourg's soundtrack work is pretty interesting stuff, though some of it often seems a bit rushed or too similar to other cool compositions from the same era (hey, i'm a sucker for plagiarism...)
the soundtrack to cannabis comes especially recommended.

pure bubblegum psychedelic soft pop, with lyrics about sucking on "lollipops". the most familiar version of this song is probably the one written for france gall, but i prefer the version where serge himself (in a great faux-na�ve manner)provides the vocals. the sugary strings of the original(?) are replaced by a great subdued wah wah guitar and organ backing on this version, and a lot of little touches wich help make the song a bit more bizarre and playful than the other version. nice for sunny picnics and bicycle rides in the countryside, eh?

immediately catchy--from the intro to the at first lazy, then stronger vocals. the lyrics themselves are quite interesting; could easily be dismissed as a 'nice' song but there certainly is something else in there. all in all, a great little tune. not sure of the year though (early 80s?) so someone might shed some light here.

this song reminds me of ireland. its so goofy & happy.

Such a nice and melodic song.

guitarist and songwriter greg brown tells us how he feels when someone says 'haveAniceDay'. midtempo acoustic number with gruff bassy vocals. very good for themed comps or person-specific mixtapes. from an album called The Live One and various MPR/NPR performances at their archives. repeat listening assured.

Paul Anka sings esperanto? No, it`s just his italian version of "Put your head on my shoulder". I don`t know the year it was recorded, but I think it were in the late 60`s. Although his italian articulation sounds queer to me (it feels like he red the lyrics from a board) "Abbandonati Amore" is a very nice song and the "Hawaiian" melody is still the same as in the original recording!

condensed, funked up version of the song with a shitload of guest appearences. It all flows together pretty nicely, with fantastic beats and great, ridiculous larger-than-life aggressive tough guy/girl lyrics. Perfect tunage for sweaty parties with a few good friends and foes.

Nice lyrics, nice flow.

Xavier Rudd is Australian, or well, Canadian but raised in Australia, or something, when first hearing him and all his Aboriginee instruments, we all thought he had to be aboriginal himself, even his accent was convincing, we were sorely mistaken. even still, all his songs have a good solid beat and he is essentially a one man band, amazing stuff. this song is nice and bouncy and great stuff, especially as an introductory song to all his other creations.

This song is a wonderful cover of the song by Lee Hazlewood. Lots of lurid orchestration, lots of reverb and the soft, lilting voice of the Tinderstick's lead man, Stuart Staples. Very mellow. Nice with a glass of wine, in my opinion :o)

It took me a long, long while to �get� Gorillaz. Oh come on, who didn�t like �Clint Eastwood�? I dunno, having sunshine in a bag is a nice lyric to repeat when people are pissing you and your shit off� yet, �Clint Eastwood� didn�t make me a fan.

No, in fact, no Gorillaz track did more to bring me into the fold than �Dirty Harry�, with its amazing keyboards, bassline and children�s chorale�

It�s just been a while since I�ve come across pop music that was so far off the beaten track, that it redefines what is �mainstream�. This is always fun for music lovers, but once again goes to prove that noone with taste thinks the cookie cutter approach to popular music is the right way.

Well I�m a Gorillaz fan now, maybe three or four years late, but I�m a fan for sure. �Demon Days� has quickly jumped up to �Heavy Rotation� status in my last.fm and musicmobs profiles in a heart beat.

It�s weird, because someone brought a pre-release copy of �Demon Days� for me way back in April, but I listened to it a few times and then ignored it, forgot it for the most part (if you ignore the iconic billboards and posters everywhere across London). I�m famous for that though, I tend to err on the side of not believing the hype, a la Public Enemy.

It was only about three or four weeks ago, after my flatmate�s accidental stop on the �Dirty Harry� video one night, while I was in another room working.

Said keyboards, bass line and chorale, made me stop what I was doing, get up and go into the living room, calling incredulously as I went, �What are you listening to?�

That my friends, is all Big Mami wrote on the matter�

Fast,bangin, electronic, very energetic, nice male vocals

I came across this on what's probably quite an obscure compilation called Surfbeat Behind the Iron Curtain Vol 2. I know very little about it. It's kind of like classic surf, but with some overtly 50s big band influences thrown in. The production sounds very odd - I'd guess this was recorded maybe in the early 1970s but I could be way off. Lots of nice horns and reverb-laden guitar and some weird radio-interference type effects.

Doesn't everybody love a good collaboration? It turns out Noah Lennox's beachboy-inspired vocals fit in nicely with the sound-collage electronica of Bradford Cox's offbeat side-project, Atlas Sound. The tight vocal harmonies, and childlike sampled groove compliment each other perfectly.

Nothing too deep in terms of vocal content. It's one of those songs where the chorus is repeated about 800 times, but you can never remember the words.

Instead, this song is all about atmosphere. I'm a sucker for that bleached-out, 70's technicolor vibe lately, and this song captures it more effectively than most. The lo-fi skuzziness, however, only enhances its pop-perfection.

Enjoy before summer ends! This is the perfect doobed-up jam for driving to the beach on a day where you can see the heat. Happy listening.

upbeat, poppy, and fun. i love that it's upbeat and fun. the synthesizer is really unique and adds a nice touch.

-Very Melodic in a way, with an exciting yet mellow tune and some very nice sounding instrument work

-Just an awesome sound to listen too

This happy love song was produced by Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quinn, two members of Keane. It's really nice. Speight's voice is not powerful, but it's sweet and very well used in this song.

A very nice ballad. In my opinion one of the best songs of the album.

It's very hard to describe Noah and The Whale's music, but I guess it can be considered pop. Really nice song.

this song plays a real role in my life because alot of the time i feel this way and its nice to listen to somebody else describe your feelings in a song

A trippy sounding track from the One-man-with-variou-people-helping-out band "Netherfriends. A Korg making weird sounds in the background, piano, a nice drum beat, and some pretty good vocals too.

A lot of keyboard, brass, guitar, and soulful lyrics.

A nice song about a guy who is determined to make a girl fall in love with him.

Inspiring for all those who have been, or are going through the same situation.

A beautiful piece of Piazzolla, sentimental lyrics and nice vocals. The whole song is a work of art.

slow, soft, nice tune, soft rock

Nice tempo beat with the accordion and flute :)

This song sounds a bit chaotic with various instruments and dubstep playing in the background, but the vocals are very nice to listen to and the beat is very catchy.

nice slice of 50's piano-based novelty rock n' roll. at first this sounded pretty average to me, but when the second verse kicked in, and he started singing like a girl as he'd mentioned earlier in the lyrics, i knew it was a keeper. if you hang in there for the third verse, you'll hear where the man got his nickname, too:). i'm heavily into fifties and early sixties "semi-novelty" records, so this was pretty much like hitting the jackpot.
it's the only song of his i've heard that's done anything for me, though.

probably the most uplifting song ever recorded. very basic and simple, but genuinely endearing. paul evans has a nice laugh, the boyish quality of it really makes the song for me.
the song was sort of a theme song for john waters` film "pecker", by the way.

essential listening. psychedelic rockabilly doesn't get much better than this. check out the chanting in the background! the bells! the sitar-guitar sound! the drum pattern! wanda jackson's vocals! love it to death. can't believe i hadn't recommended it yet...

This is one of those mindblowing tracks that occasionally turns up when you least expect it. I bought a generic looking 'Top TV Themes' EP on the Pye Golden Guinea label, mainly because it had a version of the 'Out of this World' theme, which I've recommended elsewhere on this site. But I was disappointed - it turned out that this 'Out of this World' was exactly the same Tony Hatch version that I already had (the EP does not list any track credits).

I listened on, not expecting much, particularly from 'Maigret', a nice enough theme by Ron Grainer, but one that is a kind of accordian waltz!

Imagine my surprise when this turned out to be some kind of trashy, twangy, swampy surf pop masterpiece! It sounds like one of the very best Joe Meek produced instrumentals from the early 60s.

I'm inferring that this is Tony Hatch, since he did the 'Out of this World' and was a staff arranger at Pye in the early 60s. But if anyone else can shed a different light on this recording, I'd be pleased to hear about it!

'do they know, do they care, that it's only/that I'm lonely and low as can be.../And the smile on my face...isn't really a smile at all...'
This is a brilliant, devastating recording. Julie's gentle, heartfelt vocal, the lush background... I'm speechless!

The Fleetwoods were an excellent vocal group from the late 50s and early 60s who are best known for 'Come Softly to Me' and 'Mr. Blue'. Both of these are 'classic' oldies tracks, evocative of the late 50s.

'Lonely is as lonely does' came late in their career, and actually sounds much more modern than its 1964 recording date would suggest. This is really a prototype of the 'soft pop' style that would become popular later in the 1960s. The composer, Chip Taylor, went on to write 'Wild Thing' and 'Angel of the Morning'.

The track opens with a nice picked guitar introduction. As in many of my favorite Fleetwoods tracks, Gary takes the lead vocal, with Gretchen and Barbara singing backing vocals. Gary has a very sincere voice. At the beginning the song sounds very routine, but there are some clever chord changes and some cool lyrics. My favorite line is 'As your tears fall, remember this: you're just a kiss away from happiness'.

My experience of Boogaloo, a style to which I'm quite new, has been varied. In short, I love some of it and don't quite get the rest. The key to me seems to be the right instrumental and percussive blend, and vocals that don't dominate too much.

Although it sounds quite generic, this track manages to satisfy me on the criteria above. From a very lucky thrift store find (this album is up there with James Brown's 'Black Caesar' among my top bargains ever), this opens with a nice solid groove, featuring saxophone, brass and layered, relentless percussion. The vocals seem pretty much off-the-cuff - the main 'Boogaloo baby - baby baby do the boogaloo' is joined by a mixture of muttered Spanish and screaming. The attraction of this song is really the texture - it can't really claim any musical or lyrical sophistication. But the instrumentation and groove are really first rate.

This is a cute, somewhat slight piece of sixties girly pop with a nice Tony Hatch production. The thing that struck me about this tune is how it sounds exactly like the ironic, girl groupy stuff Tracey Ullman did on her 'You Broke My Heart In 17 Places' album. I wouldn't be surprised if Ullman covered this at some point; both singers have a winsome, appealing quality in their voices that overcomes their lack of range.

A pretty 1965 pop song by Danny Hutton a few years before he got big as a member of Three Dog Night, the group which had a long string of hits beginning in 1969. There's a bit too much of that tinkling thing which I thought wasn't so prominent when I heard it on the radio, but maybe I'm wrong ...

But the best thing about the song in my opinion is the drum track! It's probably one of the L.A. session men, but whoever it is puts on an absolute clinic! Best bits: the one at the end of verse two, before the first bridge, which seems to tie up the song to that point in a nice bow, and the one before the second bridge which reminds me of the drums in Tommy Roe's hit 1962 "Sheila".

"Roses and Rainbows" is the first track on the double-CD Three Dog Night best-of.

This track wasn't what I expected. My previous favorite version of this song (although I have many) was probably the one by Mel Torme on his 1962 album 'Right Now'. And since that version was arranged by Ogerman, I had expected this version to be simply an instrumental version like Torme's recording - a cool, finger-clicking, jerky pop number. In fact, there's something much cooler and more sophisticated about this version.

The tune is picked out first by an organ, and then by the brass and woodwinds before returning to the organ, which then jams around the main tune. A really beautiful string section comes in early on, creating some unusual chords that really add to the song and work very well alongside the 'cool' effect of the organ and rhythm. I wish Claus had recorded more songs with this mixture of percussion, jazzy instrumentation and lovely thick string parts. A few tracks on one of his other 60s LPs, 'Latin Rock,' come close, but I'm not sure any of them are as nice as this one.

A wonderful version of “Going out of my head”, which was originally sung by Little Anthony and the Imperials. It's a great song anyway, with really nice words (well, nice for a Smiths fan like me, anyway: 'there's no reason why...my being shy...should keep us apart...'), but Sergio Mendes also adds an extra musical edge to the chorus, and this really adds a new dimension to the song. The instrumentation is classic Brasil 66: Percussive jazz piano, group vocals, and a driving bossa nova beat.

A goofy, yet endearing, ripoff of Chuck Berry's "Memphis", which I really cannot explain the attraction of.

Comparing the love of a girl to winning a game of bingo...who'd a-thunk it? A really nice uptempo soul tune. I don't have any info on this guy, and as far as I can tell, this is the only thing he ever recorded. The flipside to the seminal ballad "How Can You Baby-Sit a Man?".

Excellent gentle mambo arrangement, courtesy of Claus Ogerman, of this spy theme featuring Tjader's vibes and George Castro's flute in nice counterpoint with Palmeiro's piano and some very lively percussion.

I had forgotten quite how brilliant this track is until it strangely popped into my head yesterday. It was originally available on Al's superb 'Sounds for Spies and Private Eyes' album, as well as volume 2 of the 'Music to Read James Bond By' series on United Artists records. It's very obviously James Bond rip-off music, but it's so perfectly executed, with cool percussive brass and Al's reverb-laden guitar nicely complemented by a swinging organ, that you can't help but love it.

I love the sweeping introduction of this track so much that I would almost recommend it based on that alone. A brass flourish leads into a really cool, jerky beat. It continues with nice multitracked guitars that produce a harpsichord-like effect. Very cool.

I first heard this song sampled on 'The Truth' by Handsome Boy Modelling school, essentially the bones of the instrumental coffee cold, with new lyrics from Roisin Murphy (much better than Fergus MacRoy's on a alternate version of the original).

The song itself is piano based, and has amazing drumming. I am a musical goon and cannot explain it much more than that, but the song has a really nice dusty feel to it. The fact that this was sampled in a modern hiphop record and the drums remained unenhaced says a lot.

This is a great song and well worth tracking down for any fans of funk, jazz or hip hop.

There's a bit of a story to this one.

Peter Asher, who was the Peter part of this duo, was the brother of Jane Asher who was Paul McCartney's girlfriend at the time of this song, asked Paul to write them a song.

They decided it would be interesting to see if it would be a hit without the Paul McCartney/Beatle stamp on it. So they released this song saying that it was written by a Mr. Bernard Webb.

It only reached No. 28 in the British charts.

Jane Asher, many years later, chose it as one of her 'Desert Island Discs', but she never talks about Paul or her Beatle days and failed to tell the story around the song.

Very nice string arrangement/intro.

This was the early days of using classical instruments in pop songs. I think the classical slant is what appeals to me most about this recording.

I just heard this for the first time and was completely bowled over. Summer Samba, which in its famous Walter Wanderley organ version sounds like a not-particularly-hip roller-rink tune, is here given a funky treatment with organ and guitar. The guitar gets a little noodley, but in a cool way. Most of Howard Roberts's capitol albums have just been re-released as 2-on-1 CDs; I hope they are all as good as this one.

Tamba Trio were a Brazilian jazz group more commonly praised for their jazz instrumentals than for their vocals. Their vocals on this track are nice and simple, but it is the instrumentation and arrangement which really make the song. What does it sound like? I do honestly like other types of music, but here goes: jazzy piano, bossa beat, thick strings, group vocals. Really great track, and from what I've heard of other versions, they really transformed this song, which normally sounds very different.

This one has really been haunting me. I recently heard this rare and sought after album, and was entranced by the opening track, a devastating vocal. Although Lani Groves sings in English, in a style very similar to Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, I knew that this was a Brazilian track that I had heard before.

Researching a song with as generic a title as 'I want your kiss' is hard though, and with no knowledge of who the composer was, most of the search engine results were soft porn stories. After a while I threw on Elis Regina's first album, Samba - eu canto assim, and happily found the information I was looking for. The original Portuguese song is called 'Sou sem paz', and was written by Adylson Godoy, who may or may not be the same person as Amilton Godoy, who was the pianist in the Zimbo Trio.

After all my research, I was disappointed to learn that this song has hardly ever been recorded; the only versions I know of are this and those by the Zimbo Trio and Elis Regina.

Trivia aside, this is a nice fusion of several of my musical passions. The chord sequence is unusual, delicate and surprising, and the vocal is passionate. I think it would be fair to say that Lani Groves doesn't have quite Elis's passionate delivery, but for me this is offset by the beautiful backing arrangement, featuring some great organ playing.

This is some nice tight supperclub trio jazz! This is the kind of song that you actually WANT to get stuck in your head, it will actually make your day better. I've spent the last year trying to find something by these guys, and thankfully Sony UK put out a two cd set of three albums "plus singles and previously unreleased material." Not the best liner notes, but arranger Keith Mansfield should be a familiar name to KPM/Sound Gallery types. I'm not a sampler, but if you can't do something with the nice, long drum intro, you probably don't have your heart in it, either.

Very nice, reminds me a bit of Harpers Bizarre best moments!

Very nice lyric & Henrique has a fine voice & nice guitar style. But the real standout is Sivuca on accordian & scat vocal on this song & the whole album. One of my favorite jazz scat records. The other being Guilherme Vergueiro's "Naturalmente" lp from 1978.

This track sounds better to me every time I hear it. Ironically, I had a copy of The Association's Renaissance LP for years, but for some odd reason didn't get as far as listening to this song until recently.

It's a very accessible but powerful late 60s pop song with a psychedelic edge. It can't have taken long to write, but the production is excellent, with a nice effect on the vocals, and a wonderful use of early 70s Beach Boys-style swelling vocal harmonies over the vocal phrase 'and all that's left for me to do...is cry'.

Musically, it's an upbeat track with a slightly claustrophobic arrangement. But it's cool - that's all part of the effect! As well as drums, vocals and upbeat guitars, they employ the koto, which adds an unusual edge to the sound.

Chris Montez had two musical periods. Two shots at the limelight.

It's his second musical era (1966-68) that I like the most.

In 1966, Herb Alpert produced 'The More I see You' & with it, Chris had a huge international smash single. It was a cover of a 1940's tune given a sort of 1966 Beverly Hills treatment & was very nice.

Unfortunately the pairing of Chris & Herb didn't produce anymore hit singles but they went on to make four very nice albums.

This song is from the third album, 'Foolin'Around' and it's one of my favourite Chris Montez songs.

There have been a few retrospective Chris Montez compilations and they always seem to leave this song out, which, frankly, baffles me.

It's sort of Rio meets Beverly Hills 1967 in sound.

It's also my favourite version of the song which was also covered by Astrud Gilberto and I believe, many others.

Nice chord sequence. The melody of the lead vocal and its delivery tend to grate on me, though. I'm fairly sure this song was the inspiration for "Dirty Postcards" by the Korgis, which will of course be well known to all who read this.

An exquisite and much-sampled version of this nice tune from the Valley of the Dolls soundtrack. The slow, funky beat is simply one of the sweetest you will ever hear, and the harp melody is ethereal and beautiful.

It's hard not to smile when you hear this lovely, rousing late 60s number. Roger Nichols is the composer (along with Paul Williams) of many late 60s and 70s hits for, amongst others, The Carpenters. He wrote this song with 'Pet Sounds' lyricist Tony Asher, and they created a beautiful combination of sunny soft pop sounds (handclaps, brass, group harmonies) and pleasing, happy words. Musically, it is superior and extra-catchy, with nice Bacharach-esque touches and great instrumentation. The lead vocal also deserves a mention for sounding almost supernaturally brilliant (far better than it sounds in the sound sample). The singer is Melinda Macleod; her voice is lovely anyway, but here it sounds as if 3 perfect takes have been somehow overlaid on top of each other to produce an incredibly rich, soothing effect. It's over quickly - in just over two minutes. At which point I normally listen to it again a few times.

Lord knows that I would never recommend a McKuen vocal, but this tight, jazzy little soundtrack instrumental is quite another matter. This cut moves along rather nicely, with a cool taut rhythm. The arrangement was written by Arthur Greenslade, a longtime collaborator of both Serge Gainsbourg and Alan Hawkshaw.

This is the sound of summer in the sixties as I remember it from my childhood. Sunny, light, breezy. Its from one of Augusto Alguerro's 2 Polydor releases, and while not as funky or bizarre as some of the other tracks, in terms of shear fun pop its a total star. Starting with a nice little trombone riff, its quite fast with wordless vocals, flute and light brass. It has the very good production that you always seem to get with 60's polydor LP's. I wonder if the Ragovoy that wrote it is Jerry Ragovoy who I know better as a soul writer, penning Lorraine Ellisons mighty 'Stay with me baby' amongst others.

You've got to love a guy who has a song on his first album that translates as "Catechism, Toothpaste and You". From that same LP, here's a great off-kilter tropicalia with a heavy baroque-pop influence and really odd instrumentation, featuring fuzz guitar, organ and trumpet in a very nice way.

A very cool track, but not in the way I normally find Walter Wanderley's quick-draw hammond organ technique cool. This is a simple, bluesey number on which he is joined by the Brazilian singer Luiz Henrique. Luiz doesn't sing though, he just contributes some nice scat vocals, rather like the work Marcos Valle does on 'Garra'. In my experience, this is about as close as Walter gets to 'funky', and this version from the 'Popcorn' album is a great improvement from the 1967 'Kee-ka-roo' LP version.

A nicely groovy easy listening instrumental from an album which is a very common item in British charity shops. It's nicely percussive from the start, with some nicely strummed guitar and Helmut's bizarre sounding low solo violin. It builds up to a full and funky orchestral sound - a real stomper...

Margo Guryan wrote several quite famous songs in the 60s, the most famous of which are probably 'Sunday Morning' (made famous by Spanky and our Gang; also recorded by Julie London and others) and 'Think of Rain' (recorded by Claudine Longet, among others).

After the incredibly brilliant reissue of Margo's solo LP, 'Take a Picture', Franklin Castle released a compilation of Margo Guryan's demos. This is the standout track on that disc, a very spare and funky number with a cool organ sound, nice drums and catchy vocals. As would be expected from a recording intended only as a demo, this is a little rougher sounding than the studio LP, but it's a brilliant song. I wonder if anyone else ever recorded it...

Another amazing version of this fantastic tune. This features several very different-sounding multitracked guitars, and really is quite astounding. It feels very short at a little under 2 and a half minutes. The opening features an acoustic guitar playing a wonderfully delicate and precise rhythm, accompanied by a nice wall of strings and electric guitar hits. A twangy picked guitar plays the melody, building gradually for about a minute.

The track then explodes into a quite amazing sequence, in which a dirty-sounding fuzz guitar picks out a bassline while a manic and jazzy improvised guitar solo moves around over the top and the strings maintain some solid bluesey chords. The sound is extremely funky, and vaguely reminiscent of some tracks from the late 60s 101 strings album 'Astro Sounds from beyond the year 2000', but ends up being more tasteful. Pure genius!

This probably sounds like an odd thing to recommend, but the more I hear this track, the more I love it. It's as if the arranger didn't actually like the song that much - he has changed it a great deal, but for better. Mixed with the trademark Mystic Moods sound effects, it begins lush and gentle. However, after the sound effects fade away, the quality of the arrangement and recording come through, with crisp drums, a nice bass and some great piano. It has a very cool funk-orchestral feel, recalling some of Pete Moore's best work.

If anyone could improve this Classics IV ditty, it's the adorable Mr. Montez!

Although the arrangement doesn't change much, (it didn't need to) Nick De Caro did add some nice little "effects" that really set the mood. Like a cool bit of "spooky" delay/filter effecting after the refrain...nice.

Montez's voice just seems to add to the story of the song. Like a guy like him could get spooked by a chick more than your average dude... he's sensitive.

Great Grusin-like organ solo too... That just nails it for me!

This 1968 LP out on CTI/A&M records was a big leap fpr the group formerly known as Tamba Trio. It spawned big bossa hits like the title track Samba Blim, my absolute favorite for hip acid jazz(nu-jazz/ Rare Groove)dancefloors from London to Tokyo to even Phoenix,AZ. It's fusion of traditional Bossa Nova, Samba, and 60's Jazz melodies are delectibale to the ears. Nice songs that will get you groovin' are "Samba Blim", Reza", "Tristeza de no dois", and "Baiano". A big LP in my DJ box. A pretty heavy cost for a mint copy, but mine is only VG condition full of pops and crackles. I STILL LOVE IT!!!

I had to mention my favorite Claudine tune. A nice cinematic piece about an enigmatic lover with "Laughing eyes & dark brown hair..." who sweeps her off her feet, then splits with her dough when he goes to buy a ring. The track is touched by the deep-blue sax of Ernie Watts, which gives the track a "Noir-ish" vibe. Look of Love is one of the best records she did in her short career. Arranged by the genius Nick DeCaro, the godfather of A.O.R. !

Wow! I have been consuming a lot of baroque pop and jazz recordings lately, and while some of them are just nice, this one is astounding! Just imagine Bach-boogaloo, and you have most of the picture here. This piece sounds as fresh today as it did in the 60's! The arrangement is wild as all hell, and has to be heard to be believed. They also do great versions of "Sunshine Superman" & "Up, Up and Away"!

I loved this song the moment I heard it. The melody is really nice, and Leonard Cohen does his standby trick of singing slowly and hauntingly about mysterious women wearing "rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters." Very romantic in a seventies way. if you like Bob Dylan's voice, you'll probably like Leonard Cohen, although the content is different.

This is a pretty much overlooked gem by The Association. Somewhere described as a "total pacific beach fantasy", that's exactly how the song sounds. With it's idealized lyrics, great vocal harmonies, lush strings and a very nice acoustic guitar solo you can almost feel a gentle pacific breeze, evoking a similar kind of "lost summer" mood Chad & Jeremy's "Distant Shores" provide (at least for me)...

nice one! i discovered chris montez lately and i like what he has done.
this song is a cover of astrud gilbertos song from the album "beach samba" (which i didn't recognize until reading it at allmusic.com) and begins with a nice organ-melody as an intro. i especially like the sound of that organ, it's a very sweet and not to heavy one. so that it fits perfect into the mood of this song and giving it a little more sweetness.
as always chris montez sings like a woman and if one doesn't know this it wouldn't be necessarily clear to one. (correct english....?)
while searching for chris montez stuff i came across "the more i see you" performed by montez which was covered last year by a onehitwonderband here in germany and you couldn't escape to hear it at least twice a day no matter where you were leaving and going. the cover was very strict arranged along montez' version. i wonder how i would think of the montez original if this onehitwonder band wouldn't have done this cruelty?!
anyway, last years summer was great anyway...(sex every day...)
and now, you go and listen to that montez guy!!

A really lovely version of this song, which was more famously recorded by The Left Banke. The introduction nicely recalls the melody of The Association's 'Never my love'.

The instrumentation has a folk flavour, with a nice strummed acoustic guitar. The production is superb, with great, slightly distant sounding vocal harmonies and occasional sparkly percussion sounds. Overall, it's a sound not millions of miles away from groups like Spanky and Our Gang, but it has a melancholic edge to it that makes it more listenable to my ears. Something has happened to me over the last couple of years, and some of the more lightheartedly happy music I used to like appeals to me much less.

first of all: great soundtrack!
this track begins slowly with some percussions. and then the almighty horn section starts. i love them loud and dramatic. the way they are here. the rest of the track is also nice but looping 0:58 to 1:36 the whole day would do it for me...

This is taken from an album of spaghetti western themes that came out on United Artists records in the late 1960s. It has a similar sound to other releases of the era on that label, probably because Leroy Holmes was a staff arranger. I can definitely hear Al Caiola's guitar playing.

To my ears, the arrangement also has a hint of Quincy Jones's work on 'The Italian Job'. It's an upbeat, jerky track with a bassline so percussive that it almost sounds like part of the beat. The melody is carried by guitar, horns, and also some nice wordless vocals (right near the end there's an incredible descending vocal swell that's really something).

Overall, this has a slightly menacing, very hip sound. It might even work on the dancefloor!

I know very little about Hal - I just picked up this LP for a dollar on a hunch that it might be good. It's pretty great. There are two or three very strong 'mod' tracks, and then this, an example of my favorite kind of easy listening cut. It's very pretty and reasonably slow, with nice strings, good piano and solid percussion. There are some vocals, but their involvement is minimal. If I have a complaint, it's that the piano becomes slightly overbearing. But it's a cool track all the same.

One of the greatest session men ever goes overdub mad with a studio full of instruments. This track is a nice slice of american exotica with tons of swing... a bit too short though. He also does Voce E Eu & Sunshine Superman!

Quirky but beautiful nonsense with an infectious Brazilian beach party beat. The song "So Nice (Summer Samba)" from the same CD shows the range and class of the performer.

Really nice townes song lots of versions available from him

this a nice song, slightly out of character to the rest of the album ,"Livin' Love"(which is more traditionally sixties pop) this has a big energetic beat and a rousing chorus. perhaps not the most sophisticated composition in the world, but it makes me happy anyway...

The idea of a funky jazz harp rendition of this classic Jim Webb song is probably cheesy to some people, but trust me, this one works brilliantly. The opening shimmers delightfully with fender rhodes piano, strings, and a huge breakbeat. Dorothy's harp then takes over, and we move into a nice pop/funk/jazz take on the song. The relentless beat is pretty funny when you compare this version to others (e.g. the Glen Campbell hit version, also Nick Cave's classic stripped down version from 'Kicking against the pricks'), but it is really very charming, happy stuff. A similar funk/pop hybrid occurs on her version of 'Windmills of your mind' - highly recommended.

Excellent organ-heavy song centered around the rhythm of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle". Nice and fluid. Everything that is great about Jamaican soul in one neat little package, from Lee Perry's debut album as producer.

A great, spacey, upbeat track by music business impresario Bob Crewe. This is basically just very nicely dressed up brassy easy listening instrumental music. The arrangement has a cool 'Barbarella' sheen to it, with spacey sounds alongside the bouncy strings. A nice track from a great album.

ps. the inside gatefold sleeve of this album uses the same photo as the cover of The Smiths's 'Rank.'

A nice funky instrumental with simple blues chords. Ramsey plays electric piano, and the beat is sweet, like a lot of Cadet label stuff from the late 60s. Groovy stuff, and quite easy to come by on the reissue 2 LP - 'Inside Ramsey Lewis'.

This was actually never one of my favorite Bacharach songs, but I find this version delightful. It opens with a simple bassline and a groovy breakbeat, which are soon joined by delicate strings and woodwinds, and finally Cal's cool vibes. There are a lot of cool sounds in the mix; I think I can hear both a 12 string guitar and a hammond organ. Anyway, the track swings very nicely, and the groovy beat carries on relentlessly in the background. The all-Bacharach album this comes from is apparently disliked by purists, but I think it's really rather wonderful.

The album that this track is taken from was one of those strange albums that acquired mythical status in my mind. Based on a mixture of rumor and personal imagination (I could never actually find a copy), I convinced myself that this must be the coolest album ever made, a perfect fusion of moog, latin and mod sounds. A few years later I picked up the album very cheaply on ebay. Beautiful and interesting as it is, many of the tracks go slightly over the line for me.

'Dansero' is the only track on the LP that captures the blend that I was looking for. It's nice and short at under 3 minutes, and features a delightfully kooky introduction that sounds like the Jean-Jacques Perrey moog flourishes that the group Stereolab sampled on their 'Transient Random Noise Bursts...' album. The drums and moog then join up for a nice pop instrumental, catchy and bouncy. Different moog effects are piled on, but always quite effectively, making this one of the most enduringly successful moog-pop tracks in my collection.

Let it be known that I HATE covers... I like originals, but there is the odd exception and this is one of them. Amen Corner had a hit version with the song, but when you hear the 1969 Dave Clark Five version you will immediately forget the Amen Corner one. DC5 started out as a beat group and I don't like 1963-1966 beat. But like many groups they tried to survive in the music business and adapted to the new "sound" of the decade. They gave this song the late 60s treatment the way it should have sounded in the first place. Dramatic, musicall over-produced and full of power. If you like a strong orchestrated poptune, this is one of them. DC5 deserved the hit... not the Amen Corner.

Piero sings in a soothing, breath-y tenor... More italian in tone than latin, although,the best comparison i've found is Luiz Henrique.His phrasing reminds me of Luiz as well,but there is no real relation.The backing has a nice spaghetti -western kind of vibe ala' Moriccone,which gives the whole thing a kind of high planes drifter setting,with plucked electric bass, strummed acoustic guitar,and occasional female chorus with a light string arrangement,Very cool.The whole record is really good,and a lot of the songs have a distinctly latin ballad feel.

Yes, FRANKIE VALLI and the four seasons. You may be incredulous after listening to the album, as it's the concept excursion that derailed their singles chart streak. It has a nice lurching pop quality. I would put this album on a par with "Odessey and Oracle" and "S.F. Sorrow", but wouldn't that be silly? I think it was on a Rhino CD that's probably long deleted, but if you can find the vinyl with the newsprint insert intact, it makes for some funny reading...

Another Brazil '66 knockoff band, maybe not as solid as the Mendes-endorsed Bossa Rio, but they did do a nice version of the Roger Nichols track "love so fine". More importantly, they did this, a cover of one of the Drifter's less memorable hits, done over with a very punchy, immediate arrangement. More aggressive than most of Sergio's stuff. Nice Peanuts, Guaraldi/Schroeder style piano intro! Recorded in L.A. with a few studio guns on board. (added later) Maybe I have velveeta pumping through my heart, but I do enjoy this whole album, even the pretty bad version of turn, turn, turn.

Barbara Lewis was famous earlier in the sixties for 'Hello Stranger.' This is simple, soulful pop music with a very cool production: crisp drums and nicely orchestrated woodwind on top of rhythmic guitars. Somehow the charm of the recording overrides any feeling that the chord sequence is slightly obvious. Barbara's voice is beautiful here: emotional, yet understated. A small female choir comes in to accompany her at various points. The song is remarkably tight and catchy, with a prominent bass part driving it on. The producer at Stax for this record was Ollie McLaughlin, and I'm now looking out for more stuff that he worked on.

Two and a half minutes of infectious, sunny folk-rock with extra added jazziness in the changes. The FAB were a Lovin' Spoonful spinoff of sorts, produced and overseen by the troika of Jerry Yester, Zal Yanovsky (RIP) and Eric Jacobsen. Bassist Kenny Altman, who wrote this gem, later wrote "Feelin' Blue" which was memorably recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire and today apparently is in the restaurant business. Too bad he's not still cooking up delicious tunes like these!

I've got 5 or 6 Dot Ashby albums, and this is by far my favorite song of hers.

It's breathtaking, no mistake. The bass and drums are steeped in funk, yet keep it mellow. A flute (?) section keeps it nice and light. Its all held together by 'Dorothy's harp' her playing is perfect, sprwaling rich deep soundscapes.

I can't emphisise how perfect this song is. If you've hard any version of 'Windmills...' I'm sure you can imagine a harp suitung it well.

I belive Cadet have recently reissued the 3 albums Ashby did with them (Afro Harping, The Rubiayat of Dorothy Ashby, and Dorothy's Harp), but they can still be hard to get hold of. An excellent quality copy from an original LP can be found on Dusty Fingers Vol.1, also on vynil.

I'm not sure if this is available on CD.

A simple but catchy track with an excellent arrangement which is helped along by a nice slice of organ in the mix. Dreamily atmospheric, and of course beautifully sung.

Superb slow blues. Nice arrangement blending a rather distant-sounding orchestra with the very precise, restrained (yet very expressive) vocal and guitar. Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green were really quite something.

Dionne's lil' sister, in contrast to her sibling's restrained niceties, proves what a gorgeous, wholesome howl she has in a track voluminous with vehemence and the hope of joy hereafter. Warwick travels effortlessly between poles of frustration and hope over the underdone orchestration (a compliment: if the backing was as heartfelt as Dee Dee we'd be wading into Celine Dion territory).

And, in the age of Eamon and his bleep-a-ramas, it's deeply satisfying to hear a word such as "damn" being expressed as if it were the nastiest expletive possible.

I've been looking for a Japanese song with an late 60's/early 70's loungy, yet soulful and deep sound for a while. This song by Okumura Chiyo (Japanese name order, last name first) is the closest track I've been able to find yet. The title means love slave, the beginning lyrics translate something like, "from the day I met you, I've been your love slave, I want to wrap myself around your knee like a puppy..." This song is somewhere between traditional Japanese enka and soul similar to say Nancy Holloway for example. The Japanese instrumentation blends nicely with the bleeding bass and horns. If anyone knows of any other Japanese songs in a similar vein, I'd love to hear some more recommendations.

Jazz music for a hazy dream. Clean and simple arrangement with nice moments of well-articulated soloing. Altogether beautiful, with a cool and detached sound.

This song has a nice, creative intro with psychedelic sounds and such including the sitar, and then, just when you think the song is done Mariska chimes in and sings beautifully above some enticing backing vocals.

A really nice cinema-pop gem from the team that brought us The Windmills of your Mind. Sung by Sally Stevens, one of Hollywoods great voices. Such a charming little song. It's one of those things you instantly play again after the first time you hear it. It's more or less a song about freedom, with lyrics that still sound fresh today:"...Bullets fly like popcorn on the screen, recommended wholesome nice & clean, making love's the thing that can't be seen... Why?"

Found it on this sort of cash-in LP for LeGrand's UA soundtrack work from 1970. Originally from the soundtrack for "La Piscine", which is harder than hell to find on it's own. The LP is awsome for fans of LeGrand for it has 3 tunes from "The Thomas Crown Affair" , "La Piscine" , "The Young Girls Of Rochefort" & the jazz theme from "Play Dirty".

Nice and heavy, love the solo, the distorted vocals, everything.

This song is really nice.... Shelby's voice floats pillowy-soft above a lush, paced,jazz ensemble with vibraharp chiming chords alongside a heartbeat-like rhythym section.Her voice dipping down to touch it like a feather only to be lifted by the wind again... and again... A nice "Ode to a flower" almost in a hobbit rock mode, only without the schtik........

This is one of two that she wrote herself for (as far as I know) her only LP. The rest of the record is good, mind you. But the two songs she wrote are worth the price of the record. The other one is "Moonlight", which is an almost Stu Phillips-like bossa-nova...... Very pretty.

The Adrissi brothers look like they did some arranging, alongside Perry Botkin Jr., who did the two she wrote for the record. He's well known as an arranger and had done work with Harpers Bizarre, among others.

Good if you like A&M pop with folksy touches...

Claudine maybe?

Another awsome but forgotten vocal group from 60's California that deserves a proper re-issue!The Collage were a vocal quartet(2 boys & 2 girls)with a very cool sound.Not enough to set them apart from the pack,but very groovy out of their context.The sound is as good as re-discovered groups like Free Design, or Millenium.In fact,Curt Boettcher wrote one of the songs on the LP,as well as Roger Nichols!
This song has a kind of"love awareness" message that seems just as relevant in today's troubled world: "...Look at a baby,what do you see?What do you see,lookin' at a baby?/I can see the world the way that I would like the world to be!..."This song,as the opener on the LP,has a lot of power, with that great 8th note stomp and a big,boomy,bass line with harpsichord.The arrangements are by the great Perry Botkin Jr.,and he gives the whole record a nice swirling,magical quality.And the rest of the album is just as impressive, and should be worth the high price for any lover of the genre.

A cool portion of that underated genre, easy soul. Bradford's vocals (a less roaring Shirley Bassey is the nearest comparison I can think of) complement the light arrangement perfectly. Fits in with that whole John Schroeder Orchestra vibe. Sometimes you just want a lovely vocalist singing a nice song.

Interesting Beatles related Exploitation Record with a nice Cover!
The Sound is much similar to the Original Beatles from Liverpool!

Go to http://www.easylounge.org to see the cover and look for other interesting Records! (Organ Sounds, Easy Listening, Funky Big Band Beats, Cheesy Listening.....a lot of them with sound samples!)

A great instrumental by Pete Moore, which is laid back yet gently funky at the same time with nice brass and a cool wah-wah guitar sound. The production and arrangement is typical of his other work - clean sounding with a slow introduction and a superb rhythm section. Check out what is probably his best known track - Catwalk, which was featured on the Inflight Entertainment CD.

A really nice gently tropical instrumental with strings and a rock (drums/guitars) backing. I seem to be in a minority in adoring Les's 'Que Mango' album (which apparently was originally sold only in supermarkets at $1.99). I actually listen to this album as much as I listen to his classic exotic jazz LPs from the late 50s. It contains lots of great, shimmering, groovy tracks, such as 'boca chica', and the superb 'tropicando', which you can now hear almost everywhere (via a TV ad, and the aptly named 'Thievery Corporation'). Record geek part: on the vinyl version of this I have, the track 'Jungle Montuno' is shorter and sweeter - it begins one minute into the CD version of the track. I'm just mentioning this because the first minute seems to me to be inferior, and from a different song.

When I first started actively listening to Mancini, I guess it was in '94 or '95, I was put off by his work from the late '60s/early '70s. I guess my impression was that he wrote these brilliant pop scores until the mid-'60s and then just starting doing mediocre orchestral Beatles medleys and stuff like that. Well, lately I've been realizing how misinformed my first impression was. In fact, it seems i've been enjoying Mancini's work from this era even more than much of his older stuff. "Giovanna" is a great, jaunty little instrumental from Vittorio De Sica's 1970 film "Sunflower." The very Italian-sounding arrangement is carried by the organ and accordion. I think the "Sunflower" soundtrack is too often compared to Morricone. While I can maybe hear the influence, the sound is distinctly Mancini. Another good track from the album is "Love In The Sand" which features, uh, some very nice harpsichord work.

Nice version of Jim Webb�s classic!

This is a track of off Dearie's second Fontana album "That's Just The Way I Want To Be". An overlooked gem of a record, unusual sounding for Blossom, blending together jazz, bossa nova and folk with nicely arranged orchestration. "Sweet Surprise" has a dream-like, airy feel with it's jazzy waltz rhythm. The album is available on the japanese "Whisper for you" compilation. Unfortunately, her first Fontana album "Soon It's Gonna Rain" from 1967, featuring lots of Jobim and Bacharach songs, has yet to be released on CD.

This song is just one of the great songs from the Fontana album "Thats just the way I want to be". The song is written by Charles Aznavoir and this is the definitive version of it. Blossom is singing i front of a huge orchestra and her voice is clearer than ever as she sings this sad song to the happy bossa nova arrangements. Very nice!
See my website for more info: http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/blossomdearie/blossomdeariediscography.html

A great, very represantive Easy Listening/Bossa Nova song. The lyrics is acctually Websters dictionary's description of love. I know this song has been recorded on some other Dorough album but this is the definitive version. It has a great female choire and a nice bossa groove. Really a must! The record containes a bunch of other grat songs like I'm hip, The stranger and oblai de oblai da.

If you like psychedelic like Jimi Hendrix o Janis Joplin, you must liten to Aguaturbia the greatest psychedelic band from Chile, a real nice distortion, folk sounds, blues, crazy to the max! the real deal when you want to talk about south american psychedelic.
Totally recommenden for having a great time.

The Spencer Davis Group Version is good. But this is even better, it kicks in with great brass stabs and then this fantastic Bass Line kicks in, similar to the original but with a deeper, funkier feel. Nice drums and Toms great voice. For once it keeps the groove going all the way through, one of my friends used to close a disco night with this, and it rocked every time.

Goldsmith's score to this (supposedly forgettable) action film is mainly in a Lalo Schifrin/John Barry bag. This track even recalls Les Baxter's best work of the era. It begins with the main theme reminiscent of Barry's "Ipcress File." I think they even use the same instrument, the cymbalum. The main them then breaks out into this beautiful, lush orchestration topped with electric organ, a funky electric bass, and a very nice backbeat. It totally sounds like "Que Mango"-era Baxter. Anyway, this track and really the entire score are very cool in their own right.

My favourite Canadian rock single of all time. It's a slow one, which starts with solo piano, picks up the acoustic guitar, then gets a heavy fuzzy guitar in the chorus that complements the melody perfectly. Then repeat! With an organ and full band. Followed by a nice guitar solo at the end! Add in some interestingly-placed key changes (which are necessary to keep it level) and you've got a masterpiece, says I. Needless to say, I'm the only person on the planet outside the artists themselves who remembers it ...

Ben is one swingin' cat. Mocoto rock his Composition. Infectious piano & tamborine!

Very Perfect LP. Outstanding performing, nicely recorded, nicely paced. And a fine list of composers. Tim Maia, Antonio Carlos & Jocafi, Erasmo Carlos/Roberto Carlos & Jorge Ben.

Beautiful vocal song from a little known italian soundtrack. The italians just couldn't do no wrong in the late 60s/early 70s, this just floats gently along with a flutes, harpsicord, sweeping strings and chorus. Nice, light vocals on top of it, can't identify the female vocalist though.

This track is only available on the japanese reissue of "Garra" as a bonus track. I can only assume it's from the same session, if so it's completely beyond me why this gem has been left out, maybe it didn't fit in the context of the album since it's incredibly mellow with great flutes, horns, piano, oboe and silky strings and possibly didn't properly mix with the rest of the songs on the record.

Found this sealed copy at a local thriftery, an artist i've never heard from a good period at Columbia. Most of the LP meanders in a poetic way, highlighting Spheeris's moody lyrics, sometimes getting a little too "drippy" at times. This track stands out like a champ from the rest, and was penned by a sideman on the LP, Lee Calvin Nicoli. It has such a great pop appeal, in a sort of Cat Stevens way, with a brilliant arrangement (by the author no doubt), that moves along bouncing and resting... A perfect song for a rainy sunday afternoon!

Seems this fellow died very young, and has quite a cult following from what i've read. Should be a nice discovery for fans of 70's folk. And singer-songwriter stuff.

This is one of those odd discoveries: a track on a CD I've owned for about 8 years, but which I had somehow overlooked. I buy a lot of CDs, and I guess is one of the later tracks on a long compilation cd. Still, that's not much of an excuse, is it!

This is a slow, groovy instrumental (well, with wordless vocals) with funky drums, some fine fuzz guitar work, nice spiky brass and some very pleasing chord changes. It is strongly reminiscent of similar work of the time by people like Johnny Harris. I have a few tracks by completely different artists with a very similar feel/orchestration and closely related chord sequences. It's simultaneously very hip sounding yet quite square with the choir and strings. I love it, obviously.

One of a handful of Quebec artist Michel Pagliaro's (unsuccessful) stabs at the American charts, "Some Sing, Some Dance" is a breezy, acoustic-led pop trifle, lighter than air, with rudimentary lyrics apparently provided by William Finkelberg. A sample:

Ooh you
How would I know just to hold you
How could I show that I want to
'Cause I do wanna hold you
Yes I do

And the following verses expand ever so slightly on that very simplistic base, except by the 3rd terse verse, Michel has sped along from desiring the girl to doubting she could be true, to realizing she, in fact, WAS untrue. Nothing profound here lyrically (and one wonders how comfortable Pagliaro was in 1971 with the English language to keep things this simple), but no matter: The whole package is wrapped in an upbeat, spare but energetic arrangement featuring Pagliaro's acoustic guitar chording, and nice little touches sprinkled throughout, like castanets, shaken tambourine, echoey hand claps, an elegant string arrangement (by Ben McPeak)providing a wonderful counterpoint, and a flamenco-like guitar figure finishing out the brief chorus:

Some sing, some dance
Some like-a romance
I love lovin'

So, even though Michel's been chastened by his lover, he's still coming back for more and longing to still hold this woman...and he loves lovin'...obviously, the magic's in the music here, instead of the lyrics, and it's a little gem of a song. Listen and see if you aren't charmed as well.

The film this if from -- Sonny & Jed -- is a spaghetti western circa 1972. The soundtrack has some really nice moments like the beautiful track "Sonny" and this one which is an energetic sort of dance number. On spaghetti soundtracks, including Morricone's, it seems there is often an annoying dance number thrown in that sort of breaks the mood for me. Not so in this case. I particularly like the way uses the chorus and banjo here. For a while last spring, this track was more important than my morning cup of coffee.

This entertaining track opens with Astrud talking over a groovy guitar and piano background. As she starts to sing the words, the percussion becomes more pronounced, producing a nice bossa/funk hybrid. The production is very different to a lot Astrud’s work, probably because this album was from an obscure label (Perception) with contributions from different personnel than on many of her Verve recordings (e.g. Airto Moreira, Maria Toledo and Eumir Deodato).

From the Italian western of the same name. I haven't seen the film, but it seems to be a comedy starring Thomas Milian and in the mode of the popular Trinity films. This track is kind of a light-hearted square dance with typically brilliant instrumenation by Morricone -- bells, banjo, organ, chorus, acoustic guitar, drums and violins. This makes a nice companion to the "Wanted Dead Or Alive" track I recommended earlier. Lots of fun.

This one of the most insanely catchy and infectious tracks I've heard in a long time. Opens with a sparse bongo beat, accompanied by 'mouth percussion'. A German voice sounding slightly like aging British radio DJ Tommy Vance starts talking ('Der man, das Zigarillo'), before a catchy piano riff and jaunty easy listening chorus come in. A fun track - nice that compilations like 'pop shopping 2' come out and save things like this from total obscurity.

A very cool sunshine pop style number from the soundtrack to the Brazilian soap opera 'selva de pedra'. This two-minute track has an irresistable groove and some nice harmonized group vocals. The vocals are mostly gentle and smooth, like strings, but there are also some jazzier scat phrases thrown in. The entire soundtrack is highly recommended.

This is an uptempo, light bossa nova vocal interpretation of this song, very much in the vein of the classic Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 sound. Very nicely arranged male/female vocal harmonies, superb electric harpsicord and swirling, lush strings really make this version quite outstanding and contrasting to the Perry Como version, who popularized this song a year earlier.

In my experience John Gregory is one of the most consistently superb British arrangers of the 60s and 70s. I've never really heard anything I didn't like by him, although I understand that he was very prolific and that I've barely scratched the surface so far.

His arrangements have simultaneously a bite and a beauty that few others were able to match. Although not much of his work is available on CD, there's one excellent disc, 'Mission Impossible and other themes', that compiles most of his 'big band crime jazz' work, dating from the early 1960s to the mid 1970s. The disc isn't very excitingly packaged and can be had very cheaply, but it's full of outstanding tracks.

'Fire and Rain' is from a 70s album (I have it on a Philips sampler from the early 70s), and is a sumptuously arranged instrumental in the vein of some of the work of other British arrangers of the era, such as Johnny Harris and John Schroeder.

Of course, the song was written and originally recorded by James Taylor. His track is quite nice, but maybe it helped that I came to this version 'fresh', without having heard the original. This happens to me a lot, and Gregory's full arrangement and jazzy touches definitely elevate the track for me.

The melody is carried by a beautifully played trumpet, and later by the strings. There's a strong beat throughout, and a particularly groovy break towards the end with some great brass.

Really suprised to see this one in a thrift store recently. I was taken back by the bad cover photo of some blue cheese in tin foil with saltines and a bottle of wine.(?) Anyway, the music is fantastic, much in the vein of Jobim's CTI work from the same period. This piece grooves almost more in a Deodato way, with a nice funky nocturnal jazz bite. Nice to see the gap close on the years between his Bossa Rio stint and the records he did for Discovery.

Strangely enough it was recorded in Minneapolis MN while he was living there. On the RCA subsidary Daybreak.

Strange, plodding piece for this film about the '72 Munich Olympics. Very odd tempo (7/4 time?) with a warm cornet right up front that interplays nicely with the organ.

This is from a great album that I recently received as a gift. Andalucia opens with a beautiful echoey acoustic guitar. It's a tender, simple song, with delicate guitar playing, entertaining lyrics (like 'Andalucia - when can I see yer'), and a great melody. The atmosphere is enhanced by a steel guitar and some nice multitracked vocals. I guess Cale's voice is an acquired taste, but I find him rather earnest and charming.

This song is mostly carried by Leonard Cohen's voice, which meshes really well with his "longing/loving/musing on a wasted life" style lyrics. It moves really slowly, but that makes it nice.

this entire soundtrack to the film la planete sauvage comes highly recommended. never seen the film, but it can�t possibly be as good as the soundtrack suggests.
chilly, funky instrumental orchestral music. there�s a really haunting recurring theme through the album, nice use of choirs and twangy guitar too.

Pitched somewhere between Elton John,s "Rocket Man"and Bowie,s "Life on Mars" but oddly unique due to Lynsey's candy floss vocal.The content typically follows glam rocks pre occupation with the planets and spacemen but listen on and what could be third rate band wagoneering evolves, in a little over 5 minutes, into a substantial and epic tale of how an alien might view our futile existence ,yearning strings and clever layering produce a pleasant surprise from a performer considered little more than a nice to look at footnote . Dont judge an L.p by its cover!

Nice mellow one from A&M master arranger Nick DeCaro (Claudine Longet, many more), but this is probably my fifth "favorite" song off of this wonderful album, with versions of songs by Stevie Wonder ("happier than the morning sun") and Joni Mitchell ("all i want") that even the composers would have to admit have value added. I don't know if Ms. Mitchell necessarily sees the humor in changing the lyric "I want to knit you a sweater" to "I want to lift your sweater", but I do. Also a radical arrangement of "tea for two" only Bob Azzam can compete with. Nice comments by "konsu" on Nick's earlier album only show up if you put a space between "De" and "Caro".

Bizarre Cut. What's This "Country Funk"? Strange little record. Beautiful Production. Both have very nice voices. And love the 12 string Guitar. Flows Nicely.

Seven minutes of soul bliss. Loverboys the Players are. Amazing vocals. Great piano work.

Sweet guitar riffing. Nice Flutelines. The title doesn't lie.

Very nice, laid back summer song. Stevie Wonder struck Gold when he worked with Syreeta.

This is one of those songs that really sounds nothing like any of the artists' other songs. This is off Lani's first solo album "Sundown Lady" and was produced by her husband and label executive Herb Alpert. The song is the first song on the album and sets the tone with a nice easy bass line accented by the tinkling of an electric piano. The real money is the combination of Lani's impassioned vocals with whoever (maybe Herb?) singing a simple male vocal complement during the chorus. The song is effortlessly funky, understated and oh-so-deep. I haven't played this song for someone who hasn't loved it.

A simple and groovy, mid-tempo easy pop tune with a nice wah-wah guitar riff and Jane B.'s trademark teen fox vocal. Everything apart from the words "Lolita go home" is sung in French. Jane B. didn't really know French and it sounds quite funny. Gainsbourg and Birkin must've had a hell of a relationship! Another classic in my dj set which again shows Gainsbourg's tremendous ability to write sunny bubblegum pop as well as arrange it deliciously.

A nice a capella version of my favorite Gilbert O'Sullivan song, in a very full arrangement reminiscent of the Swingle Singers, with whom they share a member. Lyrically, the song is an antidote to the sleazy feeling I get from Rod Stewart's "tonight's the night". I used to think they shared a theme of pedophilia until I listened closer. I got this on a Japanese collection put together by Toru Hashimoto, probably the greatest compiler ever. He puts together all the Cafe Apres Midi (perfect!) and Free Soul (quite nice) collections. They can be had for $25 a pop from the Dusty Groove site, which seems high for a single disc, but they are all close to eighty minutes and packed with great songs which have lead me to several thousands of dollars worth of related purchases in the last few years. Gilbert O'Sullivan's stuff is worth looking into if you have an ear for it, and there is a nice cheap two disc collection on JVC Japan.

this song is brilliant. lyrics quite catchy and fun and the tune is simply great. a nice combination of a music style you just don't seem to hear anymore with lyrics you could almost laugh at, but don't, because it could happen. simply great.

An over-the top introduction to Kansas. This was the song that hooked most Kansas fans.

It showcases the band members individual talents:
Dave Hope's excellent bass
Robbie Steinhart's violin and vocals
Rich William's guitar work, often harmonizing nicely with Robbie's violin
Steve Walsh on keyboards and vocals
Kerry Livgren's Lead guitar, and hopeful, powerful lyrics.

A very nice uptempo Brazilian number so much of the same cloth as Elis Regina's "zazueira" and "bicho de matto" that I was surprised that Jorge Ben didn't write it. The album as a whole is definitely one that grows on you with each listen, but this track will hit you the first time out.

If someone would have asked me say ten years ago what artist's oeuvre I would take with me to a desert island, I would with dead certainty have answered: everything by Joni Mitchell, please. I'm not so sure anymore, although it could well be that I, when push comes to shove, would still make that choice. So it may not come as a surprise now that for a long time my all time best album was one of Joni's, Don Juan's Reckless daughter, where her cooperation with Jaco Pastorius really took off, for instance on this song where she's questioning her love for a man who's new sweety has already moved in while still keeping poor Joni (assuming the song is sort of autobiographical) on the side as his Off Night Backstreet. Jaco's warm bass carries the whole song and is almost like a second voice to Joni's singing, it blends marvelously with her cold metal guitar, some nice echoey and spacy flageolets too, great additional vocals - "Backstreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!"- by JD Souther and Glenn Frey, drums by John Guerrin, subtle and tight. PS Be warned that the soundfile is quite big (500 Kb).

A smooth jazz-funk groove with Rhodes and synths playing melodically against each other. It sounds like Azymuth. In fact, it is Azymuth. Conversation, glasses clinking, a girl laughs in the distance. And Silvio's voice comes in, nice and mellow, describing what it's like to have a bunch of friends over for a get-together. Although he's one of Brazil's hippest crooners, a man who specializes in somewhat cliched yet mysteriously cool and affecting love songs, he lays back here and lets the country's greatest jazz-fusion outfit do its thing. How many romantic crooners ever do that?

Nico Fidenco scored all of the infamous "Emanuelle Nera" movies and these are a demonstration of pure, unadulterated sleaze, but very solidly arranged and composed with wordless female vocals, rich strings, flutes, horns, trumpets, percussion etc. All scores were released seperately in Japan, but for a very nice introduction the Dagored compilation "Black Emanuelle's Groove" is sufficient.

Gabriel's wonderful tribute to the hill overlooking Somerset, England. Nice acoustic guitar work by Steve Hunter.

One of the most nonsensical song title ever, yes, I know and much derided for that reason, but to quote Otis Redding when told his lyrics didn't make any sense, "I'm gonna worry about settin' the groove. I get that groove going, they don't care what I say." Boogie Oogie2 has got groove to spare, with a jazzy intro (similar to Boogie Nights by Heatwave) before that bass line drops in shakes the floorboards. Just like all the dance craze songs of the 60s, the disco era about vocals were mostly used as a counterpoint to the rhythm section. The Mizell brothers add a touch of sophistication to this female-led band (Hazel Payne and Janice Marie Johnson on bass and guitar - they're the ones on the awesome album cover) which is a step further in the commercial direction after their work with Jazz Funk kings like Donald Byrd, Gary Bartz and Johnny Hammond. This song is up there with G.Q.'s "Disco Nights (Rock Freak)" and anything by Chic in the sophisticated disco category.

a nice old jimmy webb song

This is a cover of the Spector, Mann and Weil classic. I'd always loved The Human League - and Dare is probably the seminal new romantic album. But it wasn't until a friend of mine bought Reproduction in the late 1980s that I discovered the early, darker side of The Human League.

Reproduction is often slated for being too doomy and too pretentious. But there's some real gems on there - and Empire State Human and Blind Youth bounce along nicely.

The real killer is track 7 - which effectively blends electronic lament Morale with the League's cover of You've Lost That Loving Feeling. It's a beautiful, slow version - a totally electronic lullaby and it's totally essential.

The lyrical theme of �6060-842� seems pretty mundane for the B-52s. Tina goes to the ladies room, sees a phone number scrawled on the wall, and so decides to ring it. Hmm� doesn�t sound like it�s gonna be a tale the measure of �the time our car was hijacked by the devil� and the like. Still this IS the B-52s, and recognisably so, �if you�d like a very nice time, just give this number a call� reads the unlikely graffiti. So something must happen. The band are optimistic too, bouncing along excitedly on a jumpy new wave rhythm. Tina, we reckon, is much like the band. She lives for wild parties and crazy adventures. This 6060-842 could be just the ticket. �Oh my gawd! I�m gonna give that there number a ring. You see if I don�t!� So she drops a dime in the phone slot and, �prays she gets the line.� She�s biting her lip, stabbing her nails into her finger tips, �come on� come ON!!!�

But pause a moment. Is she really so na�ve? Does she really think a �really nice time� awaits her? In the gnarled and weather beaten hands of a social realist singer-songwriter, the number 6060-842 would lead to abuse, to prostitution, and ultimately, to death. In the hands of the B-52s? I don�t know, you tell me. A debauched toga party in a 1950s vision of the future�? Well, it�s neither. It�s just a brilliant anti-climax. You see Tina and the B-52a might be deranged, but the world they live in is not. It�s bloody typical. She dials 6060-842, and can�t get through! �The number�s been disconnected�� monotones the operator. But Tina won�t accept this, no, and neither will the band. They can�t end the track with Tina accepting the disappointment with a sigh of weary resignation, �ah well, nevermind� maybe next time.� No, no, this anti-climax has worked them up into an angry frenzy. Ricky Wilson vents his frustration with viscious slashes of electric guitar whilst Tina just keeps dialing and dialing, and getting rebuffed and rebuffed, �HELLO!!!� �sorry�� The track probably ends with them all smashing up the phone box. A superb, and much over-looked track.

Alright! This is just great, Bob from Sesame Street doing a cute little bossa-inflected ditty about rain. And unlike a lot of S.St. records, this one's got arrangements that are just terrific,thanks to Stuart Scharf,the man behind Spanky & Our Gang among others.Bob's gotta nice voice too,and handles the material with a simple sophistication.A children's chorus joins him on some tunes, sometimes with his "CTW-style" encouragement.There is another great song on here called "Groovin' In The Sunshine" that has the kids singing the whole thing,almost in a Langley School-ish kinda way. Cute.

lovely feelgood song from the borderline brilliant japanese new wave band plastics. a break from their often minimalistic intrumentation. oddball lyrics, nice guitar, harmonica and extremely enthusiastic singing.
i love the way the male vocalist seems to be holding his nose while singing in the beginning of the song.


waiting for the taxi
standing in the snow white
newspapers falling on the ground
it's cold and cold and cold

new york is frozen steak
teddy bear and kitty cat
fireplace and candles
all you need is weapon

this is peace
this is funny fairy tale

green green green peace
high high high heel
inside is outside
world is nonsense

dream of the tide wave
my peace is your peace
peace by the people
peace for the peace

this is peace
this is funny fairy tale

all i see is green green
grave yard of lily white
sleeping beauty laying there
with dots and symbols

marmalade evening
fur coats and venus
venus and mighty dragon said
all you need is weapon

this is peace
this is funny fairy tale

That the Church's initial breakthrough song would yet become a millstone around its neck might not have been clear at the time, but one understands pretty easily why the band was anxious to escape its shadow after subsequent efforts clearly showed the tune as the building block it was. But "The Unguarded Moment" isn't a disaster at all - indeed, for a young band to come up with such a great effort early on and get some airplay and attention for it was as clear a sign as any that something really special could yet result. Marty Willson-Piper's flat out lovely introductory guitar and the sinewy blend of his and Peter Koppes' instrument on the main melody sets the tone, while the stripped down verses and quiet rhythm changes throughout give a great taste of the band's incipient ambitions and tweaking of an established formula. Steve Kilbey's quietly rueful but still clear and strong lead vocal adds a nice air of calm melancholia, while coming up with some fun lyrical images here and there ("Tell those friends with cameras for eyes�").
(AMG)

Very nice song in that new wave 1980's fashion

Richly melodic, attractively textured instrumental track at the end of an otherwise rather unassuming album. Nice chords. Nice synthesizer and guitar work. Co-written with the original guitarist of Genesis, Anthony Philips.

this is an example of why canadian bands are quite good, yet underrated. at least i have never seen rational youth get too much airplay.

i love this song--pure new wave goodness with a twist. it's very well played. simple lyrics and a nice tune.

I grew up listening to Joe Jackson and i still find his venturing into all sorts of musical styles and the eclecticism surrounding his musical work very interesting. Starting as a post-punk, new wave singer/songwriter he released three great albums from 79-81 with his "Joe Jackson Band" before going solo with a string of fine albums in the 80s (musically ranging from jazz, R&B, rock to latin-tinged sophisticated pop) and later writing and arranging soundtracks and even doing classical music. He recently regrouped with his band, produced another album and toured with the original line-up consisting of Gary Sanford, Graham Maby and Dave Houghton and surprisingly it worked as good as in the beginning of his career. "Steppin' Out" was released on probably his best solo offering "Night & Day" in 1982, a highly evocative, melancholic, catchy pop song skillfully mixing a synth sequencer beat and keyboards with piano jazz harmonies and xylophones.

"Destination Unknown" sounds the least dated of all of Missing Persons' hits, most likely because it was their most melodically satisfying song. The fact that it's also Dale Bozzio's least mannered vocal performance, with none of her trademark hiccups, helps considerably as well. Her helium-pitched voice ? Dale Bozzio sang like a new wave Betty Boop ? keeps this song firmly in the Missing Persons tradition, but the low-key backing vocals by her male bandmates on the chorus are a nice touch. The lyrics are typically lightweight, your basic high school-level musings on alienation by someone who has just learned the word "existential" but is unclear about what it actually means, but Ken Scott's light-handed production and nice touches like the staccato programmed drum fills on the chorus make it pleasant on the ear regardless.
(AMG)

a very atmospheric song. a quiet intro that slowly builds up. the vocals are frail and mysterious, they feel frail and light. the whole song seems to fade at the end, one keeps expecting it to stop, but it goes on for over six minutes.
it's no "swamp thing" (the obligatory comparison) but a very nice tune nonetheless.