Elmer Bernstein

Artist: Elmer Bernstein

LP: The Caretakers

Song: "The Caretakers (main title)"

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Song: "Black Strait-Jacket"

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One of my favorite kinds of movie is the melodramatic "ripped-from-the-headlines" expose film of the late '50s and early '60s. Whether reporting on the struggles, sacrifices, and humiliations of big-city women working their way up the corporate ladder, of a group of big-city hospital interns, or of those involved in crimes of passion who smear the family name across the front pages of big-city tabloids, these films are guaranteed to deliver deliciously lurid thrills. Addressing issues like abortion, mental illness, racism, and sexual freedom, these films dragged movie audiences to places they'd never been before. THE CARETAKERS, which exposes the struggles, sacrifices, and humiliations of doctors and patients inside a women's mental hospital, is a fine example of the genre. Master composer Elmer Bernstein has fashioned a wildly dramatic soundtrack to match the histrionics hurled from the screen by actors Robert Stack, Polly Bergen, Herbert Marshall, Constance Ford, Janis Paige, Diane McBain...and Joan Crawford. As usual, Crawford sinks her teeth into her meaty role, this time a stern head-nurse named Lucretia Terry who rejects handsome young Dr. Donovan MacLeod's newfangled ways of treating the mentally ill, resolutely clinging to her tried-and-true methods involving violence and torture. You can buy a copy of THE CARETAKERS on DVD from the Warner Archives store here, go here to read about the life and career of Elmer Bernstein and see a list of films for which he composed music, and visit the official Elmer Bernstein website here.

[ Elmer Bernstein: April 4, 1922 — August 18, 2004 ]

Evie Sands

Artist: Evie Sands

LP: Estate of Mind

Song: "I Love Makin' Love to You"

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Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1946, Evie Sands celebrated her 66th birthday last week. Evie reportedly emerged from her mother's womb singing—figuratively speaking, one hopes. Popular for her "blue-eyed soul" of the late 1960s, Evie's early career suffered several setbacks, with label troubles causing some of her early singles to be eclipsed by simultaneous hit versions by other artists—including "Take Me For a Little While," which was made popular by Jackie Ross, and "Angel of the Morning," which Merrilee Rush took to the top ten just a few months after Evie Sands' version was impaired by label bankruptcy. Sands finally saw chart success with singles from her 1975 "Estate of Mind" LP, including "I Love Makin' Love to You," which peaked at #50 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart. Karen Carpenter recorded the song in 1980 for her ill-fated solo album which wasn't released until 1996, and though the song wasn't included on the finished record, you can give it a listen on YouTube here. Evie Sands continues to write music and perform today, though she spent most of the past few decades writing and producing for others. You can read all about Evie Sands and find a list of artists who've recorded her songs on Wikipedia here. Album credits, song lyrics, and a photo from the back of "Estate of Mind" are included below.

Sonja Herholdt

Artist: Sonja Herholdt

LP: Sonja

Song: "Jy"

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This pressing of Sonja's 1976 debut LP seems to be from The Netherlands and was apparently made sometime after '77, since there's a picture of her 1977 followup LP, "Sonja Herholdt," on the back cover. Looks like a lucky someone got this lovely orange LP for their birthday in February of 1980, with love, from Marji. You can read about popular South African singer and actress Sonja Herholdt on Wikipedia here.

Silver Spurz Orchestra

 Artist: Silver Spurz Orchestra

LP: Silver Spurz Orchestra

Song: "Cowboy (Come and Love Me Tonight)"

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Song: "Cool Water"

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At first I assumed this was some campy pho-country disco record assembled in NYC by a bunch of cheeky clubbers—with "Cowboy (Come and Love Me Tonight)" vocalist Karen Taylor seemingly having landed herself in this situation, and "Cool Water" vocalist Alan Moore sounding like one of those cowboys who's adorned with way too many of these. But the LP sleeve says the Silver Spurz Orchestra made this record in Nashville—the Country Music Capital of the World! So evidently these guys are the real deal and this was just the sort of country music coming out of Nashville in 1979, if only for a few glorious hours.

Kay-Gee's

Artist: Kay-Gee's

LP: Kilowatt

Song: "Space Disco"

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This 1978 "Kilowatt" LP was the last from Kool & the Gang proteges Kay-Gee's, who are an awfully handsome bunch when they're not wearing goofy multi-colored space suits. You can read about this sexy Jersey City outfit on the allmusic website here.

Sakura

Artist: Sakura

LP: 7" single

Song: "Bunga Sakura"

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This 1971 4-track 7" by Sakura (aka. Sakura Teng, aka. Ying Hua) is one of the cool things I found at Weirdo Records in Cambridge, Massachusetts when I was there for a conference a few years back. You can read a bit about Sakura Teng at the Singapore '60s Pop Music Hall of Fame blog here, and pick up your own personal copy of this record on eBay here. Oh, and if someone you know has too many copies of "Sakura Goes Boom Boom" and they'd like me to take one off their hands, please let me know.

Joël Holmes

Artist: Joël Holmes

LP: 7" single

Song: "Les Chemins de Rome"

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Here's a bouncy ditty from France, probably from the early-to-mid 1960s, that I sometimes use for my early morning baton-twirling practice. Not to be confused with the talented jazz pianist, the junior rugby player from Wales, the guy from Tennessee whose estranged wife hired a hit man to kill him, or the Michigan video-game nerd of the same name, the handsome French crooner Joël Holmes has very little info about himself available on the web. What we do know is that the orchestra accompanying him on "Les Chemins de Rome" is under the direction of Jean Bouchety...or maybe it's Bernard Kesslair. Hard to tell.

[ Joël Holmes: 1928 — September 2, 2009 ]

Spring Is In the Hair

Gloria's hair was suddenly lifted by the wind, and she knew that it would soon be spring.

side one:
01. Étude - Op. 72, No. 15 in B - Moritz Moszkowski [piano: Ilana Vered]
02. Ooh I Like It Too - Luv'
03. Serenata En La Playa - Los Telefonistas
04. Ready to Go Steady - The Go! Team
05. Soul Sauce (Wachi Wara) - Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra
06. Walking On Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
07. Terre des Vivants - Alan Stivell
08. Mamma Panama - Carlos
09. Lady Carneval - Karel Gott und der Günter Kallmann Chor
10. A Felicidade - Claudine Longet
11. Te Amo - Atlas Sound
12. Dream House - Jesse Belvin
13. El Boss Dicho - Bow Wow Wow
14. Young At Heart - Bananarama
15. Idaho - Dakota Staton 
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side two:
01. I Don't Wanna Die In An Air Disaster - Albert Hammond
02. Casa Od Kristala - Omer Livnjak
03. Bukowynska - Vladimir Prymak and His Band
04. Zorbing - Stornoway
05. Green - Claude Gauthier
06. Royal Hawaiian Hotel - Gabby
07. Diamond Spirit - Spirit
08. Carolyn's Fingers - Cocteau Twins
09. The Telephone Song - Bob & Phil and the Orchestra
10. Somewhere There's Someone - Tony Bruno
11. Bow Wow Polka - The Jolly J's
12. I Love Connecticut - Hank Fort
13. Forests & Sands - Camera Obscura
14. Come On Sunday - The Swiss Movement
15. You Are My Sunshine - Prahba Devi
16. Étude - Op. 72, No. 12 in D-flat - Moritz Moszkowski [piano: Ilana Vered]
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Moritz Moszkowski

Artist: Moritz Moszkowski

LP: 15 Virtuoso Études, Op. 72
Pianist: Ilana Vered

Song: "Étude - Op. 72, No. 15 in B"

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I've started taking piano lessons again, and you know what that means! (It means I'm learning how to play the piano.) After attending a piano class about Robert Schumann last Saturday where a number of his pieces were performed, I realized how much I've missed listening to classical piano music. I headed down to Silver Platters to pick some up, since they've got one of the best selections in town. After finding a nice collection of Schumann pieces recorded on CD by Murray Perahia and a CD featuring piano pieces by Brahms, I nearly hollered out loud when I suddenly came across this used copy of Moszkowski's piano Etudes from Opus 72 that I've been trying to find for nearly a decade. Born in what's now the Polish city of Wroclaw in 1854, Moszkowski's Romantic-era compositions enjoyed immense popularity toward the end of the 19th century, but that quickly dissipated in the early 1900s as the fickle public began embracing the works of more modern composers like Scriabin, Debussy, and Satie. Moszkowski's 15 Virtuoso Études, Opus 72 were written in 1903, but the entire set had never been recorded until Israeli pianist Ilana Vered sat down to work on them for this 1970 LP release. (I can actually play Moszkowski's Étude No. 15 in B, but whereas Ilana's fluid version runs a mere 2:04, my rendition is more pensive, melancholy even, and clocks in at around 13:47.) You can read about Ilana Vered here, read about the life and career of Moritz Moszkowski here and in the liner notes below, and click here to find a list of Moszkoski's compositions.

[ Moritz Moszkowski: August 23, 1854 — March 4, 1925 ]

Paschalis

Artist: Paschalis

LP: Ta Opaiotepa Tpaioyaia Moy

Song: "The May Girl (Venus)"

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When my radio alarm clock came on this morning, I heard a report on NPR news stating that European officials had approved the latest round of rescue money for Greece's troubled economy. Reporter Jim Zarroli whined that the $170 billion bailout was just "one more step in Europe's long crawl back from the edge of financial oblivion." I sat straight up in bed and screamed to myself "No!" As everyone knows, Greek men are really sexy. (Paschalis, who resembles Austin Pendleton's Dr. Larrabee from WHAT'S UP DOC?, notwithstanding.) Look at this guy! And what about this one? Don't forget this one! Would you like these men to be flung over the edge into financial oblivion? I sure wouldn't. So today's post is dedicated to European leaders as a way of saying thank you for lending the Greeks a hand. Here's hoping everything turns out all right in the end—just like it did in WHAT'S UP, DOC? You can listen to the NPR report for yourself here, and go here to see another sexy Greek guy.

Christ Child

Artist: Christ Child

LP: Christ Child

Song: "Star Whores"

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Here's something I found at Smash Records in Washington, DC a few months ago. There's not much info about Christ Child to be found online, except that they're a "fake" punk band from L.A. I wasn't sure what that meant exactly (the "fake punk" part—I understand what it means to be from L.A.), but as I dug further I learned that Christ Child was actually a metal band that threw together this tongue-in-cheek 1977 LP on which they pose as part of the underground punk movement that was sweeping through the UK at the time. It doesn't take long, however, to identify Christ Child as a fraud. First of all, these guys aren't nearly angry enough. And second of all, what self-respecting punk rock band would reference STAR WARS and stick laser-beam sound effects in one of their songs? That totally breaks all the rules.