7th Wonder

Artist: 7th Wonder

LP: Thunder

Song: "The Tilt"
[ listen ]

A friend and colleague from work left on vacation to the Middle East this week. She'll be stopping by Egypt to see The Great Pyramid of Giza—the only one of The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World still in existence today! According to Wikipedia, The Great Giza Pyramid is actually Ancient Wonder #2 though, and not the 7th one as this 1980 funk LP would have us believe. 

With all the other six Wonders wiped off the face of the planet (earthquakes, you know), it makes sense from a tourism standpoint to assemble a new list of Wonders that people can actually still visit to buy t-shirts, key chains, and other souvenirs. In November of 2006, USA Today and Good Morning America did just that, unveiling a revised list of Seven Wonders selected by a panel of six judges, with an Eighth Wonder tacked on a while later based on viewer feedback. Inspired, I've thrown together my own list of things that make me Wonder. The group photo from the back of this LP ended up at number five.

[ 7th Wonder ]

Tin Tin

Artist: Tin Tin

LP: 12" single

Song: "Hold It"
[ listen ]

Stephen Duffy evidently only released two singles (and no LPs) with his group Tin Tin, and "Hold It" was one of them. It went to #55 on the charts in England in 1983, when Duffy was just 23 years old. (The other Tin Tin single was "Kiss Me," which, according to my sources, was released no fewer than four times! But it was released no more than four times either. In fact, it was released four times. One of those, in 1985, actually produced a top ten hit.) Mr. Duffy recorded under a number of other names too—Holy Tin Tin, Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy, Duffy, The Subterranean Hawks, The Hawks, Obviously Five Believers, The Lilac Time, Dr. Calculus, Me Me Me, The Devils—and was one of the founding members of Duran Duran, but he left the group in 1979, just before they became famous.

[ Tin Tin ]

Juliette Greco

Artist: Juliette Gréco

LP: No. 7 [10" EP]

Song: "On N'oublie Rien"
[ listen ]

I was excited to find this 1960 Juliette Gréco 10" EP at Georgetown Records a few weeks ago. The only downside, really, is that it's called "No. 7," which seems to indicate that there's probably a No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 that I still don't have in my collection. You can read about the fabulous Ms. Grego, who turned 91 earlier this year, on Wikipedia here and go here to read a career retrospective assembled by The Guardian on the occasion of her 90th birthday.  

[ Juliette Gréco ]

#18 - El Violoncello

Have you ever heard the one about the dusty old El Violoncello up for auction where the guy selling it says something like, "Anyone want it for a buck?" But nobody wants to bid anything for it since it looks so worthless. Then an old man with grey hair (probably messy) from the back of the room silently rises and makes his way to the stage (these were the days before heightened security at auctions). He picks up the old and battered El Violoncello, blows the dust off, and plays something amazing that sounds like angles. Suddenly everyone in the place is weeping and falling over themselves to whip out their checkbooks to pay a million dollars for the thing. I know it's a parable for homeless people or whatever, but I feel like my mix tapes are kinda' like that too. "Who wants this old cassette tape? Anyone?" I call it "The Touch of the Master's Cassette Player." You can read the entire poem here.

side one:

01. You're So Cool - Jonathan Bree

02. Cruel - St. Vincent
03. Slow Hand - Pointer Sisters
04. I.O.I.O. - Bee Gees

05. Bring a Little Sunshine - The Tee Set
06. Everybody's Talking - Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
07. The High and the Mighty - Jimmy Smith
08. Window Shades - U.S. Girls

09. Tremolo - Young Fathers

10. Love For Sale - Helmut Zacharias and His Magic Violins

11. I'm Alone - Janos Sarkozi

12. The Wilder Wise - Thumpers

13. Walking With a Killer - The Breeders

14. Grandpa's Waltz - Nino Rota

[ listen ]

side two:

01. Etincelles - Op. 36, No. 6 - Moritz Moszkowski (piano: Daniel Grimwood; violin: Nazrin Rashidova)

02. Violin - Kate Bush

03. Quarterback - Kopecky
04. The One I Love - Blonde Redhead

05. Blue Moovie - Pasquale Dagorn and the Sounds of Love Orchestra
06. Huag Mo Akong Iwanan - Cenon Lagman

07. Csütörtök Este - Imre Magyari and His Gypsy Orchestra
08. Hammer - Tune-Yards

09. Climb to Me - Pattern Is Movement

10. Demolition Man - Grace Jones

11. Tremble (My Girl Doesn't) - The Wolfgang Press

12. Deadly Valentine - Charlotte Gainsbourg

13. Charly - Santabárbara

14. A Starting Point - Dif Juz

[ listen ]

Lucio Battisti

Artist: Lucio Battisti

LP: 7" single

Song: "Diece Ragazze"
[ listen ]

Here's a slice of spicy Italian for a drab and dreary Seattle Saturday afternoon. If I had choose only one Italian singer I could listen to for the rest of my life (and could borrow coats and ascots from), I think I'd pick the reclusive Mr. Lucio Battisti. (Lucio withdrew from public appearances in 1982, and then became even more reclusive after the autumn of 1998.) If you haven't heard it, I heartily recommend Battisti's 1971 "Amore e Non Amore" LP, released two years after his first top ten hit, "Diece Raggazze," peaked at #3 on the Italian singles charts in 1969. You can read more about the life and career of Lucio Battisti here.

[ Lucio Battisti: March 5, 1943 — September 9, 1998 ]

Doris Day

Artist: Doris Day

LP: 7" EP

Song: "I'm Gonna Ring the Bell Tonight"
[ listen ]

I'm kinda' sick today, but I still went to work. I'd picked up a cake at Fred Meyer that looked like one of the hats Doris Day might have worn in ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS, and I wanted to share it with my co-workers today for Doris' 96th birthday! Even though half of them (in their 20s, you know) have only a vague idea of who Doris Day is. But they got pictures in their email inboxes today, you can rest assured. Anyhow, it was a white cake with lemon filling, small and round like this one, but it was done up with a sort of '50s green frosting with pink highlights, with a pink candy flower in the center. Why didn't I take a picture of it before it was devoured? I do not know. Life is full of regrets. Now I'm heading over to the sofa for a film festival.

[ Happy Birthday, Doris Day! ]