"D" Train

Artist: "D" Train

LP: You're the One For Me

Song: "'D' Train Theme" 
[ listen ]

Since I ended up on the freeway north of Seattle yesterday after breakfast, I decided to see if the record store I'd stumbled upon in Everett about ten years ago was still around. The place has moved to a bigger spot, but Bargain CDs, Records & Tapes is still going strong! I spent the entire afternoon rummaging through their bins as a windstorm raged outside. I remembered their prices as being a little on the higher side, but fortunately yesterday they were having a store-wide half-price sale (which has been going on for years, according to Yelp reviews), which made the prices pretty reasonable. I ended up taking home a nice stack of treasures, one of which was this dancetastic 1982 LP from James "D Train" Williams. Read about "D" Train the man here, and look here for "D" Train the group.

[ Bargain CDs, Records & Tapes — Everett, WA ]

Connie Francis & Hank Williams, Jr.

Artist: Connie Francis & Hank Williams, Jr.

LP: Connie Francis & Hank Williams, Jr. Sing Great Country Favorites

Song: "Wabash Cannonball"
[ listen ]

Before stumbling upon this wonderful 1964 duet LP filled with country standards at a cute little walk-in closet of a store called Skully'z Recordz in the French Quarter of New Orleans, I had no idea that Connie and Hank, Jr. had made a record together—and they've been out driving together too! Like peanut-butter and chocolate, Hank and Connie make a surprisingly delicious combination that truly reflects today's spirit of musical pioneering. Go here to read all about Connie Francis, here to read about Hank Williams, Jr., and there's a bit of information about this record they made together here. Liner notes from the back of the LP are included below. 

 [ Connie Francis & Hank Williams, Jr. ]

[ Skully'z Recordz — New Orleans, Louisiana ]

The Cardinals

Artist: The Cardinals

LP: The Best of The Cardinals - Vol. 1

Song: "The Wheel of Fortune"
[ listen ]

Song: "Choo Choo"
[ listen ]

I hadn't initially planned to visit Oxford, Mississippi on my trip through the South, but when I searched online for record stores in Tupelo, I discovered that the nearest one was fifty miles away—in Oxford. The store, called The End of All Music, closes at 6pm on Mondays, so I had to hightail it northward across the state, with no freeway, all the way from Meridian. I'd left Meridian in the afternoon and made it to the Oxford record store at about 5:15pm. I was thrilled to have 45 minutes to dig through the place, but a little bummed that I didn't have 245 minutes available. It was one of the best record stores on my trip! Though it doesn't look like much from the outside, the inside is well-lit, well-decorated, and well-organized with several different rooms, each featuring a different group of genres. There's even a small walk-in closet full of singles, including three bins of Motown and three bins of Stax singles that I didn't have time to look through. I found lots of neat stuff at The End of All Music (gospel, soul, jazz organ, calypso, folk) so it was hard to decide what to post. I've settled on this collection by The Cardinals (yet another one of the "bird groups"), since it features a neat train song. Everyone knows I love train songs. I don't usually collect "Best Of" albums, but since The Cardinals evidently only released singles throughout the 1950s, and no LPs, this vintage collection seems like a good thing to have. Formed in Baltimore in the mid 1940s, The Cardinals recorded their first single in New York in 1950. The group went through a few lineup changes over the years, landing quite a few hits on the R&B singles charts before calling it quits in the early 1960s. "The Wheel of Fortune" was a top ten hit for The Cardinals in 1951; "Choo Choo" was actually the b-side of their 1956 single called "Off Shore." You can read more about The Cardinals here and here and then read even more here, where you'll also find their complete discography.

 [ The Cardinals: Donald Jack Johnson, Meridith Brothers, Ernie Lee Warren, 

Leon "Tree Top" Hardy, Jack Sam Aydelotte ]

 [ The End of All Music — Oxford, Mississippi ]

Merrill Jay Singers, feat. Wendy Leyden

Artist: Merrill Jay Singers, feat. Wendy Leyden

LP: Songs of the Railroad

Song: "Daddy's On the Engine"

[ listen ]

Here's something I picked up for $3.50 at EveryDay Music on Capitol Hill last week. If you ask me, this crazy quilt of fun, toil, triumph, disaster, and the universal love-hunger is ripe for a contemporary remake.

Horacio Diaz, His Piano & His Orchestra

Artist: Horacio Diaz, His Piano & His Orchestra

LP: Brazilian Choo-Choo: Dance to the Music of Horacio Diaz, His Piano & His Orchestra

Song: "The Brazilian Choo-Choo Train"

[ listen ]

This lively dance number about a Brazilian choo-choo should get your blood moving if, like mine, your morning coffee never really kicked in today. According to my Google search, pianist Horacio Diaz has pretty much slipped into obscurity, along with his piano and his orchestra. The only Horacio Diazes I could dig up were ones like this guy and this guy and this one too. According to the bilingual liner notes on the back of his colorful 1960 "Brazilian Choo-Choo" LP, bandleader Horacio Diaz was born in Vera Cruz, Mexico and lived in New Orleans during the "golden age" of jazz. He later worked as arranger for the likes of Woody Herman, Benny Goodman and Xavier Cugat...and according to this old issue of New York Magazine, you could pop in to enjoy the music of Horacio Diaz at Manhattan's El Morocco supper club back in November of 1969.

[ Horacio Diaz ]

Chris Colombo

Artist: Chris Colombo

LP: Chris Colombo
Song: "Choo Choo Man"
[ listen ]

Unless he's an American jazz drummer commonly known as "Crazy Chris Colombo," there's not much of anything I could find on the web about this guy. But this Chris Colombo's visually unassuming self-titled LP from 1975 is full of great tunes that feature a sound lots of popular bands seem to be after nowadays.