The Savage Rose

Artist: The Savage Rose

LP: Your Daily Gift

Song: "Lightly Come, Lightly Go (Song For an Unborn Child - Sarah's Song)"
[ listen ]

Here's another beautiful thing I picked up at the Kirkland record store last weekend, before everyone died. I had never heard of The Savage Rose before, but they've evidently been releasing LPs since 1968 ("Your Daily Gift" is their fourth, from 1970) and they continue to be rather popular in their native Denmark. 

I'm fascinated by the blond, bespectacled and bed-headed identical twin brothers, Thomas and Anders Koppel, that are part The Savage Rose. Singer Annisette Hansen married Thomas and became Annisette Koppel. How did she choose Thomas over Anders? Did she ever get them mixed up? Is that Thomas she stands with, slightly apart from the rest of the group, in the open field in the photo below? And then in the large gatefold photo, we find the Koppel twins huddled together, separated from Annisette by a large, dry-looking tree. The twins look wistfully on as Annisette coyly plays footsies with another blond hunk in the band. Could that be guitarist Nils Tuxen, who replaced Flemming Ostermann after the release of the group's first album? 

Visit Wikipedia here and here and here and here and all will be revealed. 

As I gaze at Anders and Thomas, I can't help but think of the handsome identical twin brothers who work at my local neighborhood Fred Meyer. Swarthy and friendly, they wear the company uniform and sport matching mustaches. They always seem to be working the same shift, doing the same work. Yesterday they were stacking oranges. Once, a few months ago, I entered an aisle containing boxed rice and found the twins standing on footstools across from each other on opposite sides of the aisle. They were conversing good-naturedly as they added more product to the shelves. I had the sudden urge to film a music video right then and there!   

[ The Savage Rose ]

David Cassidy [1950-2017]

Artist: David Cassidy

LP: Rock Me Baby

Song: "Song For a Rainy Day"
[ listen ]

Why does it always seem like so many people up and die during the holiday season? Was sad to read that Partridge Family heartthrob David Cassidy passed away yesterday—right before Thanksgiving! Looks like Kim Carnes provides some of the backing vocals on this, David's second solo LP, from 1972. You can read about David Cassidy here, go here to see one of the Annie Leibovitz photos from Rolling Stone that David hoped would help get rid of his squeaky-clean, teeny-bopper image, and go here to find David's obituary in The New York Times.

David Cassidy

[ April 12, 1950 — November 21, 2017 ]

We will miss you, David.

Mel Tillis [1932-2017]

Artist: Mel Tillis

LP: Detroit City

Song: "Games People Play"
[ listen ]

Della Reese and Charles Manson weren't the only ones who died on November 19th, of course. In fact, county singer Mel Tillis died that same day too. To be honest, I'm not a huge (or even a small) Mel Tillis fan. I picked up this 1973 compilation LP mainly because I thought the cover was cool. But I'm sure Mel Tillis is someone's Doris Day out there, and to those people I'd like to say I'm sorry for your loss. (And to Mr. Tillis' friends and family too, of course.) But it really is a pretty neat album cover, you gotta' admit. You can find Mel's obituary here.

Mel Tillis

[ August 8, 1932 — November 19, 2017 ]

Someone will miss you, Mel.

Della Reese [1931-2017]

Artist: Della Reese

LP: Della By Starlight

Song: "These Foolish Things"
[ listen ]

Della Reese has turned out all the lights in the world. She has hung a cloud over the moon. Her obituary is here. I wonder if she and Charles Manson bumped into each other in line at the pearly gates.

Della Reese

[ July 6, 1931 — November 19, 2017 ]

We will miss you, Della.

Spoons

Artist: Spoons

LP: Arias & Symphonies

Song: "South American Vacation"
[ listen ]

After attending a memorial service in Bothell for a former work colleague yesterday afternoon, I decided to drop by Vortex, by my favorite Kirkland record store, to help shake the melancholy from my head. I was at the store for over three hours and, if not quite a fine-toothed comb, I would say I at least went through the place with a hairbrush, and I drove away with a heavy stack of wonderful and unusual things. 

One of them is this 1982 LP by Canadian new wave band Spoons. They're pretty doggone good, but I like them even more as I imagine how excited I would have been to have found out about them back in 1982, when I was 13 years old. I would no doubt have had bedtime fantasies about running off to the Yukon with cutie keyboardist Rob Preuss, where we would live in domestic, yet romantic, yet pretty cold probably, bliss for the rest of our lives. We'd have to snuggle in bearskin to stay warm! But instead of honeymooning with me, Rob and his hair ran off and joined Canadian rock group Honeymoon Suite. There's a sweet interview with Preuss here where everything about him seems bashful except his coiffure. You can watch an interview with the entire group here, find an effusive "Arias & Symphonies" album review on the Same Mistakes blog here, learn more about the four Spoons than you've ever wanted to know here, and go here to find out which two Spoons recently played a benefit show to raise money for the high school where they got their start.

[ Spoons ]

Ben Light

Artist: Ben Light

LP: Speed of Light: Ben Light At the Piano 
Song: "Lover"
[ listen ]

Song: "Charmaine"
[ listen ]

Three seconds after I put the needle on this 1956 Ben Light LP I began craving a martini. I didn't so much want to drink a martini, but to hold one in my hand, softly swirling it around in the glass as Ben's fingers danced 'lightly' over the keys.

Born into a family of classical musicians in New York City in 1893, Ben was a rebellious child and decided to go in for ragtime playing on the piano. By age 18 he had a regular gig in Denver, CO and he was a Vaudeville staple in the 1920s and into the mid-1930s. He recorded some 'racy' numbers (with titles like "The Guy Who Put the Dix In Dixie," you get the idea) in the '30s as Ben Light and His Surf Club Boys before moving on to more prestigious recordings for Capitol Records in the 1950s, like "Speed of Light." You can still hear his Vaudeville roots shining through, like sunlight from the distant end of the longest piano keyboard in the universe. Ben's last recordings were released in 1958; he died at age 72 in January of 1965. You can read more about Ben "Dizzy Fingers" Light here and check out the LP liner notes below.

[ Ben Light ]

Vitamin E

Artist: Vitamin E

LP: Sharing

Song: "Kiss Away"
[ listen ]

I had to take a big dose of Vitamin E this morning so I didn't catch tonsillitis. But even if I had, it would have been worth it!

Vitamin E's sweetener/vocalist Bianca Thornton eventually went on to bigger and better things as Lady Bianca—we have the same birthday! Wikipedia calls this 1977 Vitamin E record "commercially doomed," though, doomed as it may have been, it was through no fault of the music itself. It's dynamite! I'm fairly certain that the American public was once again to blame. They never know a good thing when they hear it. I picked up this LP for $3 at Doug's Used Records in Yakima, WA two summers ago on my way to a family camping trip in the woods. They had a used copy at Yakima's Off the Record too, which I stopped at next, but there they wanted $45 for it.

Black Heat

Artist: Black Heat

LP: No Time To Burn

Song: "M & M's"
[ listen ]

Black Heat's second album, from 1974, is one of the super groovy things I re-discovered in my own collection while doing a little autumn LP housecleaning today to make some extra room. M & M's...mmmm. I've always loved chocolate! There's not very much info about the under-appreciated funk band Black Heat here.

 
[ Black Heat ]

U.T.F.O.

Artist: U.T.F.O.

LP: 12" single

Song: "Roxanne, Roxanne"
[ listen ]

This is one of the best rap songs I've ever heard. And I've heard at least a dozen. But don't take my word for it. VH1 ranked 1984's "Roxanne, Roxanne" #84 of the 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of all time. Dr. Ice, The Kangol Kid, and The Educated Rapper started out as dancers for Whodini—well two of them did, anyway—before forming U.T.F.O. (Untouchable Force Organization) in Brooklyn in 1984. This is their first single, produced by Full Force. Sadly, The Educated Rapper died this past June after a battle with cancer. More about U.T.F.O. can be found on Wikipedia here.

[ U.T.F.O. — Umm...Totally Forgot the Outfits ]

Trinita

Artist: Trinita

LP: 7" single

Song: "High Feeling"
[ listen ]

Autumn gives me a high feeling—how about you? This 1979 single by Trinita that I found in Helsinki earlier this year gives me a high feeling too...as does the amazing music video for the song. I'm pretty sure these three fellows are the B. Devotion gang that dance backup for Sheila.