Natural Four

 

Artist: Natural Four

LP: Natural Four

Song: "This Is What's Happening Now"

[ listen ]

The Natural Four pictured here (in gloriously unnatural attire) are actually not the original four. After the San Francisco Bay-area group failed to expand on the success of their locally-released singles in 1969, singer Chris James revamped the group, staffing it with three new members in 1972. The new Natural Four released several LPs (including this one from 1974) that produced a few hit singles, but then called it quits after their 1976 "Nightchaser" LP failed to make the charts. You can read more about the Natural Four here and here and here. 

 

 

 

  

Michel Sardou

Artist: Michel Sardou

LP: Michel Sardou

Song: "Le Temps Des Colonies"

[ don't listen ]

Michel Sardou was born on January 26, 1947 to a dancer mother and a father who owned a cabaret, so he spent much of his childhood in the cabaret or going on tour with his parents. His own career in music got started in the mid '60s, and Sardou remains one of the most popular male singers in France today. As you can see here, Wikipedia gives a rundown on Sardou's career in the '60s and then jumps ahead thirty years to the 2000s, though I think it's safe to assume he also accomplished things in the 1970s, '80s and '90s—besides getting married and divorced several times, I mean. This self-titled LP from 1976 doesn't turn up on Sardou's discography on Wikipedia or on AllMusic here, but I'm still pretty sure it exists.

Note from June 8, 2011: Though this Michel Sardou album may indeed actually exist, the copyright holder doesn't want me to let you hear any of the songs. You can pick up your own copy of the entire LP from someone in Belgium here.

Juarez e seu Conjunto

Artist: Juarez e seu Conjunto

LP: Bossa Nova Nos "States"

Song: "Direi Depois"

[ listen ]

Here's a neat 1962 bossa nova record from Juarez e seu Conjunto, led by saxophone player Juarez Assis de Araújo. I picked this one up here in Seattle sometime last year, but according to the stains on the cover, this exact same copy was previously featured on the Loronix blog based in Rio de Janeiro! The stamp on the back of the record seems to indicate that the copy was once owned by a Toni Julius Berger at Rio de Janeiro's Discos Hi-Fi on Av. Copacabana:

The extensive liner notes (in Portuguese) from the back of the LP are included below, and you can read a little about Juarez Araújo here and here.

 

  

[ Juarez Assis de Araújo: October 7, 1930 — October 5, 2003 ]

Horslips

Artist: Horslips

LP: Dancehall Sweethearts

Song: "Stars"

[ listen ]

The fiddle figures prominently in the traditional jig-inspired music of this folk-rock band from Ireland. Formed in 1970, Horslips evidently developed a larger following after their 1980 breakup than they'd accumulated during their decade together—a fact that likely figured into their decision to play a few reunion concerts in Belfast and Dublin at the end of 2009. You can read more about Horslips here, and click here to visit their official website, where you'll find additional band info, the Horslips discography, some "horseshit" and lots of neat pictures of the group, who are, in general, a whole lot sexier than Los Freddy's.

 

Los Freddy's

Artist: Los Freddy's

LP: Un Sentimiento

Song: "Del Amor y De Las Rosas"

[ listen ]

When my friend Nicholai came over last week and I showed him this record, he exclaimed, "Why are they all so ugly!?" I grabbed the record from him and was about to come to The Freddy's defense, but after a quick visual survey, I had to agree that they are indeed a pretty unattractive group. The best I could come up with is that the guy on the far left is kinda' cute in a Roman-Polanski-circa-1971 kind of way. Originating in beautiful Guadalajara, México, Los Freddy's had a string of hits throughout the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s. Their "Un Sentimiento" LP was released in 1976; you can find their discography and more info on the band here. Pictures and notes (with a Babelfish translation) from the back of the record are included below.

  

New successes with incomparable the Freddy's in a disc 

that reunited the ingredients necessary to make a song 

great: style, feeling and projection.

In this one volume, the Freddy's offers a series to us of 

melodies with label of hits, adding therefore a link to his 

already more releases chain of triumphs.

Yim Chu Ling

Artist: Yim Chu Ling

LP: Blue Sadness

Song: "Flowers In Spring"

[ listen ]

Here's a lovely LP (from Taiwan?) I picked up for $1.99 at Second Time Around in Seattle's University District about ten years ago—before I'd really started seeking out old records from foreign countries. I think I bought this one mainly because of her earrings. There's not much info on Yim Chu Ling on the web, but you can order a copy of this 1971 LP here if you can figure out how. Here are the Chinese-language track notes from the back of the record, with English translations for the song titles, including the all-time favorite "Voweo By a Kiss."

   

Oscar Levant

Artist: Oscar Levant

LP: Levant's Favorites

Song: Manuel de Falla's "Fire Dance" (No. 7 from "El Amor Brujo")

[ listen ]

Just to be clear, that is not Oscar Levant on the LP cover—but perhaps she's another one of his favorites? Here's a picture of Oscar taken from the back of the record: 

I first became a fan of Oscar Levant when he appeared as John Garfield's piano-playing sidekick in what became one of my all-time favorite movies, HUMORESQUE—a Joan Crawford vehicle from 1946. His talent on the piano is well showcased there, just as it is in the breezy musical comedy film debut of Doris Day, ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS (1948), and, of course, in the classic 1951 Gene Kelly musical, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. On the internet today I learned that Levant wrote (or maybe co-wrote) the song "Blame It On My Youth," that he was known for making offhand cutting remarks ("he was always good for a bright response edged with acid"), and that Levant's radio shows were frequently yanked off the air because of his dirty/funny wisecracks about things like Mae West's sex life or for saying this about Marilyn Monroe's conversion to Judaism: "Now that Marilyn Monroe is kosher, Arthur Miller can eat her." Click here to read more of Oscar Levant's brilliant quotes, to get further details about his life and career and to see a list of the films he appeared in throughout the 1940s and '50s. Notes from the back of Columbia Records' 1958 "Levant's Favorites" LP are included below, and if you're interested in learning a little about Spanish composer Manuel de Falla, click here.

 

  

[ Oscar Levant: December 27, 1906 — August 14, 1972 ]

Stan Wilson

Artist: Stan Wilson

LP: Folk Songs

Song: "Eight Babies"
[ listen ]

Song: "Marching to Pretoria"
[ listen ]

Here's a great folk record I picked up a few weeks ago here in Seattle. It was my introduction to the amazing Stan Wilson! Born in Oakland, California in 1922, Wilson became a key figure in the Bay Area's folk movement in the 1950s before moving on to perform in places like New York, Chicago and Honolulu. Oh, what I would have given to have heard Stan singing to me over a burger and a cocktail at the "hungry i" in San Francisco in 1953! You can visit the Stan Wilson official website here to see more photos, download the program from Stan's 2005 memorial, see his discography, read peoples' memories of Stan, listen to and buy more of his music and even get some Stan Wilson desktop wallpaper for your computer. These are the notes from the back of his 1957 "Folk Songs" LP:

 [ Stan Wilson: May 2, 1922 — June 6, 2005 ]

Gerry Woo

Artist: Gerry Woo

LP: 7" single

Song: "Help Yourself"
[ listen ]

After growing up in Detroit "under the spell of Motown," Gerry Woo was just 18 years old when he became one of the first Asian-American singers to record and release an R&B album—"Listen to My Heart Beat" in 1988. Unfortunately, Woo's record flopped, but he resurfaced as hunky "Fame" contestant Harlemm Lee on NBC's short-lived "American Idol" rip-off in 2003. Lee/Woo triumphed on the show and released yet another unsuccessful record. You can read more about all that here and here and even here. If you're reading this, Gerry Woo/Harlemm Lee, your free stay at the W Hotel has probably expired by now. If you're still homeless and broke and you still look like this, you can crash at my place. Send me an email and I'll give you my address.

Willie and the Red Rubber Band

 

Artist: Willie and the Red Rubber Band

LP: We're Comin' Up

Song: "Last Letter From Mary"
[ listen ]

There's not much info on the web about Willie and the Red Rubber Band, but by reading the LP notes (included below) we learn that the group was influenced by Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry and pain and that the band is Five vessels, one Vessel. This particular copy of their 1969 "We're Comin' Up" LP seems to have once belonged to a Ringo, who was also the owner of a colorful set of markers.

Nektar

 

Artist: Nektar

LP: Down to Earth

Song: "Nelly the Elephant"
[ listen ]

German-based psychedelic rock band Nektar created this circus-themed album in 1974 as a follow-up to "Remember the Future," which had been a hit the year before. "Down to Earth" spawned the group's only charting single when "Astral Man" peaked at #91 on the Billboard Hot 100. You can read more about Nektar here and find notes and photos from the back of the LP below—along with a very '70s Nektar music video.

Nektar on YouTube:

[ "Remember the Future" ]

Hal Mooney & His Orchestra

Artist: Hal Mooney & His Orchestra

LP: The Passion of Paris

Song: "La Vie En Rose"
[ listen ]

Song: "Can Can"
[ listen ]

Born in 1911, pianist/composer/arranger Hal Mooney studied music with Joseph Schillinger and was working with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra before a stint in the U.S. Army during WWII interrupted his music career. When the war ended, Mooney settled in Hollywood and worked as composer-arranger for many of the great singers of the era—Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Nina Simone, Patti Page, Dinah Washington, Peggy Lee and Sarah Vaughn, to name a few. In the 1970s, Hal worked as musical supervisor on hit shows like "The Six Million Dollar Man," "The Rockford Files," "The Bionic Woman" and "Columbo" before retiring in 1977. You can read more about Hal Mooney's life and career here and here. His arrangement of "Can Can" is filled with so much chaotic energy, it practically has the passion of punk!

[ Hal Mooney: February 4, 1911 — March 23, 1995 ]