The Box Tops

Artist: The Box Tops

LP: Cry Like a Baby

Song: "Deep In Kentucky"

[ listen ]

Ever since I found this 1968 record by The Box Tops in Washington, DC a few months ago, I've been digging it — and digging it — and digging it. Originally known as The Devilles, The Box Tops, led by singer Alex Chilton, hit it big with "The Letter," which remained at the top of the Billboard singles charts for four consecutive weeks in 1967. The hits slowed to a trickle before the band called it quits in 1970—though they reformed in 1996 and continued performing and releasing music together until Chilton died of a heart-attack on St. Patrick's Day in 2010. You can read more about The Box Tops here and click here to visit the band's official website. Notes and pictures from the back of the "Cry Like a Baby" LP are included below.

The Box Tops on YouTube:

[ "The Letter" ]

 [ The Box Tops ]

The Sneed Family

Artist: The Sneed Family

LP: Meet The Sneed Family

Song: "Danny Boy"
— feat. Billy Goodman —

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Song: "Brush Me From Your Shoes"
— feat. Marvin Cave —

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Song: "Wil-aWa"
— feat. Leslie Sneed —

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Song: "Call Me Up"
— feat. Don Sneed, Jr. —

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Song: "The End of the Week"
— feat. Suzie Sneed —

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Song: "My Uncle Ralph"
— feat. Danny Sneed —

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This rollicking hillbilly music turned out to be just what I sneeded to get me up and moving this cold, grey, and lonely Valentine's morning. The sensational singing Sneeds of Spanaway (it's near Tacoma) apparently got started in the early 1950s when Papa Sneed and his three young sons began making appearances at halls and on TV throughout the Pacific Northwest. You can find photos and info at The Sneed Family's Hillbilly-Music.com page here, see a neat photo of the group from the early days here, and find a German-language Sneed Family Wikipedia entry here. A partial discography and another neat picture of the group can be found here. In order to be sure I wasn't discriminating against a single Sneed, or Marvin or Billy either for that matter, I've included a track here featuring each and every one of them—Suzie, Leslie, Marvin, and Don, Jr. on vocals, and Danny and Billy on their instruments. In the words of Cascade Recording Company vice president I.P. Gadd, "relax and listen to some versatility that you do not find on the average record, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy this album to the fullest extent." If anyone out there has more info about The Sneed Family—or if you yourself are a Sneed—I'd love to hear from you!

[ The Sneed Family, plus two other guys. ]

Xiomara Alfaro

Artist: Xiomara Alfaro

LP: Latin Nightingale

Song: "María Escandalosa"

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I've recently met a nice fellow to date, and last Friday night we went to dinner at La Isla, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Ballard just a few blocks from my apartment. We'd both heard good things about the place, but neither of us had been there before. It was delicious, and if you're ever in my neighborhood I recommend you give it a try. As we were walking toward dinner, I pointed out several good record stores nearby and warned my date not to let me step inside them. But when we arrived at La Isla we were told that there would be a 25-minute wait for a table, so I suggested we pop over to Bop Street Records while we waited. He said, "okay," which is a really good sign! I think we'll get along just fine. Xiomara Alfaro—whose 1958 "Latin Nightingale" LP is one of the things I discovered at Bop Street before dinner—was born in Havana, Cuba in the spring of 1930. She rose to popularity in the 1950s and came to be called "El Ruiseñor de la Canción (The Nightingale of Song)" for her lovely and inimitable soprano warbling. The guy who wrote "Siboney" claims Xiomara's version of the song to be his favorite; you can find her performing it in a neat-looking old Cuban film by clicking the YouTube link below. Go here to read about Xiomara in Spanish, and for English notes, click here.

Xiomara Alfaro on YouTube:

[ "Siboney" ]

 [ Xiomara Alfaro ]

Whitney Houston [1963-2012]

Artist: Whitney Houston

LP: 7" single

Song: "You Give Good Love"

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When I arrived at some friends' house for dinner last night, I was sad to learn that singer Whitney Houston had died. Her struggles with drug addiction and her turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown have been eagerly and thoroughly reported by the media, but I'd always held out hope that one day Houston would pull a Robert Downey, Jr., emerging triumphantly from her personal cloud of darkness to bask in the warm rays of a successful career while continuing to explore and expand the reach of her enormous talent. But now she's dead. I can't say I was one of Houston's biggest fans, but she certainly did know her way around a ballad. I picked up this copy of "You Give Good Love," her first solo single, at a record shop in Williston, North Dakota while returning from a family reunion at Lake Metigoshe during the summer of 1985. It was just a few months before my 16th birthday, and a few months before Whitney turned 22—her birthday was the day after mine. I only bought two more Whitney Houston singles over the years (both of them ballads), but when I went through my singles collection recently to re-evaluate and weed out stuff I no longer wanted, I ended up keeping all of hers. You can read about the life of Whitney Houston and her trail-blazing career on Wikipedia here—where you'll find a list of famous singers who have been influenced and inspired by Houston, see a photo of the Whitney Houston Barbie Doll, and learn which two famous groups' long-standing singles-chart success records were left in the dust by Whitney's still-unmatched string of seven consecutive #1 hits between the years 1985 and 1988. Info about Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album can be found here, her complete discography is here, and click here to read Whitney Houston's obituary in The New York Times.

Whitney Houston

[August 9, 1963 — February 11, 2012]

We will miss you, Whitney.

Orquesta Aragon

Artist: Orquesta Aragon

LP: Mosaicos Tropicales

Song: "Quiereme Siempre"

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Formed in Cienfuegos, Cuba in 1939, Orquesta Aragon first performed in Havana in 1953. Before long, the group was considered one of the best charangas in Cuba, a reputation they held throughout the 1950s and '60s. Their "Mosaicos Tropicales" LP, which I found at Cheapo Records in Cambridge, Massachusetts a few years ago, is probably from the early-to-mid 1960s, judging from the cover and the fact that the group released their first of eight LPs for the Discuba label in 1959. Orquesta Aragon is evidently still going strong today—you can read more about them on Wikipedia here and find a set of photos of the group from 1939 to 1957 here, where you'll also see a bunch of their neat-looking LP covers.

John Adams

Artist: John Adams

LP: 7" single

Song: "Blue Morning"

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Here's a breezy single from 1983 that I picked up in Washington, DC back in early December. The copy I found evidently once belonged to people named Jenny Boy & Madame, and is autographed (with all their love) by a Darel or a Larel... or someone, it would seem, who's not singer John Adams. Maybe my copy's signed by that sexy swimwear model frolicking in the surf! I haven't been able to find any artist info for this posting, since everything that pops up on Google is all about this guy.

Sky King

Artist: Sky King

LP: Secret Sauce

Song: "Hot Mustard"

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Here's another album that landed in my cart at East Street Records this weekend. I almost passed it over since at first the cover reminded me of something by Cat Stevens. I figured I'd give it a listen anyway, since it featured a song called "Hot Mustard," which didn't remind me of anything by Cat Stevens. As it turns out, Sky King is amazing! Too amazing, unfortunately, for Columbia Records, the mainstream label that initially signed the band. According to Sky King's MySpace page here (click on "more" in the "General Info" section), Columbia couldn't stop fiddling with the Ann Arbor, Michigan group's followup to "Secret Sauce," their 1975 debut. Finally, with all songs for the new LP in the bag and the album on the eve of release, Sky King was told by Columbia bigwigs that their second album wouldn't be released after all and the band was fired—effective immediately. You can hear some of the songs that were meant for the group's second release, "Another Sun Is Rising," on their MySpace page here. It's a shame Sky King landed on a major label run by idiots instead of on a smaller label that might have understood, believed in, encouraged, and promotetd the incredible music they were making. There's a "Secret Sauce" album review and lots of great comments—including some from Sky King members Rick "RJ" Jacobi and Chris "Christy" Coan—on TC's Old & New Music Review blog here.

The New Birth

Artist: The New Birth

LP: Birth Day

Song: "Until It's Time For You to Go"

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On Sunday this past weekend, I stopped in at Easy Street Records in lower Queen Anne to buy the new The Big Pink and Doris Day CDs, but somehow ended up with this 1972 record by The New Birth in my shopping basket too. I figured I should probably add it to my collection just for that amazing cover with all the eggs on it, and then hearing The New Birth's take on the classic "Until It's Time For You to Go" (with future Supreme Susaye Greene on lead vocals) at the listening station cemented the deal. Click here to read all about The New Birth on Wikipedia, where you'll also see their complete discography and find a link to their official website.

Carlos Gonzaga

Artist: Carlos Gonzaga

LP: Carlos Gonzaga Canta

Song: "Bat Masterson"

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A friend was in town from L.A. this past weekend, and I discovered he'd never been to the old industrial Seattle neighborhood of Georgetown! I decided to take him to the Georgetown Liquor Co. for dinner, but somehow we ended up smack dab in the middle of Georgetown Records on the way. I tried not to buy anything, but found myself leaving with this Carlos Gonzaga LP from the '60s (uh, after paying for it, I mean). I'm sure it was the lure of the blue sock—and Gonzaga's rendition of "Deep In the Heart of Texas" is certainly also partly to blame. Carlos Gonzaga is a popular singer from Brazil, so his songs are performed in Portuguese, though this LP was apparently released by RCA in neighboring Venezuela. The jaunty "Bat Masterson" is the theme song from the popular (or maybe not popular, I don't know) TV show of the same name that ran from 1958-1961 and was based on the life of one of Wyatt Earp's Dodge City buddies. Masterson somehow lived to the ripe old age of 67 in the rough-and-tumble Old West, though usually only defending himself with a sharp wit and sturdy walking stick instead of employing the use of firearms like everyone else. You can read about Bat and find some neat pictures of him here, listen to the original theme song from the closing credits of the "Bat Masterson" TV show here, listen to Gonzaga's version of the song again while watching a slide show of a bunch of his old LP covers here, and read some Portuguese-language info about the dapper-looking gent on Wikipedia here.

[ Bat Masterson: November 26, 1853 — October 25, 1921 ]

Erik Bye

Artist: Erik Bye

LP: Einar Skjæraasen

Song: "Sommertrall"

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Maybe you've never heard of singer-journalist-author-artist-film actor and TV personality Erik Bye, but in 2005 he was named the 3rd greatest Norwegian of the 20th century! I feel bad that I'd not heard of him before laying eyes, hands, money, and ears (in that order) on this 1966 record of his, dedicated to Norwegian poet Einar Skjæraasen—especially since I'm of Norwegian stock (and not Norwegian livestock, as some have suggested). Bye was actually born in Brooklyn, NY, but when he was six years old his family moved home to Norway, where they took over a bed and breakfast and where Erik joined the Norwegian Nazi resistance movement when he was in his teens. You can read more about the fascinating life and career of Erik Bye here and see some neat photos from the back of the LP that I've included below.

[ Erik Bye: March 1, 1926 — October 13, 2004 ]

Ensemble "Dobroudja"

Artist: Ensemble "Dobroudja"

LP: 25 Years

Song: "Don't Spill That Water"

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Remember back in the late '80s when "Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares" was all the rage? Well it's been 25 years, and the mystery still hasn't been solved. Liner notes and reviews in both Bulgarian and English are included below, and the male soloist featured in "Don't Spill That Water" is Ivan Georgiev. If for you Bulgaria's location is also still a mystery, click here.

 [ Chief Art Director Peter Kroumov? ]