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.

Wade Denning

Artist: Wade Denning

LP: Famous Ghost Stories! With Scary Sounds

Song: "The Specter"
[ listen ]

Here's some scary fun from Wade Denning in 1975. According to the website put together by one of Wade's grandkids, Wade composed numerous jingles for Maxwell House coffee and Kinney Shoes in addition to producing albums filled with famous frightful ghost stories. What an interesting fellow! I chose "The Specter," written by Guy De Maupassant and adapted by Mr. Denning, primarily because I just love those French accents. Happy Halloween!

Della Reese

Artist: Della Reese

LP: I Like It Like Dat!

Song: "Drinkin' Again"
[ listen ]

Song: "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do"
[ listen ]

Today I went with some friends to a farm up near Snohomish that has a huge corn maze shaped like the state of Washington. You had to enter the maze over by Spokane, and then all the pathways through the corn are labeled as the roads, highways, and freeways of Washington. You can travel all around the state on foot to visit its various landmarks—like the Washington State Capitol Building in Olympia, the Tacoma Narrow's Bridge, Mount St. Helen's, the Grand Coulee Dam, the Space Needle—and even learn a bit of historical trivia about each of them by reading a little placard placed nearby. It was pretty amazing, though a little bit corny too. 

I found a copy of this terrific 1965 Della Reese LP at the big double-level antique store in downtown Snohomish after we got some coffee and pie, just before we headed to the farm. Turns out there's nothing quite as nice as Della Reese singing you the blues on a late-October evening while you're sipping a cup of tea.

[ Della Reese ]

Twiggy

Artist: Twiggy

LP: Twiggy

Song: "Rain On the Roof"
[ listen ]

Here's a Twiggy record I picked up at Mezzanine Records and Vintage, a shop I stumbled upon on an autumn stroll through my neighborhood last night. When she retired from modeling in 1970, Twiggy (aka. Lesley Lawson) declared there was a lot more to her than just a thin-yet-sturdy frame to hang designer clothing upon. She went on to appear in films made by her friend Ken Russell, including an award-winning turn in THE BOYFRIEND in 1971. 

This Twiggy solo LP, released five years later in 1976, was well-received by the reviewer at Rolling Stone: "Her voice, which at alternate times recalls Olivia Newton-John and Melanie (but without the former's calculated submissiveness or the latter's hyperextended vulnerability) is strong and self-assured." I like Twiggy's music too. But I'm especially drawn to how on the front of her album she looks like she's thinking really hard—perhaps even pondering or weighing her options—but when you flip the record over you find that Twiggy has definitely made up her mind.

You can find more about Twiggy's career on Wikipedia, including some specific information about this self-titled debut solo LP, then visit her website to find out what she's up to nowadays and to order some of her more recent musical recordings.

[ Twiggy ]

Fats Domino [1928-2017]

Artist: Fats Domino

LP: Getaway With Fats Domino

Song: "Why Don't You Do Right"
[ listen ]

Song: "Reelin' and Rockin'"
[ listen ]

I just heard the sad news that Fats Domino has died. Born in New Orleans in 1928, Fats (real name Antoine Dominique Domino, Jr.) was performing on the piano in local bars by the time he was 14 years old. He went on to basically invent rock-n-roll—even Elvis Presley names him the real King of the genre. Fats had a string of hits in the mid-1950s and early '60s; his "Getaway With Fats Domino" LP is from 1965. 

In 2005 it was thought that Fats Domino had perished in Hurricane Katrina since nobody had heard from him, but he had actually been rescued from his flooded home by a Coast Guard helicopter. He ended up staying with the quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team for a few days, since the fellow was dating Fats' granddaughter at the time.

In Down Beat magazine in 1953, Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler made a bold prediction: “Can’t you envision a collector in 1993 discovering a Fats Domino record in a Salvation Army depot and rushing home to put it on the turntable?” he wrote. “We can. It’s good blues, it’s good jazz, and it’s the kind of good that never wears out.” As a matter of fact, I can too. You can read more about Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. on Wikipedia here, and go here to find his obituary in The New York Times.

Fats Domino

[ February 26, 1928 — October 24, 2017 ]

We will miss you, Fats.

Deja Vu

Artist: Deja Vu

LP: Song For Everyone

Song: "Be Happy"
[ listen ]

I'd love to have been in the room with the execs at Capitol Records when Deja Vu pitched their idea for THIS album cover. Holy mackerel! Now you'd think a group of guys into metal underwear and body paint would be guaranteed to sound pretty far out—like Hungarian space rock or something—so it's pretty disappointing to find that Deja Vu actually sounds a lot like something we've heard somewhere before. 

But the LP artwork these Canadian rockers came up with for their 1976 "Song For Everyone" LP certainly isn't like anything we've seen anywhere else before. The best feature is the set of individual black and white portraits of the band laid out on the inner sleeve. There's a little photo insert of what each fellow looks like in his normal everyday life—like when he goes to the hardware store or out for fish 'n chips—which allows us to compare that with how he looks if you remove all his clothes, cover him head to toe with metallic silver body paint, and then force him to wear a speed-o made out of aluminum foil. These guys got guts.