Since there seems to have been something of a run on UK jazz on Waxidermy lately, here is an interesting 45 to share. Alan Clare was a UK pianist who had a pretty long career & a touch of mainstream success from the 40s through to the 80s. Most of the online discographies for Clare [...]
This LP is Dutch & from the mid 70s, the cover cracks me up. Piercing blue eyes, lopsided mustache, tartan jacket, obtrusive cat, china teacup & weird lamp/bong. I think it might be a comedy record, but I don’t speak dutch so can’t be sure, it sounds like it though. To my ears there is [...]
This is an excellent feel good Gospel LP out of 1970s Wisconsin. I like the fact that it only has one sermon & the other six tracks are great uplifting songs. I’m not usually a fan of stuff with big choirs but the strength of the soloists & the band on this are for some [...]
This LP was the first by New Zealand singer Allison Durbin. She had released several 45s prior to this but it was the overwhelming success of the LP’s title track that really made her a star here in late sixties. The 45 of ‘I Have Loved Me A Man’ was apparently the biggest selling local [...]
First I’ll start off with a disclaimer: I borrowed this record from my girlfriend who used to be a big industrial fan. I am really not that knowledgable on industrial stuff at all, hell I don’t really like it even, but this one seemed too weird not to be shared. Thanks to her for the [...]
I have no information about this record whatsoever. The cover is just a generic blank white cardboard sleeve with the sticker of a bunch of bananas slapped on the front centre. The label is just as unhelpful, I can say it was released on TAB records as TAB7801, but that is it. It is basically [...]
Quite possibly the finest & most fully realised R&B band to emerge from a sixties New Zealand scene that had a number of fine bands. The Breakaways were the first to get a taste of national success, inspired by bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Kinks & the Pretty Things. “I Can’t Explain” was [...]
Introspective and intimate Piano and Vocal Jazz LP from Kansas on the Simba label. Features Bettye Miller on Piano, Milt Abel on Bass and Wallace B. Jones on Drums. The LP was recorded for the Topeka Jazz Workshop at Washburn University. Mostly really laid back tracks but “By The Waters Of Babylon” picks things up [...]
If you’ve ever been sitting there watching Sesame Street & thought “damn, wouldn’t it be cool if Cookie Monster fronted a funk band?” Then this is the 45 for you, not only do you get two sides of nice Monk Higgins arrangements, you also get it all topped off with Big Daddy Crimson’s gruff, half [...]
Great mid-60s garage rock 45 from an icon of the Australian music scene. This was their second 45 & was released in 1964 on the Australian “Linder Lee” label. It was licensed to probably New Zealand’s biggest independent label of the time “Viking” for a New Zealand release after it hit in Australia & that [...]
Blerta was the brainchild of legendary New Zealand drummer, bandleader & actor Bruno Lawrence. He formed Blerta in 1971, with the name standing for “Bruno Lawrence Electric Revelation Travelling Apparition”. Blerta was held together as a band through to 1975 & it’s ever revolving membership included actors as well as musicians. It was conceived & [...]
This 12″ single was released on the Record Symphony Corporation label out of Brooklyn in 1978. The A side is titled ‘Happy’ & is sung by KC Stewart while the B side is an instrumental titled ‘Hanging Tough’. This 12″ plays at 33 not 45 so you get a complete 7:00 disco jam in ‘Happy’ [...]
This appears to be a fairly obscure release from the Kent label. Two brothers, Raphael and Ramon Velez front a loungey/soul band in this set of mostly original tunes with a few covers thrown in. The band is really tight throughout with great bass and drum work and the horn section is blazing. Recorded at [...]
This is a really solid private press (I think) LP that covers acoustic blues, country & folk territory. All the songs are originals by McElheny and the instrumentation is various combinations of voice, guitar, banjo, electric bass, drums and dobro. Recorded in October 1976 at Bickley Studios, Houston and released on the Buttermilk label, there [...]
Crazy beatnik jazz from the 50s, heavy on the scat, bongos & humour. They have another EP before this one but I don’t know of anything else this group did apart from these two EPs on King. I suspect they both featured smilarly excellent cover art & the longer tracks (“Who Parked The Car” & [...]
I believe Choreo was a company that specialised in instructional dance records. This 45 has a couple of nice jazz tracks that feature somewhat quirky intros before hitting with some pretty nice jazz grooves. Does anyone have more information on the label, or know if they have other worthwhile releases? [Audio clip: view full post [...]
 This album would be a perfectly OK record of mambos & cha chas but for one thing. It was released on Crown, yuck. As is reasonably common knowledge, most of Crown’s records sounded G+ to VG- even before they had been played, their pressings are that low quality. This album is no different unfortunately, looks [...]
Ella Jenkins is probably the most legendary name as far as childrens instructional records are concerned. This record is on Scholastic/Folkways and focusses on teaching kids to count. There are heaps of cool little counting songs that everyone should recognise, with Ella accompanied by acoustic guitar and children from Lake Meadows Nursery School. Ella Jenkins [...]
Another great educational folk record by Ella Jenkins. This one endeavours to teach children all about the element of rhythm and a variety of ethnic percussion instruments. Side One is dedicated to the extended minimalist piece ‘This Is Rhythm’ and then Ella proceeds to demonstrate a number of different rhythmic instruments. Side two consists of [...]
American pianist Freddie Redd arrived in Stockholm in June 1956 as a relatively unknown artist. He had taken up an invitation from swedish trumpeter Rolf Ericson to be a part of an all-american rhythm section that Ericson would tour throughout Sweden in mid-56. The other musicians invited were bassist Tommy Potter & drummer Joe Harris. [...]