December 28, 2013

MENU

    
Green links in articles lead to more information.

 ~

MAIN MENU - Blog Articles

~





December 27, 2013

45 RPMs Archive

~
I have over 20,000 vinyl LP albums I am selling (see link below); this archive of 45 RPM records is an extension of that collection. Each blog entry is about a 45 from my collection. Contact Styrous® for more information
       

3D Vinyl LPs & 45 RPMs           
Birth of the 45 rpm record ~ March 31, 1949       
The RCA Victor 45-EY-2 45 RPM record player  
45 RPMs 1: Big Black ~ Bulldozer       
45 RPMs 2: The Wild One ~ 1953 12" 45 EP                
45 RPMs 3: Adam & the Ants ~ Ant Music EP    
45 RPMs 4: Bill Haley ~ Rock Around the Clock   
45 RPMs 5: Cal Tjader ~ Huracán on 12" White Vinyl   
45 RPMs 6: Depeche Mode ~ Just Can't Get Enough 12" single  
45 RPMs 7: Glenn Danzig - Who Killed Marilyn?        
45 RPMs 8: PIL (Public Image Ltd.) ~ Metal Box      
45 RPMs 9: Depeche Mode ~ Master & Servant     
45 RPMs 10: A Tribute To James Dean   
45 RPMs 11: Chuck Berry ~ Maybellene    
45 RPMs 12: Prince ~ Raspberry Beret     
45 RPMs 13: The Crickets ~ That'll Be The Day @ 60      

45 RPMs 14: I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ Susan Hayward @ 100   
45 RPMs 15: Charles Laughton reads The Night of the Hunter  
45 RPMs 16: Yello ~ I Love You 7" in 3D                     
45 RPMs 17: Cat People & John Heard                                  
45 RPMs 25: Aretha Franklin & Whitney Houston ~ Now A Duet in Heaven
45 RPMs 26: Julie London ~ Cry Me a River  
45 RPMs 27: Clarence "Frogman" Henry ~ Ain't Got No Home    
45 RPMs 28: Bill Haley and the Comets ~ See You Later Alligator 
45 RPMs 29: Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF) ~ Der Räuber Und Der Prinz    
45 RPMs 30: The Platters ~ (You've Got) The Magic Touch  
45 RPMs 31: The Platters ~ Only You (And You Alone)  
45 RPMs 32: The Residents ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction            
45 RPMs 33: Buddy Knox ~ Party Doll & My Baby's Gone    
45 RPMs 34: Bill Buchanan & Dickie Goodman ~ The Flying Saucer     
45 RPMs 35: Spın̈al Tap ~ Christmas With The Devil           
45 RPMs 36: Hawkshaw Hawkins ~ Ling Ting Tong a Honky Tonk song      
45 RPMs 37: Fats Domino ~ I'm Walkin'      
45 RPMs 38: Skatt Brothers ~ Don't Be Cruel (Disco Daze 4)      
45 RPMs 39: Elvis Presley ~ All Shook Up & Otis Blackwell      
45 RPMs 40: Giuseppe Verdi ~ Il Trovatore    
45 RPMs 41: "Fats" Domino ~ Blueberry Hill  
45 RPMs 42: Silvana Mangano ~ Anna soundtrack             
45 RPMs 43: Grace Jones ~ The Apple Stretching 12"45      
45 RPMs 44: Devo ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction    
45 RPMs 45: Prince ~ Batdance    
45 RPMs 46: Gale Storm ~ I Hear You Knocking & My Little Margie      
45 RPMs 47: Joe Jackson ~ I'm the Man (45 RPM box set)          
45 RPMs 48: Patsy Cline ~ Walkin' After Midnight       
45 RPMs 49: The Supremes ~ I Hear a Symphony        
45 RPMs 50: Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night        
45 RPMs 51: Ben E. King ~ Spanish Harlem      
45 RPMs 52: Ferlin Husky ~ Gone     
45 RPMs 53: Elvis Presley ~ Heartbreak Hotel      
45 RPMs 54: Don Cherry ~ Band of Gold      
45 RPMs 55:
Rick James ~ Super Freak 12" 45      
45 RPMs 56: Bobby "Boris" Pickett ~ Monster Mash       
45 RPMs 59: The Coasters ~ Yakety Yak         
45 RPMs 60: Frank Sinatra ~ Strangers in the Night                       
45 RPMs 62: Michael Damian ~ Rock On with 12"       
45 RPMs 63: The Coasters ~ Poison Ivy                         
45 RPMs 64: Tuxedomoon ~ Ninotchka                          
45 RPMs 65: Sammy Davis Jr. – Six Bridges To Cross & George Nader                          
45 RPMs 66: Lulu ~ To Sir With Love & Neil Diamond                           
45 RPMs 67: Jaye P. Morgan ~ Pepper-Hot Baby        
45 RPMs 68: Del Shannon ~ Runaway & Max Crook's Musitron              
45 RPMs 69: The Judds ~ Why Not Me?               
45 RPMs 70: Smiley Lewis ~ Shame, Shame, Shame               
45 RPMs 72: Carl Perkins ~ Blue Suede Shoes        
45 RPMs 73: Sam Cooke ~ You Send Me         
45 RPMs 74: Harry Belafonte ~ Banana Boat Song (Day O)         
45 RPMs 77: Aretha Franklin ~ Spanish Harlem            
45 RPMs 78: Enrico Caruso ~ Caruso Sings 45 (red vinyl)            
 
      
      

1,000,001 CDs Archive

~
I have over 20,000 vinyl LP albums I am selling (see link below); this archive of compacct discs (CDs) is an extension of that collection. Each blog entry is about a CD from my collection. Contact Styrous® for more information. 

1,000,001 CDs 1: Pink Floyd ~ The Division Bell        
1,000,001 CDs 2: The Flaming Lips ~ Zaireeka          
1,000,001 CDs 3: Dalis Car ~ The Waking Hour (30 years later)          
1,000,001 CDs 5:  Deerhoof ~ Milk Man & Apple O'      
1,000,001 CDs 6: Thoth ~ Tone Poems of the Festad           
1,000,001 CDs 7: Flaming Lips ~ Do You Realize??      
1,000,001 CDs 10: earRotator ~ Holy Empire         
1,000,001 CDs 11: Hector Berlioz ~ The King of Thule       
1,000,001 CDs 13: Sir Michael Kemp Tippett ~ Praeludium    
1,000,001 CDs 14: David Bowie ‎– ★ (Blackstar)        
1,000,001 CDs 15: Pink Floyd ~ Pulse        
1,000,001 CDs 17: Philip Glass ‎– La Belle Et La Bête         
1,000,001 CDs 18: El Raunch Oh! Grande & The Love Handle Lounge          
1,000,001 CDs 19: Otis Blackwell ~ These are My Songs    
1,000,001 CDs 20: Zeal & Ardor, Manuel Gagneux & Lexi         1,000,001 CDs 21: Tina Turner ~ Foreign Affair        
 



The Flaming Lips ~ Zaireeka
photo by Styrous®

December 26, 2013

101 Reel-To-Reel Tapes 30: Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band ~ ~ See Reverse Side for Title

See Reverse Side for Title  .
detail of album cover             .
detail photo by Styrous®              .

In addition to my vinyl collection I'm selling, I have hundreds of reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes I'm selling (see link below). This is an entry about the Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title. I have the vinyl LP version as well. Interested? Contact me by email, please, not by a comment.

~ ~ ~

Jug band music is a unique American musical style that developed in Louisville and Memphis at the turn of the 20th century. Jug bands consist of instruments like harmonica, kazoo, banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle, washboard, washtub bass, and the jug (of glass or stoneware). The jug player blows across the aperture often providing a bass ostinato.

 (click on any image for slideshow)
circa 1926
photographer unknown
from San Francisco Public Library





1980's




Now, there are post-modern jug bands with new, exciting and experimental sounds that aim to stretch the limits of our experiences. 5-Cent Coffee of the San Francisco Bay Area and some of the songs by Tom Waits fall into this category. 

 The jug band, 5-Cent Coffee
performing at the San Francisco Jug Band Festival
on 16 August, 2009
 photo by 5-Cent Coffee


 ~ ~ ~


Jim Kweskin was born on July 18, 1940, in Stamford, Connecticut. He is the founder of the Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band, which was active in Boston in the 1960s. Kweskin adapted the ragtime fingerpicking of artists like Blind Boy Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt but incorporated more sophisticated jazz and and blues stylings.


Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel box cover
album cover photographer unknown
photo by Styrous®



The Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band was formed in the early 1960s in Cambridge, MA. They played a combination of old time folk, jazz and blues tunes with a special emphasis on the material of the jug band of the 1920s. Jim Kweskin was the leader of the band, though Geoff Muldaur was usually heard on lead guitar and vocals. The band also included Bill Keith on banjo, Mel Lyman on harmonica, Fritz Richmond on jug and washboard bass, Richard Greene on fiddle and Maria D'Amato on vocals and kazoo.

 Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel box cover back detail
detail photo by Styrous®




As is the case with most jug band music, the songs are folk-sounding and performed with great, earthy feeling. My very favorite song on this album is, Chevrolet; the vocals by Maria D'Amato (Muldaur) and Geoff Muldaur on it are dynamite. They do a call and response that is sweet (links to music on YouTube below).



Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel box cover back
album photographer unknown
photo by Styrous®



Maria D'Amato married Geoff and went on to a solo career under her married name (Maria Muldaur). Fiddle virtuoso Richard Greene joined Blues Project and then Seatrain; Mel Lyman formed his own authoritarian religion and Kweskin became one of his converts.


Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel box cover back detail
album photographer unknown
detail photo by Styrous®



Kweskin recorded Over Seas Stomp (also known as The Lindy and The Lindberg Hop), Minglewood and Viola Lee Blues. Most of their albums are out of print and some are rather hard to find.

 

Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel
photo by Styrous®



Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band ~ See Reverse Side for Title
reel-to-reel label detail
photo by Styrous®


Jim Kweskin & His Jug Band released six albums and two greatest hits compilations on Vanguard Records between 1963 and 1970. Kweskin produced, Jim Kweskin's America, on Reprise Records in 1971; and four albums on Mountain Railroad Records between 1978 and 1987.


Tracklist:

Side 1:

1 - Blues In The Bottle        
2 - Chevrolet        
3 - Christopher Columbus        
4 - Never Swat A Fly        
5 - Richland Woman        
6 - Downtown Blues        
7 - Turn The Record Over    

Side 2:

1 - Fishing Blues        
2 - Storybook Ball        
3 - That's When I'll Come Back To You        
4 - Viola Lee        
5 - Papa's On The Housetop   
6 - Onyx Hop
       
Credits:

Jim Kweskin - lead guitar and vocals
Geoff Muldaur - guitar and vocals
Maria D'Amato (Muldaur) - vocals


Music links:
Chevrolet on YouTube
Blues In The Bottle on YouTube
Papa's On The Housetop on YouTube
Jug Band Music on YouTube

other music links:
Tom Waits - Chocolate Jesus on YouTube
5-Cent Coffee - Guns and Balloons on YouTube



reel-to-reel listings on eBay

more reel-to-reel tapes on the Styrous® Viewfinder:
                                             reel-to-reel tape archive


The is a great album that is earthy, musically exciting and just what the 'doctor' ordered for get-down music. Thanks, Guys.


Styrous® ~ Thursday, December 26, 2013
~

December 15, 2013

20,000 Vinyl LPs 29: The Lion In Winter & Peter O'Toole

The Lion In Winter soundtrack
album cover still from film
photo of album cover by Styrous®



Peter O'Toole died today, so, of course, I had to riffle through my vinyl LP collection to find the best thing I have for a tribute to him.  He will always be remembered in the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia . . .

.        Peter O'Toole                                                                                                         T. E. Lawrence  .
 .      Lawrence of Arabia                                                                                         The 'real' Lawrence .
.        photo: Columbia Pictures                                                                         photographer unknown  .




. . . and Goodbye Mr. Chips . . . 

 movie still



. . . but for me the film I will always remember him in is The Lion In Winter.




O'Toole was born on August 2, 1932. Some sources give his birthplace as Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, while others have reported Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company, before making his film debut in 1959.

His most famous role was as  T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) for which he received his first Oscar nomination. He received seven further Oscar nominations – for Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982) and Venus (2006) but never actually won an Oscar. He holds the record for the most Academy Award of Merit acting nominations without a win. He won four Golden Globes, a BAFTA and an Emmy, and was the recipient of an Honorary Academy Award in 2003. He was 81 when he died.


~ ~ ~

The Lion In Winter 

I loved this 1968 movie for dozens of reasons. It starred Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, John Castle, Anthony Hopkins, Jane Merrow, Timothy Dalton and Nigel Terry; that's seven of them for starters. O'Toole portrays Henry II, Hepburn was a perfect Eleanor of Aquitaine and Hopkins (his film debut) was brilliant as Richard the Lionheart. The film was made great by the performances of these actors.

The Plot
(from IMDb)

The story line takes place on Christmas, 1183. An aging and conniving King Henry II plans a reunion at Chinon, France, for a family Christmas where he hopes to name his successor. He summons the following people for the holiday: his scheming but imprisoned wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine; his three sons (Richard, Geoffrey, and John), all of whom desire the throne; his mistress, Princess Alais, whom he wishes to marry, and the young but crafty King Philip II of France (brother of Alais). Philip is insisting Alais marries John (one of the brothers) as agreed years before or else he wants her dowry and the lands of the Vexen (France) returned. As Eleanor has already given the province of Aquitaine (also in France) to Richard, the outcome of this may decide the future of England. With the fate of Henry's empire at stake, everybody present, except perhaps Alais, are masters of double-dealing and deceit (all vividly demonstrated in the movie trailer, link below). 

Originally a stage play, the action is mostly in the dialogue of the characters. Each of the sons has some flaw that makes the decision difficult, but the pair have spent their lives fighting for position and even at the end can't stop. It could be a lively Yuletide.
       
movie posters











stage play poster









The music

John Barry won an Academy Award for The Lion in Winter in 1968. When Barry scored the film, he was at the height of his popularity mainly for his James Bond scores (and, to a lesser extent, for his jazz band recordings). Director Anthony Harvey let Barry create a score that would change his image forever. The fact that the grandiose style of Barry's score was unnecessary in the first place is what makes it a classic. Left by the director and producer to compose whatever would be appropriate for the film, Barry decided to write a dark, menacing, and gothic score, a style which cannot be classified with either his early jazzy works or his later lush romances. He masterfully captured the brutal sounds of the Middle Ages while still adhering to the domination of the Catholic Church.

The Main Title, with its majestic trumpet and trombone intro, goes into a fairly rapid beat, set by a grand piano and tympani, with orchestra. It has a Carmina Burana feel to it. The trumpets and trombones return to herald an impending, . . something, then a chorus enters singing in Latin for truly dramatic results. A nice piece of film scoring.

The music for Eleanor´s Arrival features a magnificent female and male chorus with orchestral backing.

Media Vita in Morte Sumus (In the Midst of Life We Are In Death) is quietly suspenseful with the chorus once more making an appearance.

Allons Gai Gai Gai features a gentle and beautiful male and female A-capella melody.

We're Jungle Creatures, this, the finale music for the film, is anything but jungle-like. It starts quiet but slowly builds with French horns, trumpets and opulent chorus to a grand, climatic finale. A very nice finish.

(Links to music on YouTube below)


Tracklist:

Side 1:

1 Main Title - The Lion In Winter        
2 Chinon - Eleanor's Arrival        
3 Allons Gai Gai Gai        
4 To The Chapel        
5 The Christmas Wine (Lyrics By – James Goldman)

Side 2:
       
1 God Damn You        
2 To Rome        
3 The Herb Garden        
4 Eya, Eya, Nova Gaudia        
5 How Beautiful You Make Me        
6 Media Vita In Morte Sumus (In The Midst Of Life We Are In Death)    
7 We're Jungle Creatures



Music links:
Main Title on YouTube
Orchestral Suite on YouTube
Media Vita in Morte Sumus (In the Midst of Life We Are In Death) on YouTube
Allons Gai Gai Gai on YouTube
We're Jungle Creatures on YouTube 

other links:
movie trailer on YouTube
Anthony Hopkins remembers The lion in winter on YouTube    
full cast and credits of film on imdb  



Well, I guess this turned out to be more about the film than Peter O'Toole. But, you know, that's life. Hope your Christmas is not as stressful as it was for the characters in the movie.


Merry Christmas


Styrous® ~ December 15, 2013


~