January 25, 2015

101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 88: Aretha Franklin ‎~ Aretha's Greatest Hits

reel-to-reel tape cover detail
cover design by Loriing Eutemey
cover photo by Ken Cunningham
detail photo of tape box cover by Styrous®

In addition to my vinyl LP record collection I'm selling, I have reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes I'm selling on eBay (see link below). Interested? Contact me by email, please, not by a comment. 
~ ~ ~

Aretha's Greatest Hits is the third compilation album by American singer Aretha Franklin. Released on September 9, 1971 on Atlantic Records, The compilation features three new recordings: "Spanish Harlem", "You're All I Need to Get By" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". The album reached Billboard's Top 20 and eventually sold over 500,000 copies. It was never released on compact disc and has been out of print since the 1980s.


reel-to-reel tape cover
cover design by Loriing Eutemey
cover photo by Ken Cunningham
photo of tape box cover by Styrous®





Aretha Franklin ‎~ Aretha's Greatest Hits
reel-to-reel tape box back
photo of tape box back by Styrous®

Franklin was in a relationship with road manager and photographer of this album, Ken Cunningham. Franklin and Cunningham had a son named Kecalf before they split in 1976, five years after this album was released.



Aretha Franklin ‎~ Aretha's Greatest Hits
reel-to-reel tape box back detail
detail photo of tape box back by Styrous®






Aretha Franklin ‎~ Aretha's Greatest Hits
reel-to-reel tape box spine
detail photo of tape box spine by Styrous®


Franklin eventually recorded a total of 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and twenty number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in the chart's history. Franklin also recorded acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul, Young, Gifted & Black and Amazing Grace before experiencing problems with her record company by the mid-1970s.





Aretha Franklin ‎~ Aretha's Greatest Hits
reel-to-reel tape 
photo  by Styrous®







Aretha Franklin ‎~ Aretha's Greatest Hits
reel-to-reel tape label detail
detail photo by Styrous®




Track Listing:

Side 1:

  1. "Spanish Harlem" (Jerry Leiber/Phil Spector) - 3:30
  2. "Chain Of Fools" (Don Covay) - 2:45
  3. "Don't Play That Song" (Ahmet Ertegun/Betty Nelson) - 2:48
  4. "I Say a Little Prayer" (Burt Bacharach/Hal David) - 3:30
  5. "Dr. Feelgood" (Aretha Franklin/Ted White) - 3:18
  6. "Let It Be" (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) - 3:28
  7. "Do Right Woman - Do Right Man" (Dan Penn/Chips Moman) - 3:15

Side 2:

  1. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Paul Simon) - 5:31
  2. "Respect" (Otis Redding) - 2:26
  3. "Baby I Love You" (Ronnie Shannon) - 2:39
  4. "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (Gerry Goffin/Jerry Wexler/Carole King) - 2:39
  5. "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" (Ronnie Shannon) - 2:47
  6. "You're All I Need to Get By" (Nickolas Ashford/Valerie R. Simpson) - 3:34
  7. "Call Me" (Aretha Franklin) - 3:18

Credits:

Released: September 9, 1971
Recorded: 1967–1971
Label: Atlantic - ALM 8295
Producer: Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd & Arif Mardin



Aretha Franklin on YouTube:  

Spanish Harlem   
Chain Of Fools (live) 
Don't Play That Song  
I Say a Little Prayer     
I Say a Little Prayer (live)           
Dr. Feelgood (live)       
Let It Be        
Do Right Woman - Do Right Man         
Bridge Over Troubled Water        
Respect (original version)       
Respect         
Baby I Love You         
You're All I Need to Get By (long version)     
Call Me (live, Fillmore West)



Aretha Franklin ‎~ Aretha's Greatest Hits, reel-to-reel tape on eBay  

Other reel-to-reel tapes on eBay   



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January 18, 2015

101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 87: Diana Ross & the Supremes ~ Stop! In the Name of Love












Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®

In addition to my 20,000 Vinyl LP collection I'm selling, I have reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes for sale on eBay (see link below). If interested, contact me by email please, not by a comment. 

~ ~ ~

When I was in my mid twenties, I discovered Motown. The first of the songs I heard was by The Supremes. I heard them in bars in the Tenderloin where I would go after the other bars closed. It was where I learned to drink my Jack Daniels neat as it was served in a coffee mug. It is illegal to sell alcohol after 2 am, so they would put the drinks in mugs, (the assumption being, if the cops came in, all they would see were people drinking coffee, um, right!). The after hour bars had shows with performers in drag that would lip-sync to pop songs of the time. I don't think a night went by that one of them wouldn't mime to a song by The Supremes and the song would usually (but not always) be, Stop! In the Name of Love, done to the hilt with 3 inch long eye lashes and equally as exaggerated hand gestures imploring the offending paramour to, Stop!

It was a hell of a lot of fun!



Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box cover  
photo by Styrous®


Diana Ross & the Supremes: Greatest Hits (also released as The Supremes: Greatest Hits) is a two-LP collection of singles and b-sides recorded by The Supremes, released by Motown in August 1967 (see 1967 in music). The reel-to-reel tape contained the material on one "Double Play" tape. The collection was the first LP to credit the group under the new billing Diana Ross & the Supremes. Although founding member Florence Ballard is pictured on all album artwork and sings on all the tracks, by the time the set was released, she had been fired from the group and replaced by Cindy Birdsong.



Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box cover back 
photo by Styrous®




Greatest Hits would rank as their second #1 album holding a distinction that it would take decades for another female group to achieve. According to Motown data the album eventually sold over 6,200,000 copies.



 
 Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box back detail  
detail photo by Styrous®


Greatest Hits includes fifteen Supremes singles, 10 of which went to number-one, among them were Where Did Our Love Go, Stop! In the Name of Love, You Can't Hurry Love, and the most recent Supremes number-one, The Happening (a non-album track from the 1967 film of the same name). Also included are five popular Supremes B-sides: Standing at the Crossroads of Love, Ask Any Girl, There's No Stopping Us Now, Everything is Good About You, and Whisper You Love Me Boy.

Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box spine 
detail photos by Styrous®




The packaging for the set includes liner notes by actress Carol Channing (which were originally written for an unreleased album "The Supremes and The Motown Sound: From Broadway To Hollywood") and paintings by Robert Taylor, including collectable 12 inch by 12 inch pin-up portraits of Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson. Greatest Hits was their second number-one album on both the Billboard 200 and the Billboard R&B Albums charts in the United States, and also reached the top of the pop album chart in the United Kingdom as well. The album sold over six million copies, world-wide as of 1988. However, it was never accorded Platinum Status as Motown did not submit to RIAA Certification until years later. Although not nominally credited because of their increasingly estranged relationship with Motown, all of the songs included were produced by the songwriting/production team of Holland–Dozier–Holland.



Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box back detail  
detail photo by Styrous®





Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape label detail  
detail photo by Styrous®



Track listing:

All songs produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier. All songs written by Holland–Dozier–Holland unless otherwise noted. Superscripts denote original album sources, referenced below.

Side 1:

  1. "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" a – 2:38
  2. "Where Did Our Love Go" a – 2:30
  3. "Ask Any Girl" a, b – 2:44
  4. "Baby Love" a – 2:37
  5. "Run, Run, Run" a – 2:30
  6. "Stop! In the Name of Love" b – 2:53
  7. "Back in My Arms Again" b – 2:52
  8. "Come See About Me" a – 2:42
  9. "Nothing but Heartaches" b – 2:57
  10. "Everything is Good About You" (James Dean, Edward Holland, Jr.) c – 2:57

    Side 2:

    1. "I Hear a Symphony" c – 2:38
    2. "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" e – 2:46
    3. "My World Is Empty Without You" c – 2:33
    4. "Whisper You Love Me Boy" b – 2:40
    5. "The Happening" (Holland-Dozier-Holland, Frank De Vol) – 2:49
    6. "You Keep Me Hangin' On" e – 2:40
    7. "You Can't Hurry Love" d – 2:45
    8. "Standing at the Crossroads of Love" a – 2:27
    9. "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart" d – 2:55
    10. "There's No Stopping Us Now" e – 2:55

    Personnel:
      My favorite Supremes songs on YouTube:
       
      other songs by the Supremes on YouTube 


      Diana Ross & The Supremes, Greatest Hits, reel-to-reel tape on eBay
       
      Other reel-to-reel tapes on eBay  



      Styrous® ~ Sunday, January 18, 2015 

      ~

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      January 16, 2015

      Black Power Matters














      Black Power Matters demonstration 

      Federal Building
      7th Street & Washington Street
      Oakland, CA 

      January 16, 2015 



      photo by Styrous®











      Jan. 16, 2015 12:30 PM ET
      San Francisco Chronicle ~  
      Protesters, holding "Black resistance matters" and "Black power matters" blocked the entrance to a federal building Friday morning.




      Styrous® ~ Friday, January 16, 2015   

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      January 14, 2015

      Ecotopia: The Installations of Celeste Connor

       





      Installations by Celeste Connor inspired by the novel, "Ecotopia: Notebooks and Reports of William Weston"
      by Ernest Callenbach


      photos by Styrous®





      Link to the Ecotopian Archive/East: Exteriors  
      (located in Walnut Creek on the border of The Open Space Regional Park)  
        
      Link to the Ecotopian Archive/West: Interiors  
      (located in Temescal District of Oakland, CA)  

       The Celeste Connor installations

      Sick and tired of the haste and hyper-mediation of the present Anthropocene era? (The geologic term for the epoch that began when human activities started to have a significant, global, impact of the Earthʼs ecosystems.) Try on the post-apocalyptic future! The two-part installation called, “The Ecotopian Archive”, documented here, provides a portal to 2084 to witness the results of the Great Earth Cataclysm of 2077.

      The Ecotopian Archive, by Celeste Connor, is a portable, expanding, installation-in-process in the Temescal District of Oakland, California at the heart of Oakland Art Murmur. Along with its outdoor Eastern section in Walnut Creek on the border of The Open Space Regional Parkland (links to both archives above and at the end), the visual work uses Ernest Callenbach's 1975 novel, “Ecotopia”, as its libretto. Themes of feminist statehood and collective quests for a sustainable future are appropriated from the prescient novel by Callenbach, an early Earth advocate and founding editor of Berkeley Film Review.

      Artists often look to the past for inspiration. The current popularity of thrift stores, collecting of memorabilia, the intrigue of sidewalk shopping, and even the revival of scrapbooking (as well as the increasing number of museums and memorials being built) attest to our culture's obsession with "memory". Not the Proustian kind; but the communal variety.

      But what about a memory of the future? In recent years visual artists have created archives and collections as part of their creative practice. What kinds of stories are being preserved? Which stories are being omitted? An archive can be a powerful force of subversion; a portal between an unfinished past and a reopened future.

      Philosophical notions of transformed futures have a long, venerable history in the West. Early schemes were memorably drafted by communitarian thinker Saint Thomas Moore, artist and designer William Morris, socialist-sufferagist Charlotte Perkins Gilman; later ones were crafted by artist members of liberationist movements of the 1970's. The alternative future is the pivot around which Connorʼs 3-D collection of toss-away Things gyrate.

      Connorʼs work, at heart--like that of her historical predecessors--is an act of social criticism. And, like Callenbachʼs, it is directed pointedly at Americaʼs role in instigating and exporting wasteful and unsustainable ways of living. What distinguishes Connorʼs critique is its intense visuality and vital materiality, its humor and optimism. What The Ecotopian Archive adds to the vocabulary of The Just Society is a quite literal experience of the archeological remains of one.



      The premise of the Archive

      The 3-D, assemblage, “Ecotopian Archive,” embodies evidence of a woman-led nation, an evolved and sustainable state called Ecotopia, that seceded from the United States in 1980 when Reagan was elected President. Now, in the Gregorian Calendar year 2084, Earth has outlasted the devastating, global cataclysm of 2077. That small portion of planet Earth formerly known as “America” (and most of its living habitats) were vaporized by ceaseless firestorms, volcanic flows, and eruptions of hyper-geysers. Ecotopians survived; but most migrated off-planet. Connor’s comic, post-apocalyptic visual work includes rare Ecotopian video recordings, diverse archeological finds collected by those Ecotopians who volunteered to remain behind to tend Earth’s recuperation for the return of their Neotopian descendents. The Archive they assemble is a unique collection of trans-categorizable Things (Dings) gleaned from the detritus of the U.S and pre-cataclysm Ecotopian societies. Visitors are welcomed to examine the evidence with care and draw their own conclusions.

      Celeste Connor email: rrosaseconda@gmail.com 




      The Book

      Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach
      Published by Bantam (1975)
      ISBN 10: 0553104896
      ISBN 13: 9780553104899 


      Link to the Ecotopian Archive/East: Exteriors  
      (located in Walnut Creek on the border of The Open Space Regional Park)  
        
      Link to the Ecotopian Archive/West: Interiors  
      (located in Temescal District of Oakland, CA)  


      Celeste Connor interviewed by Alisa Golden   
      Ernest Callenbach website 
      video of the President of the State of Ecotopia, welcoming her post-cataclysmic citizens back to Earth on Vimeo 


      The Archive is open to the public by appointment only. 
      for info: rrosaseconda@gmail.com 



      Styrous® ~ Wednesday, January 14, 2015

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      The Installations of Celeste Connor: Ecotopian Archive/West








      Interiors 
      (located in Temescal District of Oakland, CA)



      photos by Styrous®





       

                          Ecotopia
                  created by Celeste Connor   
                        photo by Styrous®  




      (click on any image to view slideshow)

























































































































      Styrous® ~ Wednesday, January 14, 2015

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      The Installations of Celeste Connor: Ecotopian Archive/East








      Exteriors  
      (located in Walnut Creek on the border of The Open Space Regional Park)



      photos by Styrous®










      (click on any image to view slideshow)


      Styrous® ~ Wednesday, January 14, 2015

      Posted by at 3 comments:
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