June 30, 2025
June 28, 2025
20,000 vinyl LPs 389: Pink Floyd ~ A Saucerful of Secrets
~
vinyl LP front cover
cover design by Hipgnosis
photo of album cover by Styrous®
On June 28, 1968, the second album by Pink Floyd, A Saucer Full of Secrets was released by EMI Columbia in the UK and in the US by Tower Records. I'm having a hard time realizing it was over fifty years ago! I didn't actually discover Pink Floyd until 1971 with their Meddle album. A Saucer Full of Secrets, was my second album purchase by the English rock band.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
1 - Let There Be More Light, written by Roger Waters - 5:32
A2 - Remember A Day, written by Rick Wright* - 4:27
A3 - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, written by Roger Waters - 5:23
A4 - Corporal Clegg, written by Roger Waters - 4:07
A2 - Remember A Day, written by Rick Wright* - 4:27
A3 - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, written by Roger Waters - 5:23
A4 - Corporal Clegg, written by Roger Waters - 4:07
Side 2:
B1 - A Saucerful Of Secrets, written by Gilmore*, Mason*, Wright*, Waters* - 11:52
B2 - See Saw, written by Rick Wright* - 4:30
B3 - Jugband Blues, written by Syd Barrett - 2:57
Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Capitol Records, Inc.
Published By – Essex Music, Inc.
Credits:
Producer – Norman Smith
Notes:
Second pressing from 1968, "MANUFACTURED IN THE U.S.A. BY CAPITOL RECORDS, INC." printed at the bottom edge of labels.
Rear jacket includes number, "6" in bottom right corner.
Other jacket text: "Printed in U.S.A." (in circle), "Manufactured by Capitol Records, Inc., a subsidiary of Capitol Industries, Inc., Hollywood and Vine Streets, Hollywood, Calif. · Factories: Scranton, PA., Los Angeles, Calif., Jacksonville, Ill."
Typos and misprints:
David Gilmour's last name is misspelled as, "Gilmore" on jacket and labels
Catalogue number shown on jacket is "ST-5131" with "ST 5131" shown on labels
Track B2 is titled, "See-Saw" on the jacket and "See Saw" on the label
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A, variant 1): ST1 5131
Matrix / Runout (Side B, variant 1): ST2 5131
Matrix / Runout (Side A, variant 2, etched): ST 1 - 5131
Matrix / Runout (Side B, variant 2, etched): ST 2 - 5131
Rights Society: ASCAP
Matrix / Runout (Side B, variant 1): ST2 5131
Matrix / Runout (Side A, variant 2, etched): ST 1 - 5131
Matrix / Runout (Side B, variant 2, etched): ST 2 - 5131
Rights Society: ASCAP
Pink Floyd – A Saucerful Of Secrets
Label: Tower – ST 5131, Tower – ST-5131
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Repress, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1968
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Prog Rock
Label: Tower – ST 5131, Tower – ST-5131
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Repress, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1968
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Prog Rock
Viewfinder links:
June 23, 2025
20,000 vinyl LPs 388: Redhead ~ Bob Fossie & Gwen Verdon
~
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover design by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Today is the birthday of American choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, and stage director Bob Fosse who was known for his work on stage and screen; he is one of the most influential figures in the field of jazz dance in the twentieth century. He revolutionized musicals with his distinct style of dance and was on a par with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.
Fosse started his career acting in the musical productions of Call Me Mister (1947), Billion Dollar Baby (1951), and Pal Joey (1952). He transitioned into directing and choreographing musical works, winning Tony Awards for choreographing The Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), Redhead (1959), Little Me (1963), Sweet Charity (1966), Pippin (1972), Dancin' (1978), and Big Deal (1986), as well as for directing Pippin. He also worked on Bells Are Ringing (1956), New Girl in Town (1958), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), and Chicago (1975).
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover design by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Fosse forged an uncompromising modern style, characterized by finger-snapping, tilted bowler hats, fishnet stockings, splayed gloved fingers, turned-in knees and toes, shoulder rolls and jazz hands. His third wife was dancer and actress Gwen Verdon, whom he met choreographing Damn Yankees, in which she starred and with whom he collaborated on a number of theater and film projects.
Fosse's extramarital affairs put a strain on the marriage and by 1971
they were separated, although they remained legally married until his
death in 1987. Verdon never re-partnered. During their joint career, Fosse would continually take blame from
critics while Gwen Verdon would get praise. However, Verdon always looked out for him
and was Fosse's personal press secretary throughout their marriage.
vinyl LP back cover
cover design by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
photo of album back cover by Styrous®
In Redhead, Fosse used one of the first ballet sequences in a show that contained five different styles of dance: Fosse's jazz, a cancan, a gypsy dance, a march and an old-fashioned English music hall number. Set in London in the 1880s, around the time of Jack the Ripper, the musical is a murder mystery in the setting of a wax museum.
vinyl LP back cover details
cover design by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
photo of album back cover by Styrous®
vinyl LP back cover detail
cover design by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
detail photo of album back cover by Styrous®
vinyl LP back cover detail
cover design by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
photo of album back cover by Styrous®
vinyl LP back cover detail
cover design by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
photo of album back cover by Styrous®
In 1961, Fosse's epilepsy was revealed when he had a seizure onstage during rehearsals for The Conquering Hero. He died of a heart attack on September 23, 1987, at George Washington University Hospital while the revival of Sweet Charity was opening at the nearby National Theatre. He had collapsed in Verdon's arms near the Willard Hotel. As he had requested, Verdon and Nicole Fosse scattered his ashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Quogue, Long Island, where Fosse had been living with his girlfriend of four years. A month after his death, Verdon fulfilled Fosse's request for his
friends to "go out and have dinner on me" by hosting a star-studded,
celebrity-filled evening at Tavern on the Green with Verdon, Reinking, Jessica Lange, Roy Scheider, Ben Vereen, and E. L. Doctorow attending.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A1 - Orchestra* – Overture
A2 - Patrons* – The Simpson Sisters' Door
A3 - Gwen Verdon – The Right Finger Of My Left Hand
A4 - Gwen Verdon, Richard Kiley, Leonard Stone – Just For Once
A5 - Gwen Verdon – Merely Marvelous
A6 - Leonard Stone – The Uncle Sam Rag
A7 - Gwen Verdon – Erbie Fitch's Twitch
A8 - Richard Kiley, Leonard Stone – She's Just Not Enough Woman For Me
A9 - Gwen Verdon, Cynthia Latham, Doris Rich – Behave Yourself
A2 - Patrons* – The Simpson Sisters' Door
A3 - Gwen Verdon – The Right Finger Of My Left Hand
A4 - Gwen Verdon, Richard Kiley, Leonard Stone – Just For Once
A5 - Gwen Verdon – Merely Marvelous
A6 - Leonard Stone – The Uncle Sam Rag
A7 - Gwen Verdon – Erbie Fitch's Twitch
A8 - Richard Kiley, Leonard Stone – She's Just Not Enough Woman For Me
A9 - Gwen Verdon, Cynthia Latham, Doris Rich – Behave Yourself
Side 2:
B1 - Gwen Verdon, Richard Kiley – Look Who's In Love
B2 - Richard Kiley – My Girl Is Just Enough Woman For Me
B3 - Orchestra* – Essie's Vision
B4 - Bob Dixon (17) – Two Faces In The Dark
B5 - Richard Kiley – I'm Back In Circulation
B6 - Joy Nichols, Pat Ferrier – We Loves Ya, Jimey, Arranged By Sid Ramin
B8 - Gwen Verdon, Richard Kiley – I'll Try
B9 - Entire Company* – Chase And Finale
Companies, etc.
Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Indianapolis
Recorded At – RCA Victor Studios, New York
Credits:
Arranged By [Dance Music] – Roger Adams
Choreography [Associate Choreographer] – Donald McKayle
Design Concept – Rouben Ter-Arutunian
Directed By, Choreography – Bob Fosse
Lighting – Jean Rosenthal
Lyrics By, Liner Notes – Dorothy Fields
Music By – Albert Hague
Music Director, Arranged By [Vocal Arrangements] – Jay Blackton
Orchestrated By – Philip J. Lang, Robert Russell Bennett
Presenter – Lawrence Carr, Robert Fryer
Production Manager – Robert Linden
Vocals [Essie Whimple] – Gwen Verdon
Vocals [George Poppett] – Leonard Stone
Vocals [Maude Simpson] – Cynthia Latham
Vocals [May] – Joy Nichols
Vocals [Sarah Simpson] – Doris Rich
Vocals [Tilly] – Pat Ferrier
Vocals [Tom Baxter] – Richard Kiley
Written-By [Book By] – David Shaw (23), Dorothy Fields, Herbert Fields, Sidney Sheldon
Notes:
Original 1959 Broadway Cast recording of the murder mystery stage musical starring Gwen Verdon and Richard Kiley.
Recorded Feb 8, 1959
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout): K2 PP1128-3S A2 I
Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout): K2 PP1129-4S I A2
Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout): K2 PP1129-4S I A2
Gwen Verdon, Richard Kiley – Redhead (An Original Cast Recording)
Label: RCA Victor – LOC-1048
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1959
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Styrous® ~ Monday, June 23, 2025
Label: RCA Victor – LOC-1048
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1959
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Britannica ~ Bob Fosse
Dramatics ~ Why Bob Fosse’s influence never fizzles
Masterworks Broadway ~ Bob Fosse
PBS ~ Bob Fosse
Senses of Cinema ~ Bob Fosse
YouTube links:
Damn Yankees ~
Bob Fosse (documentary) (1 hr.)
Kiss Me Kate ~ From This Moment On
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Rouben Ter-Arutunian articles/mentions
June 22, 2025
Quartet: A Solstice Celebration
Quartet poster
Yesterday was the summer solstice (link below). Because it is the longest it is my favorite day of the year and I celebrated it one way or another each year; this time by attending a marvelous performance of Quartet, a 1999 play about aging opera singers by South African-born British author, playwright, and screenwriter, Ronald Harwood.
The setting is a retirement home for musicians. It opens with three former
opera-singers, who worked together, sitting and talking. Reginald quietly reads a book, while Wilfred constantly makes erotic innuendos as he regards Cissy who is lying back and listening to music through her headphones. They are joined by Jean, who was a major star in her day and to whom Reginald was once unhappily and briefly married. All struggling to deal with the problems and realities of growing old.
A gala concert is about to take place at the retirement home to celebrate the birthday of Giuseppe Verdi. Three of them are keen to recreate the third act quartet Bella figlia dell'amore from Rigoletto but Jean is not; the action involves convincing her to join in the quartet with hilarious incidents. The play concludes as Reginald and Jean have reconciled and the four are costumed and lip-synch to their own retro
recording. The result is charming and I had a most enjoyable solstice!
The show’s director, Stephanie Singer, is an actor, director, and an acting and improv teacher. She directed the 2023 multimedia musical play JFK a Remembrance at the Rossmoor Event Center and recently directed Doubt (link below) at the Town Hall Theaterr in Moraga.
Stephanie Singer - Director
photo by Styrous®
The play features Tom Cassese, Neil Fiore, Lee Gale Gruen, Edward Kimak and Jean Wilcox. It closes today, June 22 with a matinee performance.
photographer unknown
Edward Kimak is delightful as the sexually obsessed and lecherous Wilfred!
photo by Styrous®
Dustin Hoffman said that Ronald Harwood was inspired by the 1984 documentary Tosca's Kiss (about Casa di Riposa the world's first nursing home for retired opera singers, founded in 1896 in Milan by composer Giuseppe Verdi) to write the original play and subsequent film (link below) on which Quartet is based.
Viewfinder links:
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