A Record a Week: Al Hirt - The Best of Al Hirt Vol. 2

SIDE 1.
BYE BYE BLUES
STAR DUST
THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA
ALKIN'
SLEEPY LAGOON
I CAN'T GET STARTED

SIDE 2.
CLARINET MARMALADE
(DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO MISS) NEW ORLEANS
EASY STREET
LET'S DO IT (LET'S FALL IN LOVE)
THE JITTERBUG WALTZ
PERSONALITY

Now that's what I'm talking about. Another week, another musician who is the namesake of the record without being the singer. It's nice to hear, because as nice as instrumental music is, sometimes it is good to hear music with a singer where they aren't drowning out the music. Maybe if Guns n' Roses were just called Slash, Axl wouldn't have become the ego-maniac that he did and we'd still have that same 90's rock band (although after The Spaghetti Incident, maybe it's better this way).

It is clear after listening to this record that Hirt was a solid trumpet player. This album covers all styles of classics and he nails it all the way through. He was born and raised in the hot bed of jazz, New Orleans, but studied music up in Ohio. He played swing and big band music as well through his time after Ohio and thus gained the tools to be able to play all the styles of music that he exhibits on this record. I've always been jealous of people who play the brass instruments, as they always made my cheeks hurt and I just couldn't get past that. Maybe it will be something I revisit as an adult to see if I've built up any durability in the cheekal region. (I know that's not a real word)

It is a good thing to get a few records like this under your belt if you consider yourself to have a diverse knowledge of music. I myself think that I need to dig deeper into the last 2 artists I've reviewed, as they're both great and I have only mildly increased my hold on what they're about.

A Record a Week: The Best of Duke Ellington and his Orchestra

SIDE 1.
WARM VALLEY
ROCKIN' IN RHYTHM
PRELUDE TO A KISS
SATIN DOLL
CARAVAN

SIDE 2.
FLAMINGO
IN A SENTIMENTAL MOOD
BLACK AND TAN FANTASY
PASSION FLOWER
BAKIFF

Duke Ellington was an incredible jazz piano player, jazz pioneer and band leader. He was innovative and ground-breaking, an important part of the foundation of African-American music movement of the early 1900's.

His style covered many grounds, as this album proves. He has that soft jazz style that was famous in the early days of jazz as well as some more intricate pieces, different time signatures and different groupings of instruments. I thought for the first few songs that it was going to be that slower sound of many jazz records I have listened to over the past year or so that don't really have the punch and swing of the jazz form later time periods. I forgot, however, that this was encompassing his entire career, or at least more that the early 20's.

Both Satin Doll and Caravan are my two favourites on the album, though it is a solid listen in its entirety. I imagine those songs may pop up again, as looking forward, it would appear I have at least a couple of weeks more of Duke Ellington ahead. Thank goodness he is so talented.

A Record a Week: The Best of Duane Eddy

SIDE 1.
YOUR BABY'S GONE SURFIN'
REBEL ROUSER
BOSS GUITAR
MY BABY PLAYS THE SAME OLD SONG ON HIS GUITAR ALL NIGHT LONG
FIREBALL MAIL
HIGH NOON

SIDE 2.
(DANCE WITH THE) GUITAR MAN
THE BALLAD OF PALLADIN
DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS
LONELY BOY, LONELY GUITAR
LIMBO ROCK
WILDWOOD FLOWER

This album has a classic surf rock feel to it. That twangy-reverb sound is one that Eddy adopted and set out for other rock and surf rock bands for years to come, including the Beach Boys.

Long before the reverb and delay pedals that are out today, Eddy used a variety of techniques to achieve the surf and spacey sounds he is known for. This includes, apparently, bringing in a large water tank to use as an echo chamber in a studio that was not equipped with one. The tone of the music is not unlike the opening theme for 3rd Rock From the Sun mixed with the style of play from any beach cafe jukebox from the 1950's (many of which probably included a few of Eddy's numerous hits).

This album is a good look, as many of the ones I explore seem to be, at the beginning of a certain style of music. You can really hear the experimental sounds of rock and surf littered throughout this record and I like the raw feeling of his earlier stuff mixed in with the developed sound of a bit later in his career.

A Record a Week: Elvis Costello - The Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions

SIDE 1.
ALISON
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES
(WHAT'S SO FUNNY 'BOUT) PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING?
OLIVER'S ARMY
PUMP IT UP
ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN
RADIO, RADIO
I CAN'T STAND UP FOR FALLING DOWN
ALMOST BLUE

SIDE 2.
BEYOND BELIEF
CLUBLAND
WATCH YOUR STEP
SHIPBUILDING
I WANNA BE LOVED
EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK
THE ONLY FLAME IN TOWN

This is the Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions version from 1985, not the 1990 version or either of the 'very' best of ones, just to be clear.

Elvis Costello is one of those artists that I think I got into because a girl I had a crush on in high school was really into him. Furthermore, he was one of the few artists in that category that were actually any good (oh, the terrible music people listen to in high school).

This album came out before my favourite of his albums, Blood and Chocolate, but does include two of my favourite Costello tracks, 'Pump it Up' and 'Radio, Radio'.

A constant re-inventor and mixer of styles, Costello is a reminder to me of what could've been a better era of music in the 1980's. Costello creates music from a blend of rock, country, folk, jazz, swing and many more, including a clear homage to the 1950's. Layered over top of that is his very distinct voice, including a British accent that doesn't entirely shine through while singing.

This album is as advertised, the best that Costello had to offer up to the time of release. A great mix of post-punk and slower jazz-influenced love songs, this includes all of the raw ingredients that formed a long, successful career.

A Record a Week: The Best of Mark-Almond

SIDE 1:
THE CITY
TRAMP AND THE YOUNG GIRL
ONE WAY SUNDAY

SIDE 2:
THE GHETTO
SONG FOR YOU
FRIENDS
SOLITUDE

Musicians Jon Mark and Johnny Almond are the main forces behind Mark-Almond (aka Mark Almond or the Mark Almond Band). The pair began playing music together in the late 60s and gained most of their popularity through the early 70s.

When I first turned this record on, it sounded very reminiscent of The Moody Blues. The first song "The City" is an 11 minute jazz-rock anthem. The album flows through styles of space rock, lounge jazz, fusion and avant-garde.

I really enjoyed this album as a whole. I didn't love all of it, but "The City"really got me interested and although my interest dropped a bit in the second song, "One Way Sunday" got me back. After a slow-ish start on the second side, things branch off into the artsy jazz realm. There was one song that had a terrific group vocal part, but I couldn't discern whether it was "Song For You" or "Solitude". It sounds like a mash-up of jazz-rock, The Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, the out-there sounds you hear coming from the Rex at 1:30 in the morning and some version of Jazz you would hear on your local EZ rock station. I know that covers a lot of different areas, but for the time period they were playing, it kind of makes sense.