Sidney Bechet- Mosaic Select: Disc One (2006) ***
John Barry- Diamonds Are Forever O.S.T. (1971) ***1/2
Roland Alphonso- Dreamland: The Beverley's Singles, 1966-1968 (2024) ****
Roy Wood & Jeff Lynne- No Answer From The Country: Personal Playlist (2025) ****
Todd Rundgren- Runt. The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren (1971) ****
Elvis Costello- The Wendy James Demos (1991) ***
The Byrds- Younger Than Yesterday (1967) ***1/2
Aerosmith- Night In The Ruts (1979) ****
Badlands- Voodoo Highway (1991) ****
The Daze Between Band- Tipitina's, 5/4/22 ****
• I did a short post on Facebook about "Draw The Line," and "Night In The Ruts" came up again. So I needed to revisit. Surprise hit of the day! I don't recall loving it as much as I did today, though my band did play both the Yardbirds cover and "Three Mile Smile" back in the day and those killer Kramer drum parts in "Three Mile Smile" were still with me.
• I love both Badlands records and enjoy taking them out for a spin every now and then. I was curious about what All Music had to say about "Voodoo Highway."
"This had possibilities of being a rather good hard rock album, but got overpacked with cliches at the start (opening vocal howl, speed leads that go nowhere, some Led Zep swipes), with the good qualities (strong rhythm playing, great energy) being lost in the mix. It should and could have been better -- when these guys let loose, they smoke. One of these days some of these bands are going to figure out that they don't have to do everything according to one narrow set of rules."
It's much better than that review, though the reviewer isn't wrong. I guess I just like the record more than he does.
• The "Daze Between" refers to the days between the first weekend of Jazz Fest in New Orleans and the second. Every amazing musician is in town and they all want to play with each other as much as physically possible. For this show, The Daze Between Band was George Porter Jr., Ivan Neville, Eric Krasno and Adam Deitch, with special guests coming and going, including Stanton Moore and Benny Bloom, among others. This show is a much tighter set than the often loose and haphazard jams that take place. The horn section, actually every one, sounds rehearsed, if you can believe it. Really good stuff that put me right there. I'll post a link if anyone is interested.
15 comments:
Re:the Wendy James Demos
Who's doing the vocals? Wendy or Elvis? Could you Share these files or point me to where they could be found?
Elvis and Pete Thomas. I'll post a link here in a bit.
Loving the film score deep dives! Boy do I regret having to ditch a bunch of film scores when I downsized AND not making lists of all the scores/soundtracks I reviewed and listened to way back when. Now lost in the mists of time. Keep a list of all the music/books/movie/tv you enjoy kids! You'll be glad later.
The Daze Between Band sounds like a great gig. Would love to hear it.
As for A Night In The Ruts, I recall it being a good listen, perhaps not as good as the previous 5 albums, but solid.
In the 90’s, The Skatalites reformed and toured regularly. So glad for that, so much joy could be heard at those gigs, especially from Roland Alphonso’s sax.
- Paul in DK
Michael, check out this page for a massive fan compilation of Lalo Schifrin music. https://www.nowbodhisblissness.com/2026/06/i-know-you-got-solstice-seismic-schifrin.html
- Paul in DK
Link for EC-
https://we.tl/t-ip0V477qAWiSSi06
That Lalo comp looks fantastic!
Link for Porter/Neville-
https://we.tl/t-V9OQwe23W0aJ6hEu
I can convert my copy to mp3 or ALAC if that’s better for you guys.
- Paul in DK
In the middle of doing that now, thanks.
Thanks!
I concur with your thoughts on Night In The Nuts. It sounds outstanding and much better than I recalled, and I listened to it a lot upon its release. I like it better than any of the band’s subsequent albums except for Pump. While I still prefer DTL, it’s closer than before. And I no longer think it’s ridiculous if others prefer NITN more. :)
I’m a fan of Transvision Vamp from back in the day. Particularly their third (and final album), 1991’s Little Magnets Versus The Bubble Of Babble - ignored by the record company, critically brutalized, and otherwise neglected. Cutout bin miracle. After learning about The Gwendolyn Letters, I finally located a copy via eBay (early oughts). A pretty insane backstory - I don’t think Wendy had even met Elvis until afterwards. Apparently it was Pete Thomas’ doing.
Thanks for the memories, sir. Some great listening.
Curious: You’ve a vinyl copy of Billy Joel’s Storm Front for sale, but omit the album in the BW Album Guide. His only studio album not included. Intentional? Lol
Also, don’t accidentally internet search “Storm Front” as a single word. Oy vey.
Thanks for all you do.
Complete oversight re: Storm Front (two words).
Fixing that shortly.
Thanks.
Thanks for this and The Wendy James Demos
- Paul in DK
Thanks Paul in DC!
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