Welcome We will be closed for several weeks due to pressing work engagements. Disclaimer: The purpose of this blog is for storing and compiling a digital archive of my personally owned audio material with the sole intent of preserving said material for my decendants who will be, upon my death, the beneficiary of all the material herein. The information, photos, commentary and links to the archived material contained herein is intended for my sole personal use and is not intended to be sold or distributed unlawfully.
Living Brass - A Henry Mancini Tribute RCA - Camden CAS-2162 Stereo Vinyl 1967
I Like The Look
In order for comparison. Here is the most sought after and must find Living Brass album.
Unlike the previous post which is one everyone can "safely pass on." Sadly, based upon the amount of downloads, my sarcasm is not very understood and credence in Space Age Pops critique is causing A Taste of Honey to be "passed on" by many folks. Some of our visitors like to let their own ears do the walking and make up their own minds about what is good or not.
Anyway, this album is the best album Living Brass ever did.
This is not my rip. I believe it to be a Basic Hip rip. Thanks to them for providing us with the quality end of the spectrum of Living Brass.
Living Brass - A Taste Of Honey RCA Camden Records CAS-940 Stereo Vinyl 1966
Happy Pierre Here is what Space Age Pop has to say about Tiajuana Brass knock offs.
The best of the batch is RCA's Living Brass series, which were arranged by space age pop master Ray Martin and produced by Ethel Gabriel as part of her commercially pioneering Living (Strings, Voices, Jazz, Trio, Guitars, Organ, etc.) series on RCA Camden. You can safely pass on the first Living Brass album, "A Taste of Honey," which is a faithfully exact and dull clone of the TJB sound. In subsequent albums, Martin began inching away, creating a goofy, bouncy sound that could fit right into the soundtrack of the next Austin Powers movies. His Living Brass "A Henry Mancini Tribute" is a must-find, featuring a grrrl group chorus doing an "in your face" vocal version of "Peter Gunn"
Space Age Pop says it all. This album sucks. Don't even think about downloading it. I would be sorry I ever bought it if I hadn't paid $0.33 for it.
But guess what, it is the "first" Living Brass" record and that makes it "a collectors item"! Do I hear $25.00 for this record? Going once...No I'm going to keep it because I actually do like the record no matter what SAP's opinion is.
The Brass Ring - Love Theme From The Flight Of The Phoenix Dunhill Records DS 50008 Stereo Vinyl 1965
The Love Theme From The Flight Of The Phoenix In honor of the late Phil Bodner. Thanks for all the great music. February 24, 2008 Rest In Peace
If Phil Bodner, the versatile woodwind / saxophonist who passed away on Sunday, Feb. 24, had only been a session musician, he still would have secured a space for himself in the jazz text books.
One of the busiest reed men in the 1950s-'70s, he recorded with the top names in the music business. Sinatra, Ella, Torme, among many others. He was part of Enoch Light's Cammand label, where he recorded with such musicians as Dick Hyman, Doc Severinson and Urbie Green. And he recorded for film music sessions as well.
But likely his greatest notoriety came from his work as conductor, musician and arranger for a '60s instrumental pop group inspired by another musician. Herb Alpert's "Tijuana Brass" had rose to the top ten on the Billboard charts very consistently by the mid 1960s. His twin trumpet sound featuring trombones and marimba created a sensation and scored more than a dozen gold albums.
Bodner began recording as the head of his own instrumentalists group, "The Brass Ring". He higlighted a twin saxophone sound, punctuated by brass and a hip rhythm section. Two equally prolific New Jersey born musicians were featured prominently in this band: saxophonist Stan Webb and guitarist Tony Mottola. While the band didn't quite achieve the major success Alpert did, "The Brass Ring" did have a few chart hits of its' own. The "Love Theme from 'The Flight of The Phoenix" in 1965 was followed by what was arguably the group's most memorable hit: a song called "The Dis-Advantages of You". Written by 'Man of La Mancha' composer Mitch Leigh, the track, featuring the twin saxes and a wordless womens chorus, became nationally known after it was used as the background theme for a series of 'Benson and Hedges' cigarette TV commercials in the late '60s. "The Brass Ring" covered many diverse hits of the day, such as "Al-Di-La", "Samba De Orfeau" and Quincy Jones' theme from the movie "For Love of Ivy".
Because of the popularity of the 'easy listening' format on FM radio stations of those days, "The Brass Ring" enjoyed much exposure throghout the late '60s and '70s. Bodner, a composer as well as musician, wrote a number of compositions for the group, as did Mottola. After the group disbanded in the early '70s, Bodner continued to keep active as a studio musician, in demand not only as a saxophonist but on numerous woodwind instruments. He also worked in New York clubs, forming a jazz combo with bassist George Duvivier and drummer Mel Lewis in the early '80s. Phil Bodner remained spradically active even into his 80s.
He is survived by his wife, four children and eight grandchildren. Source: Exotica Digest
This is actually available on a CD twofer by Collectors Choice so this post is only good for 1 week. Then it is C-Ya. Also this represents the return of Licorice Pizza personally ripped vinyl
I posted this one for the friends of Licorice Pizza last summer...but now it is out of print and we can offer this groove fest to the masses. Not my rip and thanks to the original uploader. I try to find out who was the original poster by checking the tags (there weren't any - but now there are. My pet peeve is tagged music.) and also on the Fuzzy Search, but it doesn't show up. Picked up back in 2005 I think. This one is similar to Instro Hipsters and Bun Hunga Combo.
A club compilation featuring classics both new and old that have filled the Blow Up Club Dancefloor over the years, from The Quik's 60s mod classic 'Bert's Apple Crumble' to the 90s spaceage beats of Soul Hooligan's 'Sweet Pea'.
"...Really, there's not a single duffer on here. Seeing The Kinks and The Spencer Davis Group on the track listing gives you an idea what you're in for - think Mary Quant clothes, Chelsea boots and Mini Coopers - but there are also names here that you'd never think of as cool, like Georgie Fame and Andy Williams, both of whom turn in shimmy-inducing corkers. Some of the songs are actually modern (Soul Hooligan and Karminsky Experience weren't even born in the Sixties) but fit in perfectly, while some tracks are so obscure (Mongo Santamaria? The Quik? Jacques Dutronc?) you'd have to be an A1 trainspotter to recognise them. But the that's the whole point of the thing..."SL
"London's famous Blow Up Club has been shaking dance floors on a weekly basis since the early 1990s. This collection gathers together some of its most popular favourites, a funky mix of Northern Soul, Latin jazz and 60s psychedelia. Wah-wah's, bongos and Hammond organs collide with tight basslines and bright brass, an unrelenting groove that will cause even the most cynical hips to shimmy. An assortment of never-forgotten classics--the Spencer Davis Group's "I'm A Man" (featuring a younger, funkier Steve Winwood on vocals), Andy Williams' version of "House Of Bamboo", the Coaster's "Love Potion No. 9"--mix with lesser known gems like the Quik's "Bert's Apple Crumble", the Incredible Bongo Band's "Bongolia" and James Clarke's "Blow Up A Go-Go"." Robert Burrow
Bongo Heat A Taste of Vinyl Compilation LP-1188 2008 Adieu Tristesse - Stanley Black Hey where have I been? That's what I would like to know. And you know what I mean. But seriously, what you don't mean can't hurt you. So with that being said...Welcome back.
With my 28 year old turntable taking a hike on me and my 18 month old scanner joining in shortly thereafter, the lack of decent tools in the kitchen have kept me from offering anything vinyl recently. Being relegated to the archives and CD's, the licorice pizzas have been pretty much non-existent. New utensils are being installed as we speak and we should be back to the original concept of serving fresh vinyl, weekly, very soon.
Speaking of original, our very own Mrs. Pizza works with a very nice fellow who is affectionately known as Bongo Barry. Now, Bongo Barry is a very interesting character and you can read more about him and his work here. Basically, Bongo Barry uses music/drum therapy to assist mentally and physically disadvantaged children work toward wellness.
A while back I had given Bongo Barry the Incredible Bongo Band CD's and he informed me that he had never heard of them. He mentioned he really liked the music and wondered if I had any more music like this. Do I have any more? His birthday is just around the corner and Mrs. Pizza and I wanted to give him a musical birthday card. So we decided to give Bongo Barry a crash course in bongo oriented popular music of the 1950's and 1960's. Licorice Pizza style! As usual, the original cover art is the work of the lovely and talented Mrs. Pizza.
Go ahead and get this one. It really is Bongoliscious...
Bun Hunga - Relax Diresa - DLP-1073 Stereo Vinyl 1973 Track 06 - Music In Transit This one I have pulled from the archives. Circa 2005. (Thanks to the original uploader) It was a bit of a mess though and the track listing was out of wack. So this has been cleaned, tracks corrected and normalized. (Posted @ 320) Since I try to keep the kitchen rated G - The original cover was replaced with another version I found on the net.
Very little is written about this. Same details at almost every site.
More funky groovy-a-go-go instrumentals from Belgium. Again, a party soundtrack full of rhythm, organ, fuzz guitars and sexy sounds. Limited repress of this little known gem by dutch hammond king Roland Thyssen under his Bun Hunga pseudonym which has already been tipped as one of the best exploito albums of the continent.
You can listen to the sample above to get a sense of this one, but to better help you out I would say if you liked the Incredible Bongo Band and the Instro-Hipsters posts this will not be a let down. A solid mixture of Jazz, Rock and Funk euro style.
03 - Girolamo Ugolin - Soho 07 - Mattino Di Fuoco - Dom Boga Good Grief! Just when I think I am ready to start ripping again my scanner dies. Not that I need a scanner to rip but it helps with the album photos.
So yet again I have dipped into the "Hard Drive Archive" and pulled out a pair of Italian goodies. We shared a French offering a few days ago and now on to southern Europe for some groovy Italian Libray and Movie Soundtrack music. We may yet get to Germany before the Kitchen is fully operational again.
These are both ripped from CD at 192kbps and are not to be missed this time around. Dates on the original rips were from 2005. I cleaned up the tags and normalized both as they both had a bit of clipping due to high volumes during the original rip.
Pete Rugolo Behind Brigitte Bardot Warner Brothers WBS 8001 Vinyl 1959 Mono 05 - Paris B.B.
I guess I didn't "Fool" anyone with my last post. Or did I? Just to set the record straight...I have plenty of music and I am not going anywhere. I just picked up another turntable and should be back in the kitchen ripping up some delicious hors d'oeuvres for all of you kind patrons.
Speaking of hor d'oeurves, that's french for appetizer which is french for a small amount of food which is...
This was left on the back porch by ReCoRdGrInDeR, a regular visitor who is unknown to me but wanted to offer a tasty treat back to the kitchen. I was not familiar with this one at all. After some research it seems this was released in the US and in France under two different titles. Our kind benefactor did not offer any scans of the album and the tracks were not tagged or was there a track listing, but thanks alot for some killer music. And @ 320kbps! I found a few jpg's out there, the one pictured being the best.
I have been learning a bit about jazz from a few sites specializing in such music and while this is probably not what the purists call Jazz many of the artists I have been learning about are included on this recording.
Apparently Mr. Rugolo was smitten with Ms. Bardot and wanted to honor her with some arrangements from the movies she had appeared in during the late 1950's. He gathered up some fine musician buddies to help with the endeavor and here is the result. It falls in the realm of true Bachelor Pad and should not be missed.
A BIG thanks to ReCoRdGrInDeR for his generous offering to the kitchen.
RCA Victor LSA-2371 Stereo Vinyl 1961 Crazy Rhythm A little over a year ago several bloggers (Xtabay, RockoverGraceland, Pixemutt, BenT and others) worked together to provide every single Stereo Action album known to man. The result was darn near 20 fantastic albums. Here is one done by Marty Gold, producing with Al Caiola on guitar. This was the only Guitar only album of the bunch.
Working on a Stereo Action compilation currently and will release very shortly. Until then if you did not get in ont the fun last year check this one out.
Living Brass - A Taste Of Honey
His birthday is just around the corner and Mrs. Pizza and I wanted to give him a musical birthday card. So we decided to give Bongo Barry a crash course in bongo oriented popular music of the 1950's and 1960's. Licorice Pizza style! As usual, the original cover art is the work of the lovely and talented Mrs. Pizza.
