Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Christmas Album 1968 Original Release, A&M Records 2015 this 24-bit 88.1 khz Reissue This week, I’ve been enjoying the unexpected and excellent Christmas album by Los Lobos. But since… Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – Christmas Album (1968) [2015 24bit 88.1 khz]
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Original release 1976 Polydor
2016 Reissue – Polydor / The Verve Music Group B0024310-01
This 40th anniversary gold pressing is a nice reissue of one of the high points of Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s catalog. There is less vibraphone and a lot more Arp on this one. Every song a winner. Also, it seems like only a matter of time before the track “Lonesome Cowboy” gets used in a Coen Brothers film. Or maybe Tarantino. Anyway enjoy it before they ruin it. The whole album successfully grafts its cosmic jazz-funk onto the kind of broad positivity preached by pre-Riot era Sly Stone (with “People And The World” sounding like a bit like a discarded Family Stone jam).
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Everybody Loves The Sunshine (1976) (2016 UMG Gold Reissue)
Grateful Dead – The Warfield, San Francisco, CA 10/9/80 & 10/10/80
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz | Art scans at 300 dpi
Grateful Dead Productions / Rhino Records – R1-585396
This is a gorgeous collection of acoustic music from The Grateful Dead. The Dead were doing “unplugged” sets before anybody called them that, but in grand total of their hundreds of recorded shows, live acoustic music from the whole band was relatively rare apart from side projects. The shows captured here, along with others at Radio City in New York, would be drawn on to produce the all-wooden live album Reckoning. This is them at their most intimate, minimal, and parsimonious; well, as much as any group which brings a harpsichord on stage for just one song can ever be called minimal. Dead shows were famous for a wild crowd and scene that would eventually come to overshadow the actual music, but you could hear a pin drop during many of the tunes here. Elizabeth Cotton’s “Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie” is a poignant highlight of the first night, while the Garcia/Hunter original “To Lay Me Down” from the second night cuts wide and deep. What has always set The Grateful Dead apart for me from their ‘jam-band’ imitators was their ability to play soulfully, and to un-self-consciously tap so many distinctly American musical traditions. Those two qualities are in abundance in this special Record Store Day release.
The Grateful Dead – The Warfield, San Francisco, CA 10/9/80 & 10/10/80
El Gran Combo – Por El Libro
1972 EGC Records LPS 003
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/96 kHz | FLAC | Art scans at 300 dpi
El Gran Combo is practically an institution in Puerto Rico, they have been around so long and had so many members over the years. The group has also served as a launching pad for a number of artists who have gone on to solo careers. This is a pretty solid early-70’s record. Particular highlights are compositions by the prolific Claudio Ferrer, and the gorgeous, moody “Estas Equiviocado” by Osvaldo Farres (of “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas” fame).
The great Abbey Lincoln has been slated for some attention on this blog for years. At various points I have had one or another record from her early career lined up in the proverbial queue and yet they somehow missed the train. I’ve had a bit of melancholy and existential blues lately and her music is just the right thing for it. The title track in particular may become my new anthem. The album also features a cover of “Nature Boy” (meh) followed immediately by the Leo Ferré song “Avec Le Temps” (well, that was a pleasant surprise). Charlie Haden holds down the bass on most of the cuts except for two tracks featuring Christian McBride and the recently-departed Roy Hargrove, who really gets to shine on “Storywise.”
The song “Ser ou não ser” may not be Shakespeare, but Reginaldo Rossi sure did sing some catchy tunes in his heyday. Rossi was the city of Recife’s contribution to the Jovem Guarda music style of Brazilian 60’s pop-rock in the era when electric guitars were considered too low-class and “foreign” by music critics. Although the cover of this 1972 Reginaldo Rossi album looks like it was created by an intern while the graphic arts department was on strike, Rossi got to work in good studios thanks to being signed to CBS, the same label that had Roberto Carlos, so the production value is pretty high. And while he obviously owed a debt to Roberto, Rossi definitely had his own style. He only wrote a couple of the tunes here, but they are some of the best ones.Reginaldo Rossi – Nos Teus Braços (1972) (CBS – 137777)