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ODETTA/Sings Dylan: This set comes along at a poignant time as we just lost Miriam Makeba and recently got word that Odetta isn’t doing too well even though she’s supposed to sing at Obama’s inauguration and that’s what’s keeping her going. This 1965 best seller making it’s cd debut is an interesting set of sorts as it was Odetta that turned Dylan on to folk music (from a distance) and it was later Dylan that gave Odetta her break through into the mainstream. Suffice it to say that when civil rights passion met first generation white, suburban cold war/Vietnam angst, the results were quite explosive. Mixing mainstream Dylan with left leaning Dylan, Odetta could have given Alanis Morrisette a lesson or two about angst. Elbow your Joan Baez Dylan records aside a bit to make space for this one, especially since the Dylan train keeps a rollin’.
ANNIE ROSS/Sings a Song with Gerry Mulligan: These cats were banging out records so profusely for the cash back in the 50s that you have to wonder if they took the time to realize just what great, lasting music they were making. Working out here with Mulligan and Chet Baker, Ross delivers the goods on a set of mostly show music. The original ten tracks are augmented by 6 tracks from deep in the vault that have never been released. Kind of appropriate for this reissue to land on this label since it was the site of Mulligan’s lone Grammy win after all the influential and trend setting music he’d done throughout his career elsewhere. Ross is a known quantity to jazz vocal fans and this prime period solo set hat finds her away from the rest of her trio is an ear opener. A must have in any jazz vocal collection.
BEST OF BROADWAY v. 1 Kiss Me Kate/South Pacific: You know how you get pissed off when cover version of top hits come out that aren’t made for karaoke? Back In the 50s, the record companies took things one step farther by rounding up contract artists and having them record studio versions (knockoffs) of top soundtracks and cast albums. Here we find two from the Capitol vaults that were loaded with front line talent and letting them elbow in on the lucrative market for the cleffers of these two hit shows they had no right and no connection to. Who’s going to argue with top shelf performances by Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford, Frank deVol and the rest that turned in first rate efforts for the cause. A nice, rare find for the show music collector that’ll get a kick out of the first time on cd release of these items that have been hidden in the vaults for 50 years.
DVD SUPPLEMENT
WARNER HOME VIDEO
POPEYE THE SAILOR 1941-43 v. 3: Woo hoo, we all grew up on this stuff no matter how old we are. The cool thing about the dvd release is that it answers a lot of questions that perplexed our young minds (Bluto vs. Brutus–why?) and we get to see stuff hidden in the vaults for years because they were so politically incorrect (this set has Popeye single handedly wining WW2 by some means that would make any eyebrows rise, even in the middle of a world war). The only sad thing about this collection is that it’s the end of the Fleischer’s run with the Popster and a lot of hard core fans have real issues with the Famous Studio cartoons that took over after 1943 which took away some of the manic edge as they sought to hone in on the mass market harder. One of the corner stones of the golden age of animation, this is part of the must have, essential collection of any real animation fan. Toot toot!
Volume 32/Number 15
November 15, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record
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