Monthly Archives: May 2022

VIA PRESS RELEASE | On August 16, 1958, just a few months after Ella Fitzgerald recorded her now-classic album, Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook, The First Lady Of Song performed selections from that album live at the Hollywood Bowl to an adoring, sold-out crowd. Conducted and arranged by Paul Weston, who also arranged and conducted the studio sessions, this concert marked the only time that Ella performed these iconic arrangements live with a full orchestra.

Widely considered her greatest achievement, Ella’s Songbook records, with peerless renditions of the best songs by America’s greatest composers, are the cornerstone of the Verve catalog and the undisputed standard for jazz vocal recordings. At the inaugural Grammy Awards, her Irving Berlin album won Ella her first Grammy for “Best Vocal Performance, Female,” and was also nominated for “Album Of The Year.” Aside from the lucky audience at the Hollywood Bowl that night, it wasn’t generally known, until the discovery of these tapes, that Ella had ever performed any of the Songbook arrangements in concert, let alone that such a pristine and sonically sumptuous recording existed.

On June 24, Verve/UMe will proudly release the full, never-before-released 15-song performance, aptly titled, Ella At The Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook, on CD, vinyl, limited edition yellow splatter vinyl, and digitally. This landmark record, discovered in the private collection of producer and Verve Records founder Norman Granz, marks the first time a live Songbook has been released from Ella.

It is also significant in that it captures the only time Ella worked in concert with arranger-conductor Paul Weston. And, although she performed regularly at the Hollywood Bowl, this is the first full-length concert by Ella from this iconic venue to be released (notably, Ella was featured prominently on Verve’s Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl album, recorded and released in 1956, the year Granz formed the label). The live tracks were mixed from the original ¼” tapes by Grammy Award-winning producer and musician Gregg Field who played drums for Ella in her later years. The album is rounded out with insightful liner notes about the concert and Ella’s Songbook series by noted author and music critic, Will Friedwald.

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Celebrating Jonathan Richman on his 71st birthday. —Ed.

With 1976’s The Modern Lovers Jonathan Richman bequeathed us one of the greatest rock’n’roll albums ever. Then he had a change of heart. “I believe that any group that hurts the ears of infants sucks,” he said, giving up VU-school riffs and proto-punk sonic thrust in favor of wide-eyed songs of innocence for kiddies of all ages that couldn’t hurt the ears of crickets, much less babies.

Artists evolve; it’s the nature of art. But does anybody out there find Richman’s aggressive optimism as depressing as I do? And am I the only one who thinks Richman’s affected loony toons for naïfs and bohos make him the Pee Wee Herman of rock?

On The Modern Lovers Richman historically situated himself in the here and now, the here being the Boston suburbs and the now being the dawn of the seventies, a time in which he found himself both in (he was in NYC to catch the Velvet Underground in their glory) and out (drugs? Our boy was the original straightedge kid) of place. On 1992’s I, Jonathan he is in full retreat to the 1960s, both spiritually and sonically, which is to say that it’s not just the song forms on I, Jonathan that have been largely ransacked from rock’s distant musical past.

Richman has always been a romantic, and it’s due to this that even such quintessentially contemporary Modern Lovers cuts as “Roadrunner” carry with them what I can only call a nostalgia for the Now. I, Jonathan is the work of a man ruled by the more conventional form of nostalgia; for the most part he’s looking backwards and romanticizing the past. Ray Davies could pull of this sort of thing because he was anything but a naïf, and always undercut his nostalgia with a knowing wink that told you he fully understood that the past wasn’t as great as everybody makes it out to be. Richman never winks because he’s a true believer, and “knowing” simply isn’t a word in his vocabulary.

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Sometimes we take ourselves, and our music, too darn seriously. Of course, there are appropriate times for thoughtful contemplation, but there’s no harm in basking in the enjoyment that comes with creating or consuming art with wild abandon, and maybe being a little bit silly at the same time. It helps keep us sane and provides us with a youthful perspective on the mean old world in which we live.

We Are Scientists have always imbued some humor into their catalog of music; and what a catalog it is. With seven albums recorded over a 20 year span, Keith Murray and Chris Cain have consistently built a backlog of music that is fun, but also carefully crafted and with as many catchy earworms as are legally permitted. They both join me on this episode to discuss their latest release titled Huffy (100% Records) which is a straight ahead rock production featuring a number of songs that will be reverberating through your head during your next sleepless night.

We also talk about the unique design of the physical vinyl product: if you love stickers and customizing things with your own unique imprint, then you’ll want to hear what the band has in store for record collectors on this release. Join Keith, Chris, and myself as we explore the addictive hooks and production inherent in Huffy and how they’ve managed to cultivate their friendship after over two decades in showbusiness. There’s a lot of substance to this chat, but none of us could resist the urge to engage in plenty of silliness. Lighten up, let’s have a few laughs.

Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.

Through no fault of her own, Linda Ronstadt has been relegated to the 1970s soft-rock camp. Some would even label her an easy-listening artist, but they’d change their mind by listening to her fiery takes on Chuck Berry’s “Back in the U.S.A.” and Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ “It’s So Easy.” Say what you will about the long-time denizen of West Los Angeles’ Topanga Canyon scene, she’s more than a lovely voice.

Ronstadt has primarily covered other musicians’ songs, but she’s always left her unique stamp on them. Like Joe Cocker at his best, she’s made their songs her songs, and many of those songs were written by her L.A. contemporaries: Warren Zevon, Lowell George, Townes Van Zant, Neil Young, the Eagles, Jackson Browne, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the list goes on. If Thelonious Monk was a close personal friend, I would have to include him on the list.

There are plenty of welcome vinyl introductions to Ronstadt’s work. Studio LPs such as 1974’s Heart Like a Wheel and 1977’s Simple Dreams are as good as any, as is 1976’s Greatest Hits. There are some more extensive compilations out there as well. But my personal favorite is 2019’s Live in Hollywood, which was recorded in 1980 at Television Center Studios in Hollywood for broadcast as a special on HBO. Only three of its twelve songs were previously recorded, making it an essential purchase for fans looking for songs they’d yet to hear.

Ronstadt isn’t known for having grit in her voice, or muscle for that matter. But on Live in Hollywood she makes it clear that Linda Ronstadt the MOR (in some folks’ opinion anyway) can be a real belter. It doesn’t hurt that her backing band are not just crack musicians but close friends, and they include the likes of Little Feat keyboard player Bill Payne, guitarist Kenny Edwards, Stone Poneys founder and frequent Ronstadt collaborator, drummer about town Russ Kunkel, and backing vocalist and singer/songwriter Wendy Waldman. They lend Live in Hollywood an organic feel—their warm and intimate sound is miles away from the clinically cold sound coming out of Ronstadt’s contemporaries at the time.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | July 6, 2022 will see the release of the second in a series of half speed mastered studio albums from The Who; The Who Sell Out and Tommy.

These limited-edition black vinyl versions have been mastered by long-time Who engineer Jon Astley and cut for vinyl by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios with a half-speed mastering technique which produces a superior vinyl cut and are packaged in original sleeves with obi strips and certificates of authenticity.

Regarded as one of the most important albums of all time, Tommy is a rock opera about a Deaf Dumb and Blind Boy, which, when released in 1969, reached No. 2 in the U.K. charts and No. 7 in the U.S. The album contains songs such as “Pinball Wizard,” “The Acid Queen,” and “I’m Free” and is packaged in the original sleeve artwork.

Released in 1967, The Who Sell Out was the third album released by the band and is revered for being one of the first concept albums, celebrating the short-lived pirate radio stations of the late ’60s with its groundbreaking use of fake adverts and jingles between songs.

Highlights include such as “I Can See for Miles,” “Armenia City in the Sky,” and “Tattoo,” and as with Tommy, it has been mastered by long-time Who engineer Jon Astley from the original tapes and is housed in its original sleeve with obi and certificate of authenticity.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | It Came From Aquarius Records is a feature-length documentary about the SF-based independent record store, Aquarius Records. Having closed in 2016 after 47 years, this small apartment-sized store championed local, underground, independent, and challenging music to the masses – most memorably with their infamous bi-weekly, college essay-length, new-release lists.

This doc has interviews with the aQ owners dating back to 1970, other record store owners from around the world, musicians, label heads, music journalists, and INTENSE music collectors. Interviewees include Matt Groening (The Simpsons), Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), Bruce Ackley, John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats), Ty Segall, and Liz Harris (Grouper). About 65 (!!) total!

Aquarius Records influenced and enriched countless peoples’ musical tastes with their curated selections —but this film also shows the realities of an indie record store trying to survive in an increasingly difficult market of brick-and-mortar music shops, especially in the ever-changing and price-gouging Mission District of SF.

Six years in the making, the film has a very personal angle, with lots of behind-the-scenes footage (and drama) that shows both the joy and excruciating stress that comes with running—and closing—a store like this.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Fanny: The Right to Rock remains thoroughly engaging thanks to the demonstrable talent and brassy forthrightness of its central personalities. There’s no whiff of “nostalgia act” to their current music—these women are born rock lifers who clearly never stopped evolving creatively, even if the hoped-for commercial rewards never quite arrived.” —Dennis Harvey, Variety

Sometime in the 1960s, in sunny Sacramento, two Filipina-American sisters got together with other teenage girls to play music. Little did they know their garage band would morph into the legendary and ferocious rock group Fanny, one of the very first all-women bands to sign with a major record label. Yet, despite releasing 5 critically-acclaimed albums over 5 years, touring with famed bands from Slade to Chicago and amassing a dedicated fan base of music legends including David Bowie, Fanny’s groundbreaking impact in music was written out of history…until now, with the feature-length documentary, Fanny: The Right to Rock.

From director Bobbi Jo Hart (Rebels on Pointe), Fanny: The Right to Rock, winner of the Rogers Audience Choice Award at Hot Docs, charts the group’s formation, their rise, fall, and more recent reformation 50 years after their founding with a new album release, and covers the misogyny, bigotry, and other roadblocks they faced along the way.

Featuring incredible archival footage of the band’s rocking past intercut with its next chapter releasing a new LP today, the film includes interviews with a large cadre of music icons, including Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Bonnie Raitt, The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, Todd Rundgren, The Runaways’ Cherie Currie, Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian, The B52’s Kate Pierson, Charles Neville, and David Bowie guitarist and bassist Earl Slick and Gail Ann Dorsey. Fighting early barriers of race, gender and sexuality in the music industry, and now ageism, the incredible women of Fanny are ready to claim their hallowed place in the halls of rock ‘n’ roll fame.

1974’s Having Fun with Elvis on Stage is my favorite album by the King. On this bizarre throwaway you get snippets of Presley goofing off, having fun, cracking wise, spouting complete gibberish, and generally behaving like Robin Williams in full-blown manic mode before live audiences, quite possibly while stoned out of his legendary pompadour on serious narcotics. There are no songs. No signs of the Elvis who could deliver the goods on stage long after he ceased to produce great albums. This is Elvis unleashed, free to be his absurdist self, and the results are both surpassingly strange and weirdly touching.

As you’d expect this LP of often surreal stage banter—which is universally acknowledged as Elvis’ worst—has a dizzying and disjointed feel; you go abruptly from one monologue or audience interaction to another, without segues or warning. Having Fun with Elvis on Stage was a shameless money-grubbing ploy by Elvis’ rapacious manager Colonel Tom Parker, whose intention it was to milk his cash cow for every shekel he could get. But to anyone interested in treating Elvis as psychological study, it’s a goldmine.

It helps that Elvis has an adoring audience. He was the King, for God’s sake, and if he wants to act the role of his own court jester that’s just fine with the faithful who’d stuck with him through albums like 1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair and 1965’s Harum Scarum. To call his fans undiscriminating is a massive understatement—they’d have no doubt made a gold record of Elvis Reads Excerpts from Mein Kampf. I’m sure some of the audience’s laughter on the album was of the nervous sort; those closest to the stage must have looked into his pinwheel eyes as he went full Andy Kaufman and realized the man was either on some very strong medicine or an off-the-charts lunatic, or both.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | On 17th June ’22 the UMC/EMI label will reissue Money For Nothing, the first Dire Straits greatest hits collection (featuring songs from the band’s first five albums), which was originally released in October 1988. Newly remastered by Bob Ludwig, Money For Nothing will be made available in digital and double vinyl formats across the UK and ROW on the 17th June 2022 and early 2023 in the USA.

Dire Straits straddled the globe with their sophisticated rootsy guitar rock wedded to literate story-telling lyrics. Emerging from the club and pub circuit in 1977, Dire Straits were led by charismatic Geordie singer-songwriter, record producer and composer Mark Knopfler.

Knopfler is one of the most successful musicians the UK has ever produced and is often cited as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Dire Straits’ sound defined the late ’70s/early ’80s with monster global hits such as ‘Sultans Of Swing’, ‘Romeo And Juliet,’ ‘Money For Nothing,’ and ‘Walk Of Life’ (all included on this release).

Dire Straits’ 1985 album Brothers In Arms, a global Number 1 and double Grammy Award winner, is one of the best selling albums of all time. After releasing their final album On Every Street in ’91, Knopfler set off on a new path as a solo artist.

Fully remastered by Bob Ludwig, and cut by Bernie Grundman, the Money For Nothing double vinyl reissue includes ‘Telegraph Road (Live Remix)’ which was previously only available on the original CD format, and a previously unreleased alternative live version of ‘Portobello Belle (Live)’. The album is cut over four sides for the first time and is pressed on 180 gram vinyl with original artwork. The vinyl and digital download will be available to order on 11th May here.