Serge Gainsbourg ' "Le Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg" Vinyl, Compilation, LP, 2015 (Decca)

This is volume one of a two-volume set of the vinyl release of Serge Gainsbourg's soundtrack work for French films.    It's an excellent compilation for those who want to put their toe in before putting their entire body into the bath water that is Serge Gainsbourg and his music making for films.  For me, it's impossible to have the name Serge Gainsbourg on a disc or CD label that it's essential for one to buy and enjoy.  But in real life, there is, of course, better compilations or albums out there than "Le Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg."  For instance the CD box set "Le Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg 

Musiques De Films 1959-1990."

For those who are not fussy with formats of vinyl or CD, the box set is the completist choice where one has all the Gainsbourg film music in one container (three CDs in the box set).  For the nerd, such as yours truly, I need the vinyl edition as well.  Don't ask why.  It's a collector's illness if anything else.  But to focus on this particular vinyl compilation, it's a gem.   Throughout his career, Gainsbourg worked with three great arrangers: Alain Goraguer, Michel Colombier, and Jean-Claude Vannier.  All three are represented in the vinyl edition of "Le Cinéma..."  

This is not a greatest hits collection of songs, but a thoughtful approach to his soundtrack work - which at times he co-wrote with his arrangers.   The one thing that never changes is the lyrics - which belongs entirely to Gainsbourg.   It's a solid and delightful collection of music.  If you are like me, this is a springboard or entrance to the Gainsbourg world.  Enter, and for sure you will be spending more money and time locating the actual soundtrack albums or EP's. 

The Who - "Tommy" 2 xVinyl, LP, Album, 1969 (Decca)

I was 15 years old when I purchased the "Tommy" album.  Oddly enough, considering that I'm a huge Who fan (with Keith Moon/John Entwistle) now, then, I just liked the idea that they smashed their instruments after each performance.  But at 15 I got caught up on the grand aspects of pop music, and when I heard that Pete Townshend was working on an 'opera,' well, this was going to be my first Who purchase.   I admired the Townshend scope and ambition.  Also in publications like Rolling Stone, it was reported that he worked on this project for a long time.  Once I heard it, I knew it was a masterpiece, in fact, I knew so, because being a media child at the time, it was written that "Tommy" is an iconic album.   The truth is, I played the album a few times and forgot about it.  For god sake for one, they were not The Kinks!

Within decades I avoided any album by The Who after "Tommy," but over time, and with great patience, I purchased and listened to Who records that led to their 'opera.'   As a 63-year-old man, I consider that there is no such bad thing as a bad Who album or song before "Tommy."  I lost my "Tommy" album when I made the massive switch from vinyl to CD, during the digital revolution and never replaced it as I did with the earlier Who recordings.

Last March I was on a 9-hour flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles, and in that numb state of mind, I watched the current version of The Who do "Tommy."  I loved it. Not sure if it was due to the boredom of a long plane flight and being trapped in a confining coach seat on the airline, or that I just appreciated the entertainment wherever I can find it.   But it stayed with me until I went to a local record store.  It was a week ago that I bought a used copy of "Tommy" to re-introduce myself to the record without the cultural baggage that came with the rock n' roll opera.   It brought back my memory of being 15, and now I recall why I didn't like the album that much.

The music itself is brilliant.   There is not one bad tune on the entire album.  And I even love the Keith Moon song "Tommy's Holiday Camp" as well as the always brilliant composition by Entwistle "Do You Think It's Alright?"   What I do not like is the actual sound of the album itself.  My cultural hero Kit Lambert failed The Who in the sonic department.   The recording strikes me as a demo more than a finished recorded work.  A sketch when it needed a full oil-paint on a canvas.   Keep in mind that I love Lambert's production on all Who recordings that he worked on, except for the iconic "Tommy."    If I were a total lunatic, I would collect every recording of "Tommy" possible, and I may go down that dark and slippery slope shortly, but meanwhile, I think the best version of "Tommy" is the live recordings such as the longer version of "Live at Leeds."

The big primary question is "Tommy" good for rock n' roll or pop?  I don't have an answer for that.  For one, I have always seen the album as a work that is one whole and not separated by individual song tracks. Of course, this is not always the case by the artists in question.  Still, this is how I look at albums.  I rarely look at an album and go "that's a great song, but the rest...." I take the entire work as if it is (or was) a narrative novel.   There are economic reasons why albums exist, and the difference between the 45 rpm single and the 33 1/3 long player.   But when I play an album, I'm embracing the huge world that this 12" represents to me.   "Tommy" may be one of the first albums for me (as a teenager) that led to the bigger picture of how one approaches the album.  That, and "Sgt. Pepper" of course.

Luciano Berio / Swingle II -"A-Ronne" / "Cries of London" (Decca) Vinyl 1976

Not only am I a Swingle Singers fan, especially when they are performing Bach via only their voices - but also admire the fact that the group broke off, went to London, and became Swingle II.  Here they team up with composer Luciano Berio to do two vocal pieces.  

"A-Ronne" is based on words/poetry by Italian poet Edoardo Sanguineti.   But also includes works by Karl Marx, James Joyce, Dante, Goethe, the Bible, T.S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, and a quotation of Roland Barthe on Georges Bataille.  According to Berio, this is a documentary on Sanguinity's poem.  Nevertheless, since the work is mostly in Italian, I may be missing key elements, but still, it's a great piece of work.  The layer of voices at times reminds me of classic Beach Boys, but of course, in a very different manner. There are moments of great beauty, and at times it has a Fluxus touch in being absurd.  Over-all, even though it is only voices, the piece is very melodic and one does not need to read or understand Italian to enjoy this recording.  Without stating the obvious, Swingle II is quite magnificent.  Their range and them being open-minded in approaching new music are pretty amazing.  

Side two is "Cries in London," and it is in English.  In fact, it's very much a documentary of sorts on London merchant life perhaps centuries ago - or in 1976 (the recording of this album)?  Merchant life on the streets of London hasn't changed that much.   I suspect that Berio had an interest in Marx, and I have to imagine that "Cries of London" deals with the merchant class, and their daily struggle to survive.   To quote the liner notes: "the text is essentially a free choice of well-known phrases of vendors in the streets of Old London." It's an amazing piece of music for 8 voices.  

The Andrew Oldham Orchestra - Plays Lionel Bart’s Maggie May

The Andrew Oldham Orchestra - Plays Lionel Bart’s Maggie May

CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Japan, 2013

Decca

I didn’t even know that Plays Lionel Bart’s Maggie May existed, when some years back I walked into a small Shinjuku record shop, and there it was!  It was close to $50, and way too much for me to buy at the time.  Of course, I thought of that record whenever I closed my eyes at beddy-time.  So there was at least five years of regrets about passing up on this album, and very few people knew of it.  The most famous Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra album was their first one, which was Rolling Stones’ covers.  The Lionel Bart album was a weird one for me, because it was devoted to one songwriter, Lionel Bart, and one of his shows, who for most Americans, would be king obscure.   Which makes this album fascinating on a lot of levels.  Oldham was a friend and someone who looked up to Bart as both a music businessman as well as a music hustler of sorts.  He played the game, but I think the game won in the end.  Nevertheless he was a key figure in British rock before The Beatles broke big.  He wrote songs for Cliff Richard and most famously the musical “Oliver.”  

Here Oldham, John Paul Jones, and others, turns on their magic to the tunes from “Maggie May.” I don’t think there is an official OST of this musical or if it is, disappeared into vinyl heaven.  So this is what we take into existence, and thank god for the Japanese, they re-leased it with not only mono mixes, but stereo as well.  Plus 11 bonus cuts.  

The mono version of this album is the one to hear over and over again.  It’s classic Oldham vibe.  For instance, “It’s Yourself” has a killer lead bass sound, very Jet Harris.  But the stereo version, the bass is practically gone!  Nevertheless it’s a cool album, and this CD collection is incredible, mostly for the bonus cuts, which to be honest, are the highlights of this set.   

The rest of the album is recordings from around this time (1964) from the Andrew Oldham and Immediate Records world.  Totally essential songs like “Each and Every Day of the Year” (Jagger & Richards) and “All I Want Is My Baby” (Oldham & Richards) sung by Bobby Jameson and simply incredible recordings.   Not sure if the purpose was for the publishing end of the music business, but Jagger and Keith came up with wonderful tunes.  The other stand out by them is “(Walking Thru’ the) Sleepy City”, performed by The Mighty Avengers, but gawd, what a fantastic song.  The best $28 spent on a CD in my lifetime!

The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra & Chorus - 16 Hip Hits (cd reissue, Japan)

The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra & Chorus - 16 Hip Hits

CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Japan, 2013

Decca

To step into a fantastic record store like Pet Sounds in Tokyo and seeing the entire Andrew Loog Oldham catalog reissued as CD, was something that almost forced me to cry, but I held my tears back and purchased all of them.  They were $28 a piece and for sure worth every yen and cent.  The first one I played was “16 Hip Hits.”  To be honest I have a lot of these songs in a collection that was put together in the 90s, but for me, to hear it in its natural order - plus the additional 16 bonus cuts, well it was like being put in a time machine in 1966.  Except I was in Tokyo not London.

Paul John Jones did a lot of the arrangements for this album, and the selection is mostly from the obsessive taste of Oldham.  It was songs that were hits at the time, and Oldham at that time, didn’t look back or reflect on his past.  This was music made to be carried out at that point and time.  So one got a snapshot view of his world at the time, and the beauty of him is that he’s an artist, but I suspect that he was thinking about himself as more as a hustler than anything else.  Music was another part of the hustle, and this is what makes this album such a sweet listening experience. 

The arrangements appear to be slower, then the original recording hits, and there is a looseness of the arrangements that almost feel like it would fall apart any moment.  So that adds a certain amount of tension in the work.  For me, it gives a sense of charm, and with the additional good taste from Oldham makes these recordings essential for anyone who is interested in 60’s British pop.  Most of the songs, if not all, are American orientated.   They hanker back to almost an imaginary state of mind of the original recordings - but re-imagined by Oldham and perhaps Jones.  But I suspect that Jones was just following Oldham’s lead, and Andrew it is all about image, and that image, is really beautiful.

Billy Fury - "The World Of Billy Fury" Vinyl LP, Compilation

Billy Fury – The World Of Billy Fury

Vinyl LP, Compilation, 1971

Decca

Decca “The World Of...” series would make a great collection by itself. I have two titles in the series. The World Of David Bowie and now this, The World Of Billy Fury. It does have the classic and moody “Nobody's Child” on it, which for me is the ultimate Billy Fury recording. Not an easy album to find on vinyl – in fact Fury albums in general are not that easy to locate. Nevertheless this is a solid collection of his hits and a great introduction to the world of the underrated Billy.