Bob Lind - "Photographs of Feeling" Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, 1966 (World Pacific)

The third album by Bob Lind that was issued in 1966.  This album like the previous "Don't Be Concerned" is produced and arranged by Jack Nitzsche.  Lind must have signed a record contract made in hell, nevertheless the key thing for me at the very least, is not Lind, but Nitzsche.  "Photographs of Feeling" is very much the ultimate folk singer doing a pop album circa 1966.  If there is no Nitzsche here, I wouldn't be interested in Bob Lind's songs on this album.  I much prefer "Don't Be Concerned."  Still, as I listen to this album, I'm struck by the idea that we don't have the classic arranger doing a pop album anymore.  Well, at least one who works in the recording studio, with strings, guitars, various percussion instruments, and magnificent strings.  Nitzsche doesn't overwhelm the songs,  he accents and beautifully back up Lind's voice.  There are no backup vocals, it's Lind and his guitar - and of course, the remarkable noise that is Nitzsche supporting Lind's performance/songs. 

There is the electric bass sound that is very Nitzsche like, and I really don't hear it on any other recordings of that time.  Everything is contained, and this is the most 'mono' sounding record I have ever heard.  I hear traces of Stones' "Aftermath," but it's very much of an afterthought here.  There are only ten songs on this album, and time goes by quickly.  If you use the restroom while playing this record you can easily miss two songs.   There is something very light and airy about Lind's songs.  He is clearly a folk singer in a pop format. Nitzsche brings in another element or ingredient in the soup.  For those who must have everything by Jack Nitzsche, this album is a must.  It's neither the best Lind or Nitzsche record, still, it is a marvel to hear the master arranger at work. 

Jack Nitzsche - "The Lonely Surfer" LP, Album, Stereo, 1961 (Reprise)

More likely if one has Jack Nitzsche even in the studio while one is making a recording, there is a good chance that the record will be a masterpiece. Nitzsche was a brilliant arranger, producer, and on the classic Phil Spector recordings, the producer's right-handed man. It was his arrangements of "He's A Rebel," and "Da Doo Ron Ron" that gave it such magnificent power. "The Lonely Surfer" was Jack's first solo album, of his arrangments of various songs of that time. One can imagine "The Lonely Surfer" as a surf album, but it's surf as if it was arranged by a 19-century Russian composer. The fact is, I never heard such a sad sounding instrumental album before this one. Even an up-tempo "Baja" or "Puerto Vallarta" has a depressing aspect of exotica island music. The depth of feeling is Nitzsche's genius.

His version of "Da Doo Ron Ron," and as mentioned, he made the original arrangement, but here he slows it down that it's almost not identifiable. A sharp-suited man on the album cover, yet his eyes expose a certain hesitation or maybe even fear. There is a lot to read on this album, and it is one of my favorite records in my collection. I love all of Nitzsche's solo albums (three all together, then the soundtrack recordings, and of course production/arrangement works) and he gives any work that he's involved in a broad sense of feeling, which is unusual for a pop record of the 1960s. It's almost like he's giving the record a foot-note, giving it more depth or layer of emotion that is not yet settled. A classic Wrecking Crew era record album, but also one that I think is the best of the lot - including the Phil Spector recordings. Nitzsche was the real deal.

Jack Nitzsche and his Orchestra - "Chopin '66" Vinyl LP (Reprise)

One of my favorite all - time albums.  Jack Nitzsche's arrangements for Chopin.  This on the surface sounds very kitsch, but the fact is this is a very moving album.   The Nitzsche touch is a golden one, and whoever he does arrangments for or production for that matter, is always the right touch.  Here he takes on the great piano music by Chopin and transforms these music pieces into an epic orchestration that is more pop orientated than classical.   

There is no written history of this album being made, so I'm not even sure why it exists.  "The modern sounds" that is stated on the cover, is the full-blown Nitzsche talent in making the perfect orchestration that is neither overblown or downtrodden the original score.   Yet it is very 1966 in that pop mode of perfection that came out of that year. Think of The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" and perhaps the last puff of the great Spector recordings.   Nitzsche takes Chopin on the route of pop but turns these beautiful melodies into a magnificent soundscape.   I love this album.