Live And Let Die
Gary Edwards & Sage
Micah Records MR100
Creative Workshop - Nashville, Tennessee
An act whose talent agency was located in Louisville, Kentucky.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
On With The Show - Gary Edwards & Sage
Gary Edwards & Sage
Micah Records MR100
Creative Workshop - Nashville, Tennessee
An act whose talent agency was located in Louisville, Kentucky.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
The Greek Tones - Translations
Ertha Ke Pali (Vango Pavloudis)
Translations
Jewel Records - Cincinnati, Ohio - JRC 80876
Engineer - Rusty York
1980
John Goulandris - Bouzouki
Alex Layliev - Percussion
Vango Pavloudis - Keyboard, Bass and Vocals
Friday, August 26, 2011
The Gary R. Smith Company
Desperado
Rite Record Production - Cincinnati, Ohio - 36907
Cincinnati, Ohio area group made up of Gary Smith, Charlene Davidson, Bill Jolliff, Dan Burton and Tim Short. I think many of these folks were studio musicians who played on many locally produced recordings.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Wild and Mild Sides of Woody Martens
Caravan (Wild And Mild)
Full Album
Recorded Live in the Fox's Lair of Reynard's Restaurant, Lake Worth, Fla.
Distributed by Danwood Enterprises - Farmland, Indiana
Art Records - ALP-46
1967 (mentioned in an Billboard Magazine/Muntz Stereo ad)
Woody's Mood
Woody Martens At The Hammond Organ
Art Records - ALP-70-S
From the back cover: The organ is a Hammond, model B-3, equipped with two Fisher K-10 space-expander reverberation units. A Leslie speaker, model 31-H, a Leslie speaker, model 122-R, and a Hammond PR-40 are used as tone cabinets. All effects, sounds, and rhythm accompaniment are produced by the artist and the organ - none by artificial means.
These are outstanding private press albums. Apparently Martens made at least two albums. Whoever owned the jacket/album pictured above slid the Woody's Mood LP in with the Wild and Mild jacket. I've included samples from both records. I also found a third LP online titled Wild & Woody.
Martens was inventive, creating a variety of sonic effects to help sell the songs he was covering. It's difficult to date the Wild And Mild album, but at the very least Marten was heavily influenced by exotica. He may have been influenced by Korla Pandit, but that is an just an assumption on my part. This is one of the better space age organ LPs I've heard.
The Woody's Mood LP, recorded live sometime later, features Marten was backed by drums (although the drum levels are low and don't do much in the way of support). This LP features more of a standard 60s lounge groove.
Apparently Martens passed away from cancer at the age of 56 in 1992.
Also see: Woody's Mood (Art Records ALP-70)
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Ron Libby - Shine On
Just The Way You Are
My Love Does It Good
Shine On
Whirl-A-Way Records - Falmouth, ME - WAW 72641
Queen City Album - Cincinnati, Ohio - 101021
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Eddie Nash and Joy King
No Place Like Home (Wizrerphone)
Wildwood Flower (One Man Band)
Live Performance At Ghost Town, Maggie Valley, N.C.
HCDD - 1001
1973
Ghost Town is or was an amusement park that seems to have been closed for renovations in 2010.
The back cover notes mention Nash's 10 instrument one man band that "merited a feature in Ripley's Believe It Or Not, April 26, 1973.
This record was made after the duo spent "several seasons at Ghost Town." I found an example online of one other album they made together.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Introducing The Fabulous Bill Todd
Granada
The Quiet Boy
Essay Productions 14891
Obscure solo LP featuring Todd, his guitar and the occasional early drum machine generated rhythm.
By Request - The Guys And Dolls
Killing Me Softly With His Song
Seasons In The Sun
The Guys And Dolls
GD Records
From the back cover: The mint fresh aura these kids radiate is deeply infectious. Their physical appearance is what every mom and dad in this great country hopes his or her child will reflect... "CLEANLINESS," a proper commodity not always found with their age group peers.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
The Unique Sound Of The Vega Bros.
Oriental Melody - Marcos L. Vega
Featuring Marcos Vega And His Paraguayan Harp
Jewel Records - Cincinnati, Ohio - LPS 668
Apparently The Vega Bros. were engaged at The Carrousel Inn, Cincinnati, Ohio when they decided to make this private press recording.
From the back cover: Already well-established in South America, they (The Vega Bros) are enjoying success in the United States in such places as Miami's Hotel Fontainebleau, The Concord Hotel in The Catskills, Chicago's Continental Plaza Hotel and Cincinnati's famous Carrousel Inn.
This album is very different from the typical Jewel pressing. Jewel pressed many white southern gospel albums. This was an "upscale" project for Jewel, including the cover, which may seem a bit cheesy by today's standards, but was an accomplishment back in the day for Jewel who produced many album stock covers. Rusty York owner of the label owner/operator did a fine job engineering the sound.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Our Own Thing - The Voyagers
Joy To The World
Mystery Flight
The Voyagers
Jewel Records LPS 297
Queen City Album - Cincinnati, Ohi
20614
Created as a a tie-in promotion with an Indianapolis, IN "air travel club" of the same name (Voyager 1000). From the back cover: The Voyagers first met Voyager 1000 in Indianapolis six months ago - and it was a case of mutual admiration - because each group likes to do "Their Own Thing." Subsequently the title of this inaugural album.
Bunny Dean - Vocals, Benny Santora - Keyboard/Vocals and Louie Mazzucca drums/vocals is pure lounge. Additional artists credited include Bill Holmes - Bass, Ed Drake - Guitar, Frank Brown - Trumpet and Mike Andre - Sax
Mystery Flight is an original composition according to the notes.