CoronaVinyl Day 351 (M): Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 by Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "M," and among my most recent haul of vinyl from my neighbor were a couple Sergio Mendes albums.  Today's selection is the 1966 album Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66.

Mendes is perhaps Brazil's most famous musical export, giving bossa nova to the rest of the world.  This was his first album with his band Brasil '66, and it was also the first album Mendes made for Herb Alpert's A&M label.  With then-unknown American singer Lani Hall (who has been married Alpert since 1973) and Bibi Vogel on vocals, Mendes on keyboards, Bob Matthews on bass, José Soares on percussion, and João Palma on drums, the group broke through internationally with this album, which is a combination of songs in English and Portuguese.  There are some bossa nova songs, as well as some Latin-infused covers of popular songs of the day, like The Beatles' "Day Tripper," Little Anthony & The Imperials' "Goin' Out of My Head."

The song "Mais Que Nada" was the group's biggest hit, going to #47 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on the Billboard Easy Listening (now Adult Contemporary) chart.  You may remember it from the first Austin Powers movie or a 1998 Nike commercial with the Brazilian soccer team.  Mendes also re-recorded the song in 2006 with the Black Eyed Peas, and that version was a big hit all over the world and ended up on the soundtrack to the 2011 animated film Rio.

The album itself went to #7 on the Billboard album chart and #2 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.  All in all, it's a pleasant listen.  

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Tim Tim Dom"
This song feels very Brazilian, and that's probably because it is.  I imagine some jet-setter listening to it on his fancy hi-fi back in the late '60s, while mixing a cocktail.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Day Tripper"
A bossa nova Beatles song?  Sure, why not.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: 2021 Edition

It's that time of the year again.  Time for dark beers, holiday movies, and hoping all these unvaccinated jackasses don't spread the omicron variant too broadly.  As I've said many times, winter is my favorite beer season because I love dark and malty beers.  Like last several years, I will once again be engaging in a 24-day weight-gaining enterprise I call It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer -- a daily look at a different beers throughout December.

This year, I managed to buy three beer advent calendars.  Long ago, I ordered one from the beer shop where I usually get mine each year (Bottles & Cans), and I fully intended to use that for my It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer entries this year.  Then after I ordered and paid for that, a friend told me about another local beer shop called Beer on the Wall that also does a beer advent calendar, but with almost all dark, holiday beers.  Since the Bottles & Cans advent calendar seems to have been getting more and more hoppy and sour over the years and having fewer traditional winter beers, I went ahead and ordered the Beer on the Wall calendar.  I also bought the Costco German beer advent calendar, but those are just a bunch of great German beers that aren't generally otherwise available in the U.S. and not particularly winter-related, so I just opened that mamma jamma up and put the beers in my overflow pile next to my fully stocked beer fridge.  I have a problem.

Like the Bottles & Cans advent calendar, the Beer on the Wall calendar has a festive punch-hole box, building suspense throughout the month.  What's next?  I don't fucking know because it's all covered up!

Needless to say, I'm excited to have 24 days of winter beers.  Sure, there are bound to be a couple hoppy "winter" beers in there, but as long as most of them are dark, I'll be happy.  To quote myself a couple days ago, "Just give me a heavy malty beer with some fucking nutmeg already."

Like in years past, I'll report back to you via this here blog with a non-technical description of each beer and the following information:

-Name

-Brewery

-Location

-ABV (if available)

-IBU (if available)

-"Good for drinking if" comment

-Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments)

As in years past, I may not get a chance to post every day, so I may have a few "catch up" posts, where multiple beers are reviewed.  Cheers!

CoronaVinyl Day 350 (L): The Best of Lead Belly by Lead Belly

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "L."  During my stop at Third Man Records earlier this month, as I was perusing the vinyl, I came to the stark realization that my record collection was lacking blues records.  Sure, I have a ton of blues CDs, but not all that much on vinyl.  So I grabbed a few blues albums, one of which is Third Man's 2017 Best of Lead Belly.

Born in 1888 in rural northwest Louisiana, not to far from Shreveport, Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, was an early blues legend known for playing a twelve-string guitar.  During a stint in prison in the early '30s, renowned folk/blues musicologists John and Alan Lomax discovered and recorded Lead Belly during one of their trips to the deep south to record folk and blues musicians for posterity.

The 14 songs on this album were all recorded between January and March 1935 in New York, where Lead Belly had relocated at that time.  The songs were previously unreleased, from Lead Belly's first professional recording sessions.  It's a master class in early country blues, with just Lead Belly's voice and an acoustic guitar providing the sound.  The restoration that the engineers performed from the original 78 shellac records is pretty remarkable, as the songs sound crisp and without the fuzz or crackle that you might expect from 80-year-old records.

He stayed in New York, performed regularly at the Apollo Theater, and continued to write and record music, both folk and blues.  He died in 1949.  Lead Belly's influence is vast, with the likes of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Van Morrison, George Ezra, and Kurt Cobain citing him as a major influence.  Cobain even sung Lead Belly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" during Nirvana's legendary MTV Unplugged show.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "You Can't Lose Me, Charlie"
Lead Belly lets loose a few times during this song, really wailing out some vocals.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Baby Don't You Love Me No More"
When you listen to this song, you can hear how Bob Dylan was influenced by Lead Belly.  There are several faster-paced, almost spoken-word parts that remind me of what Dylan was doing on various songs on his early albums.

CoronaVinyl Day 349 (K): Rock and Roll Over by KISS

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "K," and while I have recently acquired some albums by additional "K" artists other than KISS, I still have a bunch of KISS records left, so I'm going with their fifth studio album, 1976's Rock and Roll Over.

Rock and Roll Over is a fantastic album, in my opinion, and maybe it gets a little lost in the KISS pantheon, since it was released between Destroyer and Love Gun.  The album was a success, reaching #11 on the Billboard album chart, and both sides have a Top 20 hit:  "Calling Dr. Love" on Side 1 (#16) and "Hard Luck Woman" on Side 2 (#15).  But it's the non-hits that make this album for me.

Side 1 has "I Want You" and "Ladies Room," both of which would featured a year later in live format on Alive II.  Side 2 might be my favorite KISS album side.  In addition to the Peter Criss-sung hit "Hard Luck Woman" -- which Paul Stanley wrote originally the intention of offering to Rod Stewart -- it has four hidden gems, with Gene's "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" and "See You In Your Dreams," Paul's catchy "Mr. Speed" and "Makin' Love," the latter of which also ended up on Alive II.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Ladies Room"
"Ladies Room" is a song that is pure Gene.  It's all about meeting some chick at a bar/club, and then being all "hey, let's go to the ladies' room and bang."  Peter has some great drumming and fills on this song.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Mr. Speed"
This song is just catchy as hell.  Just as "Ladies Room" is pure Gene, this one is pure Paul.  It rocks, but it has hooks.  I dare you to listen to this song and then not be signing it in your head afterward.  Do it.  Try.  Just fucking try already.  See.

CoronaVinyl Day 348 (J): Tremble Under Boom Lights by Jonathan Fire*Eater

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "J," and among my purchases a couple weeks ago when I visited Third Man Records was Tremble Under Boom Lights by Jonathan Fire*Eater, from 1996.

Jonathan Fire*Eater is one of those mythical bands that relatively few people know about, but they were hugely influential.  I first found out about them a couple years ago when I was reading the excellent oral history of New York City rock in the early '00s, Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 by Lizzy Goodman, which discussed bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem, TV on the Radio, and others.  

One of the first bands that really started the rejuvenation of rock in NYC in that era was Jonathan Fire*Eater, who released one EP and one album in 1996 and 1997, respectively, and then broke up, but were seen as one of the sparks that lit the fire of the post-punk revival of the early '00s.  Led by charismatic frontman Stewart Lupton, it was a five-piece band that wore its early punk/pre-punk influences on its sleeve.

Before today, I had never heard a single Jonathan Fire*Eater song.  Tremble Under Boom Lights was originally a five-song EP in 1996 -- and that comprises the first side of the album I have -- but then it was reissued by Third Man in 2019 on vinyl with five bonus tracks from 1995 that make up the second side.

This is unlike anything you would have expected to be released in 1995 or 1996.  The songs are stripped down, indie garage rock, but with an art rock bent.  It reminds me a lot of Television, but also with some Stooges, New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders, Velvet Underground, Cramps, and '60s psychedelic rock and garage rock influences.  At the same time, it sounds like the songs could have been released in 1969 or 2002, foreshadowing some of the great garage and indie rock bands of the early '00s, like The Strokes, The Libertines, and The Walkmen (which makes sense, as you'll see).

It's good stuff, and I'll be listening to more of it.  After Tremble Under Boom Lights, the band got signed by David Geffen's new DreamWorks label, released a full length album in 1997 (Wolf Songs for Lambs), and then broke up.  Three of the band members went on to form The Walkmen, while Lupton went back to college and then played in several bands over the years, before dying in 2018 at the age of 43.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Give Me Daughters"
This song starts with a frantic psychedelic organ riff before breaking into a very Television-eqsue.  Again, it sounds like it could have been released in the late '60s or mid '70s.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "When Prince Was a Kid"
First of all, Prince was never a kid.  But if he was, this song would be about that.  This one is a little more punky and fast-paced than their other songs.

CoronaVinyl Day 347 (I): Would You Like to Fly by Ingram

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "I," and my last album by an "I" artist, at least for the time being, is Ingram's 1983 album Would You Like to Fly.

This is another album I acquired from my neighbor.  I assumed that this was somehow related to '80s R&B singer James Ingram -- especially given that there is someone in this group named James M. Ingram -- but apparently I was wrong.  Ingram was a family band, comprised of five brothers:  Butch, James, John, Robert, and William Ingram.  Everyone played multiple instruments and sang either lead or backing vocals, and their sister Barbara also provided backing vocals on the album.  Barbara had been a staple of the '70s Philadelphia soul scene, singing backing vocals for many of the big names, including on The Spinners' Top 5 hits "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" and "Games People Play."

There's really not that much out there about Ingram.  It appears they released three albums between 1977 and 1984, with Would You Like to Fly being the middle album.  The album is kind of a soul, funk, jazz, and synth pop fusion, but certainly with an early '80s vibe.  Some songs are more funky or disco-y (the title track, "Smoothin' Groovin'," "We Like to Do It," "Groovin' on a Groove"), some songs are more straightforward soul ("Share a Dream," "No One"), one is just weird electrofunk ("D.J.'s Delight"), and the final track ("Spoken Words") is a slow, dreamy ballad.  All in all, it's a pretty good album.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "D.J.'s Delight"
I went with this one because it's so early '80s weird.  There's a lot of synth, mixed with some electric drums and a funky ass bass.  It's mostly instrumental, aside from some occasional instances of the group singing the song's title and some "ohs" and some "yeahs."

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Groovin' On a Groove"
This is probably the funkiest song on the album, with an infectious groove, which makes sense giving the title.

Hair Band Friday - 11/19/21

1.  "Open Your Heart" by Europe

2.  "Sex Drive" by W.A.S.P.

3.  "Wasted" by Def Leppard

4.  "Nothing to Lose" by L.A. Guns

5.  "Shame Shame Shame" by Sleeze Beez

6.  "Hell or High Water" by Y&T

7.  "Shake Down the Walls" by XYZ

8.  "Babylon" by Faster Pussycat

9.  "Jump" (live) by Van Halen

10.  "Fighting Agains the World" by Vandenberg

CoronaVinyl Day 346 (H): Every 1's a Winner by Hot Chocolate

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "H," and I decided to keep the 1978 train going for the fourth album in a row, with Hot Chocolate's fourth studio album, Every 1's a Winner.

British soul/funk band Hot Chocolate is probably best known for their 1975 hit "You Sexy Thing" -- which went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the UK pop chart -- but they are far from a one hit wonder, as discussed more below.  

Every 1's a Winner is a solid late '70s soul/R&B/funk album.  In many places, it reminds me of The Spinners or Al Green.  The album went to #31 on the Billboard album chart (their highest-charting album in the U.S.) and #30 on the UK album chart (their highest-charting album in the UK up to that point), and it produced several hits.  "So You Win Again" was the band's only #1 hit on the UK pop chart, and it also went to #31 on the Billboard Hot 100.  "Put Your Love" in me went to #10 on the UK pop chart, and the title track went to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #12 on the UK pop chart.

Whatever version of the album I have must not have been the U.S. version rather than the UK version, as the album cover is different than the main version I've seen, and there is one track that is switched out ("I'll Put You Together Again" on Side 2 instead of "Run Away Girl").

The band continued to make music into the early '80s and then took a ten-year hiatus from releasing albums.  In total, in the U.S., they had five Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including three Top 10s.  In the UK, including remixes and reissues, they had 29 Top 40 hits on the UK pop chart, including 14 Top 10 songs and one #1.  While their last Top 40 hit in the U.S. was "Every 1's a Winner" in 1978, they remained immensely popular in the UK well into the '80s, and even into the '90s.  "You Sexy Thing" charted on the UK pop chart in the '80s and '90s, the latter perhaps buoyed by its inclusion in the 1997 film The Full Monty.  Two of their greatest hits albums have topped the UK album chart, one in 1987 and another in 1993.  And founding member and main songwriter Errol Brown was awarded the MBE in 2004.

The version of the album on Spotify is an expanded version with five bonus tracks.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Confetti Day"
I'm not sure how to characterize this song, as it's kind of like a funk new wave song, with heavy synthesizers and monotone talk singing, and it's about someone's wedding day.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Stay With Me"
This is one that reminds me of a funkier Al Green, which is a good thing.  It has a hypnotic beat and riff, and all the soul.

Retro Video of the Week: "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the release of I Love Rock 'n' Roll, Joan Jett's second studio album and first with The Blackhearts.  It would prove to be Jett's best-selling album of her long and illustrious career, selling over 10 million copies worldwide.  The album is also her highest-charting on the Billboard album chart, going to #2.  It also topped the album charts in Canada and New Zealand and went Top 10 on the album charts in Australia, The Netherlands, and Sweden.

The title track to the album was a cover of The Arrows' 1975 song, and Jett turned it into arguably her signature song.  She gave it some snarl and made it into an all-time rock and roll anthem.  The song became her most successful single, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, finishing the 1982 Billboard Year End Chart at #3, and landing at #72 on the All Time Billboard Hot 100 chart.  It also went to #1 on the pop charts in Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sweden, and it reached the Top 10 on the pop charts in seven other countries.

The video features Jett walking into a sleepy bar, then getting on stage with the Blackhearts, attracting a crowd and turning the place into a party.

CoronaVinyl Day 345 (G): Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb

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I had to skip posting yesterday, as I went to see Genesis last night at the United Center.  It would have been kismet, as the next letter in the CoronaVinyl chain is "G," but alas, I already featured my only Genesis vinyl album way back in May 2020.  So we're going with our third consecutive album from 1978, Andy Gibb's second studio album, Shadow Dancing.

Of course, Andy Gibb was the younger brother of Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb, better known as The Bee Gees.  Thanks to his brothers' talents and his own '70s-pop-ready voice, Andy was signed to a record deal in early 1976, when he was about 18, and he released his first album, Flowing Rivers, in 1977.

Building off of the success of Flowing Rivers and Andy's burgeoning pop idol status, Shadow Dancing became his most successful album, reaching #7 on the Billboard album chart, #1 on the Canadian album chart, and #15 in the UK.  It eventually went platinum in the U.S.

The album featured three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.  The title track became Gibb's third consecutive #1 hit, "An Everlasting Love" went to #5, and "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" went to #9.

Shadow Dancing is pure late '70s disco and pop.  It was produced by the Gibb-Galuten-Richardson production team, which included Andy's brother Barry, who also sang backing vocals on, co-wrote, and/or arranged about half the songs on the album.  Other notable guest musicians include Eagles guitarist Don Felder playing guitar on "I Go For You," Firefall founder Jock Bartley and veteran session guitarist/future Firefall member John Sambarto playing guitars on "Why," session guitarist Tim Renwick on most of the album, and Blues Image co-founder and veteran session drummer Joe Lala, among others.

After Shadow Dancing, Gibb would only release one other studio album, 1980's After Dark.  In the early '80s, he co-hosted Solid Gold for a couple years and dabbled in musical theater/Broadway, but sadly, his crippling cocaine habit meant that he didn't stick with anything too long.  He eventually went to rehab and tried to get another recording contract in the late '80s, but years of cocaine addiction caught up with him, causing heart problems that resulted in his death in March 1988, just after his 30th birthday.

All in all, in his short musical career between 1977 and 1981, he was pretty damn successful, as every one of his ten singles released in the U.S. charted on the Billboard Hot 100, with nine of them reaching the Top 40, six reaching the Top 10, and three topping the charts.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Why"
A disco pop song that wasn't released as a single, "Why" features Sambarto on slide guitar and Bartley on non-slide guitar.  It's catchy.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "I Go For You"
The second side is a little slower than the first side, but this one borders on disco funk.