Spraying My Night Mist All Over the Place

The George Shearing Quintet with Voices - "Night Mist" (1958) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

We're trying to catch a break from these Winter Blues so we cracked open 3 or 4 bottles of wine, dimmed the lights and listened to this LP by The George Shearing Quintet.

For the most part, its a nice, relaxing affair.  We'll give the music a solid "A" (straightforward and competent jazz for the Sears crowd), but we'll give the vocal choruses that appear throughout the record a "D+".  Man, they really bring the record down: they're obvious and obtuse and are mixed too loudly and sound too tinny.  Basically, the "follow-the-bouncing-ball" Mitch Miller vocal choruses are unnecessary and distracting and bring down what is otherwise a pretty good record.

The wine is good though... my teeth are purple...

RATING: 3.5 Polka Dots and Moonbeams out of 5

There's Something in the (Fresh) Air

The Baja Marimba Band - "Fresh Air" (1969) - A & M Records

Hello Friends,

These zany cats are back for their Ninth record!  Can you believe it?  Originally a side project (and novelty act) of Herb Alpert's percussionist, Julius Wechter, The Baja Marimba Band survived the 60's and were still going (somewhat) strong 9 albums in!

Slightly more relaxed and less manic than some of their previous records, the highlights being their take on the Mexican Ranchera song, "Cielito Lindo" (aka the Frito Bandito's theme song); Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Wave"; the haunting takes on "Eleanor Rigby" and "The Windmills of Your Mind" (aka the theme song from the movie, The Thomas Crown Affair); the dueling marimbas in "I'll Marimba You"; and what is arguably the album's best track, "Madagascar".

As an added bonus, the album also feature Julius Wechter's singing debut on the Loesser & Styne song, "I Don't Wanna Walk Without You."  Stick to your day job Jules!

Besides the clever title and funny mustaches another running joke on these records is how there always seems to be someone pissing in the background on the album cover!  Keepin' it classy!  

Maybe that's where The Who got the idea for the Who's Next cover art?!?

RATING: 3.5 windmills of your cabezas out of 5 

Herb Alpert's Number 2

Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass - "Volume 2" (1963) - A&M Records

Hola Amigos,

Everyone's favorite Jewish trumpet player is back with his second album, simply titled, Volume Two, a record that at the time sold poorly compared to his debut record, The Lonely Bull (1962). Funny, because there's really not a big sonic departure on this record.  In fact, it sounds pretty much like everything else Herb Alpert has ever done!  

Lesson learned! Put a sexy brunette on the cover and come up with a snappy title and you're good to go!  Speaking of which, here's an interesting article about Alpert's famous Whipped Cream album cover model, Miss Dolores Erickson.

Volume Two kicks off with a rowdy crowd at a bullfight with "The Great Manolete"-- Alpert's tribute to the great Spanish Matador featuring some great spaghetti western-style trumpet solos.

His take on Ben E. King's (actually Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector's) "Spanish Harlem" is pretty good, too.  It features some signature Alpert trumpet-playing over an accompaniment of marimba and percussion, and ending with a pleasant wordless-vocal chorus with some fine acoustic guitar soloing.

"The Swinger from Seville" is a boozy, striptease-type number written by Alpert.  Its like the theme song to some sleazy television game show!  (Wife Swap?)

Side one ends with a trio of easy listening ballads, "Winds of Barcelona", "Green Leaves of Summer" and "More."  Much of the same, although, we really like the Spanish style guitar and lone trumpet that starts off "Green Leaves".

Side Two kicks off with a cover of Leonard Bernstein's "A-me-ri-ca" from West Side Story.

Perhaps influenced by the fledgling California band called The Beach Boys (heard of 'em?) is Alpert's own composition, "Surfin' Senorita".


There's two Sol Lake compositions, "Marching Thru Madrid" and "Crea Mi Amor", as well as another Herbal Pert original entitled, "Mexican Corn".  Sounds yummy!

The album concludes with some more of that rowdy crowd noise, cat calling and bottles clinking.  It sounds as if the Mezcal's been flowing all album long!  We end with a jubilant, sing-along take on Edith Piaf's familiar "Milord"!  (Although I don't think this version is necessarily what the original songwriters intended! A quien le importa!)      

RATING: 3.5 Surfin' Señoritas out of 5 

Gettin' Lucky with Mr. Lucky!

Henry Mancini - "Music From Mr. Lucky" (1960) - RCA Victor

Hello you cool cats, 

Tonight, we're gettin' dressed up fancy-like and drinking some sparkling wine while listening to Henry Mancini's snazzy soundtrack to the short-lived television series, Mr. Lucky.  The TV series might have only of lasted 34 episodes, but the music on the soundtrack LP is timeless!

Mr. Lucky (CBS TV) Credits

A great listen, this album is more "jazz for the Sears crowd" as I like to call it-- a genre pretty much defined by Mancini.   

At the heart of each of the songs is an easy listening orchestration that's both smooth and familiar. Mancini then adds a jazz element to flesh out the tunes-- a pinch of bebop here, some walking bass lines there and a healthy dash of latin rhythms to boot.  Finally, some of the songs are punctuated by the grinding sharpness of a skating-rink organ making for some very swingin' stuff!   

Also, the album is produced by a guy named Dick Peirce.  How can you go wrong with a producer like that??  

RATING: 4 One Eyed Cats out of 5