What are you listening to?

Discussion in 'The Chatterbox' started by saltypete, May 14, 2009.

  1. Zereoue20

    Zereoue20 Active Member



    Daughter loves this stuff.
     
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  2. Rene

    Rene Well-Known Member

    Andreas Vollenweider - Caverna Magica

     
  3. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Was Not Was - What Up Dog

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  4. asleep2shave

    asleep2shave Well-Known Member

    From the movie: Repo! The Genetic Opera - Chase The Morning
     
  5. Rene

    Rene Well-Known Member

    Today I have a day behind the laptop, programming a database :sad023:

    So my favorite Smooth Jazz @ Sky.fm
     
  6. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Well now for something complete different!

     
  7. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Charlie Parker with Strings - The Master Takes

    In my opinion a must have for any true jazz collector!

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    When producer Norman Granz decided to let Charlie Parker record standards with a full string section (featuring Mitch Miller on oboe!), the purists cried sellout, but nothing could be further from the truth. There's a real sense of involvement from Bird on these sides, which collect up all the master takes and also include some live tracks from Carnegie Hall that -- judging from the sometimes uneasy murmurings of the crowd -- amply illustrate just how weirdly this mixture of bop lines against "legit" arrangements was perceived. The music on this collection is lush, poetic, romantic as hell, and the perfect antidote to a surfeit of jazz records featuring undisciplined blowing. There's a lot of jazz, but there's only one Bird. - Cub Koda

    http://www.allmusic.com/album/charlie-parker-with-strings-the-master-takes-mw0000313067
     
  8. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Donald Byrd - A New Perspective

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    This includes one of my all time favorite jazz songs - "Cristo Redentor" written by Duke Pearson upon seeing the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro. On the 1963 Byrd album A New Perspective, Pearson arranged four tracks, including "Cristo Redentor", which became a big hit.

    In my opinion along with Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme, and Charlie Parker with Strings, this is a must have album for any true jazz lover.

    Donald Byrd – trumpet
    Hank Mobley – tenor saxophone
    Herbie Hancock – piano
    Kenny Burrell – guitar
    Donald Best – vibraphone, vocals
    Butch Warren – bass
    Lex Humphries – drums
    Duke Pearson – arranger
    Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson – choir direction
    Rudy Van Gelder – recording engineer
    (Probably the very best recording engineer ever in the music industry)!
     
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  9. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    John Coltrane - Love Supreme



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    John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme': The Greatest Jazz Album Ever

    This is the first of an ongoing series where I'll look back at a jazz classic, arguing for its place as the greatest jazz album ever. It's one part love letter to pieces of music that are hardwired into jazz's DNA, one part go-to list for music fans curious about the music, and one part indulgence where I get to write about some of my favorite pieces of music.

    Ask any jazz fan worth his or her salt what the best jazz album of all time is, and the conversation shouldn't get far (maybe three or four titles at best) before naming 'A Love Supreme.' It's arguably the greatest album by jazz's greatest saxophonist playing with his greatest band. Some may be partial to another Coltrane album like 'Blue Train,' 'Giant Steps' or even 'Live at the Village Vanguard' (which is a personal favorite), but personal preferences aren't what this is about. It's acknowledgment of a jazz masterpiece. 'A Love Supreme' is an album that changed the game for all musicians who played at the time and have come since then -- I'll wager a princely sum that there isn't a jazz saxophonist out there who hasn't spent some time studying the mysteries of this album.

    Whereas John Coltrane was famous for his lengthy excursions in Miles Davis' band and in his own studio and live performances, this music was far more than an amazing jam session or a great collection of songs, though it is both. The album is also the sound of Coltrane's spiritual awakening arranged as a four-part suite: 'Acknowledgement,' 'Resolution,' '"Pursuance' and 'Psalm.' The entire length is a concise 33 minutes, yet it is missing nothing.

    Conceived by Coltrane during four days of contemplation in 1964, the album's material was fully formed at the end of his seclusion; everything including the transcendent title was worked out. Three months later, this timeless piece of music was recorded in a day. As with many great songs, the melodies are simple but memorable. It's also worth noting that the quartet was in top form at this point, having worked together steadily for three years together.

    The album's first track. 'Acknowledgement,' opens with drummer Elvin Jones' Chinese gong. Calling the jazz faithful to prayer, Jones announces this unprecedented work with the an Eastern mystical sound as Coltrane on tenor throughout, pianist McCoy Tyner and bassist Jimmy Garrison come floating in. By the design of the composer, it's a look skyward in praise of God and announces that all that follows will be a communion. Then Garrison starts in with the signature four-note line, providing an earthly anchor. Coltrane begins his solo not coming to the theme immediately, instead building to it, then moving beyond. The band provides jet-powered wings that send him ever onward before finally returning to earth alongside that same bass line. In case you not sure what's going on, Coltrane lends a hand by chanting the title as if proselytizing to the masses that this is more than just music.

    'Resolution' begins with Garrison playing a complex set of chords by plucking two strings at the same time. Coltrane enters with the rest of the band for what is the strongest theme of the album. Again, the ascending notes are pushed furiously skyward as the saxophonist celebrates his inspiration. Tyner soon weighs in heavily with his own signature solo that ends with a complex but pounding set of chords that seemingly sends shock waves through the air, and he doesn't let up as Coltrane comes back in. Rather than take the energy up immediately, the saxophonist works his way somewhat atonally through the middle register at a jog while nonetheless remaining authoritative. Eventually, he scales ecstatic heights before easing into the final refrain.

    Jones launches 'Pursuance,' the longest track at 10:42, with a minute-and-a-half solo. Coltrane offers an opening theme and then steps aside for Tyner to tackle the fast-paced tune with a probing solo that counters the block-like previous one. The band stretches out here with some of the finest, most high-energy playing between Jones and Coltrane (which is saying something), before the saxophonist drops out to give Jones a second solo section. The song ends with Garrison's solo segment, which offers a moment of contemplative respite from the exalted playing before it.

    'Psalm' carries on the contemplative feel but adds more emotional drama as the band churns away. Jones, in particular, on kettledrums brings a magnificent gravity to the proceedings. Again, there is an elevated feel to the proceedings where it sounds like jazz but achieves a higher calling. Coltrane solos through much of the piece, in a gentle but not entirely melodic way -- it's the sound of saxophonist fluttering away, locked into a trance and sounding as if his is only a conduit by which the horn is playing itself.

    Musically speaking, this album was a stepping stone that led the saxophonist further and further afield. While the soloing and group improvisation is quite advanced, Coltrane was still holding onto a minor key blues-based form at this point. Soon, Coltrane would move into his final and most avant-garde period, which only ended with his death from stomach cancer in 1967. These later albums are more adventurous, though there is no question that 'A Love Supreme' is a landmark that transcends jazz, music and art. It's a statement of faith where music says so much more than his words ever could.

    Postscript: For those who want to read the entire story behind the making of this album, I highly recommend Ashley Kahn's 'A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album.'

    Reference article from:
    http://www.spinner.com/2010/11/11/john-coltrane-a-love-supreme/
     
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  10. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

    Perhaps the loneliest jazz album ever made. Sparse and full at the same time!


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    Kind of Blue isn't merely an artistic highlight for Miles Davis, it's an album that towers above its peers, a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album, a universally acknowledged standard of excellence. Why does Kind of Blue posses such a mystique? Perhaps because this music never flaunts its genius. It lures listeners in with the slow, luxurious bassline and gentle piano chords of "So What." From that moment on, the record never really changes pace -- each tune has a similar relaxed feel, as the music flows easily. Yet Kind of Blue is more than easy listening. It's the pinnacle of modal jazz -- tonality and solos build from the overall key, not chord changes, giving the music a subtly shifting quality. All of this doesn't quite explain why seasoned jazz fans return to this record even after they've memorized every nuance. They return because this is an exceptional band -- Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb -- one of the greatest in history, playing at the peak of its power. As Evans said in the original liner notes for the record, the band did not play through any of these pieces prior to recording. Davis laid out the themes before the tape rolled, and then the band improvised. The end results were wondrous and still crackle with vitality. Kind of Blue works on many different levels. It can be played as background music, yet it amply rewards close listening. It is advanced music that is extraordinarily enjoyable. It may be a stretch to say that if you don't like Kind of Blue, you don't like jazz -- but it's hard to imagine it as anything other than a cornerstone of any jazz collection. Stephen Thomas Erlewine - Allmusic.com

    http://www.allmusic.com/album/kind-of-blue-mw0000191710
     
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  11. Shawna

    Shawna 1000 Music Tag Bonus Points Awarded!

    I have been listening to this for a few weeks now. I don't know if it's the idea of the song or the gesture in the proposal. Could be the dancing since I am SO not that good! ;)

    Either way, the song, to me is catchy, and GOOD LUCK to this couple! It was very cute!
     
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  12. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Mason Williams - The Mason Williams Phonograph Record

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    Mason Williams reached his peak in the late 1960s. A humorous scriptwriter and virtuosic acoustic guitar player and composer, Williams reached the top of the hit parade in 1968 with his classical folk guitar instrumental, "Classical Gas." Although it took six months for the single to become a chart-topping smash, it went on to win Grammy awards as Best Instrumental (Theme) Composition and Best Instrumental (Theme) Performance, as well as a Best Instrumental Orchestral Arrangement award for arranger Mike Post. An album featuring a re-recorded version of the tune with Mannheim Steamroller and Fresh Aire, Classical Gas, sold more than a million copies in 1987. The following year, Williams' album, Country Idyll, was nominated for a Grammy in the country music category for Best Instrumental Performance.

    Williams has recorded several other memorable albums and compositions. An acoustic Christmas/holiday season album, A Gift of Song, was released in 1992, while his composition "Symphony Bluegrass" has been performed by more than 40 symphony orchestras.

    Although Williams attracted attention with his melodic 12-string guitar and banjo playing in the early 1960s, he initially attracted attention as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In addition to co-writing the show's theme song, Williams created comedy skits including a presidential campaign by comedian Pat Paulsen in 1968. Williams received Emmy awards in 1967 and 1969 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety and Music. He was nominated for an Emmy for his work on The Smothers Brothers' 20th Reunion Special in 1988. Williams has also written comedy material for Steve Martin, Andy Williams, Glen Campbell, Dinah Shore, Roger Miller and Petula Clark.

    Williams has also garnered acclaim for his artistic ventures -- an 11' x 37' photographic poster of a Greyhound bus is on permanent display at New York's Museum of Modern Art -- and has written and published several books of prose and poetry. Craig Harris - Allmusic.com

    http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mason-williams-mn0000955647
     
  13. Rene

    Rene Well-Known Member

    Bobby McFerrin & Yo-Yo Ma

     
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  14. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Raymond Scott - Manhattan Research, Inc.
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    Composer, bandleader, and inventor Raymond Scott was among the unheralded pioneers of contemporary experimental music, a figure whose genius and influence have seeped almost subliminally into the mass cultural consciousness. As a visionary whose name is largely unknown but whose music is immediately recognizable, Scott's was a career stuffed with contradictions: though his early work anticipated the breathless invention of bebop, his obsession with perfectionism and memorization was the very antithesis of jazz's improvisational ethos. Though his best-known compositions remain at large thanks to their endless recycling as soundtracks for cartoons, he never once wrote a note expressly for animated use, and though his later experiments with electronic music pioneered the ambient aesthetic, the ambient concept itself was not introduced until a decade after the release of his original recordings.​
    Born Harry Warnow in Brooklyn on September 10, 1908, he was a musical prodigy, playing piano by the age of two; following high school, he planned to study engineering, but his older brother Mark -- himself a successful violinist and conductor -- had other ideas, buying his sibling a Steinway Grand and persuading him to attend the Institute of Musical Art, later rechristened the Juilliard School. After graduating in 1931, Scott -- the name supposedly picked at random out of the Manhattan phone book -- signed on as a staff pianist with the CBS radio network house band conducted by his brother. Finding the repertoire dull and uninspired, he began presenting his own compositions to his bandmates, and soon bizarre Scott originals like "Confusion Among a Fleet of Taxicabs Upon Meeting with a Fare" began creeping into broadcasts.​
    Scott remained a member of the CBS band until 1936, at which time he convinced producer Herb Rosenthal to allow him the chance to form his own group. Assembling a lineup originally comprised of fellow network veterans Lou Shoobe on bass, Dave Harris on tenor saxophone, Pete Pumiglio on clarinet, Johnny Williams on drums, and the famed Bunny Berigan on trumpet, he dubbed the group the Raymond Scott Quintette, debuting on the Saturday Night Swing Session with the song "The Toy Trumpet." The Quintette was an immediate hit with listeners, and Scott was soon offered a recording contract with the Master label. Dissent quickly broke out in the group's ranks, however, as Scott's obsessive practice schedule began to wear out his bandmates; Berigan soon quit, frustrated because the airtight compositions -- never written down, taught and developed one oddball phrase at a time -- allowed no room for improvisations.​
    Still, for all of Scott's eccentricities, his records flew off the shelves, their Dadaist titles ("Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals," "Reckless Night on Board an Oceanliner," and "Boy Scout in Switzerland") and juxtaposed melodies, odd time signatures, and quirky arrangements somehow connected with mainstream American audiences. Hollywood soon came calling, with the Quintette performing music for (and sometimes appearing in) features including Nothing Sacred, Ali Baba Goes to Town, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Upon returning to New York, in 1938 Scott was tapped to become CBS' next music director; around the same time he expanded the Quintette to big-band size, and by 1940 quit his network position to lead his ensemble on tour. He returned to CBS in 1942, however, assembling the first racially mixed studio orchestra in broadcast history.​
    In 1941, Warner Bros.' fledgling animation department bought the rights to Scott's back catalog, with music director Carl Stalling making liberal use of the melodies in his groundbreaking cut-and-paste cartoon soundtracks; Quintette favorites like the rollicking "Powerhouse" soon became immediately recognizable for their regular appearances in classic Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig clips, the same music supporting the crazed antics of Ren & Stimpy and others half a century later. Indeed, generations upon generations of young viewers have received an unwitting introduction to avant-garde concepts through their repeated exposure to Scott and Stalling's music, although none of the former's compositions were written with cartoons in mind. By the time Warner Bros. began using Scott's music on a regular basis in 1943, he had already moved on to new projects, including a lucrative career authoring commercial jingles.​
    In 1945, Scott wrote incidental music for the Broadway production Beggars Are Coming to Town; the year following, he teamed with lyricist Bernard Hanighen on the musical Lute Song, which yielded another of his best-known songs, "Mountain High, Valley Low." Also in 1946, Scott founded Manhattan Research, the world's first electronic music studio. Housing equipment including a Martenot, an Ondioline, and a specially modified Hammond organ, it was advertised as "the world's most extensive facility for the creation of Electronic Music and Musique Concrete." After his brother Mark's 1949 death, Scott took over his duties as the bandleader on the syndicated radio favorite Your Hit Parade, with his second wife Dorothy Collins soon assuming the position as the program's featured vocalist; that same year, he also scored theatrical productions of Peep Show and Six Characters in Search of an Author.​
    Of all of Scott's accomplishments of 1949, however, none was more important than the Electronium, one of the first synthesizers ever created. An "instantaneous composing machine," the Electronium generated original music via random sequences of tones, rhythms, and timbres. Scott himself denied it was a prototype synthesizer -- it had no keyboard -- but as one of the first machines to create music by means of artificial intelligence, its importance in pointing the way toward the electronic compositions of the future is undeniable. His other inventions included the "Karloff," an early sampler capable of re-creating sounds ranging from sizzling steaks to jungle drums; the Clavinox, a keyboard Theremin complete with an electronic sub-assembly designed by a then 23-year-old Robert Moog; and the Videola, which fused together a keyboard and a TV screen to aid in composing music for films and other moving images.​
    In addition to hosting Your Hit Parade, Scott continued recording throughout the '50s, issuing LPs including This Time with Strings, At Home with Dorothy & Raymond, and Rock 'N' Roll Symphony. Additionally, he cranked out advertising jingles at an astonishing rate, scored countless film and television projects, and even founded a pair of record labels, Audiovox and Master, while serving as A&R director for Everest Records. During the mid-'50s, Scott assembled a new Quintette; the 1962 edition of the group was its last. The year following, he began work on the three-volume LP set Soothing Sounds for Baby, an "aural toy" designed to create a comforting yet stimulating environment for infants. As electronic music produced to inspire and relax, the records fit snugly into the definition of ambient suggested by Brian Eno a decade later, their minimalist dreamscapes also predating Philip Glass and Terry Riley.​
    By the middle of the '60s, Scott began turning increasingly away from recording and performing to focus on writing and inventing; a 1969 musical celebrating the centennial of Kentucky Bourbon was his last orchestral work, with his remaining years spent solely on electronic composition. Among his latter-day innovations was an early programmable polyphonic sequencer which, along with the Electronium, later caught the attention of Motown chief Berry Gordy, Jr., who in 1971 tapped Scott to head the label's electronic music research and development team. After retiring six years later, he continued writing -- his last known piece, 1986's "Beautiful Little Butterfly," was created on MIDI technology. By 1992, Scott's music was finally rediscovered by contemporary audiences, with the Reckless Nights & Turkish Twilights compilation appearing to great acclaim; he died on February 8, 1994 at the age of 85. Jason Ankeny - Allmusic.com​
    This was a theme that he developed for a Gillette commercial in the 1960s using the analog synthesizers he designed.​
     
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  15. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Fred Neil - Bleecker & MacDougal

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    Moody, bluesy, and melodic, Fred Neil was one of the most compelling folk-rockers to emerge from Greenwich Village in the mid-'60s. His albums showcased his extraordinarily low, rich voice on intensely personal and reflective compositions, sounding like a cross between Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin. His influence was subtle but significant; before forming the Lovin' Spoonful, John Sebastian played harmonica on Neil's first album, which also featured guitarist Felix Pappalardi, who went on to produce Cream. The Jefferson Airplane featured Neil's "Other Side of This Life" prominently in their concerts, and dedicated a couple of songs ("Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" and "House at Pooneil Corner") to him. On the B-side of "Crying" is Neil's "Candy Man," one of Roy Orbison's bluesiest efforts. Stephen Stills has mentioned Neil as an influence on his guitar playing. Most famously, Harry Nilsson took Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" into the Top Ten as the theme to the movie Midnight Cowboy.

    For all his tangential influence, Neil himself remained an enigmatic, mysterious figure. His recorded output was formidable but sparse. During 1964 he recorded as a duo with Vince Martin, which yielded an album for Elektra, Tear Down the Walls. His drumless solo debut, Bleecker & MacDougal (which did have additional instruments), ranked as one of the best efforts from the era in which folk was just beginning its transition to folk-rock. The bluesiest of his albums, it contained some of his best songs, including "Little Bit of Rain," "Other Side of This Life," and "Candy Man." His true peak was his follow-up, Fred Neil, which made a full transition to electric instruments. Less bluesy in tenor, it featured "Everybody's Talkin'," as well as an equal gem in "The Dolphins."

    Neil's subsequent slide into obscurity was strange and quick. Sessions, from 1968, was a much more casual and slapdash affair that included some instrumental jamming. Always a recluse, he retreated to his home in Coconut Grove, FL, after achieving cult success, and didn't release anything after a live album in 1971. His obscurity was enforced by an absence of domestic compact-disc reissues of his best work, a situation rectified with a superb best-of compilation by Collectors' Choice and the 2001 reissue of Tear Down the Walls/Bleecker & MacDougal by Elektra. He continued to play, but only for those close to him. Neil, ill with cancer, unexpectedly passed on July 7, 2001, at his home in Florida.

    Richie Unterberger Allmusic.com
    http://www.allmusic.com/artist/fred-neil-mn0000170815

     
  16. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Soul '69 - Aretha Franklin

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    One of her most overlooked '60s albums, on which she presented some of her jazziest material, despite the title. None of these cuts were significant hits, and none were Aretha originals; she displayed her characteristically eclectic taste in the choice of cover material, handling compositions by Percy Mayfield, Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson, and, at the most pop-oriented end of her spectrum, John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind" and Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly." Her vocals are consistently passionate and first-rate, though, as is the musicianship; besides contributions from the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, session players include respected jazzmen Kenny Burrell, Ron Carter, Grady Tate, David Newman, and Joe Zawinul.

    Richie Unterberger - Allmusic.com
    http://www.allmusic.com/album/soul-69-mw0000107828

    This song is worth 10 times the price of admission! The Queen at her very best!

     
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  17. asleep2shave

    asleep2shave Well-Known Member

    The Beatles - Come Together
     
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  18. Straight Arrow

    Straight Arrow Active Member

    I don't have this one but I do have Microphone Music and it is, simply put... grand-freakin-tastic. Raymond Scott was a once in a generation, soothsaying, mind-melting prophet.
     
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  19. richgem

    richgem suffering from chronic clicker hand cramps

    Not exactly music to anyone's ears, but I'm currently listening to Robert Irvine scream at people on Restaurant Impossible.
     
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  20. GDCarrington

    GDCarrington Burma Shave

    Fred Neil / Vince Martin Tear Down The Walls Elektra (1964)

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    Liner Notes by Richie Unterberger
    Although Fred Neil was already regarded as a major figure on the Greenwich Village folk scene by 1964, he had yet to record an album. He had released about half a dozen rare singles on almost as many labels dating back to the late 1950s, along with a few songs on the Hootenanny Live at the Bitter End compilation on the FM label. But Tear Down the Walls, recorded with Vince Martin for Elektra, was the first record to adequately capture the remarkable folk-blues fusion of the singer-songwriter, delivered in the richest low voice in all of pop music.

    Since the early 1960s, Neil had been friends with Martin, a fellow folk vet who had sung on the Tarriers’ hit “Cindy Oh Cindy” back in 1956. By 1964 they were working steadily as a duo, sometimes with support by budding session men John Sebastian (on harmonica) and Felix Pappalardi (on guitarron, a Mexican bass). Elektra producer Paul Rothchild offered them the chance to record for the company after catching them live in the Village at the Gaslight. Both Sebastian and Pappalardi offered crucial sympathetic backup on the studio sessions that became Tear Down the Walls, an eclectic album that took folk in directions quite progressive for 1964, sometimes even anticipating the folk-rock Neil would devise as a solo artist.

    “Fred was a natural linkup of various musical styles,” says Sebastian. “The thing that was so different about Fred was that he had not only a Southern background, but was one of the first guys that was crossing racial boundaries in his style in a sense. This gospel music that he had inherited was very much the gospel music of the black church. Some of his friends, like [black folk singers] Odetta and Len Chandler and some of the black musicians that were our first real close friends, had an affinity with Fred that they didn’t have with the New York musicians. ‘Cause we had very much of an Eastern background, and it simply didn’t include as much of that rich musical heritage.

    “He was a ‘oh, we’ll just feel it and it’ll work out’ kind of a guy. It was Felix’s and my particular lot for those years to get Fred in the studio and nail it down a little bit, actually plan where a solo would be so that the guy would be ready when the solo happened. Peter Childs [who played on Neil’s subsequent Elektra solo LP, Bleecker and MacDougal became another member of this ‘keep Fred in line’ team. Felix and I were in some degree or another baby-sitting these recordings a little bit to help Paul, who we could see had an enormous job to produce these projects.”

    Tear Down the Walls was still a folk album, not a rock one. It was also one in which Neil did share duties with Martin, Fred’s dark soulful vocals contrasting with Vince’s more conventionally clear, high folk ones, whether on harmonies or the occasional lead spots each singer took. Thus about half of the tracks were folk covers, sometimes in a travelin’ troubadour style that looked to the past more than the future, including an energetic charge through “I Know You Rider,” also recorded in the 1960s by the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, and Judy Henske. There was also “I’m a Drifter,” by Travis Edmonson of Bud and Travis, learned by Martin from Fred Neil devotee David Crosby. The most impressive of the covers was “Morning Dew,” which gave more force to the somewhat restrained, pristine original version by its composer, Canadian folk singer Bonnie Dobson. “Morning Dew” would subsequently become an oft-covered folk-rock staple, recorded by Tim Rose, the Grateful Dead, Lulu, Episode Six (featuring future members of Deep Purple), the Jeff Beck Group, Clannad, and others.

    It was on the original material, though, that Neil truly made his mark (though Martin wrote one song, “Toy Balloon”). “Wild Child in a World of Trouble” gave the world its first glimpse of the wizened existential troubadour persona that Fred would exploit to the hilt on his first two solo albums. “Baby,” a nearly avant-garde inclusion for a 1964 folk LP, looked forward to the raga-influenced numbers that Neil would employ for some of his best subsequent work. “Linin’ Track” had already been around the block a couple of times, both as one of the songs Neil did for the Hootenanny Live at the Bitter End anthology, and one of the tunes Les Baxter’s Balladeers contributed to the compilation JackLinkletter Presents a Folk Festival while David Crosby was in that group.

    According to Martin, the album’s diversity was quite deliberate. “At the time there was so much going on in the Village and in the music business, and the sin was eclecticism,” he told Goldmine. “The thing was to have a bag, a niche that the record companies could put you in. The songs that we chose, we chose very agonizingly and fought over to a great degree.”

    The arrangements, feels Sebastian, had more depth than was customary for folk recordings of the era. “Our instruments went well together,” he says of his work with Pappalardi. “The harmonica and the guitar could kind of sandwich a folk performer in a very flattering way. Paul Rothchild also heard this, and we began to get work as a kind of team that would rock a little harder on something that was basically a folk arrangement.”

    They would get their chance to rock even harder as accompanists on Neil’s debut solo LP, released in May 1965. For Neil and Martin never did record together again, although Martin has said that a live album was planned as a follow-up for Elektra, to have been recorded at the Bitter End with the Bitter End Singers. Instead Neil went on his own, taking the first steps toward adding electricity to his already potent brew. That story is told on Bleecker and MacDougal, his sole solo effort for Elektra, also reissued by Collectors’ Choice Music.

    http://www.fredneil.com/tear-down-the-walls/

     

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