HANK MOBLEY - DOUBLE FEATURE (1957)

And as promised earlier, we're having a straight up jazz double feature this week, y'all. The main focus in my blog of course is on the funkier side of things, but I do happen to love jazz and since I'm heading for a few relaxing days off, I know that I'm going to revisit my CD cabinet again to play some nice jazz while enjoying the good times. Well then. I really love Hank Mobley's work. It's difficult to explain what it is, but Hank's sax playing sounds joyful, playful, easy going, friendly, down to earth, smoky, laid back and, above all, relaxed. I can play whatever Hank Mobley album I have and immediately feel good. Of course there are plenty of other sax players I love very much, but if someone had to send me to a deserted island, I would definitely bring some Hank Mobley albums with me. This time I'm not going to give you an extensive description on the two Hanks that we have here today. There's more than plenty of professional information available nowadays on the entire Blue Note catalogue. Now I don't have BLP 1560 and BLP 1568. I've always looked for them and never was able to lay hands on a regular mid-priced CD, and I'm not interested in expensive reissues on special vinyl either. Thanks to a very kind Belgian visitor who wants to remain anonymous, we can now enjoy these two gems again. Our Flemish friend hooked me up with two untagged rips and the artwork. After I tagged both rips, we were ready to go. And even though one rip sounds 'more' mono than the other one, I have to say that I'm very glad with what we got. First we have BLP 1560, with Hank Mobley (ts), Art Taylor (d), Curtis Fuller (tb), Bobby Timmons (p) and Paul Chambers (b), recorded June 16, 1957. Second we have BLP 1568, with Hank Mobley (ts), Art Taylor (d), Sonny Clark (p), Bill Hardman (tp), Curtis Porter (as, ts) and Paul Chambers (b), recorded June 23, 1957. Both diamonds straight from Belgium at 320Kbps! And don't be a stranger; let's see those replies, people! Please take your pick:

BLP 1560 (Mono)
BLP 1568 (Mono)
BLP 1568 (Stereo)

For Those That Missed The Following Post

Today I found out that the R@pidSh@re link to David Matthews, "Shoogie Wanna Boogie" had gone dead. I re-upped the file again and it should all work fine now. Please click this link and scroll down. There you'll find the post, complete with the reactivated R@pidSh@re link.

Some older posts have a DivSh@re link in the header, but due to the bandwidth limitations of that 'service', they sometimes won't work. It's just meant as an alternative. So for those that missed David Matthews' "Shoogie Wanna Boogie", you're fine again!

LOVE UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA - MUSIC MAESTRO PLEASE (1975)

Thanks to his comment in the reply field I finally established that it was Mike who requested this fabulous Love Unlimited Orchestra LP. Since I have the album, I decided to put it online so that we all can enjoy this lovely diamond again. The Love Unlimited Orchestra of course was the 40 piece support unit for Barry White throughout almost his entire career. Barry White initially formed the orchestra as a back up for the girls of Love Unlimited, and eventually the orchestra supported White himself as well. The biggest hit the Love Unlimited Orchestra had was "Love's Theme"; a very Love Boat-ish track with an irresistible groove and infectious wah-wah guitar throughout. It's been said that "Love's Theme" made White an instant multi-millionaire. Since the internet offers an overwhelming amount of very interesting information on Barry White and the Love Unlimited Orchestra, I'm not going to rehash all of the details now. Let's focus on the album featured here today. "Music Maestro Please" is a fabulous album and I think it's the ultimate proof that even a 40 member orchestra with strings and all can sound funky as hell. Barry White did all of the arrangements, sometimes together with others, conducted the orchestra and produced the entire album. And you wonder how he did it, 'cause White makes the whole thing sound tight, crips and funky. The funk DJs and beat diggers amongst us will certainly lick their fingers over tracks like "I Wanna Stay" and "Midnight Groove"; not only because they've been sampled to the hilt, but also because they're superbly danceable. The opening track, "Bring It On Up" once had it's intro sampled by the house formation T99 for their hit "Anastasia", but besides that it's a lovely dance cut with a fat break in the middle. We have "It's Only What I Feel", a very enjoyable track that'll make the sun shine through and don't forget to check out "You're All I Want", 'cause it shows all the Maestro has in store when it comes to arranging music. All in all, "Music Maestro Please" is a superb piece of work that will light up your day and make the funk DJs smile. Or in the words of Barry White himself: "Music For The People/Wherever There's Music/There's Love". And I couldn't have said it any better. The original album is not available on CD or as paid digital downlo@d, so even if you wanted to, you can't buy it. Let us all enjoy the Maestro, of course at 320Kbps. Let's see those replies, folks!

NOTE: one the visitors, Enrico, pointed something out to me and I thought it was important enough to copy and paste his comment right here. Also because some of my older posts were sometimes written in a rather hasty fashion, resulting in me forgetting some important details. So since I agree with Enrico, I have decided to add his comment to this article to complete my own stuff! Baby Grandpa, August 2009.

"Very good review but NOWHERE do you mention Gene Page! I believe Gene Page was THE sound of The Love Unlimited Orchestra. I don't know if without him, Barry would have been as successful. Gene backed many many artists, and when you listen to ANY of the songs that he was involved in, it's CLEARLY The LUO. Listen to Philadelphia Freedom by Elton John, Robert Palmer "Which of us is the Fool", and many many other tunes. He recorded an album titled Hot City where he even did his version of Satin Soul that rivals Barry's. I love Barry White, but credit is definitely due to Gene Page for his fantastic arrangements. Enrico."

MASCARA - SEE YOU IN L.A. (1979)

Before I will post a new rip of my own again, we are all going to enjoy another guest post by Howie. Since the main goal here remains to only post out of print material, the contributions from others have shown that there are still many, many great titles that have never seen the light of day after their initial release on the good old LP format. Today Howie presents the album from Mascara, a very nice disco album that will certainly attract the attention of the ones amongst us that still dig the genre. And since we had a lot of nice disco gems before that got some great response, I know that today's special will get that same treatment. Now I have to be perfectly honest with y'all, 'cause I don't know a lot about Mascara, and therefore I took the liberty to reprint the following description, courtesy from the Loftspace Blog: "Mascara were another studio only conceived band with the music produced in Munich, Germany and vocals laid down in New Jersey, USA. Produced by German disco producer Jurgen S Korduletsch and Chris Hill (yes that Chris Hill the Caister DJ as he also ran his own record label called Ensign). The golden tonsils are from that super session singer of the 70's Luther Vandross (still very ill after suffering a massive stroke). He's at it again popping up with lead vocals on a quality 70's disco album which I believe only got a UK release. 'See you in L.A.' is a great dance tune with great production, superb vocals and yes I love the airport intro and outro kinda classy don't you think. The album cover won't make you rush to buy it, but I picked mine up by accident many moons ago and was pleasantly suprised. Actually the featured track is two songs 'See You in LA' and Jet Plane Ride' mixed as one track. I think there's an actual concept to the album looking at the titles probably something to do with lovers being apart etc. Anyway the best tracks are on side 1, with an almost funky version of David Bowie's 'Golden Years' (I have always liked his 'Young Americans'). 'If You Don't Want To Be In My Life' sounds just like a Chic production with Luther and an unknown female sharing lead vocals and it's very tasty disco offering. On Side 2 'It's Cool' is worth a listen but 'Comin Home Baby' is pure disco pap. The album isn't currently available available on CD, so check the vinyl stores for it.Trivia note: The blonde model on the cover is the late Paula Yates the ex-wife of Bob Geldof and one-time girlfriend of the now deceased Michael Hutchence of INXS. More trivia: She was originally a model however The Boomtown Rats (featuring Bob Geldof) were also signed to Ensign Records at the time this album was released, which might explain how she appeared on the cover." So there it is. A brilliant description of what to expect with this one. Howie made a superb vinyl rip out of it, of course nicely done at 320Kbps. Let's see those replies, folks!

ROGIER VAN OTTERLOO - TURKS FRUIT ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (1973)

I can't help it folks, but I have a weakness for Rogier van Otterloo's work. For all the visitors that are new to this blog and Rogier, I will quote my own words right here: "Rogier was born on the 11th of December, 1941 and died of cancer on January the 28th, 1988. Only 46 old, way too young, but fortunately he left us with a beautiful back catalogue of stunning music. His compositions are very filmic and, maybe this is because I grew up in the seventies, they make me feel 'seventies-ish' for some reason. There's definitely a classical touch to his big band / orchestra works, but Van Otterloo was a master in putting the funk and jazz in his material." The soundtrack featured here today demands attention. It's orchestral and jazzy. "Turks Fruit" is the Dutch title of the novel written by Dutch writer Jan Wolkers. The book has been translated in many, many languages and in English it's called "Turkish Delight". In 1973, a movie of the book was made by director Paul Verhoeven. Of course the movie became 'controversial' because of the explicit sex scenes in it. What a lot of people forgot along the way, is that the soundtrack of "Turkish Delight" is simply brilliant. Rogier van Otterloo delivered a beautiful, beautiful piece of work and believe me when I tell you that especially the jazz lovers amongst us will thoroughly enjoy the variations by the Louis van Dyke Trio. We hear Fender Rhodes, a little bit of Herbie Hancock and even a little bit of Sonny Clark. Jean 'Toots' Thielemans plays guitar, the harmonica and he whistles. The title track "Turks Fruit" is perfect example of his contributions. I've said it many times before, and I'm going to say it again: play this record from start to finish and feel the music. Think of a long and hot summer in Amsterdam; the year is 1973. Melancholy is the code word for today. The CD is out of print in The Netherlands and don't be fooled by the websites that cough up the version of the musical, 'cause the re-recorded version made for that musical is a cheap, badly produced and worthless piece of shit. Some Dutch auction sites have the original LP online for cheap, but besides a few cuts on bad 'best of' pressings, the original soundtrack is not available on CD anymore. That's exactly why you can find it here today, nicely ripped at 320Kbps. Enjoy folks, and let's see those replies!