Phantom Gtowner - 45worlds

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Phantom Gtowner 22nd Dec 2018		Vinyl Album Michael Nesmith And The First National Band - Loose Salute	Review Released just four months after Magnetic South, this record was a huge improvement in many ways. The difference is that this was produced in L.A. and by Nesmith himself which seems a good move on both counts. The material is generally better and it seems tighter and slightly less "country" than the previous LP. "Silver Moon" was a minor hit but the song musically is not nearly as strong as "Joanne". He experiments for the first time with Spanish rhythms on "Tengo Amore" a true masterpiece, "Thanx For The Ride" is another stand out track to go with his cover of Patsy Cline's "I Fall To Pieces" which he almost makes his own. Nesmith's voice on the surface is not great but he can do very ambitious things with it in falsetto and this makes his singing very interesting to me. The First National Band, with the exact same lineup as "Magnetic South", sound tighter on this record and everything just seems to fall into place. Red Rhodes steel playing is very evident throughout and though it is very much Nesmith’s band, the focus is always on Rhodes. He is definitely the main player. Two songs on this LP were recorded previously with The Monkees, “Listen To The Band” and “Conversations”. The Monkees’ version of the former was better than the one here but it’s far from terrible. Maybe I’m just more used to the earlier rendition. The latter song “Conversations” closes out side one and was also recorded by The Monkees as “Carlisle Wheeling” but not released until, I think, the 1990’s. This track is one that all Nesmith fans will like with its atmosphere and wordy emotion. The other thing about his version of country rock is, and maybe I shouldn’t say this but, it didn’t have the fake hippie trappings that some other acts of this genre got bogged down with. Hell, Mike didn’t even have very long hair on the back cover photo. In short this LP was a step up and ranks with his finest work. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 16th Nov 2018		CD Album Roy Clark - Greatest Hits	I was pleasantly surprised that "Tips Of My Fingers" was the original Capitol recording, rather than a re-recording of it. This is a great overview of his major hits. Highly recommended!
Phantom Gtowner 31st Oct 2018		CD Album The Cyrkle - Rock Artifacts	Review I really wanted "Red Rubber Ball" more than anything else. But their other three hits and a few misses are quite enjoyable too. The calliope on "Red Rubber Ball" seems slightly buried compared to my original 45 in which it's right out front. The issue is likely the difference between the mono 45 and the stereo CD. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 31st Oct 2018		CD Album The Buckinghams - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (A Collection)	Review Great CD although "Kind Of A Drag" is not as punchy as the original 45. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 31st Oct 2018		CD Album Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys - Take Me Back To Tulsa	Review This might not be for everyone because it sounds very dated but if you can get over that this includes some fairly essential roots music. A great influence on many country/western singers who followed including Hank Thompson and Merle Haggard. I had no idea there were lyrics to "San Antonio Rose". What a pleasant surprise. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 31st Oct 2018		CD Album Paul McCartney - McCartney	Review Why try to compete with "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be"? Just do something low key. A brilliant decision by Paul in retrospect. If you're looking for Paul's finest work you won't find it here but the record is still a great listen. He plays all the instruments including some blazing guitar work but you'll have to excuse the drumming. "Maybe I'm Amazed" got a lot of airplay from this record but was never issued as a single. Big mistake there. As with "Ram", the bonus tracks are interesting but hardly essential. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 31st Oct 2018		CD Album Jack Jones - Greatest Hits	Review Jack Jones had eighteen songs on the Kapp label reach the Billboard Top 100 yet only nine of those are on this "Greatest Hits" CD. I have no issue with the tracks they've included but it hardly represents his best "hits". Missing are "Toys In The Attic", "The First Night Of The Full Moon","Where Love Has Gone", "Seeing The Right Love Go Wrong", "Just Yesterday", "Love Bug", "I'm Indestructible", "Now I Know" and "Our Song". Please check to see the songs you want are included. It might save you some money. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 31st Oct 2018		CD Album Johnny Rivers - The Best Of Johnny Rivers	Great overview of Rivers' career but where is "Under Your Spell Again"?
Phantom Gtowner 27th Oct 2018		CD Album Paul McCartney - McCartney	Review Why try to compete with "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be"? Just do something low key. A brilliant decision by Paul in retrospect. If you're looking for Paul's finest work you won't find it here but the record is still a great listen. He plays all the instruments including some blazing guitar work but you'll have to excuse the drumming. "Maybe I'm Amazed" got a lot of airplay from this record but was never issued as a single. Big mistake there. As with "Ram", the bonus tracks are interesting but hardly essential. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 24th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album The Beatles - Abbey Road	Review Perhaps not their best effort but by most people's standards it's still six stars all the way. Side one isn't staggering. "Maxwell's...." is a little annoying from Paul and John's "I Want You..." sounds like Mel Torme's "Comin' Home Baby" to me. But George surprises us with two of his very best songs and Ringo delivers "Octopus' Garden", by far his best composition. Then there's an excellent collage of mostly short tunes on side two. Even when they were fighting they could make great music! Neil Young once said it's better to burn out than to fade away. I'm not sure The Beatles did either. This was the last long play The Beatles recorded and they went out with a bang. And we're still not over it. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 24th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album Mitch Miller And The Gang - Sing Along With Mitch	Review A lot of music I listen to brings back vivid memories from my childhood and that's certainly the case with this one. Back then I hated Mitch Miller's music. It was too bland, even laughable, but the tables have turned. It's the stuff I liked that has aged badly while this CD now sounds timeless. Bravo Mitch! Some people would have you think that Elvis and Chuck Berry was the only thing that ever happened in the 1950's. They're wrong! 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 24th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album Van Morrison - His Band And The Street Choir	Review This recording has seldom been given its due because of constantly being in the shadow of "Astral Weeks" and "Moondance". Unlike the previous LP's mentioned, this one produced two big hits "Domino" and "Blue Money" and it doesn't end there. Check out "Crazy Face" and try to imagine Elvis belting out "Give Me A Kiss". This is one fine recording by a fiercely dedicated artist who ranks right up there with the best. 8 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 12th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album Frank Sinatra - Trilogy: Past, Present & Future	They cut off the last word in my review. It was "...that.".
Phantom Gtowner 12th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album Frank Sinatra - Trilogy: Past, Present & Future	Review One thing that becomes clear about this record is that Sinatra ignores all modern pop music trappings. It is totally out of time. There is not one nod to rock’n’roll, soul, disco or punk. Upon hearing this, a person who went into a coma in 1955 and woke up 25 years later might think that nothing had changed. He still has that confident and familiar swagger and he was never afraid to take a chance but “Trilogy” is a tell-tale period for him. Face it, Frank didn’t need to do “Trilogy”, arguably the most ambitious record of his career. At age 64, his place in pop music history was assured. Recording at all by then had its risks. This recording is a concept record of 3 discs, each representing The Past, The Present and The Future. “The Past” is conducted and arranged by Billy May, “The Present” features Don Costa and “The Future” is handled by Gordon Jenkins. All three volumes are produced by Sonny Burke. Record One, The Past is where Sinatra really shines. With bandleader Billy May, he effortlessly sails through tracks of varying tempo like “The Song Is You” and “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” with that familiar yet somewhat annoying Sinatra panache. If he had stopped at Record One we would have a very good LP, but there was more. The Present, record two, is an uneven set but the highlights are well worth a listen. “Theme From New York, New York”, the high point of the entire album is probably Frank's final masterpiece. Until this recording, the best known version of this tune was by Liza Minnelli. Today it would be hard to find someone who can even remember Minnelli doing it. Another track “You And Me (We Wanted It All)” is an emotional tune with a late 1970's flare. These are good songs but my problem with “The Present” is simply that, of the ten songs, six are tunes that I could have done without. In trying to represent the present, Frank performs songs that are far better known by other singers. Some examples are Kristofferson’s “For The Good Times”, an abbreviated “MacArthur Park”, The Beatles’ “Something” and Elvis' “Love Me Tender”. Sinatra’s ongoing problem since the 1960’s has been a lack of decent songs for him to sing. This is not a knock on contemporary songwriters. There will always be good quality songs written but many modern composers don’t suit Sinatra’s style. Most popular music of any certain era has an inherent sameness to it, a lot like automobile designs. Frank was at his best doing Cole Porter, James Van Heusen or Gershwin. These writers were from a different era and wrote in a style that suited Ol’ Blue Eyes. To me he compromised himself artistically by doing contemporary material like Jim Croce’s “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” or his version of Cher’s hit “Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”. This dilemma is far from over on Trilogy. He attempts Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are” and Neil Diamond’s “Song Sung Blue” with disastrous results. To hear Frank croon these tunes awkwardly was something I didn’t need to hear. Why would he even think about recording these songs? I’m guessing it’s because these tunes really did represent the present in 1980 to Frank and Sonny Burke, which speaks volumes about their take on the times and what they thought Sinatra’s fans wanted to hear. This brings us to the third record, “The Future”. This is where it gets just a little pretentious and a whole lot wiggy. Frank’s entire career consisted almost exclusively of singing short pop songs and when he gets into more elongated musical structures he sounds like The Sex Pistols trying to do Swan Lake. He performs six tracks all written specifically for this project by conductor Gordon Jenkins. I don’t make claims to have heard all of Sinatra’s work but this must surely rank as the strangest thing he has ever done. The first track “What Time Does The Next Miracle Happen”, a ten minute epic, is a futuristic musical trek around the solar system, much as you might fly an airplane, complete with airport like PA announcements. “World War None” sounds like it’s from some long lost musical and there’s “Song Without Words” which is okay but strangely, it actually has words. All this is followed by another epic length piece called “Before The Music Ends” which is all about returning to Hoboken to see his old neighborhood. It’s sobering to hear Frank off the rails but it has a certain charm. Maybe he meant this to be his last record. The Future has it’s credibility problems but it is ambitious. Most singers today don’t want to take any chances, or more likely, their record companies won’t let them. Sinatra solved that problem by starting his own record company, Reprise Records. Before his death he did two more LP’s,“She Shot Me Down” (1981) and “L.A. Is My Lady” (1984). “Trilogy” is not the ultimate Frank Sinatra LP but it’s far from insignificant. Despite my gentle slagging, this record is an enjoyable listen and it’s good to know that, in his mid 60’s, Frank was still feisty. There’s a certain ironic comfort in 10 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 12th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album Michael Nesmith - Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash	Review His sixth and final LP for RCA before they gave him the pink slip. But don't be fooled by that because this LP is a return to form and once again features a full band sound. Like two of his previous RCA LP’s, side one is all Nesmith compositions and side two features covers. The first side is comprised four songs, three are new songs (to me) and one “Some Of Shelley’s Blues” probably goes back to the mid 1960’s. This was recorded with The Monkees (unreleased) and covered by The Stone Poneys (Linda Ronstadt, lead singer) in 1968 but this re-working may be the finest version of it yet. The two ballads “Continuing” and “Release” are fine Nesmith tunes and “Winonah” is a passable piece of country honk about a barmaid who likes to drink too much. Two of the covers are marvelous, including veteran country writer Cindy Walker's "Born to Love You" and Billy Hill's "Prairie Lullaby". These songs don’t miss their mark and provide as much or more entertainment as the Nesmith compositions. They alone ought to silence anyone who questions his ability as a vocalist. In between these two gems is a piece called “The Back Porch And A Fruit Jar Of Iced Tea” which is an amalgamation of two songs, the traditional “The F.F.V.” and Bill Monroe’s “Uncle Pen”. It sounds like some sort of country hoedown that might appeal to some but unfortunately not me. This record is probably as good as any of his previous releases and was his last country/rock LP for many years. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 12th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album Michael Nesmith And The First National Band - Nevada Fighter	Review This was the third in a trilogy of LP's and it had the potential to be the best of them all. Produced once again by Nesmith and recorded in Los Angeles, side one is the best side The First National Band recorded. Leading off with "Grand Ennui" a short rocking rootsy tune without a lot of melody but still a promising start. The last entry on side one "Nevada Fighter", the title song, another rocker very similar to "Circle Sky" from The Monkees "Head" LP is not a song that moves me but sandwiched in between "Only Bound", "Propinquity (I've Just Begun To Care)" and "Here I Am" are some of Mikey's finest moments. On "Here I Am" alone, we get some of the best western style falsetto singing we've heard since Slim Whitman hung them up. Side two, although far from terrible, is not as strong. All songs on side one are Nesmith compositions whereas side two is cover tunes. It begins well with a Michael Murphey (aka Michael Martin Murphey) tune called "Texas Morning", a minor cowboy classic and the second 45 release from the LP. (It flopped, no surprise there!) We continue in this cowboy motif with another of the record’s high points, The Sons Of The Pioneers classic "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". The Nilsson song "Rainmaker" fairs pretty well but " I Looked Away", a Derek & The Dominos tune didn't work. That song was too well known and recent for me. I think most fans of Nesmith want to hear his own compositions as opposed to covers. I know he had many other originals in the can so it is puzzling why he did so many non originals here. Another problem on Nevada Fighter was that the band was disintegrating as the record was being made and mercenaries, though very capable ones, like Al Casey and James Burton had to be recruited to provide some finishing touches. Despite a couple of negative things, this is still one very good record. If you like his first two, you’ll love this. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 5th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album Elvis Presley - Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4	Review On the surface, Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4 might not be as strong as the first three volumes. It features mostly newer material than Volume 3 (roughly 1963 thru 1966 although not exclusively), but it also contains at least three older B sides which were left off the earlier Gold Records LP’s. Many of these recordings aren’t as well known as the ones on the first three LP’s of this series and to some people, like me for instance, they just might be a more interesting listen. A few tunes like "Please Don't Drag That String Around" and "It Hurts Me" were B sides and might have been a little bit ignored although here they sound almost essential. The former, and flip side of “Devil In Disguise”, features The Jordanaires “bopping” and with the same sax sound that made “Return To Sender” so memorable. There’s an assortment of styles from ballads like “Love Letters”, “Ask Me” and “Indescribably Blue” to all out rockers such as “Witchcraft” and “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby”. “Indescribably Blue” in particular, is a somewhat lesser known work but nonetheless a lovely performance even if the vocal arrangement might be a little over the top. I think my favorite is “A Mess Of Blues”, the 1960 B side of “It’s Now Or Never”. If I had my way, it would have been the A side. Unfortunately for many of us today, when we think of Elvis, we don’t think about the things that made him so very special in the first place. Instead we reflect on that bloated Las Vegas Elvis with his outlandish costumes, prescription pills, shooting handguns at his TV screen and the 10,000 ice cream bars in his bedside fridge. We’ve all had a good chuckle. I’m saying it’s time to forget all that, pretend it didn’t happen and concentrate the good things. He is such a good vocalist that even when he does mediocre material, like he did on many of those God awful soundtrack LP’s and a certain portion of his 1970’s work, he can still make it competent, if not good. To turn nothing into something is a gift only a few singers are blessed with. The King might be dead but we needn’t bury him yet. He has left a lot of good listening for those of us still in the world of the living. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 5th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album George Harrison - Extra Texture	Review I'm getting really tired of this LP constantly being hammered by the critics. Yet I agree, it certainly isn't his masterpiece. Most of George's solo records, even LP’s like “Living In The Material World” and “Thirty Three And A Third”, are very uneven. But it’s not absolutely terrible either, there are redeeming qualities.The single "You" is a good song, very commercial, but totally over produced in a “Phil Spector/All Things Must Pass” type of way. Was “You” recorded at another session? Sure sounds like it. I really like "The Answer's At The End", "His Name Is Legs", "Grey Cloudy Lies" and in particular Leon Russell's piano passage in "Tired Of Midnight Blue". On the other hand "Can't Stop Thinking About You" is not much to write home about. It's too repetitious and long. Oh, and the track "This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Crying)" is yet another good listen. George isn’t really a great singer and that becomes evident in several places on “Extra Texture” and many of his other LP’s. But I think this record was as good as George could possibly do at that time. To say that this was a throwaway and his contractual obligation is a very misleading, if not an outright lie. When he was in that previous band he got a lot of help from his friends and he was so much better because he only had to write one or two songs per album. Now he’s standing naked for all of us to see. We knew what his talents were as a player but it wasn’t until his solo career began that we really got a much better look at George’s abilities as a music creator. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 5th Oct 2018		Vinyl Album Michael Nesmith And The First National Band - Magnetic South	Review From the opening track "Calico Girlfriend", it hits home that this is not Monkees music. It has a very loose sound, almost as if it may have been recorded in a hurry. What is very surprising is that Nesmith relinquishes production duties to Felton Jarvis, a veteran producer who had worked with many famous artists including Elvis Presley. In his entire subsequent career he always did his own production but perhaps Mike wanted to get an authentic Nashville sound on his first post Monkees release. My first reaction to this LP in 1970 was that it was a disappointment. There was no "Tapioca Tundra" or "Listen To The Band" and it had a very pronounced country/western sound. I don’t think I warmed up to it until after his next two LP’s were released. For years I thought it was the weakest of this trilogy but now I’m not so sure. Of the three, Magnetic South seems to have harder country sound. A few songs here like "Nine Times Blue" and "The Crippled Lion" had actually been recorded with the Monkees but never released. The Magnetic South versions are all newly recorded in 1970. Nesmith had been recording in Nashville for at least two years prior to this with local musicians. Some of these recordings had made it onto several Monkees' LP's even though there was literally no output from Mickey, Davy & Peter. He assembled a band in early 1970 called The First National Band which was centered around steel guitar virtuoso O.J. "Red" Rhodes, a veteran of close to thirty years already in 1970. Other members included John London on bass guitar who had played with The Lewis & Clark Expedition, Johnny Ware on drums, Earl P. Ball on side piano & Nesmith on guitar & vocals. The only clue that this was not a truly “country” LP was Nesmith’s lyrics which tend to be incredibly more literate than most Nashville writers of the day. This LP would be a lot more obscure than it is but for the fact that it produced a Top Twenty hit in “Joanne”, a glorious little tune that today seems to sound much more country than it used to. Other tracks like “The Keys To The Car”, “Little Red Rider” and the rocking “Mama Nantucket” sound like they wouldn’t be out of place on a George Jones record. Then there’s “Hollywood” a five minute blend of country and psychedelia which seems to indicate Nesmith’s attitude in regard to his experiences as a teen idol with his former band. The last two tracks are covers, the country standard “The One Rose (That’s Left In My Heart)” and the 1930 classic “Beyond The Blue Horizon” which alone covers the price of admission with its sound effects, humor and ambience. I keep coming back to this record and I’m always entertained. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Phantom Gtowner 14th Sep 2017		Book Cecil J. Allen - Trains Annual 1952	The cover is a shot of ex Great Western Railways King Henry III from the early 1950's in British Railways blue.
Phantom Gtowner 24th May 2017		Vinyl Album Paul McCartney - Flaming Pie	In my opinion, as of 1997, this was Paul's finest moment as a solo artist.
Phantom Gtowner 14th May 2017		78 RPM Hugo And Luigi - La Plume De Ma Tante / Honolulu Lu	The coloured dog didn't appear in Canada until 1959 so you don't see many 78's in this design. Good find!
Phantom Gtowner 26th Jan 2017		Vinyl Album The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night	There are also solid red labels and solid blue labels issued on this LP. Generally UA LP labels of this vintage in black were stereo and red ones were mono. However that theory is out the window on the black label scanned here because for sure it would state it's stereo. The blue labels might have been because the record sold so well that they ran out of red stock. Just a thought.
Phantom Gtowner 4th Apr 2014		Vinyl Album The Beatles - Meet The Beatles	This wasn't released in Canada in '64. It would have been much later possibly around '67 but I'm not really sure.

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