#18 At Mister Kelly's by Sarah Vaughan

For those of you who read my review of Ellington At Newport you will remember the slating that I gave that live album. The main problems that I had with it being three-fold: the length, the M.C. and a just a general lack of wow factor from the music. So as you can expect my hopes were not too high at the prospect of another live album.

However, one thing that At Mister Kelly’s has in spades which sets it above Duke Ellington’s is sheer unadulterated charisma, which is impressive due to this only being a recording. Sarah Vaughan really did possess this by the barrel-full as she flaunts her practically flawless voice with a wink and a nod as now and then she messes up. Ok, I’m being mean as it only occurs twice (Willow Weep For Me and How High Is The Moon) but the way that she just carries on with such humour and panache really do distinguish her from performers nowadays. You can not imagine Amy Winehouse having the wherewithal to completely improvise the rest of a song as you completely forgot the words. Sarah Vaughan actually has to do this on How High Is The Moon and in doing so gives the song such a great depth of character that really reflects her as an artist compared with the others on the album.

In fact, I found myself looking forward to the mess-ups or the brief interludes between the songs. Whether it be the cheekiness and dirty laugh before Dream or her addressing the crowd as she starts on the closer I Cover The Waterfront. But aside from that I really still need to mention the amazing vocals, for me the songs that really illustrate this the best are the aforementioned How High Is The Moon, where she scats her way through, and I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter. The latter of these may have one mouthful of a title but she never minces her words, in fact it simply provides the platform for her vocals to soar.

I am really tempted to give this a really high mark. However, I won’t for the fact that there are a few songs that really act as filler. While this may not be fair as it is a recording of a live show, as pointed out in September In The Rain, and I can tell that the experience will have been breathtaking. However, with this on an iPod too much of this great night in music is sadly lost with a bit of light editing being welcome. However, not as much as was on the original release of the album compared with the re-issue as I can imagine that too much of the music was lost.

Then again, I can really imagine a lot of repeated listening occurring here. Which is always a good sign, right? Oh heck. I think she deserves to be on par with Lady In Satin.

Great album. Needs to be experienced even just as a means of gaining a greater knowledge of the musical landscape of the fifties.

9.0/10

Fab Four:
Willow Weep For Me
Honeysuckle Rose
How High Is The Moon
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter

#17 Jack Takes The Floor by Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Now if that name doesn’t conjure up the image of cartoon rednecks in the styling of Family Guy I don’t know what will. Also it’s sentences like that which make me wonder how prejudiced I really am. Especially since I found out later on that he was born and raised into a Brooklyn-based Jewish family. Which goes to prove that you never really can tell.

I have always been a bit of a sucker for folk music, however I have never really listened to the old stuff. For me it’s all modern stuff like Joanna Newsom, Sufjan Stevens and M. Ward. So it was greatly reassuring that upon the strumming of the first notes of San Francisco Bay Blues that I knew that this was going to be a record that I would like. None of these songs would feel at all out of place in the soundtrack of O’ Brother Where Art Thou?, with there being a great similarity between the track Mule Skinner Blues and Man Of Constant Sorrow.

One thing that comes across very well is the apparent impromptu nature of the music with the short introductions that pepper this album. Also the prompts that occur during songs, the most obvious examples being in New York Town.

As a whole this is one of those albums where you are able to so easily discern what it would later influence. However, unlike The ‘Chirping’ Crickets this album hasn’t really dated at all. In fact it sounds like it could have been made in the last ten years. It’s only some parts of the production that give it away to being as old as it in fact is. A very impressive album really.

7.5/10

Fab Four:
The Boll Weevil
New York Town
Mule Skinner Blues
Salty Dog

#16 Lady In Satin by Billie Holiday

While it is great relief for me to have finally reached an album where female vocals take the centre stage it is in a way a bit double-edged. The thing with Billie Holiday is that even though in her hay-day she never had the most powerful of voices her trump card was always the emotion she was able to convey. It is for this reason that she has been remembered and why her recordings of Strange Fruit and Gloomy Sunday (a song that urban legend has linked to multiple cases of suicide) live on in infamy.

Her life was, by any standards, a troubled and highly turbulent one. Raised in poverty, raped at a young age and working in the brothels until the early thirties when her voice caught the attention of a promoter. Even with all that behind her she came to be highly dependent on drugs and alcohol, and really you can not blame her for succumbing to them.

Anyway, back from the ramble about musical history it is time to attend to the matter at hand. Namely Lady In Satin and my thoughts regarding it. The first thing that I believe needs to be said is that it is anything but an easy listen. Due to years of substance abuse this 43 year old woman sounds old beyond her years with her voice being reduced to a reedy state. However, where most artists would probably count their losses she ploughs on through and gives possibly the most emotional set of recordings you could find. You just believe everything she says, this woman whose voice, and body, had been reduced to one belonging to a woman beyond her years. You feel her pain. This is definitely the most disarming thing about Lady In Satin and reflects the lyrics that she wrote back in the late forties:

Lady sings the blues
She’s got them bad
She feels so sad
Wants the world to know
Just what the blues is all about

With the rating I know I am about to give this album it feels stupid to outline a few of the tracks as highlights when the whole thing needs to be taken in one fair dose. However I would like to specifically mention the opener I’m A Fool To Want You as well as Violets For My Furs, which occupies the midpoint. Both of these are the prime example of the use of this broken blues-soaked voice that is backed by sweeping orchestral movements which together give her the space to truly soar.

9.0/10

Fab Four:
I’m A Fool To Want You
Violets For My Furs
It’s Easy To Remember
But Beautiful

#15 Dance Mania by Tito Puente

So here I sit as I enter 1958, playing Pokémon Platinum on my DS (yes I am a Pokénerd), it is time for me to tackle Tito Puente’s Dance Mania. It’s so sad that my only previous exposure to this fair guy is via his cameo on The Simpson’s two-episode arc Who Shot Mr. Burns.

Please would all fans of Tito Puente not take any offence when I say that this music sounds identical to what my Sims on Sims 2 listen to recreationally, listen to Cuando Te Vea and you’ll see what I mean.

While I can not say that I did not enjoy this album I can not really say that I enjoyed it either. The idea of a second listen actually seemed like a chore and on neither of the listens could I discern a standout track that I could rave about. Or even one that I could really bitch about.

All in all. Highly mediocre. And while I do not expect all of these albums to be so good that they set my world alight there should at least be some element of enjoyment, an ability to see how this influenced music or at least some overall impression. But there is none. Zilch. And from the festive cover this came as a profound disappointment.

4.0/10