Blog: Hyperbolium

Image Courtesy of 45cat.com Perhaps this is obvious, but artists who cover songs you like have a good chance of writing songs that you'd also like. With the huge, searchable, hyperlinked, on-demand catalogs of Rdio, MOG, Spotify and Rhapsody at your fingertips, this pivot has never been easier to execute. Search for a favorite song, say the Beach Boys ' "Girl Don't Tell Me," see who's covered it, and then take a stroll through their original album. In this case you'll find that Heartworms ' album Space Escapade [...]

Righteous Brother goes solo in 1968 and 1969 Following his 1968 break with fellow Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield, Bill Medley kicked off a solo career with this pair of releases for MGM. Both albums grazed the bottom of the Billboard 200, and three singles ("I Can't Make it Alone" and "Brown Eyed Woman" from the first album, "Peace Brother Peace" from the second) charted short of the Top 40. It would be Medley's last solo chart action for more than a decade, as he'd reteam with Hatfield in 1974 and forgo solo releases for [...]

Glen Campbell lights up the Tokyo stage in 1975 Originally released only in Japan, this 54-minute set found Campbell entertaining with a tightly-paced set at Tokyo's Kosei Nenkin Hall in May 1975. The chart-topping run Campbell had started with 1967's "Gentle on My Mind" was slipping ever so slightly lower by the early '70s, as his television program ended in 1972. Campbell's albums started to edge out of the Top 10 and his singles out of the Top 20, but three days before this show, he released "Rhinestone Cowboy," and rode it [...]

Country-charting 1970s Nashville pop Jody Miller's recording catalog is often abbreviated to her first hit, the Grammy-winning "Queen of the House," and though its novelty answer to Roger Miller's "King of the Road" may get the most spins on nostalgia radio, it's hardly representative of her lengthy hit-making career. Her personal appearances on teen shows Hollywood-A-Go-Go and Shindig positioned her for pop success, but her follow-up singles found only middling results and failed to cross back over to the country chart. She had only one other hit for Capitol (the [...]

PRESS RELEASE San Francisco, CA -January 19, 2012-The eclectic blend of events booked for the 13th annual San Francisco Bluegrass and Old-Time Festival (SFBOT) will raise up a bluegrass ruckus, create some old-time fun and guarantee some ass kickin' music through performances, dances and workshops. The 10-day festival runs from Feb. 10-19 and comprises more than 30 shows at numerous small clubs around the Bay Area featuring some of the most talented musicians on the Americana and Roots music scene today. Highlights of this year's festival includes Bay Area favorites such as [...]

Swinging collection of '60s jet-age pop marred by contemporary covers The vintage picks on this fourteen-track set nicely conjure the ring-a-ding-ding jet-age culture of television's Pan Am. Unfortunately, the inclusion of two contemporary cover versions reeks of marketing opportunism, and interrupts the vintage vibe of an otherwise finely programmed collection. Grace Potter and Nikki Jean's fans may enjoy their renditions of, respectively, "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret," but the modernity of their vocal styles sticks out among the company they're keeping here. The set [...]

Swinging collection of '60s jet-age pop marred by contemporary covers The vintage picks on this fourteen-track set nicely conjure the ring-a-ding-ding jet-age culture of television's Pan Am. Unfortunately, the inclusion of two contemporary cover versions reeks of marketing opportunism, and interrupts the vintage vibe of an otherwise finely programmed collection. Grace Potter and Nikki Jean's fans may enjoy their renditions of, respectively, "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret," but the modernity of their vocal styles sticks out among the company they're keeping here. The set [...]

Organ-jazz trio tribute to the Beatles Soulive is an organ trio (Hammond B-3, drums and guitar) that has been cutting soul-jazz grooves since the late '90s. This 2010 entry in their catalog offers instrumental interpretations of eleven well-known Beatles titles, drawn from the Fab Four's mid-to-late period albums. Jazz and soul tributes to the Beatles are a well-trod path, including Bob Hammer's Beatlejazz , Roger Webb's John, Paul and All That Jazz , Count Basie's Beatle Bag , Don Randi's Revolver Jazz , the Music Company's [...]

Synthpop meets surf music and post-punk If you've been itching to take a toaster into the ocean, this French band's electrosurf music is for you. It melds the repetitive electronic buzz, drum machines, low bass and processed vocal riffs of dance music with the spring reverb sounds of surf guitar. This rambles between banal dance tunes, kitschy Perry & Kingsley-styled synthpop, '50s and '60s space-age bachelor pad pastiche, and Raybeats-styled post-punk surf. Surf fans should check out "Cowabungiga," "Chemical Beach," and "Made in China," among other tracks. Ennio Morricone fans, give a listen to [...]

Two-fer from early '60s Cameo-Parkway vocal group Shortly before the Collectors' Choice label was sold to Super D , they embarked upon an ambitious program of reissues from the Cameo-Parkway catalog. The Cameo-Parkway tapes had mostly sat idle in ABKCO's vault ever since Allen Klein acquired them in the late '60s, and the first program of legitimate reissues began in 2005 with a series of Best Of's, including a volume on this Philadelphia vocal group. Five years later, a series of two-fers returned full, original albums to print, including this pairing [...]

The charming singing career of a talented actress There have been many actors whose musical aspirations out-distance their vocal abilities. Not so for Connie Stevens, whose singles and albums for Warner Brothers were sung with both charm and talent. Though best remembered for co-starring roles in 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye , Stevens sang these early-to-mid '60s sides in a voice that conveyed both sweet innocence and Hollywood sophistication. Better yet, Warner Brothers often supplied her with very good material, top-notch arrangements by Don Ralke, Perry Botkin Jr., and Neal [...]

Superb folk-pop singles from an under-known '60s vocalist Shelby Flint had but one Top-40 single, 1961's "Angel on My Shoulder," but the purity of her voice, the quality of her technique and the sophistication of her melodic sensibility has been enough to sustain a music career. Perhaps even more important is that, uncharacteristically for "girl singers" of the early 1960s, she wrote much of her own material. From these early singles, recorded for the Valiant label, you can hear her combining folk, pop and especially jazz in her phrasing and tone. Her jazz leanings [...]

Holiday odds and sods from the legendary Cameo Parkway vault With the departure of Gordon Anderson from Collectors' Choice, and the apparent sidelining of the label's activities, their reissue program for the Cameo-Parkway catalog has moved with Anderson to his new label, Real Gone. This eighteen-track set of holiday-themed material combines tunes from two of the label's stars, Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker and two of the label's fine doo-wop groups, the Cameos and Jaynells. The track-list features a number of fun one-offs, including Bob Seger's rock 'n' soul "Sock it to Me Santa," [...]

Holiday odds and sods from the legendary Cameo Parkway vault With the departure of Gordon Anderson from Collectors' Choice, and the apparent sidelining of the label's activities, their reissue program for the Cameo-Parkway catalog has moved with Anderson to his new label, Real Gone. This eighteen-track set of holiday-themed material combines tunes from two of the label's stars, Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker and two of the label's fine doo-wop groups, the Cameos and Jaynells. The track-list features a number of fun one-offs, including Bob Seger's rock 'n' soul "Sock it to Me Santa," [...]

Theatrical Hammond organ takes on standards Edwin "Buddy" Cole's Hammond albums are probably better known by sight than sound. The album covers – particularly Have Organ, Will Swing and Powerhouse! – are treasured icons of the space-age bachelor pad genre, seen by many, but actually heard by few. Surprisingly, the music inside isn't particularly exotic. Cole was more of a lush, theater organ stylist (a job he'd actually held in the 1930s) than a bluesy howler, and though he had significant chops as a jazz pianist, they were spent mostly [...]

Excellent shows from August 1971, long-lost at sea The Grateful Dead were far ahead of their time in many respects, but none perhaps more so than the breadth, depth and quality of the tapes they archived (and as will be described below, occasionally lost) from their legendary live shows. The Dick's Picks series was named for and originally curated by the band's tape archivist, Dick Latvala. Following Latvala's passing in 1999, the series was continued by the band's current archivist David Lemieux. In contrast to the multi-track remixes released under the [...]

The third in a trio of free '60s-styled AM pop suites In 2008 this South Carolina band's Freedom Wind so thoroughly evoked the Beach Boys golden age, that you'd wonder if their East Coast beach town of Charleston had somehow connected via a time and space portal to Los Angeles in 1965. More than just recreating the harmonies, instrumentation and arrangements, the band evoked Brian Wilson's ethos in music, words and emotional tone. It remains a jaw-dropping achievement from start to finish. Four years later, in February of [...]

Elvis caps his remarkable comeback Recorded in 1970 and released in 1971, Elvis Country was the culmination of a remarkable career resurrection. Starting with his 1968 Comeback Special , Elvis went on to reel off the brilliant From Elvis in Memphis (and the second-helping, Back in Memphis ), the smartly constructed Vegas show of On Stage , and the studio/live That's the Way It Is . [...]

As great as are the performances from Jimmie Dale Gilmore (vocals/guitar), Jerry Douglas (dobro) and Viktor Krauss (bass), it seems as if guitarist Bill Frisell really steals this one.

January Gerry Rafferty , 63, singer-songwriter Don Kirshner , 76, song publisher and television host Charlie Louvin , 83, country music singer John Barry , 77, film score composer February Sir George Shearing , 91, jazz pianist March Ferlin Husky , 85, country music singer Jet Harris , 71, guitarist Ralph Mooney , 82, steel guitarist Pintop Perkins , 97, blues musician April [...]