Nat "King" Cole - Wild Is Love

This is a concept album on the subject of finding, and holding on to, love from a urban hipster's point-of-view. Nat Cole is the suave narrator on this journey through "Hundreds of Thousands of Girls" that will, ultimately, end with the playboy opting out of the swinging life for "The One".

Excellent vocals from the Master of Smooth and you can't go wrong with arrangements by the incomparable Nelson Riddle whose orchestra ably assists in setting the perfect cosmopolitain backdrop for each song. I recommend this to anyone looking for romantic trip with one of the best tour-guides in the biz. As an added bonus, the gatefold cover comes with an eleven page full-color photobook tipped-in with some great 60's stock photography and musings on the art of love like: "Love will find you someday. But why wait? This could be the night! So get out on the boulevard and make the scene..." Even the catalog number was sexy!

Nat "King" Cole - Wild is Love
Capitol Records (1960)
Cat. #: SWAK 1392*

A1 Introduction 0:46
A2 Wild Is Love 2:02
A3 Hundreds and Thousands of Girls 2:36
A4 It's a Beautiful Evening 3:15
A5 Tell Her in the Morning 3:00
A6 Are You Disenchanted? 3:26
A7 Pick-Up 2:36

B1 Beggar for the Blues 3:25
B2 World of No Return 2:50
B3 In Love Again 2:48
B4 Stay With It 2:18
B5 Wouldn't You Know (Her Name Is Mary) 2:30
B6 He Who Hesitates 3:17
B7 Wild Is Love Finale 0:44

*Sealed With A Kiss

5th Dimension "Portrait"

The coolest thing I know about this album is that the 5th Dimension played a singing group invovled in a mystery on a TV show called "It Takes a Thief" starring Robert Wagner. It was on that show that the single "Puppet Man" debuted. I imagine that helped it sell like hotcakes as the group was still riding high on the strength of "Aquarius".
As for the album itself, the standouts are "Puppet Man", "One Less Bell to Answer", "This is Your Life" and the supremely cheesy (like a frozen pizza), faux-radical nod to the "younger folk" (i.e.: hippies and hippie wannabes) of the "Medley: The Declaration / A Change Is Gonna Come / People Gotta Be Free". This was part of the soundtrack to my "rose coloured glasses" youth a few years before the end of the Vietnam War changed the culture of the US to one that was much less optimistic and more cynical.

The 5th Dimension - "Portrait"
Bell Records 6045
1970
Gatefold with cover art by LeRoy Neiman

A Side:
Puppet Man (2:58)
One Less Bell to Answer 3:29
Feelin' Alright? (4:27)
This Is Your Life (4:12)
A Love Like Ours (2:39)
B Side:
Save the Country (2:39)
Medley: The Declaration / A Change Is Gonna Come / People Gotta Be Free (10:10)
Dimension 5ive (4:15)

Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto '90s Style

This is a great West Coast hip-hop CD by a guy who never made it. It was given to me by my friend Jeni Morrell, one of the hippest hotties I know.

Xmaz-n-the-Hood
MC M (aka M Smith, The M)
Priority Records CDS 7219 (1991)

1 Chris Kringle is a Black Man 4:09
2 Ebony's a Scrooge 5:13
3 This Christmas 3:59
4 Xmaz-n-the-Hood 5:33
5 Brighter Daze 3:50

Vinyl Find of the Week

I just got this at Som Records. This place is awesome to be so small.

According to the liner notes Scene 70 was a weekly TV show seen "...on over 115 markets nationwide..." from 1970 to 1971. It was a showcase for some of the top pop and rock acts as well as fresh, new talents and presented them (presumably live and lipsyncing) in settings from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge to the Atlantic City Boardwalk. It was hosted by Jay Reynolds and featured the Scene 70 Action Dancers. This must have been a cool show to see.

A1 Janis Joplin - Down on Me
A2 The Impressions - Fool for You
A3 Tommy James & the Shondells - Crimson & Clover
A4 The Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense & Peppermint
A5 Len Barry - 1 2 3
A6 The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You
A7 The Intruders - Cowboys to Girls
A8 The Amboy Dukes - Journey to the Center of the Mind
A9 The Who - Magic Bus
A10 Ricardo Ray - Nitty Gritty
B1 Ohio Express - Yummy Yummy Yummy
B2 1910 Fruitgum Company - Simon Says
B3 Tommy James & the Shondells - Moony Mony
B4 1910 Fruitgum Company - 123 Red Light
B5 The Turtles - She'd Rather Be with Me
B6 Ohio Express - Down at Lulu's
B7 The Happenings - Go Away Little Girl
B8 The Lemon Pipers - Jelly Jungle
B9 Sonny & Cher - The Beat Goes On
B10 The Lemon Pipers - Rice is Nice

CD of the Week

Rammstein - Live aus Berlin
Mercury/Motor Music 314-547 590-2
August 31, 1999

Tracklist:
1. Spiel mit mir - 5:22
2. Bestrafe mich - 3:49
3. Weisses Fleisch - 4:35
4. Sehnsucht - 4:25
5. Asche zu Asche - 3:24
6. Wilder Wein - 5:17
7 .Heirate mich - 6:16
8. Du riechst so gut - 5:24
9. Du hast - 4:27
10. Bück Dich - 5:57
11. Engel - 5:57
12. Rammstein - 5:29
13. Laichzeit - 5:14
14. Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen? - 5:52
15. Seemann - 6:54

Thanks, I Needed That...