Jumpin' Gene Simmons 1933-2006

Rockabilly singer and songwriter Gene Simmons (no, not the long-tongued guy from KISS!) died on Tuesday, August 29, 2006. In his early career, Gene was part of the Sun Records list of stars, which included Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. He later joined the famous Bill Black Combo as their lead singer, until the untimely death of Bill Black. He reached #11 on the Billboard charts in 1964 with his hit "Haunted House". Later he turned his talents to songwriting, including Tim McGraw's first hit in 1994, "Indian Outlaw".
I did find a copy of his hit, "Haunted House", and have posted it for your listening pleasure.
Haunted House

Richard Harris - A Tramp Shining (1968)

Today's offering is Richard Harris' 1968 album "A Tramp Shining", which contains his hit "MacArthur Park". The entire album was written, arranged, and produced by Jimmy Webb. Now, the back of the album says "Richard Harris sings" - well, I suppose I have heard worse. It was actually pretty painful for me to listen to this album, but one of the reasons I like it (and many other albums) is because it is so bad! Yes, yes, I know "MacArthur Park" was a big hit, reaching #2 for Mr.Harris in 1968; but, the song itself is so bad and then to be an even bigger hit ten years later for Donna Summer, reaching #1! I mean, have you really listened to the words? Just the same, I can't help liking it! (FYI - it only reached #38 for the Four Tops in 1971.) And I do like Richard Harris - he was a magnificent actor! Anyway, for all you Richard Harris the SINGER fans, here's "A Tramp Shining". I've got to go now because it's raining here in Dallas, and I think I left my birthday cake out in the rain.....

Track Listing for Richard Harris - A Tramp Shining:

Side 1:
1. Didn't We
2. Paper Chase
3. Name of My Sorrow
4. Lovers Such as I
5. In the Final Hours

Side 2:
1. MacArthur Park
2. Dancing Girl
3. If You Must Leave My Life
4. A Tramp Shining

Maynard Ferguson 1928-2006

Maynard Ferguson, one of the greatest jazz trumpeters, died Wednesday, August 23, after a short illness. Maynard's trademark was the ability to hit really high notes, and he made the pop charts with his Grammy-nominated version of "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)". He had recently recorded an album, which will be released later this year. The music world has certainly lost one of its greatest, and music lovers all over will miss him and his talent very much.
For information about Maynard Ferguson, and to listen to some sound clips, visit his official website: www.maynardferguson.com.

Luau Compilation

Today is my birthday! Yep, I am definitely a Leo (if you look closely at my profile picture, you'll see that there's a Leo picture in the girl's room). Since my birthday falls on a Monday this year, I'm not having my birthday party until Saturday, and it's going to be a Hawaiian luau! So, in preparation for the luau, yesterday I spent several hours creating three different compilations of Hawaiian music to play at my party. (I did it the easy way and let iTunes pick the songs for me, so you'll find that there are several songs by the same musicians - iTunes picks randomly.) Anyway, since I'd already created these compilations, I decided to go ahead and post one of them. You'll find some more contemporary Hawaiian songs here (such as Israel Kamakawiwo'ole) along with the typical steel guitar type music (Jack DeMello) and even a cute tune from Annette Funicello's "Hawaiiannette" album. Plus, "Hawaii Five-O" is on here! As I said, there's a variety - not just your usual Hawaiian tunes. Hope y'all enjoy it - aloha!

Luau Compilation 1 Track Listing (yes, they're in alphabetical order - I'm funny that way) -

1. Adventures in Paradise - Les Adams & His Fabulous Hawaiians
2. At the Bay of the Rainbows - George Kainapau
3. Beyond the Reef - Jack DeMello
4. Blue Hawaii - Dick Contino
5. Blue Lei - George Kainapau
6. Diamond Head - Dick Contino
7. Far Across the Sea - Alfred Apaka
8. Farewell My Tani - Les Adams & His Fabulous Hawaiians
9. Hawai'i 78 - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
10. Hawaii Five-O - The Ventures
11. Hawaii Sang Me to Sleep - Les Adams & His Fabulous Hawaiians
12. Hawaiian Luau - George Kainapau
13. Hawaiian War Chant - Dick Contino
14. Hawaiian Wedding Song - Elvis Presley
15. Kalua Skys - Les Adams & His Fabulous Hawaiians
16. Kauai Beauty - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
17. Lei Aloha - George Kainapau
18. Lei Hana I Ka Makani Ualau'awa - Keali'i Reichel
19. Maui Medley - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
20. On the Beach at Waikiki - Les Adams & His Fabulous Hawaiians
21. Pineapple Princess - Annette Funicello
22. Pua 'Ala Aumoe - Makaha Sons of Ni'ihau
23. That's What the Lei Said to Me - George Kainapau
24. To Make You Love Me, Kuu Ipo - George Kainapau
25. Tropical - Dick Contino
26. Waimea Waltz - Arthur Lyman

Luau Compilation

Eydie Gorme - Amor (1964)

I love Eydie Gorme. I grew up listening to her "Amor" and "More Amor" albums. Every weekend, my mother would play those two albums while she baked or did school work (she was a teacher), and I listened while I played with my Barbies or cut pictures out of teen magazines. When my mother passed away in 1993, I (being an only child) inherited her record collection, thus adding to my own already nice-sized collection. I still listen to these albums, and they bring back wonderful memories of being a little girl with not a care in the world. "Amor" is my favorite of the two, so I am posting it in honor of Eydie's birthday yesterday (August 16). If there is enough interest, I will post the "More Amor" album later.

Track listing for Eydie Gorme - Amor:

Side 1:
1. Piel Canela
2. Y....
3. Nosotros
4. Cuando Vuelva a Tu Lado
5. Di Que No Es Verdad
6. Historia de Un Amor

Side 2:
1. Sabor a Mi
2. Amor
3. Noche de Ronda
4. Caminito
5. Media Vuelta
6. La Ultima Noche

Mystic Moods Orchestra - One Stormy Night (1972)

Talk about a productive afternoon! I went to the Half-Price Books store in Richardson on my way home from work and bought ten albums from the clearance bin for 50 cents each! Yowza! Three of the albums were by the Mystic Moods Orchestra - "One Stormy Night", "Emotions", and "Extensions". I got them mostly for their great covers, and was going to post "One Stormy Night" but found that Mr.Lucky already has it posted on his site, along with a nice little write-up. So, if you love Mystic Moods and are looking for "One Stormy Night", you can find it on Mr.Lucky's World of M (link is gone). And please let him know I sent you!

UPDATE on 10/03/08 - by request, I have now posted my own link to this album!

Track Listing for Mystic Moods Orchestra - One Stormy Night:

Side A -
1. A Dream
2. Minstrel Boy
3. Sayonara
4. One Stormy Night
5. In Your Arms

Side B -
1. Fire Island
2. Aja Toro
3. Hot Bagel
4. Local Freight
5. Autumn Leaves

Here are the pictures of the other two Mystic Moods Orchestra albums I bought:

Summer Compilation

Okay! I finally finished my first compilation – a compilation of “summer” songs that hit the Top-40 between 1955 and 1978! Yeah, I know summer is half over – oh, well. There are 28 songs in this compilation and they will all fit on one 80 minute CD. I had a hard time choosing the songs because I have so many summer songs. Finally, I decided to just do songs with “summer” in the title, and only if they had hit the top 40 between 1955 and 1978. Why these dates? They didn’t have Billboard charts before 1955, so I don’t know what songs actually charted – this means that a couple of my favorite songs aren’t on here – and I chose 1978 as the last year to include because I just HAD to include “Summer Nights” from “Grease”, plus I wanted to create a nostalgic feeling. I had two more songs for this compilation, “Summer Rain” by Johnny Rivers and “Summer (The First Time)” by Bobby Goldsboro, but they didn’t fit on the CD when I went to burn it, so I removed them to keep the compilation down to one CD. If anybody wants either of these, I’ll be happy to post them. I also had a song called “Hot Summer Nights” by Night from 1979, but it was more of a hard rock song, so I nixed it. There was one song that I haven’t been able to find, “Summer Set” by Monty Kelly – it reached #30 in 1960. If anyone has it, please let me know!

Here’s the track listing:

1. Theme from ‘A Summer Place” – Percy Faith & His Orchestra - #1 in 1960 (instrumental - the granddaddy of ALL summer songs, if you ask me)
2. Hot Fun in the Summertime – Sly & the Family Stone - #2 in 1969
3. In the Summertime – Mungo Jerry - #3 in 1970
4. Summer Nights – Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta - #5 in 1978
5. Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer – Nat King Cole - #6 in 1963 (kinda hokey, but it grows on you)
6. One Summer Night – The Danleers - #7 in 1958
7. Song for a Summer Night – Mitch Miller - #8 in 1956 (instrumental)
8. Summertime – Billy Stewart - #10 in 1966 (I could do a couple of CDs just with different versions of this song alone)
9. Soft Summer Breeze – Eddie Heywood - #11 in 1956 (instrumental)
10. That Sunday, That Summer – Nat King Cole - #12 in 1963
11. Here Comes Summer – Jerry Keller - #14 in 1959
12. My Summer Love – Ruby & the Romantics - #16 in 1963
13. Lazy Summer Night – The Four Preps - #21 in 1958
14. Summer Nights – Marianne Faithfull - #24 in 1965 (NOT the same as the one from “Grease”)
15. Summer Wind – Frank Sinatra - #25 in 1966 (what would ANY compilation be without Frank?)
16. Summertime, Summertime – The Jamies - #26 in 1958 AND #38 in 1962
17. Happy Summer Days – Ronnie Dove - #27 in 1966
18. Almost Summer – Celebration (featuring Mike Love) - #28 in 1978 (Does anyone remember this movie? I loved it back then!)
19. Summer Sand – Dawn - #33 in 1971
20. Summer Samba (So Nice) – Walter Wanderley - #26 in 1966 (instrumental)
21. Theme from “Summer of ‘42” – Peter Nero - #21 in 1971 (instrumental)
22. Wonderful Summer – Robin Ward - #14 in 1963 (1963 was a good year for summer songs)
23. Summer’s Gone – Paul Anka - #11 in 1960
24. Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran - #8 in 1958 (the original, and best, version)
25. A Summer Song – Chad & Jeremy - #7 in 1964
26. Summer Breeze – Seals & Crofts - #6 in 1972
27. Summer in the City – The Lovin’ Spoonful - #1 in 1966
28. Summer – War - #7 in 1976

Here’s the link:

Summer Compilation

Links to Others Added

I added links to some of my favorite blogs, so check them out! I've visited all of them and they're all really cool! Unfortunately, one of my favorites, Mondo Daddykin, is no longer around - and he had some GREAT stuff! Anyway, please visit these links - you won't be disappointed!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Stax o' Wax - my new blog dedicated to those wonderful vinyl records of yesteryear! I will be posting records from my personal collection, which includes quite a variety - "oldies" rock, soundtracks, TV-related, easy listening, lounge, exotica, TV and movie actors who recorded albums, and quite a few strange records. I'll also post my own compilations - in fact, my first post will be a compilation that I'm still working on. So, please be patient - I'm a newbie at this. But, I hope you'll enjoy what I have to offer. And I welcome any advice from those of you who have been at this for awhile!