The Celestials   “Above all Else”   Candle Records   (This one gets two stars at least.)

(55 votes, average: 3.29 out of 5)

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I’m posting this cover because I wanted to share this performance by Billy Preston at the Concert for Bangladesh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyyetXvX76Q My buddy Fred and my friend Tony were both there in the Garden!   I was in Cleveland and bought the three-disc box set.   Billy – he’s got the spirit in him!   And this original issue LP cover of “That’s The Way God Planned It” on Apple (produced by George Harrison in 1969) is rarer than the more recognized sleeve showing multiple images of Billy dancing:

Billy Preston was a keyboard prodigy who, at ten, in 1956, played a duet with Nat King Cole on his TV show and later, as a teen in the early sixties, toured Europe with Little Richard (the Beatles were the opening act!).   By the end of the decade, Billy was being called “the fifth Beatle” AND “the sixth Stone” for his recordings with each.   Billy had his own top 40 hits with “Nothing from Nothing,” “Will It Go Round in Circles” and “Outta-Space” in the early seventies. Check this out!:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GF6GjGQy0o

(43 votes, average: 2.79 out of 5)

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The Iveys   “Maybe Tomorrow” b/w “And Her Daddy’s A Millionaire” on Apple Records (1969)

Mal Evans (the longtime “roadie” for The Beatles and an employee of their Apple Records label) took up The Ivys cause and they were finally signed on 23 July 1968, as the first non-Beatle recording artists for the Apple record company.   “Maybe Tomorrow” (a Tom Evans song and the Iveys first single) was released worldwide late in 1968.   It reached the Top Ten in a number of European countries (#1 in Holland) and Japan, but only climbed to #67 in the U.S. and failed to chart in the U.K.   In October 1969, while the release of “Come and Get It” pending, the band and Apple Records agreed that a name change was now critical. “The Iveys” were still sometimes confused with “The Ivy League”, and the name was considered too trite for the current music scene. After much debate, the group changed their name to Badfinger. Other suggestions had included: “The Glass Onion,” “The Prix”, and “The Cagneys” from John Lennon, and “Home” by Paul McCartney. The name Badfinger had been suggested by Apple’s Neil Aspinall as a reference to “Bad Finger Boogie”, an early working title of Lennon/McCartney’s “With a Little Help from my Friends”, the idea alleged by Neil Aspinall that Lennon had composed the melody on a piano using only one finger, after having hurt his forefinger.

(62 votes, average: 3.10 out of 5)

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Skull Snaps    GSF Records.  A legendary soul/funk original from 1973, rediscovered and sampled by dj’s and rappers in the early 90’s. Titles include the monster break track “It’s A New Day”, the uptempo groover “Trespassing”, and the righteous funky soul cut “I’m Your Pimp”!  Other titles include “My Hang Up Is You”, “Having You Around”, “I’m Falling Out Of Love”, and “All Of A Sudden”.  The familiar opening drum pattern of It’s A New Day can be heard in songs by Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Das EFX, Eric B. & Rakim, Digable Planets, DJ Shadow, Rob Dougan and The Prodigy.  The group was originally known as the Diplomats, which released numerous singles between 1963 and 1970. ”  If you’re a dj, you’ve gotta have the Skull Snaps in your collection.

(44 votes, average: 2.57 out of 5)

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“Wein, Women & Song”   George Wein Sings   Atlantic Records     (Personal note:   I went to Miles Davis’s 60th birthday with George Wein and his wife Joyce at the boat house in Central Park.   Miles handed each guest a slice of his cake. My friend Scott, who wrote a book with Miles, was there too!)

(53 votes, average: 4.28 out of 5)

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The “Pres” and the “Bean”   (Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins)   Savoy Records   Burt Goldblatt cover art.  Mid-twentieth century jazz and it’s culture coined colorful slang and dubbed it’s players affectionate, funny nicknames such as “Bird”, “Hawk”, “Bags”, “Count”, “Pops”, “Duke”, “Lady   Day”, “Dex”, “Dizzy”, “”Toots”, “Fatha”, “Cannonball”, “Cootie”, Monk”, “Sassy”……

(47 votes, average: 3.94 out of 5)

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Johnny Otis   “Telephone Baby” Capitol Records

(50 votes, average: 4.18 out of 5)

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“Surprise Party”   “Calling All Dancers!”   Philips Records

(45 votes, average: 3.78 out of 5)

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(Any information is welcome here!   Thanks)

(84 votes, average: 4.12 out of 5)

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