Playlist (*Note – Songs on Playlist are “Mix Taped” and not in reading order)
**Note, Note – Duke (Beyond Category), Miles (Selim Sivad) and Prince (The Purple Patch) are in categories of their own, thus I am reviewing them individually along with the larger categories.
Aceyalone – All Balls Don’t Bounce – Capitol, 1995.
🎤 👣📝:
Absurd lyricist, nothing wrong with the beats, but they don’t evoke as much attention as the twisting rhymes of Aceyalone. This was recommended to me by my dear old friend, and best man, JD. When it came out (Particularly the song “Makeba”). I was familiar with Aceyalone from his participation in the Freestyle Fellowship, who were West Coast Rappers who focused on skillful verbal acuity and mesmerizing lyrical acrobatics. “Greatest Show on Earth”
Overall = 6.1 (10) – Verbal gymnastics! Get it!
Chaka Demus & Pliers – All She Wrote – Mango, 1993.
🇯🇲 🎤 🪩:
Not the best Dancehall Reggae album. Too many “cover song” type samples where the original songs are relied on too heavily to actually become a new thing. It’s all pretty lightweight material. I think I just picked these albums up because they were available. Chaka Demus & Pliers do mix the Crooner and MC style Dancehall into one package which sets them apart from other Dancehall performers. “Murder She Wrote” the Reggae iconography in Dancehall and Dub is strange and deep… This song was the hit.
Overall = 1.7 (10) – Get it! – Maybe don’t?
& Consciousness a Lick – Melodie, 1995.
🇯🇲 🎤 🪩:
Similar, slightly better? Dancehall Reggae has a few creative standards that can make it more single oriented than album oriented: Highly repetitive beats, rudimentary Bass Lines and synth sounds. It often feels mass produced and that they are searching for hits in the studio. I drove around to this album and liked this better than the previous, but not by much. I am a fan of Dancehall Reggae but these are middling and even their hit songs don’t hit home for me now. “Bias Dem Bias”
Overall = 2.2 (10 – Get it! – Maybe don’t?
Barbecue Bob – The Essential – Classic Blues, 1927(?).
🇺🇸📣🏙️ ❂ ⏺️:
12 String Guitar, Folk Blues from Georgia. At a certain point the focus on the Mississippi Delta Blues obscures that there were other Blues traditions beyond the Delta. Apparently the Georgian Blues People favored 12 String Guitar. Barbecue Bob was perhaps the most famous Atlanta Bluesman from the mid-late Twenties. He recorded 68 songs and this collection has about half of them. He’s good, not as haunted as my favorite Blues artists, but he has a strong voice and an personal guitar style. “Doin’ the Scraunch”
Overall = 5.2 (10) – This collection pops up for a pretty penny, I think other versions have the same recordings for a more reasonable purchase price. Get it!
VA – Accordeons Diatoniques en Bretagne – Keltia Musique, 1990.
🇫🇷🎼🌾 ✺🪗:
I stuck this in my Classical collection, but it is Folk and Dance music too. Really cool collection and the playing is superb. The techniques, and French musical history captured within, made me include it in the formal music section. These sections are often more about when I would like to listen to something, over the genre needing some kind of specificity. Jacques Beauchamps – “Suite de Ridées 6 Temps”
Overall = 5.2 (10) – Fun, but you really need to be in the mood for frenetic, French Accordion. Get it!
Original Soundtrack Recording – Black Orpheus – Verve, 1959.
🇧🇷🎥🎬🆑 ⌛️ ✺ 🗝️💰🎗️ 🕸️:
One of the great soundtracks of all-time, a Criterion Film, and a historically significant gateway into Brazil and it’s music. The music is a character in the film. One of the reasons the Music is so successful here is its use of diegetic music, Samba groups, marching bands, people playing instruments in the street and in a reverse example the sounds of people and activity are layered within these songs. It’s dizzying, yet wonderfully so. The breath of life is in the film and the music. This score avoids the lulls in film music, the lack of resolution, as well as the dull of not wanting to overpower the scene. The composers are primarily Jobim, and Luis Bonfa. It is a vital recording. The soundtrack spawned several Standards, the most important being “Manha de Carnival/Samba De Orfeo” (it has by multiple titles even on the Soundtrack). “O Nosso Amor” (Tambourin and Accordion).
Overall = 10 (10) – Truly one of the great soundtracks ever, Get it!
Andy Bey – Shades of Bey – 12th Street/Evidence, 1998.
🎺🗣️ 🤿📔:
Andy’s voice is such that you want to hear any song sung by him. He is accompanied by a sympathetic ensemble, rotating guests into songs for sonic variety. This was his second album after returning from an almost 2 decade gap in recording. He also just passed recently, April 2025, and his was an experimental voice who chose material adeptly. Thankfully he recorded regularly from the mid 90’s until his passing, so we have a good collection of recordings to remember his unique, powerful style. “Some Other Time”
Overall = 7.2 (10) – Solid, powerful, moody vocals album. Get it!
Aesop Rock – Labor Days – Def Jux, 2001.
🎤 🎨 📝:
I slowed down in my Rap fandom around 2001. Which is also when I stopped working in CD shops. So this purchase was probably from when I did my last keeping up with new Rap releases. It still holds up pretty well. I think a lot of 90’s/aught’s Rap and R&B had a few strong songs for singles, but then often struggled to deliver a complete album. My interest wanes as this recording continues. They use some esoteric samples, which I appreciate. “Daylight”.
Overall = 5.2 (10) – Solid, if you are a fan. Get it!
Kohavim Tikvah Choir: Abayudaya Jews of Uganda (Kohavim Tivkah Choir) – Shalom Everybody Everywhere – Kulanu, 1997.
🌍🇺🇬🗣️📣🔮👁️🗨️👣:
I grabbed this because it featured both Vocal Music and African Music, but I think many people would be interested in this because they are surprised that there are Jewish African People. The recording is somewhat presented that way. The music sounds more like a camp sing-a-long and the choir part is minimal, but it is warm and inviting. I’m also into the spare guitar accompaniment. There are moments which really deliver that fusion promised and that I am avidly in search of. “Torah Torah” Love her voice!
Overall = 5.7 (10) – Sort of an odd recording to put on, but nice if you do. Get it!
50 Tango Classics – Metope Discos, n/a. (possibly gift store swag?)
🌍🇦🇷🪗📣💃🏽 ⏺️ ❂ ✺ 🪩🆑:
A massive collection of Tangos. I believe I snapped it up for $5 and it may be a tourism swag – type of discount collection. But it has a lot of tangos and historical ones which I would never have known beyond Astor Piazzolla. Which are hard to find in the U.S.. So that’s the reason I usually snap up a collection. To acquire music that is hard to find. The liners give good bio info on the 35+ artists featured, but mostly nothing about songs or why they were picked aside from the general “classic” status. That missing “why” is important in doing the job these recordings are trying to do, presenting an introduction to Tango. Anibal Troilo – “La Bordona”, 1963 and “Adios Nonino” comp. Astor Piazzolla – perf. Nestor Marconi Trio.
Overall = 5.2 (10) – As an introduction to Tango it’s great add 2 points if you desire that.
Nurudafina Pili Abena – Drum Call – Ladyslipper, 1994.
🌍📣🔮:
This falls into the category of Music where one culture is interpreting another’s traditions. Here it is honest, friendly and listenable. It’s authenticity is found in its artist Nuru who was from Boston and she studied African drumming with Olatunji, choosing drums, at a young age. I can’t speak to the music’s authenticity, or the authenticity of the traditions it attempts to preserve, but it is a thoughtful collection of music. The musical layers include natural sounds, like waves, and there is a healing centered goal to the music. It could lean a little New Age for some, but I find it very easy to vibe out to and I appreciate the Indie type of production involved. Seems to not be available on either YouTube or for sale/purchase.
Overall = 4.3 (10) – I don’t mind preserving some artistic statements in the collection and a nice listen.
Ray Barretto – Indestructible – Fania, 1973.
🌶️💃🏽🪘🪩♛🎨🗝️🆑✪⚒️:
I think this is often considered “THE” Barretto album to get and it is perfect. It is very classic sounding. The entire album is danceable with perfect tempos. I’m having difficulty choosing a song, everything is really designed and accomplished with care and zeal. “El Hijo de Obatala”
Overall = 9.5 (10) – Excellent Salsa by a Master. Get it!
& From the Beginning, 1971.
🌶️💃🏽🪘🪩🎨🗝️✪⚒️:
Barretto is both a house percussionist for many prime Jazz labels and had success as a Salsa and Boogaloo band leader. It’s a beautiful example of the integration that can occur when cultures meet. In his catalogue you can easily pick up recordings from either side of the fence. This is an important Fania release, which also distinguishes it as a Salsa release, but he has many influences and he brings them to the party. The “beginning” seems to thematically relate to the cover art of an arm hatching from the egg of the World, not being the first Fania Barretto recording. I do not think the songs follow that theme of (re)birth? further.
Overall = 6.3 (10) – Always clean and groovy! Get it!
Selim Sivad:
Miles Davis – The Complete Birth of the Cool – Capitol, 1948/49.
🎺 🗝️🆑🕳️ ♛ 🎭 ⌛️ 🎨 ⎄ 🆒🥁🫂🎗️:
The beginning of so many things in one recording. It’s the first legendary recording with Miles as leader, it defines a new style, features many iconic collaborators and is also a beginning to his collaboration with Gil Evans. Pristine, elegant and fresh, it introduces the style of Cool Jazz/Cool Bop (eventually West Coast Jazz). Miles sounds his most confident and sublime to this point and his iconic style is evident. Most of the musicians in the nonet became successful leaders in their own right. And the Gil/Miles collaboration is one of the most important in history (up there with Jones/Jackson and Lennon/McCartney). “Deconception” which is a manipulation of a tune “Conception” by George Shearing. Miles plays the original tune sometimes, and this one, and occasionally a fusion of the two.
Overall = 10 (10) – One of the works of Modern Jazz. Get it!.
Beyond Category:
Duke Ellington – Early Ellington: The Complete Brunswick & Vocalion Recordings of Duke Ellington 1926-1931 – Decca/GRP, 1994.
🎺 🗝️🆑🕳️ ♛ 🎭 ⌛️ 🎨 ⎄ 🥁🏌🏿♂️:
Not his first recordings, but really the first “Ellington Band” recordings, when he begins working at the Cotton Club and exhibits his early arranging/composing style, it has the N.O.L.A. influence on the music and the fine section work in the band that would define his eminence. I consider Ellington the most important of musicians. His career has a vast display of highlights that we will visit in future ItSs. This collection is formative, but it still has several early hit songs on it. “Song of the Cotton Field” incredible plunger work at the beginning and the New Orleans influence is audible here.
Overall = 8.5 (10) – Critical formative American Music. Get it!
The Purple Patch:
Prince – For You – WB, 1978.
🗝️Ƥ𖫪🫧🦄🫦♛🎭⌛️⚒️:
His first label release and he hasn’t quite perfected his mix yet, but the ingredients are already evident. To me Prince has an unprecedented run of success from 1978-1993(?). Iconic, quality recordings every year. This is the beginning of that, it only has a few of his iconic songs, but a solid first album. “Crazy You” made a lot of my mix tapes in the 80’s!
Overall = 6 (10) – Nothing wrong with this being your first attempt. Get it!
& Music From the Motion Picture Purple Rain – WB, 1984.
🃁🗝️Ƥ𖫪🫧🦄🫦🎥🆑🕳️♛🎭⌛️🎨⎄🎬❤️🔥⚒️🎧⚖️⚙︎🕸️👁️💰🎗️:
Simply one of the greatest albums ever created and one of my favorites. I grew up with it and the film. The film I deem the greatest at presenting the music in a fantasy biopic format. Usually those films get to the creative aspect and have to express what the appeal of the performer was, rather than show it. Here Prince is performing at his early peak, every song on the album is a document of 1984. It is composed in a suite-like style, it shows off his song writing, guitar playing, voice, his command of studio magic and a great band. I occasionally prefer other Prince albums but this one is historic and his most crucial. “When Doves Cry” is a perfect song, I have contemplated about for 4 decades. It has continual growth – each turn a verse adds a new layer and then there is that alien voice sound at the beginning. Additionally, Prince’s music has influenced my outlook on love and relationships.
Overall = 10 (10) – One of the few perfect things in life. Get it! The Deluxe 3 CD + DVD Purple Rain collecting the B-Sides, Vault and Live material is essential for any fan.
Found Sounds 