Sunday, November 25, 2007

Arthur Miller & all the Little Millers - Hanging out and Settling Down (1971)



This is not a record by the famed American playwright, even though All Music Guide apparently believes it is (they list it as a spoken word record, which is also incorrect). This Arthur Miler is a graduate of the Ethical Culture School and Oberlin college, an actor, a filmmaker, and a hippie (according to the liner notes of the record). He was also apparently a father, brother & husband (thus the appearance of other Millers on this record). He writes all the songs on this record and sings them as well, which I guess makes him a singer-songwriter too. I believe this is his only album and I could find no mention online of his film work.


There is a definite difference in the music between Side A (aka the Hanging Out side) and Side B (the Settling Down side), with the former filled with upbeat and often humorous tunes and the later with introspective and occassionally sappy numbers. If you didn't guess I like side A more, but some of the tracks on side B are very nice folky love songs. The recording levels are also a little low on Side B leading to more prominent surface noise but I guess we can blame the producer (John Hammond, Sr.) for that. The personnel on the record are as follows

Bob Pozar - Drums

Stanley Schwartz - Piano

Barbara Miller - Vocals

John Miller - Bass, Vocals

Arthur Miller - Guitar, Composer, Vocals, Producer

Paul Motian - Drums (on Tubby Terwilliger)

Tim Jerome - Kazoo (on Tubby Terwilliger)


The track list is

Side A/Hanging Out---Tubby Terwilliger, Chocolate Pudding, Dollar Ain't a Dollar, Down the River, When My Mama Met My Papa, Human Being
Side B/Settling Down---Clear Eyes, Wrong Side of the Bed, Chime Me Down, Another Night of Love, Wonderhouse, Finish the Song
I hope you enjoy this record (reupped again). Please keep the comments coming and click the ad links once in a while. I'll try to get another post up in 2 weeks time.

15 comments:

ge said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ge said...

what kind of person are you that you would buy such an album?!

-& what kind am I to think it's pretty dandy?
Tubby Terwilliger and His Fatso Jumbo Fucked-up People Band [if my ears hear right] trumps that farty ol' Sgt Pepper outfit anyday!...

Anonymous said...

Have dl'ed lots of gorgeous albums here, but haven't left any comments.
Shame on me.
Better late than never. :-)
Really appreciate your generous sharing.

from Korea.

Max said...

Thanks for the comments. I have to admit that I first looked for this record because I (wrongly) believe it involved the playwrite. I was surprised when I saw the cover & pleasantly surprised when I heard the music.

Anonymous said...

Wow! I was just skimming your blog when the name Paul Motion (amazing melodic jazz drummer) caught my eye. Then I noticed the names of Arthur Miller and Tim Jerome -- both regular cast members of Joe Frank's radio shows (see here for more details: www.joefrank.com)

I haven't even listened to this yet but it sounds interesting...!

Thom said...

Aw! The seems to be 404. Any chance of re-uploading it?

Max said...

I'll try to get it reposted next week. I'm still trying to get last months's post up and have been really busy otherwise.

Max said...

Sorry it took a while but this has been reupped.

Sumshee said...

What an incredible body of music. I have had this record since the early seventies.
I, too, have never found any other creative endeavors by Miller. And I HAVE always wondered what else he got into, if anything.
One of my faves. And I have been drawn to a lot of obscure, fun vinyl other the years.
It's a very personal contribution...very real. Brilliantly offered by a heartfelt composer.

DJ Whitehair said...

Man, Arthur Miller the songwriter has been one of my favorite guilty pleasures since I bought his cut out album at the Forrest Record store in Dayton, Ohio for 33 cents. Since then, I've learned all his songs and play some of them i.e. "Chocolate Pudding" for my grandkids.
Whatever happened to this talented bunch of folks?

jaouad said...

hi
could you please reupload this album ?? the link doesn't work anymore

Max said...

Will repost in a couple days time.

Max said...

Sorry it took me a while but this is finally reposted!

David Sobel said...

I actually played in a band with Artie in NYC back in the early-mid 1990's. We played Chocolate Pudding at a number of performances, and he always brought down the house with it. I am trying to track him down and will let you all know if I do.
David S

Anonymous said...

wow I thought I was the only person in the world that has this record! mine has a sticker at the bottom of the cover that says "NOT FOR RESALE"
I got it out of the reash of a head shop called the gerrn gas house, in Kent Ohio when I was about 12 years old.