Cheryl Dilcher - Special Songs (1971)

A little pressed for time this weekend so I'll keep this post short, in spite of the fact that the album deserves a better write up. This was Ms. Dilcher's 1st album (and also the 1st recording by Bette Midler). Suffice it to say this record contains excellent folk-psych songs (all written by the artist) well performed and certain to appeal to fans of Melanie' or Janis Ian's recordings from this period.

I will refer you to the Cheryl Dilcher web site for more information about the artist.

Unfortunately the record quality was a bit poor in places and there's more noise (at least on some of the tracks) that I would like. As I mentioned before, I think my turntable may be adding to the problem.

Here's the complete personnel:

Cheryl Dilcher - Guitar, Piano, Harpsichord, Vocals

Amedeo Borsetti - Organ, Piano (Electric)

Bette Midler - Voices

David Smith - Flute

David Wagner - Guitar (Bass)

Jim Turner - Voices

John Adelson - Organ, Guitar, Harmonica

John Dee - Producer

Lane Emley - Guitar (Bass)

Mario Garcia - Bongos, Drums

And the tracklist:

Side A

1. A Better Day

2. Mercy, Dear Lord, Mercy

3. Three Wishes

4. Richard Never Cries

5. Do I Have To Wait Very Long

6. Song By a Bird

7. Music Box

Side B

8. How I'd Like To Go Home

9. Cotton Joe

10. Little Miss No One

11. Happy Times

Listen here (REPOSTED).

A question & a correction

OK, the correction 1st--that is Kathe Green (who recorded the Run the Length of Your Wildness album I posted last July) on the right performing there with Glenn Close on tour with Up With People. Green, Close, Virginia Entwistle and Jennie Dorn formed the Green Glenn Singers who were a central part of the 1st Up With People performances. I had previously said that I thought it was a different Kathe Green in the group. By the way, Up With People is still going strong. Thanks to Kathe/Kate and to her sister Babbie both of whom (indepently) set the record straight.

Now onto the question. First, I should say that the sound quality on my current cheapo turntable has never been great but it seems to have gotten worse recently (not that I every played it much since all I use it for is to record lps for this blog) and so I was thinking of replacing the cartridge with a better one. That's when I discovered that the crappy Sony LX-250H doesn't have a replaceable cartridge. So that leaves me one option, purchasing a new turntable. So is that the question, what turntable should I get? No. Although I am interested in hearing opinions on that subject as well. My question has to do with financing this new project. How would you, my readership, feel about me adding some ads (probably the little Google ones) to help pay for this equipment upgrade. I'm not looking to make big bucks here (on any bucks for that matter) but it would be nice not to be spending a lot of money to bring you this blog. Of course, if I did get some ads up they would only generate money if people clicked on them every once and a while. So that they wouldn't help if people were so opposed to them that they ignored their existence. Anyway, let me know your opinions on the subject. Should I get ads and a better turntable for recording blog posts or just leave things the way they are?

Also, don't worry there is a new music post coming sometime this weekend.

Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz - ST (1969)

Well I managed to get a new record ripped and posted for this week. A fine but not particularly well-known folk-rock outing from 1969 that was on the Cyclone label, from the husband-wife duo of Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz. Cruz wrote most of the songs (with the notable exception of Tim Hardin's "Yellow Cab" & their cover of that song is better than the original). Dunn contributes guitar, and they both sing.

Monte Dunn was well known as a guitarist on the folk scene having played with Phil Ochs, Judy Collins, David Blue, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tim Hardin, and even Cher (among others). Cruz had sung solo and with others. When they married they managed to produce this one record before going back to session/backing work.

The music is excellent folk-rock/country-rock with good vocal harmonies and musical accompaniment (including contributions by Eric Weisberg, Bruce Langhore & Hal Blaine). It has a nice laidback, late-60's vibe and some well-written love, nature, and anti-war songs, which (perhaps unfortunately in the latter case) are not at all dated.

1. Never in My Life
2. Order to Things
3. You Don't Smile Much
4. Loving You
5. Self Satisfaction
6. Outside Looking In
7. Lullabye
8. So Much Lovin'
9. Tip of My Mind
10. Yellow Cab

Note that track 3 is incorrectly labelled "Loving You" (track 4 is correctly labelled "Loving You" as well) and it should be "You Don't Smile Much."

Listen here (reupped).

More News, Less Music

Since my computer issues are still not entirely resolved I've decided to take this week off (at least as far as posting music goes), but I did have some news about a number of blog-related topics that I wished to impart. All of it totally unrelated to the picture above.

First, it seems I've finally been hit by the deleter(s) and that a number of my older posts have been removed from Rapidsh#@! Never mind that these are unavailable on CD, out of print in other media, and (for the most part) produced prior to 1972 and therefore unprotected by Federal copyright. So I'm in the process of reposting those dead links on Massm-rr-r. So far I've posted new links for Smokey & His Sister, Pete Kelley, Sesame St. Disco & Rabbit McKay.

If there are any other specific dead links you'd like reposted you can also drop me an email or leave a comment & I will try to get them up ASAP. Otherwise I'll just be checking and reposting at my leisure. Also note that the Happy Feeling link has been permanently deleted as I've been informed that a CD reissue is on its way (from superoldies.com although they don't have any info up yet). Since it looks like there will be Cake & Jim Pepper reissues coming out soon those links will also be going away soon.

Also, I recently got an email from Andy Zwerling, who's Spiders in the Night was posted here a little while ago. His 2-CD collection Somewhere Near Pop Heaven is available again from his Web site. While it is quite different from the earlier record, it is also excellent in its own right & a must have for powerpop fans & people who just like well-written, well-performed pop/rock tunes about love and related topics. The record made it into the top 20 in Croatia in 2004. He also has a new record coming out sometime this year.

Finally, in the "where are they now" category here's some fine investigative reporting about one-time teen idols, the Banana Splits. Unfortunately because there is a pretty widely released CD bootleg of their album available I won't be posting it here, but it's still nice to know what happened with the one of the 60's finest TV bands (right up there with the Monkees & the Archies).

Hedge & Donna - All the Friendly Colours (1969) & Special Circumstances (1971)

I finally decided to reformat my computer abandoning Vista & reinstalling XP (for those of you concerned about my computer problems) and so things here should return to normal soon. In the meantime, I'll try to make up for a lack of new rips (and a lack of time to write a better entry) by posting not one but two Hedge & Donna records. I had request for something by this folk duo a while back, so here it is. As mentioned these are not my rips & thanks go to the anonymous ripper (to be honest I don't even remember where I got them, a newsgroup I suspect).

These are the last 2 records by Hedge & Donna Capers (as far as I can tell). After recording a number of albums together they apparently went their seperate ways finally settling on careers outside music. Don't know too much about what happened to Donna but Hedge appeared in a B horror movie in 1972 called Who Fears The Devil? , which was edited and re-released as The Legend of Hillbilly John in 1973. I haven't seen it but it was based on Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories (some of which I have read). He then became a clinical psychologist who works primarily with businesses. If you're interested in reading some more about the duo, by people who've known them over the years, look here.

So what about the music? It's well written folky-pop or poppy-folk, well performed with a component backing band--but neither record strikes me as exceptional (although perhaps I'm just getting jaded).

Of the 2 lps, I prefer All the Friendly Colours, which is the folkier of the two and features some nice covers including Dylan's "I Shall be Released" (listed as "Any Day Now") & Jackson Browne's "There Came A Question." My favorite track though is off Special Circumstances--"The River," a fairly atypical outing on which their band is able to cut lose a bit and get kind of funky.

As I mentioned, these are not my rips & the sound is a little muddy--still I hope you enjoy both of these records (posted as one file).

Also, I recevied a comment that the Happy Feeling is due for a CD reissue & so it the link will be coming down later this week (check the comments for that record for more info).