If I Could Only Remember My Name - David Crosby

If I Could Only Remember My Name

David Crosby

Atlantic Records SD 7203

1971

I picked this up in a thrift store many years ago in order to hear how awful it was.  When I gave it a spin however I was pleasantly surprised, astonished even, to find that I enjoyed it.  I am far from a Crosby fan (I've mocked him in the past on this very blog) but I find this album consistently entertaining.  Given how little use I have for his recordings with Crosby, Stills and Nash (and sometimes Young) I suspect the big reason for this is evident in the photos in the gatefold.  I imagine if you or I went into a studio with most of the Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead along with Joni Mitchell and Neil Young and a couple of guys from Santana we would probably come up with a listenable album too.  I may be a little prejudiced against Crosby, but I don't think this is an unfair assessment.  The songs he contributes to the album are mostly slight, lyrically they make "Almost Cut My Hair" sound like poetry in comparison and musically they mostly sound like unfinished demos or jams.  The album opens with "Music Is Love" which is credited to Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young which seems like overkill for a song that mostly consists of the phrase "everybody's saying that music is love" sung over and over.  "Cowboy Movie" sounds like an outtake from "Déjà Vu."  It is one of the few fully formed songs on the album and recounts a misogynistic tale of outlaws in the old west.  I find Crosby's vocal overwrought and annoying but since he is backed by the Grateful Dead on the song it still has a lot of power with a hypnotic bass riff from Phil Lesh and very tasty guitar licks from Jerry Garcia.  If I don't pay close attention to Crosby's singing I find it one of the most compelling songs on the album.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that "Tamalpais High (At About 3)" is not about the high school in Mill Valley but rather about a place where Crosby liked to do drugs.  Hard to say for sure since the song has no lyrics consisting instead of Nash and Crosby crooning wordlessly in their inimitable manner.  It sounds very mellow as we used to say although Jorma Kaukonen and Jerry Garcia briefly energize the song with some trippy guitar runs over Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann's rumbling rhythm track.  This is the part of the song that most appeals to me.  "Laughing" is my favorite track on the album.  The lyrics are hippie hogwash with Crosby looking for enlightenment and finding confusion and disappointment instead.  I find Crosby's vocal engaging and subtly emotional and I consider it one of his best post-Byrds performances.  The song was written while Crosby was in CSN&Y but it reminds me of the music he was making during his final year with the Byrds.  It has an ethereal yet slightly country sound to it with psychedelic overtones and I particularly enjoy Garcia's steel guitar licks.  Side two opens with "What Are Their Names" which is credited to Crosby, Garcia, Lesh, Young and Michael Shrieve of Santana.  Given that it is an inane song about Crosby trying to find who is in charge of the world and wanting peace, I'm guessing that the song emerged from a jam with the five songwriters and nobody was too concerned about the lyrics.  The song sounds a lot like Paul Kantner's "Blows Against the Empire" album, perhaps because Kantner, Grace Slick and David Freiberg are singing on it (although half the musicians in San Francisco are apparently singing too along with Young, Nash and Joni Mitchell.)  Obviously with that kind of firepower the vocal is extremely dynamic, arguably far more powerful than this silly song deserves.  For me the best part of the song is listening to Garcia and Lesh do their thing which sounds very much like vintage Grateful Dead.  "Traction in the Rain" is laid back psych-folk with very trippy lyrics from Crosby that sound like he really put some effort into composing for once.  Laura Allan enriches the song with her autoharp strumming and gentle background vocal.  The aptly named "Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)" features Nash and Crosby wordlessly crooning in a lovely manner although the real action in the song comes from Kaukonen and Garcia along with Gregg Rolie on piano who easily blow away Nash and Crosby's contribution.  Crosby is on his own for "Orleans" which is an excerpt from an old French children's song.  Crosby's vocal is multi-tracked to give it a richer sound.  It is very pretty but I'm happy it is also very short.  "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here" is Crosby's own song but it sounds just as old as "Orleans."  It has no words that I can decipher and is delivered acapella with Crosby multi-tracking his vocal creating a rich polyphonic sound reminiscent of medieval church music.  It gives the record a spiritual conclusion which is not what I would be expecting from Crosby.  This album is pretty much as stupid as I anticipated when I bought it, but it is never boring and rarely annoying which I was definitely not anticipating.  I am not going to say that this is more to Lesh and Garcia's credit than Crosby's although I might be secretly thinking that.  Actually aside from "Cowboy Movie" I find Crosby's singing appealing throughout the album, although not appealing enough for me to keep the record if it didn't feature his heavy friends.  The music may be underdeveloped if not outright lazy, but with Crosby I'm not sure that is a fault.  I prefer most of this to his more fully developed music on "Crosby Stills and Nash" or "Déjà Vu."  It leaves a lot of space for his collaborators and since I generally do not dig his lyric writing, wordless crooning suits me fine.  The album sounds wonderful late at night and I imagine it sounds even better if you are high.  I have to admit that when I first heard this album I had to reassess my opinion of Crosby and it certainly provides some context for his generally admirable recent records.  I'm never going to be a fan, but I do respect him more.  Along with his work with the Byrds, I consider this the highlight of his career although admittedly I have not done a deep dive into his solo work and never will.  I bought this album for all the wrong reasons, but Crosby decisively proved me wrong.  I can't recall ever being so surprised by a record and I'm grateful to him for that.  Recommended to fans of "Workingman's Dead" who wish it had less words and more jams.

The Goldebriars - The Goldebriars

The Goldebriars

The Goldebriars

Epic Records BN 26087

1964

I first encountered Curt Boettcher as a young teen in the liner notes on the back of my copy of "The Association's Greatest Hits!" where he was listed as one of the producers.  I was obsessed with that album for a little while so the names associated with it stuck with me.  Thus I remembered Boettcher when I encountered him in Sagittarius and the Millennium and became a fan.  This was his first foray into commercial music.  He formed the Goldebriars while in college with Sheri and Dottie Holmberg and Ron Neilson.  Given that his career was largely devoted to extravagantly arranged sunshine pop, I was a little surprised to find Boettcher leading a folk group, but once I spun the record I recognized his style instantly.  The group sings mostly folk songs with folk style accompaniment but the vocals are pure sunshine pop.  They feature elaborate harmonies with multi-tracking to give the music an astonishingly rich and vibrant sound.  This is evident on the opening track "Railroad Boy" which is a traditional song that is often known as "The Butcher's Boy."  Joan Baez recorded it on her second album which I assume is where the group picked it up.  It is one of those wronged maiden type ballads.  The Holmberg sisters' voices blend beautifully and complement Boettcher's delicate voice and the result is a lovely and haunting performance.  "He Was a Friend of Mine" is a well-known traditional song that the Byrds made famous the following year on "Turn! Turn! Turn!" when Roger McGuinn changed the lyrics to be about John F. Kennedy.  Dave Van Ronk recorded it on his "Folksinger" album in 1962 and it was in Bob Dylan's early repertoire.  It is a gloomy song but it sounds practically euphoric with the Goldebriars' enthusiastic vocal arrangement.  "Come Walk Me Out" is listed as a traditional song but it is actually Bonnie Dobson's song "Morning Dew."  That poor woman was always getting screwed out of her royalties - Tim Rose claimed a songwriting credit on it when he recorded it for "Tim Rose."  My favorite version is the Grateful Dead's intense and emotional cover of it on "The Grateful Dead."  In contrast the prettiness of the Goldebriars' version diminishes the song's gravity although I have to admit it sounds fabulous.  I could say the same about "Alabama Bound" which is credited to Leadbelly although the song predates him.  The grittiness of the song does not benefit from Boettcher's pretty vocal and the Holmbergs' captivating harmonies.  They sound condescending and out of touch with the song.  "Pretty Girls and Rolling Stones" is attributed to the Goldebriars themselves but it sounds convincingly like a folk song.  It's a girl chasing I gotta ramble type of song.  They sing it with winning enthusiasm.  "A Mumblin' Word" is an old spiritual about the crucifixion of Jesus that is also known as "He Never Said a Mumblin' Word" and "They Hung Him On a Cross."  This song was also sung by Leadbelly.  Boettcher's vocal is a little more grounded and coarse than usual but I still feel like the song's arrangement trivializes the subject even though I'm not the least bit religious myself.  This is equally true of  "Old Time Religion" which has got to be the slickest version of that old song around.  I don't actually like traditional versions of the song and I find the Goldebriars' performance invigorating and pleasantly brief (a mere 1:37 in length.)  The gospel theme continues with "Long Time Travellin'" which is equally slick but I find it more successful than the other religious songs because of its folk propulsion and more traditional harmonies.  It reminds me of the Seekers' work in this vein.  It is followed by a gorgeous version of the venerable old folk song "Shenandoah" which I consider one of the highlights of the album.  The vocals absolutely send me.  It resoundingly points towards Boettcher's future as a sunshine pop master.  "No More Auction Block" is an old anti-slavery spiritual that had previously been recorded by Odetta.  This is arguably the most ridiculous song on the record.  The contrast between the mesmerizing vocals and the harshness of the lyrics is almost comical.  "Sing Out Terry O'Day" was written by Boettcher in a folk style.  The group sings the song with great vigor and verve and again remind me of the Seekers.  From a folk standpoint it is perhaps the most credible song on the album particularly in Boettcher's urgent vocal.  The album concludes with "Voyager's Lament" which is an English language version of "Un Canadien errant" which was written by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie.  I first heard it on the debut album by Ian and Sylvia where it blew me away however the song dates back to 1842.  The song describes the unhappy exile of a French-Canadian following the Lower Canada Rebellion in 1837-1838.  The Goldebriars strip the Canada references from the song in the English section of their performance and then they sing a verse in the original French which is then crossed with "Plaisir d'amour" (uncredited) which is sung in English.  I find Boettcher's creativity in the song breathtaking and immensely pleasurable.  When I first got this album I played this track over and over savoring the vocal richness and the brilliant splicing of the two songs.  This is my favorite track and its dazzling arrangement again foreshadows Boettcher's future career.  I think that if I were a folk purist I'd probably hate this album or at least have serious problems with it.  The music is almost totally divorced from the foundations of the songs.  However I am far from being a folk purist.  I prefer folk-rock to folk and I like Curt Boettcher a lot more than I like Pete Seeger.  Boettcher basically used these folk songs as a vehicle for his own creative interests and that is fine with me.  There were lots of performers who did these songs the "right way" if I feel like hearing that (and I have to confess I seldom do.)  Hardly anyone arranged music like Boettcher did so this album is more valuable to me.  Recommended to people who think it would have been cool if Brian Wilson had produced a Seekers album.

Barbra Joan Streisand - Barbra Streisand

Barbra Joan Streisand

Barbra Streisand

Columbia PC 30792

1971

I am now much older than my father was when I was living with him and I'm becoming more appreciative of the influence he had on the development of my musical tastes.  As a teenager I felt disdain for his music even though he had the first the Mamas and the Papas, Janis Joplin, Santana, Linda Ronstadt and Creedence Clearwater Revival albums that I ever heard.  Mostly I associated him with easy listening type stuff like Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Al Martino, Vikki Carr, Johnny Mathis and above all Barbra Streisand who was his great favorite.  I loathed this stuff at the time although as I reached middle age I started to dabble with it particularly Sinatra.  Nonetheless I have a very limited appetite for it and to this day if I hear Martino crooning "Spanish Eyes" (which my father played over and over) I cringe.  I was surprised a while back when I found myself wanting to hear this album again.  My father had it on an 8-track tape (yecch) and played it often.  I did not like it much at the time but I preferred it to his other Streisand albums and I was intrigued by the two John Lennon covers, "Mother" and "Love" which I had never heard since I had yet to buy "Plastic Ono Band" where they first appeared.  Somehow this album stuck to me which led me to buy it a few years ago.  Listening to it again after all those years was definitely a little weird, but once I got past the memories and nostalgia it generated in me, I found I enjoyed it as music.  It was Streisand's third album of contemporary music following "What About Today?" and "Stoney End."  The knock on Streisand's forays into contemporary music is that she can't rock.  I won't dispute that but I still find merit in her work in this vein.  Unlike some crooners she is not condescending about the material and sings her heart out.  She is too uptight to rock convincingly but she definitely emotes a lot which I find engaging most of the time.  The album benefits from the presence of the producer Richard Perry who was one of the most successful producers of the era.  He was always excellent at providing a setting for the artist to succeed and compensating for their limitations as his exemplary work on "Ringo" demonstrates.  This album mostly features songs that suit Streisand's style and sensibility and I imagine she had no trouble relating to songwriters like Carole King and Laura Nyro.  The arrangements and supporting musicians are also well chosen for her.  My favorite tracks have always been the two Lennon songs which is probably a minority opinion even from a Beatles fan.  I admit that Lennon's own versions in particular his gut-wrenching performance of "Mother" are superior and more heartfelt but I am still taken with the depth of feeling Streisand brings to the songs.  "Love" in particular is given a spartan but appealing chamber pop arrangement that places all the focus on Streisand's gorgeous vocal.  "Mother" has a more robust arrangement driven by dual organs from Billy Preston and Perry.  I appreciate the majestic and dynamic quality of the performance and at the risk of sounding like a philistine, I'm kind of relieved not to have to experience the pain Lennon brought to the song.  My other favorite track is "I Mean To Shine" written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker prior to the rise of Steely Dan.  They apparently had a low opinion of the song and never bothered to record it themselves, but I think it is a delightfully uplifting and inspired song which gives Streisand an opportunity to shine herself.  She's backed by Fagen on organ along with members of the female rock band Fanny and a whole bunch of studio pros who give Streisand a solid foundation for her exuberant vocal.  I also like her performance of Mathew Moore's "Space Captain" which had been part of Joe Cocker's stage show as documented on the "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" album.  Compared to Cocker's throat-shredding histrionics, Streisand sounds tame but it is still one of her most energetic performances and the closest she comes to rocking out on the album.  The song has a punchy arrangement by Fanny and they support her along with Preston and kudos to Perry for pairing his clients Fanny and Streisand.  They work together extremely well.  There are three Carole King songs (all from "Tapestry") on the album which makes sense considering King and Streisand's similar backgrounds.  Streisand sounds comfortable on all of them but I like "Where You Lead" the best.  It has plenty of propulsion courtesy of Streisand's vibrant vocal supported by another spirited arrangement and performance by Fanny.  Preston's organ riffs and the background singers give the song a winning soulful flavor that makes Streisand seem less uptight and it is the one other song on the album besides "Space Captain" that suggests Streisand is capable of rocking out.  Her upbeat performance of "Beautiful" is enjoyable but kind of forced as if she was trying too hard.  I think it would have benefited from the looseness that King brought to her own version of the song and that is also true of "You've Got a Friend" although I greatly prefer Streisand's version to James Taylor's hit version.  The remaining songs are closer in tone to the standards and show tunes that Streisand started her career with rather than actual rock songs.  Laura Nyro's "I Never Meant To Hurt You" is a sensitive song that benefits from Streisand's over-emotional style and gives her plenty of opportunities to show off her pipes.  I think it is the song that fits her best, but it is far from my favorite.  There is a medley of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "One Less Bell To Answer" and "A House Is Not a Home" which is also right in her wheelhouse although I prefer the far more subdued versions by The 5th Dimension for the former and Dionne Warwick for the latter.  Streisand invests so much emotion in them she makes their lyrics seem trivial since they can't match her intensity.  They do sound nice though.  Buddy Johnson's "Since I Fell For You" is an old-fashioned romantic ballad that was a hit for Lenny Welch in 1963.  It is basically the sort of the song Streisand could do in her sleep and she easily crushes Welch in emoting and vocal acrobatics but the song hardly fits the contemporary feel of the rest of the album.  This is equally true of "The Summer Knows" from the film "Summer of '42" by Michel Legrand and Marilyn and Alan Bergman.  It may have been a contemporary song but it is a lot closer to "People" or "My Man" than it is to any kind of rock music particularly with Dick Hazard's easy listening arrangement.  Of course it sounds gorgeous but I am not a fan of it.  I am a fan of this album though.  Part of me feels like it is a mistake, that Streisand should stick to the standards and show tunes she excelled at.  On the other hand I relate much more strongly to John Lennon and Carole King than Rodgers and Hammerstein or Kander and Ebb.  I would rather hear her sing contemporary music even if it is not her strength.  It gives me more of an opportunity to appreciate her tremendous gift.  Sure she is too stiff and over-emotes too much, but this album fascinates me.  The dialectical tension between the styles of traditional pop standards and contemporary rock music that drives this record is intriguing and stimulating to me.  This record has been in my life for decades even though for much of that time I did not have a copy of it.  I never forgot it and it was nearly as firmly imprinted in my psyche as my early Beatles albums.  I'm delighted that I finally do have a copy again and although I don't play it as much as my father did, it does spend plenty of time on my turntable.  Recommended to Timi Yuro fans.

A Giant Crab Comes Forth - Giant Crab

A Giant Crab Comes Forth

Giant Crab

UNI 73037

1968

When I was in college I thought I knew everything I needed to know about 1960s rock after I read a bunch of rock encyclopedias and histories of the era.  How many good records could have come out in the decade?  I figured I could get them all.  I was wrong.  40 years later and I am still working on it.  By the time I was in my thirties I assumed I had all the essential classics but then the internet came along and I found out there were a lot more worthwhile records out there that I had never heard of.  The Santa Barbara based band Giant Crab was not in any of the books I read as a youth.  I first heard them on a specialty program on my favorite college radio station KXLU.  I loved the song I heard and checked out the band on the internet.  Eventually I was able to find their two albums.  This is their excellent debut album.  It begins with a spoken intro by Johnny Fairchild who was a Santa Barbara disc jockey who helped the band get on the radio.  It simulates a dramatic news flash although its impact is diminished by an attempt to work all the song titles from the album into the intro which makes it sound contrived.  Most of the album was written by the band's talented leader Ernie Orosco with occasional help from his band mate and brother Ruben (or maybe his other brother Raymond - it is not clear on the song credits) as well as the album's producer Bill Holmes.  Most of the songs are catchy sunshine pop like "It Started with a Little Kiss," "Groovy Towne," "Thru the Fields," "Believe It or Not" and "The Answer is No."  These songs feature charming vocal harmonies and elaborate arrangements often bolstered by punchy horn support from band members Dennis and Kenny Fricia.  "Directions," "Intensify Your Soul" and "The Chance You Take" are harder in sound with a soulful flavor and heavier instrumentation.  They remind me of the Rascals.  "Watch Your Step" is pop-psych with hypnotic keyboard riffs driving it.  "Hot Line Conversation" is also pop-psych and the heaviest song on the album.  Its lumbering riff and organ washes make me think of early Iron Butterfly.  The album closer is a slow and majestic ballad called "Why Am I So Proud?" that gives the record an emotional finish.  There are also four covers on the album.  "Enjoy It" was written by Scott English and Claus Ogerman and it plays to the bands' sunshine pop strengths.  English also wrote "Hi Ho Silver Lining" with Larry Weiss and it was a British hit for Jeff Beck and I think it should have been one here as well.  The cover version doesn't stray too far from the Beck version.  The Beck version is more energetic and I miss his guitar solo but since singing was hardly Beck's strength, I welcome Ernie Orosco taking a crack at the song.  Both versions are worthwhile.  "I Enjoy Being the Boy" was written by Marc Bellack and bubblegum stalwart Joey Levine.  It is less inane than a lot of Levine's stuff and features a lovely arrangement that makes it seem less lightweight than the lyrics would suggest.  My favorite of the covers and my favorite track overall is "Lydia Purple" by Don Dunn and Tony McCashen.  It appeared on the debut album by the Collectors earlier in the year.  Giant Crab's version is heavier and more propulsive which I appreciate but I think the song's moodiness and portrayal of alienation was better served by the Collectors' chamber pop arrangement.  I still love the Giant Crab version though.  This is such a good album that I'm surprised it is not better known.  It deserved a better fate.  I was already middle-aged when I finally got a copy which I regret.  I would have ate this up back when I was a teenager worshipping the Turtles and the Hollies.  Even in my dotage it still is immensely appealing to me.  It is records like this that humble me and keep me from getting too cocky about my knowledge of rock history.  If you dig pop-psych or sunshine pop this album is essential.  I've played it a bunch of times in recent years and it still makes me happy whenever I give it a spin.  Recommended to fans of the Strawberry Alarm Clock.

Peter and Sophia - Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren

Peter and Sophia

Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren

Parlophone  PMC 1131

1960

I first heard the song "Goodness Gracious Me!" when some joker on KXLU played it.  Even though the song is racist and inane, it stuck in my head and led me to purchase this record although I was certain it would be awful.  I was largely correct about that but I have no regrets.  Sophia Loren was my first movie star crush as a child and I'm still fond of her.  I also was a big fan of Peter Sellers as a child, but that has not lasted.  I find him tedious and annoying now.  The record was produced by the great George Martin probably one of the least distinguished albums in his discography.  He had a long association with Sellers producing his comedy records in the 1950s.  The album is a mix of music and comedy bits.  I like Loren's two solo numbers which are the beguiling and silly "Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo" and Rodgers and Hart's "To Keep My Love Alive" which chronicles the various ways that a woman murders her many husbands.  Loren is not a strong singer but her voice is pleasant and warm.  I find her engaging.  I think her best performance comes in Leslie Bricusse's "I Fell in Love with an Englishman" in which she breathily croons and then speaks of her love for the title character who is voiced by Sellers as an upper class twit in one of his typically exaggerated caricatures.  There are three more duets with Sellers and Loren which I find simultaneously appealing and annoying.  The best is easily "Goodness Gracious Me!" which describes an Indian doctor fending off an amorous patient's advances.  George Martin commissioned the song for inclusion in the film "The Millionairess" which has a similar plot.  It was rejected but a photograph from the film was still used for the cover of this album.  Sellers' caricature of an Indian is blatantly racist and unfunny but Loren's ardent wooing of him is genuinely sexy.  The song is mercilessly catchy and whenever I hear it, it sticks in my head for awhile.  It was a hit in England and inspired a follow-up "Bangers and Mash" in which Sellers portrays a Cockney who marries an Italian woman during World War II and finds himself missing English food because his wife only serves him Italian food.  It is as stupid as it sounds.  Sellers can't resist showing off, adopting an American accent for the middle section and then an Italian accent for the final verse.  I can barely stand his clowning but Loren is charming.  The final duet is the swinging "Fare Thee Well" which Sellers starts singing in his normal voice which is too weak for the demands of the song.  Of course Sellers being Sellers that does not last long as he quickly breaks into his bag of accents to muck up the song.  Loren struggles with the song as well which is beyond her skills but unlike Sellers she gamely sticks with it to the end.  Sellers has three musical numbers of his own.  In Gershwin's "Oh! Lady Be Good" he thankfully does not sing.  It is an up-tempo jazz number performed by Ron Goodwin and his orchestra in which Sellers uses his voice to sound like a piccolo although I think he sounds more like a clarinet or a saxophone.  If I am to believe his dumb patter at the end of the song he apparently recorded his voice at a slower speed and then they speeded up the tape for the record.  It sounds like a George Martin type thing to do.  If nothing else the song does cook and it is neither offensive nor tedious unlike most of Sellers' other tracks.  He poorly impersonates an old timey crooner for "Ukelele Lady" which dates back to 1925.  He is accompanied by the faux 1920's jazz band "The Temperance Seven" who later had a hit with "You're Driving Me Crazy."  The song is tiresome and pointless to me.  The worst of the three is "Grandpa's Grave" in which Sellers portrays a cockney singer named Eugene Squills regaling the audience with a ditty about moving grandpa's grave to the sewer.  It is moronic but still better than Sellers' comedy bits which comprise the rest of the album.  I find them all painful and unfunny.  In "'Smith'" he portrays a pompous thespian describing his latest play in mind-numbing detail.  "Setting Fire to the Policeman" finds him nostalgically recalling his favorite childhood prank of setting policemen on fire.  "Why Worry?" employs a man in the street interview approach to allow Sellers to show off a variety of English accents as he trivializes the arms race and the nuclear bomb.  The worst track is easily "Africa Today" in which Sellers portrays the savagely racist Brigadier Sir John Hanley-Adamant droning on and on about abusing his African servants.  I know he is mocking him but it is still hard to listen to.  I find it mind-boggling that anyone ever thought this was funny.  If Sophia Loren were not on this record, I would have discarded it long ago.  Her charisma and allure are enough to get me to endure Sellers' contributions.  I could just record her bits and listen to them without Sellers, but I have to admit that terrible though they may, I do find Sellers' tracks fascinating in their awfulness.  I can't recommend this record, but if you like Sophia Loren as much as I do you might want to seek it out.

For Christmas With Love - Judith Durham

For Christmas With Love

Judith Durham

Columbia SX 6374

1968

This is a mono pressing of the British version of Judith Durham's Christmas record.  It differs from the Australian version by having one additional track "Just a Closer Walk With Thee."  Curiously the song features a 1965 copyright on the inner label which is also the date that the song appeared on The Seekers' album "A World of Our Own" but it is not that version.  I believe it is the version she released on a 1967 single in Australia.  I prefer The Seekers' version which features harmonies from the boys and a folk style arrangement to this version with its gospel organ and piano accompaniment although she sings both great.  Although this album was recorded at Capitol Records studio in Los Angeles I don't believe it was ever released here.  This was her first solo album after leaving The Seekers and being a big fan of that group I have long coveted it.  I finally found a copy last year but I was disappointed when I played it.  Arguably it is more of a gospel record than a Christmas record.  Every song is religious aside from "White Christmas," "Lullaby for Christmas Eve" and "The Christmas Song."  "The Lord's Prayer," "My Faith" and "Come On Children, Let's Sing" are not Christmas songs at all.  Her piety is obviously sincere and her singing is heartfelt, but this is not my cup of tea and it sounds nothing like The Seekers so I shelved it after a couple of spins.  I brought it back out at Christmas and played it while trimming the tree and I liked it better probably because my expectations were different.  "White Christmas" opens the album in an orchestrated easy listening style version.  Durham delivers a pleasant vocal but the track is otherwise unremarkable.  "Mary's Boy Child" was written by Jester Hairston and was released as a single by Harry Belafonte in 1956.  His version had a slight calypso flavor to it which is not present in this stiff orchestrated version.  The song lacks the warmth of the Belafonte recording even though Durham sings it impeccably.  The album finally comes to life with a jumping gospel style performance of "Go Tell It On a Mountain" driven by piano and organ.  Durham showed an interest in gospel with The Seekers but really shows her affinity for it here and I love the way she hits the high notes at the end.  This is one of my favorite tracks.  The record loses this energy with the heavily orchestrated "Lullaby for Christmas Eve" which had been a single for Jack Jones in 1964.  Nonetheless it is a sweet song and at least it isn't religious.  Durham's soaring vocal on "The Lord's Prayer" impresses me but I dislike the song and the heavy inspirational arrangement.  "My Faith" is even worse.  Durham sings it like she means it, but the song is just too sappy for me to tolerate.  The record picks up with the lively gospel song "Come On Children, Let's Sing" which was recorded by Mahalia Jackson in 1960.  I love Durham's voice and she sings it well but she can't compete with Jackson.  She sounds stilted by comparison.  I wish there were more songs like "The Christmas Song" on the record.  She seems more inspired by the religious stuff, but she still sings this well and it is a much more appealing song to me.  "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" fits well with the rest of the album both in terms of sound and content even though it was recorded earlier.  As I said before I prefer The Seekers' version but this is still pretty compelling.  Most of the arrangements on this album are stodgy and conservative, so it is surprising that "Silent Night" is given an up-tempo treatment including drums, probably the most dynamic version of the song that I have ever heard.  I'm not sure that the song is well-served by such treatment but I like it anyway especially with Durham's exquisite vocal.   The album concludes strongly with a kinetic gospel arrangement of "Joy to the World" that inspires Durham to loosen up and have some fun.  It is my other favorite track on the album.  Although there are parts of this album that I enjoy, I have to admit there is no way I would keep it if Durham was not singing on it.  I like her voice so much I would listen to her sing just about anything even a bunch of hymns, but I'm not going to listen to it very much.  I'm alienated by religion and I prefer folk arrangements to easy listening ones so I'll just stick with my Seekers albums.  Recommended to religious Judy Collins fans who dislike folk music.