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Rarities by the Beatles (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Rarities
  • Group name: the Beatles
  • Year: 1980
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Capitol Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Scratched into side one of LP: SHAL-1-12060 G2
    • Scratched into side two of LP: SHAL-2-12060 G2 #7
  • Buy it on Amazon: $138.99

Rarities by the Beatles

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

These are rare versions of canonical Beatles tracks. I may have heard some of them, but I’ve never listened to this record.

Other Beatles records that I’ve reviewed:

What I expected

I’m not going to be listening to each of the official record versions of these songs along with the “rare” versions, so I may not even recognize what the differences are, but I still expect to enjoy most of them.

What it was actually like

This was pretty good, and as I expected, I mostly was not able to hear the differences between these versions and the record versions of the same songs, with just a few exceptions:

  • Penny Lane sounded pretty different. This “rare” version had much more instrumentation, especially horns and flute.
  • Don’t Pass Me By had a lot more violin than the version I knew, and I liked this one better.
  • Across the Universe sounded the most different to me, especially its bird sounds.

It’s also worth mentioning that, when this compilation was released in 1980, people only knew the Beatles’ music from what was released as a single or on an LP (or both), which varied by country. Though I grew up listening to the Beatles on cassette tapes that were based on their LPs, overwhelmingly the way I have listened to their music as an adult has been via the 2009 stereo remaster box set, which is non-canonical in a lot of ways, and so I may have been listening to some of these “rare” versions all along.

Just to give one example, according to the Rarities blurb about Sie Liebt Dich:

… until Rarities “She Loves You” sung in German had never been released by Capitol [Records] in the U.S. The song, once released here as a low-quality single on a small label, has been out of print for years and has never been released in the U.S. in stereo until now.

But it’s part of the box set, on Past Masters volume 1, track 9 (in stereo, too). So I guess my recommendation, for anyone interested, is that you might want to skip acquiring the Rarities LP and just get the box set if you want to hear (almost) every Beatles song in a version that is, if not original, at least official.

Grade

5/5: love it

The Soft Parade by the Doors (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Soft Parade
  • Group name: the Doors
  • Year: 1969
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Elektra Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Scratched into side one of LP: ESR TD5 2876 EKS 75005 A-SP 8
    • Scratched into side two of LP: ESR TD5 2876 EKS 75005 B-SP 5
  • Buy it on Amazon: $35.99

The Soft Parade by the Doors

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m pretty sure that I’ve never heard this record before. A couple of its songs were also on the Doors’ compilation 13 (1970) that I rated 4/5.

The other Doors record that I’ve reviewed was The Doors (1969) and I rated it 5/5.

What I expected

Probably this will not be one of the Doors’ stronger records.

What it was actually like

This was much jazzier than other Doors records, with lots of brass on (I think) every song.

I had always thought of Doors songs like Touch Me as a kind of parody of pre-rock and roll pop music (like, for example, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass), but after listening to an entire record that was much more like that, I wasn’t sure what to think about it.

The saxophone solo on Touch Me was fine, by the way, but I did wonder while listening to it if, in the event that Morrison had lived, the Doors would have become one of those crappy Vegas acts, and the string section on Wishful Sinful was similarly weird and gave me the same thoughts.

I liked the organ on Shaman’s Blues, and strongly disliked the grating Wild Child.

Easy Ride was the most Oompa Loompa song and also the most up tempo, with good guitar and organ solos.

The most surprising part of the record was the bluegrass-style part of Runnin’ Blue, with a brief but excellent mandolin part. I hated that song’s trumpet part, though.

The title track The Soft Parade, which ran over eight minutes long, was multiple songs in one, which really should have been broken out into individual tracks.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Kings of Comedy, narrated by George Burns (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Kings of Comedy
  • Narrator name: George Burns
  • Artist name: Various, including George Burns, Abbott & Costello, Will Rogers, Jackie Gleason, Jack Benny, Smith & Dale, Al Jolson, Groucho Marx
  • Year: 1969
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Longines Symphonette Society
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it on Ebay: $7.99

Kings of Comedy, narrated by George Burns

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard of this comedy record, but I previously reviewed all five discs of The Golden Age of Comedy: 50 Years of Great Humor… From Vaudeville to Video, which was also narrated by George Burns and produced by the Longines Symphonette Society.

What I expected

I guess the same style of humor as The Golden Age of Comedy.

What it was actually like

The first side was a series of snippets of comedy routines, presumably all famous enough to be recognizable to a general comedy-loving audience, lasting anywhere from around five to 45 seconds. The LP said:

Guess Who These Comedians Are? The answers are listed on the back of the album jacket.

I was not able to guess any of them.

Here’s a sample joke: “This town was so dull that one day, the tide went out, and never came back.”

Ha ha.

The second side started with Abbott & Costello’s classic Who’s On First and somehow, hearing it now was the least funny it has ever been (the crowd went wild for it, though). It was the only bit that I recognized, even though George Burns described another one as “the most famous Jack Benny scene of all time.”

Here’s another sample joke: “I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in them, I’ll never know.”

Ha ha.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

magician by Erroll Garner (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: magician
  • Artist name: Erroll Garner
  • Year: 1974
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: MPS Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Scratched into side one of LP: 5C 0640-99440-A/HV32973-2Y
    • Scratched into side two of LP: 32974 5C xxxx B/HV 32974-1-Y 99440 B-06442
  • Buy it on Amazon: $54.99

magician by Erroll Garner

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Erroll Garner or listened to this record.

What I expected

My first thought was that this looked like it would be another comedy record, but actually it appears that Erroll Garner is a jazz pianist. I don’t know what kind of jazz, though.

What it was actually like

This record was entirely instrumental, and Erroll Garner made great music with the piano, but it was more like mood music and less like songs that I would put on to listen. I would rather have him playing in the background at a party or something.

The worst aspect of the music was the congas, which were in competition with the piano and other instruments, and which mostly seemed out of place.

It was also really bizarre that Garner seemed to have a habit of groaning and making assorted grunt-like sounds while he played. The grunts were somewhat evenly distributed, but were most apparent on It Gets Better Every Time, Watch What Happens and Yesterdays. I was not sure why the producers and recording engineers left those sounds on the record. Maybe it was intentional, but if so, I thought it was a mistake.

Grade

2/5: weak, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

The Best of The Guess Who (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Best of The Guess Who
  • Group name: The Guess Who
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: RCA Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Stamped on back of album: NOT / FOR SALE / PROMOTION USE ONLY
  • Buy it on Amazon: $39.79

The Best of The Guess Who

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m somewhat familiar with The Guess Who, but their only song that I can name is American Woman, which does happen to be on this compilation.

What I expected

Rock, hard rock.

What it was actually like

The audio on this record was not the greatest – it seemed a bit compressed, like listening to mp3s – but I loved it anyway, and there were no bad songs, and I recognized several of them.

I had not heard the original version of American Woman in a very long time, maybe decades, but it was a classic for a reason, and I loved the guitar riff and the guitar solo. I also thought that I remembered it being more different from Lenny Kravitz’s cover that was popular when I was a senior in high school, but the two versions were remarkably similar, so I couldn’t say whether I preferred one or the other.

I also recognized These Eyes, probably from a ska or reggae cover, but I can’t seem to figure out which one!

No Time was another that I recognized, but like These Eyes, I never knew it was a Guess Who song, and if I had guessed, I probably would have said Crosby, Stills and Nash. I thought it had a great ending, and some amazing 1969 energy that’s hard to find in music from any other time.

Share the Land was also familiar to me, and I could not remember where or when I had heard it, but I thought it was great.

Undun was the most unusual song on the record. Its style was much more jazz fusion than any of the others, and kind of reminded me of Mahavishnu Orchestra. I would not say that this was my normal type of music, but I thought it was the best song, and I even thought the surprising flute solo worked pretty well.

Bus Rider was the bluesiest song on the record. Do You Miss Me Darlin’? was the least good song.

As I mentioned, there were no bad songs here: this was a very solid, consistent rock / hard rock record that I enjoyed very thoroughly. Nice work, Canada.

Grade

5/5: love it