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Amadeus soundtrack (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Amadeus soundtrack
  • Group name: Various artists (most compositions by W.A. Mozart, most recordings by Neville Marriner, Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields)
  • Year: 1984
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: The Saul Zaentz Company
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it:

Amadeus soundtrack

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

Like many people, I’ve listened to a decent amount of classical music without ever learning anything about it, and therefore don’t have a strong sense of Mozart’s style or ability to recognize his works.

What I expected

Just a double record album of classical music, mostly Mozart.

What it was actually like

That’s pretty much what it was.

I think that if someone wanted to listen to a broad classical music collection, this would be a terrible choice because it’s so Mozart-heavy; and if someone wanted to listen specifically to Mozart, this again would be an odd choice because there are a couple of non-Mozart selections on it. I suppose the target audience for this record is people who went wild for the movie Amadeus, but one wonders why they wouldn’t just watch the movie again if it made them so happy. So I don’t really understand this one.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Animal House Soundtrack (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Animal House Soundtrack
  • Group name: Various Artists (including Richard Berry, Sam Cooke and the Isley Brothers)
  • Year: 1978
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: MCA Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics: clipped corner (top right)
  • Buy it:

Animal House Soundtrack

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve watched Animal House more times than I could possibly count.

What I expected

It’s pretty straightforward – music from Animal House.

What it was actually like

To begin, Shama Lama Ding Dong (not to be confused with Sha Na Na’s cover of the Edsels’ Rama Lama Ding Dong, which is also excellent) is one of my all time very favorite songs ever, so of course I expected it to be included here, and it was.

I don’t normally listen to soundtrack records very often, but I have heard a great many of them over the years, and I don’t recall it being common for them to include sound clips from the movie. To me, that would be more like what I would expect to hear from a score, as opposed to a soundtrack. At any rate, this soundtrack inserted movie dialogue in a bunch of places that made me keep thinking, “If I wanted to hear the scene from the movie, I would just put the movie on,” which raises the question, “Why do people buy and listen to soundtracks?” I don’t know.

Also, was the song Animal House actually used in the movie anywhere? Or did was it just written and recorded solely for the soundtrack?

Anyway, Shama Lama Ding Dong is awesome and DeWayne Jessie, who played Otis Day in the movie, has made an entire career out of reprising that appearance, and there are some amazing covers of it on Youtube, such as this one and this other one.

I think also that the cafeteria scene in Animal House, set to Sam Cooke’s (What a) Wonderful World was my first exposure to Sam Cooke, and I’ve since become a lifelong fan.

Grade

5/5: love it

Come And Get These Memories: The Motown Story by Various Artists (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Come And Get These Memories: The Motown Story
  • Group name: Various Artists
  • Year: 1981
  • Number of discs: five
  • Label: Columbia House
  • Collection: Selman

Come And Get These Memories: The Motown Story

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve listened to a fair bit of Motown.

What I expected

It’s a Motown compilation.

What it was actually like

I spent basically a whole day listening to this incredible box set because the five records in it were labeled in such a confusing way that I kept accidentally playing them out of order, and that made it very difficult to remember what I had already heard. But I did manage to listen to all ten sides.

It was actually a pretty interesting concept for a compilation: rather than organizing all the music thematically or chronologically, it was instead organized by artist, with each performer or group getting one out of the ten sides:

  • Record 1, side 1: Martha and the Vandellas
  • Record 1, side 2: The Miracles
  • Record 2, side 1: Mary Wells
  • Record 2, side 2: The Four Tops
  • Record 3, side 1: The Marvelettes
  • Record 3, side 2: Marvin Gaye
  • Record 4, side 1: The Supremes
  • Record 4, side 2: The Temptations
  • Record 5, side 1: The Jackson Five
  • Record 5, side 2: Diana Ross

Of those, the best three sides were the Four Tops, the Supremes and the Temptations, with my least favorite being both sides of record five, the Jackson Five and Diana Ross.

Highlights included some of my favorites: You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me, You Can’t Hurry Love, My Girl, I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) and It’s The Same Old Song.

Weirdly and unfortunately, this collection doesn’t appear to be for sale on Amazon, but if it were, I would link to it and encourage anyone to buy it.

Grade

5/5: love it

Billie Ella Lena Sarah by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Billie Ella Lena Sarah
  • Artist name: Various artists (Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan)
  • Year: 1980
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it:

Billie Ella Lena Sarah

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve heard of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan (Holiday and Fitzgerald far more than Horne and Vaughan), but don’t really know much about any of them or their music.

What I expected

Upbeat jazz that showcases vocal talent.

What it was actually like

This was much more old-timey than I anticipated, and definitely far less upbeat. I didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as I expected!

Nice Work If You Can Get It was ok. Side 2 seemed like it was getting off to a much livelier start than side 1, with What A Little Moonlight Can Do, but ultimate most of this record was pretty bland.

Grade

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

Big Bands’ Greatest Hits by Various Artists (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Big Bands’ Greatest Hits
  • Group name: Various Artists (including Glenn Miller, Lawrence Welk, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington)
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “MOR – INSTR” handwritten on tape; “Jazz – ANTHOLOGY” handwritten on tape; “WAMU” handwritten on front, back and insides
  • Buy it:

Big Bands' Greatest Hits by Various Artists

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve only heard of a few of the bandleaders on this compilation: Glenn Miller, Lawrence Welk, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington. I don’t know any of their songs.

What I expected

I assume this will be pretty easy listening, and that I’ll actually recognize more than just what I think I know, and maybe that I’ll actually enjoy it.

What it was actually like

Like most people who are not fans of jazz music, there is a form of jazz music that I prefer over the others, and in my case, it’s New Orleans style. This was much more swing style, so really not my kind of jazz.

Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman was the only song that I recognized, and I didn’t really like it very much. Somewhat to my surprise, the rest of this record was rather forgettable and boring.

Grade

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