"Just Plain Old Music"

[Amy]

Thoroughly enjoyed this one..thank you.

[Oldiesmann]

Another fun Russian-themed piece from Dmitri Dourakine. This was written by German-born French composer Albert Raisner.

[RAMMEL]

Go to YOUTUBE and put  - Night City Jazz - into their search box.  Lots of nice background or just relaxing Jazz.  So easy to listen too.  Try a few different ones.

[MarsGal]

Rammel, of the different jazz stations that I listen to, Night Jazz is my favorite, though I don't listen to it often. It doesn't seem to fit in with the kind of SciFi I often read. 

[RAMMEL]

MarsGal,
Were you a Twilight Zone fan?  We still can get some re-runs of them on TV.  We have a couple of "Oldies" channels.

[MarsGal]

We watched it Rammel, but I can't say I was a real fan. Back then I wasn't into SciFi near as much as I am now. Some of those episodes still stick in my mind. Including my first encounter with "An Occurrence at Owl Creek". We used to watch The Outer Limits too. While I read a few SciFi books and stories over the years and saw plenty of Scifi movies, my obsession with reading SciFi seems to have shown up full-blown well into my adulthood. I can't say what triggered it.

[RAMMEL]

I like at least some SciFi, - the more feasible (if that's possible).  I don't care for the totally ridiculous stuff.  My problem is I am not a good reader. Reading to me has the same affect as a sleeping pill 
I like those Web Cams. They don't send me to lala land like reading.

Interesting Vid.  Could get someone thinking.

[Oldiesmann]

That Zager and Evans song is a weird one. Never cared for it at all.

In terms of "Twilight Zone", I've always liked the 1986 song of that name by Dutch band Golden Earring:

[MarsGal]

I am beginning to have the same problem falling to sleep on my reading. Some of the audio books have the same effect.

I agree about the ridiculous and add getting the science wrong. Some SciFi writers more or less ignore the science altogether. They take a familiar people/family dynamic and just change the scenery somewhere in space or another planet.  Along with a few other genres, Space Opera comes to mind.  What I like about authors like Ursula Le Guin is that, although publishers and booksellers often lump them in with it, they prefer to use the term speculative fiction. Many of the authors I read do research the science and technologies. I have discovered more than a few that do keep up with or research science research papers. There are more than a few times I have looked into a subject and discovered that some of these papers and experiments have been going on for decades. Since I like to read military SciFi, I often check to see if the author has come from a military, technical or robotics background. Quite a few of them do, and it shows in their stories. Also, with the net and customer reviews and what-not, knowledgeable readers often will call out an author if they mess up on the science or tech. These days it is hard to classify some stories because the authors are doing a lot of "cross-over" or combo type stories, like mixing Fantasy with SciFi or SciFi/Romance, etc.

Oops! Got carried away again.

[Oldiesmann]

A great rendition of an old show tune from a British group. If you're from the UK, particularly Liverpool (and/or are a fan of Liverpool FC), you're probably quite familiar with this rendition.

[MarsGal]

Thanks Oldiesman.

[Amy]

Danced many times to that one....thank you for the memories..

[Oldiesmann]

Following the success of The Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert put together another group called the Baja Marimba Band, fronted by Julius Wechter and backed up by various studio musicians, none of whom were Mexican of course. The group never saw anywhere near the success that the Tijuana Brass project did, but still managed to put out quite a few albums in the 10 or so years they were around. These days you'd never get away with having a band dress like this with the fake mustaches, cigars, etc.

[Oldiesmann]

From 1947, a catchy tune consisting mostly of the names of various streets in Los Angeles. The artist name is also a reference to an LA street (in reality this was Freddy Martin and his orchestra).

[Marilyne]

Downstairs in my basement, is a large box of vinyl LP's.  Three of them are albums by,  "Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass". Another one by a similar group called,  "The Baja Mirimba Band".  Extremely popular here in the late 1960's. 

"Pico and Sepuveda", another big hit in Los Angeles in the late 40's.  I remember it fondly.  Coincidence:  When our daughter Sandy moved to L.A. in the late 90's, she rented a condo on the corner of Pico and Sepulveda!  I got such a kick out of it, and couldn't help singing that old Freddie Martin song.  Of course she didn't "get it" at all.      I might have that old 78 RPM single, in one of the old albums?

[Oldiesmann]

I'm not sure how I came across that song but it's too catchy. If I ever make it out to LA I'll have to make a point of stopping by that intersection. There's an amusement park that I'd like to visit (Knott's Berry Farm) about 30 minutes from there so maybe one day I'll get there.

[Oldiesmann]

Proof that Spike Jones and the members of his orchestra were all quite talented musicians. Here's an instrumental version of a Ukranian folk tune (known as "Їхав козак за Дунай" ("Ikhav Kozak za Dunaj"), which translates to "The Cossack Rides Beyond the Danube") featuring George Rock on Trumpet. George Rock's biggest claim to fame with Spike Jones was providing the vocals on "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth". This was originally released in 1946, but this version is from the early 1950s.

[Oldiesmann]

Scottish singer Maggie Reilly is now in her mid-60s but still has a great voice. Here's a recent recording of her 1992 hit "Everytime We Touch". Although this wasn't a hit in the UK, it was a big hit across other parts of Europe (Germany, Austria, etc.)

[Oldiesmann]

Pianist/composer Frank Mills is best known for his big hit "Music Box Dancer", but he's also done some other great stuff. This is one of my favorites by him. This is from the 1974 album The Poet and I, the same album that "Music Box Dancer" is on.

[RAMMEL]

Just listen, and enjoy ---

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[Marilyne]

Rick - Thanks for posting "And The Angels Sing" . . .  one  of my favorite Benny Goodman hits, from the Big Band Era.  A great trumpet solo by Ziggy Elman, and wonderful lyrics sung by Martha Tilton.

[RAMMEL]

So many good ones -

[Oldiesmann]

In early 1965, The Animals had a huge hit with "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". Although their version is probably the most famous, it was first recorded by Nina Simone and released in October of 1964. Her version is considerably different than the hit one, and this is the style used by many others who have recorded the song.

[Vanilla-Jackie]

Nina Simones " Aint got no, i got life " 1968, i believe was one of the first 45 vinyl's ( single ) i ever bought when i bought my Dansette record player...

[MarsGal]

Wonderful, Jackie. I had never heard of Nini Simon before I started watching the TV show La Femme Nikita, and then the two movies. She was featured as a favorite of Nikita's as I recall.

[Marilyne]

Rick - the song you posted a few days ago, "Deep in a Dream",  by Artie Shaw and Helen Forrest, made me remember back in the 40's and 50's, when so many popular songs had lyrics the mentioned smoking cigarettes.  One that I especially liked, that was very popular, was "Dream", when you're feeling Blue. 
"Just watch the smoke rings rise in the air - you'll find your share, of memories there"
Frank Sinatra:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HzMk1BMPq0

Here is another good one - "Smoke Rings", by the Mills Brothers.  I love the ending where they sing,  "Puff, puff, puff - puff your cares away". (That likely wouldn't be allowed on the radio, in today's PC world.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=givhnw8u8E4

[RAMMEL]

         Like em both.  Remember - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qRenpnB5WA[/b]

[Marilyne]

Rick, I remember how popular that Tex Williams novelty song was! I think I was in the 7th grade at that time?  There were lots of other pop songs that mentioned smoking, but that was when it was commonplace, so nobody thought anything about it.     

[Oldiesmann]

Not sure if I've posted this here before or not. I stumbled across this a while back and keep coming back to it as it's one of the best versions of this song I've heard. Jimmy Fortune (guitar/backing vocals), Bradley Walker (backing vocals), Mike Rogers (guitar/lead vocals) and Ben Isaacs (bass/backing vocals) along with some great backing musicians. Those who are fans of The Statler Brothers might recognize Jimmy Fortune as he sang tenor with the group for 20 years following the retirement of founding member Lew DeWitt

[RAMMEL]

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