Leaderboard

I had another achey and out-of-balance day yesterday, but I needed to clean the kitchen and cook dinner for our little nuclear family of three. I burned through three LPs--a 2-record set of: Brian Wilson's Smile Sessions Concierto by Jim Hall: ... and jazz flautist Hubert Laws' "The San Francisco Concert:" It must have worked. I made baked beer-battered cod, a fresh Italian salad, and a side dish of lo mein for dinner, plus I poached 1/2 dozen eggs to make egg salad for lunch in the coming days. If you have any interest in The Beach Boys and Brian WIlson's "Smile" saga, that's a fun, well-made album.

There was a broadcast of them many years ago. Well worth a watch if you can find it. F'rinstance, "When The Levee Breaks" -

Yesterday I woke up in a muddle. My balance was off and I had to use my cane for most of the day lest I do a faceplant. Finally, in the mid-afternoon I started coming out of my fog, saw a lot of cooking and work to be done around the house, and spun this one on my turntable to wake me up, sharpen my focus, put rhythm in my cooking, and made me feel much better the rest of the day: I bought this 2-record album when it came out in 2007, the same year I bought my turntable. I remember reading a rave review in Stereophile or The Absolute Sound. The collaboration of these two artists seemed unlikely and gimmicky, but the reviews were so unequivocally enthusiastic I ordered the album. It surprised the hell out of me. It is superb in every way. It was produced by T-Bone Walker, the LPs are 180g pressings, the record has a very low noise floor; it's dynamic, strongly rhythmic, and begs to be turned up, As for this unlikely pairing of artists, they are definitely on the same wavelength for this album. Their vocal harmonies are close, precise, organic, and engaging. They both cover the same vocal range and make close harmonies with vigor and accuracy. I couldn't find the review on Stereophile's website, but here's a comprehensive review on AllMusic. HIGHLY recommended.