BFT164

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

On 27/11/2017 at 5:57 PM, JSngry said:

At first, yeah. But when I got down to it on Saturday, the combination of extreme fluency and extreme indifference made it pretty easy to track down.

With Pee Wee Elllis at the helm, it's like a lost Kudu track, one that was probably lost on purpose...

I don't expect you to agree, but even trashy stuff by people I like a lot interests me greatly. Also, of course, the people who own the companies or produce for them. I generally find them a good deal more interesting than the musicians or the music. But you can hardly ever find much out about them. And as for the reasons they make the choices they do/did, well, go whistle. Or, as I do, go speculate.

MG

[JSngry]

Oh, I love trash, when it's inspired. Pee Wee Ellis is a known quantity, and he held up his end. Stitt made some "good for what they are" records for Chess (or whatever it was by then), in the early 70s, but this is not even close to being inspired on Stitt's part.

This was the last of Stitt's records for the label (maybe he had a three record deal?). Satan was ok, Mr. Bojangles (in spite of the unfortunate cover) was ok in a halfass Sonny Stitt way, but THIS one...my guess is that it coincides with about the same period where his alcoholism was getting really bad. Not that something like that could ever be good, but this is just about the least inspired Sonny Stitt record I've ever heard, and I give pretty wide berth in that regard. It's not the material, it's not the setting, it's just as simple as Sonny Still couldn't even halfass his way though this, and for Sonny Stitt to not be able to even halfass his way through a record date is a pretty damn dire life event.

Pee Wee Ellis in this bag, you get the same thing on the Esther Phillips records he did, with the advantage of a lead artist who gives a damn. Esmond Edwards is all over the damn place, so whatever. You can get much better from him than this.

 

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Oh, I love trash, when it's inspired. Pee Wee Ellis is a known quantity, and he held up his end. Stitt made some "good for what they are" records for Chess (or whatever it was by then), in the early 70s, but this is not even close to being inspired on Stitt's part.

This was the last of Stitt's records for the label (maybe he had a three record deal?). Satan was ok, Mr. Bojangles (in spite of the unfortunate cover) was ok in a halfass Sonny Stitt way, but THIS one...my guess is that it coincides with about the same period where his alcoholism was getting really bad. Not that something like that could ever be good, but this is just about the least inspired Sonny Stitt record I've ever heard, and I give pretty wide berth in that regard. It's not the material, it's not the setting, it's just as simple as Sonny Still couldn't even halfass his way though this, and for Sonny Stitt to not be able to even halfass his way through a record date is a pretty damn dire life event.

Pee Wee Ellis in this bag, you get the same thing on the Esther Phillips records he did, with the advantage of a lead artist who gives a damn. Esmond Edwards is all over the damn place, so whatever. You can get much better from him than this.

 

Thanks Jim; never gave a thought to alcoholism. Good to know.

MG

[JSngry]

I don't know who among those who own the companies or produce for them have/had ongoing sobriety issues, but Sonny Stitt, who recorded for damn near all of them, most certainly did.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

20 hours ago, JSngry said:

I don't know who among those who own the companies or produce for them have/had ongoing sobriety issues, but Sonny Stitt, who recorded for damn near all of them, most certainly did.

Yeah, my best mate saw him in Brighton some time in the seventies and said he stank (or is it stunk?) because he was pissed as a fart.

 

Mm. Am I supposed to give the answers today or tomorrow?

MG

[Hot Ptah]

Tomorrow would be a good time for the answers.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks Bill. I thought it was on the first.

MG

[tkeith]

On 11/24/2017 at 5:38 PM, JSngry said:

Wow, that's Elvin. Serves me right for not listening past the intro.

Two technical questions about this DL, btw:

1. Is it supposed to be that most of the files are mp3 but a few are mp4?
2. why do the mp3 files all show this in WMP (the mp4s open in Foobar)?

1.  That's just the way the files were sent to me.  If sent a disc, they are always MP3 because that's the conversation I use.  
2.  In an effort to be certain that no data remains in the files that will help people ID them, I always try to choose a photo relative to the BFT number that will appear as the album artwork.  In this case, Frank Taveras, due to a trade from the Pirates to the Mets, played 164 games in 1979.  Similarly, BFT165 features a photo of Maury Wills, who played in 165 games in 1962.

[felser]

7 hours ago, tkeith said:

1.  That's just the way the files were sent to me.  If sent a disc, they are always MP3 because that's the conversation I use.  
2.  In an effort to be certain that no data remains in the files that will help people ID them, I always try to choose a photo relative to the BFT number that will appear as the album artwork.  In this case, Frank Taveras, due to a trade from the Pirates to the Mets, played 164 games in 1979.  Similarly, BFT165 features a photo of Maury Wills, who played in 165 games in 1962.

And Wills stole 104 bases that year, an inconceivable number for that era.  Main beneficiary was Tommy Davis, who drove in 153 runs that year.  The single season high for any season between 1950 and 1997.  

[JSngry]

Tommy Davis' broke leg is one of the tragedies of promised denied. Everybody shed a tear over Tony C., and ok, but what about Tommy D.:

[felser]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Tommy Davis' broke leg is one of the tragedies of promised denied. Everybody shed a tear over Tony C., and ok, but what about Tommy D.:

Yes, never the same player again.