Barry White • No Limit On Love [1974] Scepter Records/Supremacy SUP 8002

 

Barry White was a long-time session producer who made himself a featured attraction in the '70s with salacious soul ballads and romantic disco hits.

Say the name Barry White and you'd be hard-pressed to follow it with the name of any other recording artist with such a huge, cross-sectional following. He was at home appearing on Soul Train, guesting with a full band on The Today Show, and appearing in cartoon form in various episodes of The Simpsons. While there was a period when Barry White wasn't releasing records or making the pop charts, he did stay active touring and appearing on other artists' records, including on Quincy Jones' "The Secret Garden (The Seduction Suite)," Regina Belle's "Quiet Time," and rap star Big Daddy Kane's "All of Me." It's surprising to find out that such an illustrious career almost didn't happen because White wasn't interested in being a recording artist.

Johnny Mathis • Love Story [1971] Columbia Records C 30499

 

Love Story is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on February 10, 1971, by Columbia Records and included a recent Oscar nominee ("What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"), a flashback to 1967 ("Traces"), a new song by Bacharach and David ("Ten Times Forever More"), a lesser-known one by Goffin and King ("I Was There"), and two songs that originated in film scores from 1970 and had lyrics added later: the album closer, "Loss of Love", from Sunflower and the album opener from Love Story, which was subtitled "Where Do I Begin". The norm for Mathis projects from this era was to cover recent hits, and the title track of this one was so recent that the version by Andy Williams began a 13-week run to number nine on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in February 1971, coinciding with the release of this LP.

The Mathis recording of "Ten Times Forever More" was released as a single on January 21 of that year and spent two weeks on Billboard magazine's Easy Listening chart in March that included a peak position at number 32. The album's debut on the magazine's Top LP's chart was in the issue dated March 13 and led to a number 47 showing over the course of 18 weeks.

Love Story was released for the first time on compact disc in 1995 as one of two albums on one CD, the other LP being his Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head album from 1970.

The Magic of Willie Nelson [1981] Banner Records Inc. BTR 2452 Limited Edition (Canada)

 

*Listed as Blackjack Country Chain on Cover and Record

"Blackjack County Chain" is a song written by Red Lane. The song was initially rejected by Charley Pride, who considered the lyrics too controversial at the time.

The song was ultimately recorded by Willie Nelson, whose version enjoyed success until it was banned by radio stations.

Tracklist:

01 I Gotta Get Drunk

02 Once More With Feeling

03 Johnny One Time

04 The Party's Over

05 I'm A Memory

06 Little Things

07 Good Times

08 Fire and Rain

09 Bring Me Sunshine

10 San Antonio

11 If You Can Touch Her At All

12 You Ought To Hear Me Cry

13 One In A Row

14 Blackjack County Chain*

Elvis Presley • Self-Titled Debut Album [1956] RCA Victor LPM 1254

 

Brief History :

Elvis Presley is the debut studio album by Elvis Presley. It was released on RCA Victor, in mono, catalogue number LPM 1254, in March 1956. The recording sessions took place on January 10 and January 11 at RCA recording studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and on January 30 and January 31 at RCA studios in New York. Additional material originated from sessions at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 5, August 19, and September 10 of 1954, and on July 11, 1955.

The album spent ten weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in 1956, the first rock and roll album ever to make it to the top of the charts. It also has the distinction of being the first million-selling rock and roll album. In 2003, it was ranked number 55 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Elvis Presley was also one of two Presley's albums accoladed in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, the other being Elvis is Back!. It was certified Gold on 11/1/1966 and Platinum on 8/10/2011 by the R.I.A.A.

The cover is ranked #40 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Album Covers. The photograph was taken at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida on July 31, 1955. The graphic and photo were also used on an EP and a double-EP comprising songs from this album, also released in March 1956. The design was cited by The Clash for the front of their 1979 album London Calling; that cover is #39 on the list. Other acts of cover homage include Tom Waits' 1985 Rain Dogs, F-Punk by Big Audio Dynamite in 1995, and Reintarnation in 2006 by K.D. Lange. Chumbawamba's controversial single "Tony Blair" takes homage too.

Great Piano's Greatest Hits [Reader's Digest 8 LP Box Set] Reader's Digest RDA-202/A

 

Bach was a young man and Mozart not yet born when the first pianoforte was built in 1711.  An Italian master craftsman named Bartolomeo Cristofori managed to combine the hammer action of the fragile, sweet-sounding clavichord with the more sophisticated and resonant power of the harpsichord, creating what he called a gravicembalo col piano e forte (literally, a large keyboard with soft and loud).  French poet Abbé Jacques Delille dubbed the instrument, more poetically, "the harmonious ivory."  To the rest of the world, it became the "piano," a musical symbol for elegance and passion.  In the accompanying collection are highlights of the piano's history: melodies new and old from three centuries which pianists have loved to play and audiences to hear, and which over the generations have lost none of their dazzling power.