WOW! I can't believe that May is already here...time for me to release another CD in the continuing "Joni Covers" saga:
Three cheers for the great folks who helped me gather up these recordings: Monica Cardinale Stephen Elliott Here's what you'll find on this month's volume: 1. Patrick Regan Band - The Dawntreader: The ONLY other recording of this song I'm aware of...and I love it, it features both male & female vocals, the guy reminds me of Brad Roberts from Crash Test Dummies. And I love the arrangement and instruments, really fleshes out one of Joni's best melodies beautifully. 2. Enzo Pietropaoli - River: An Italian jazz bassist, Enzo is supported here by a nice female voice, Maria Pia de Vito. 3. Mia Martini - Taxi Giallo: Speaking of eye-talian, here's a version of Big Yellow Taxi sung in the Italian tongue. Mama Mia! 4. Joel Grey - Both Sides Now: Joel will probably always be remembered for his role as the Emcee in Cabaret. I doubt he'll be remembered much for this. 5. Roberto Ottaviano - Sweet Sucker Dance: More Italian jazz, this is a gorgeous recording from saxophonist Ottaviano and a full jazz quintet. Tiziana Ghiglioni provides the vocal. Love it. 6. The Carol Hamersma Trio - Chelsea Morning: Carol's a jazz guitarist, and combines some fine playing with a very nice vocal. 7. Krystyna Olsiewicz - Carey: Krystyna needs to spin the wheel of fortune and buy some vowels! She's a prodigy of avant-garde recording artist R. Stevie Moore, and this reading of Carey is actually pretty straightforward. 8. Kiri Te Kanawa - Both Sides Now: Maybe SHE should have done Carey and called it Kiri! ;~) A somewhat stuffy operatic version. 9. Bobby & I - Michael From Mountains: Don't know anything about this group, just that they recorded in the mid-70's, and thankfully chose this one instead of you-know-what! 10. Eugene von Beethoven - All I Want: Speaking of avant-garde, this one may be the weirdest one yet! The "Eugene" is Eugene Chadbourne, who plays his guitar with a rake at times and puts out a new CD about every month! The "von Beethoven" is Camper von Beethoven, and they joined forces with Chadbourne to make this live record. It's almost undescribable in it's strangeness, yet it has some potential in terms of the arrangement. 11. London Pops Orchestra - Woodstock: A ho-hum orchestral version of the Matthews Southern Comfort arrangement. 12. Jane Henderson - Both Sides Now 13. Jane Henderson - All I Want: These were a VERY pleasant surprise, I loved them both. Jane's got a pretty pleasing voice, and the beauty of these helps to cleanse the listening palate from #10! 14. Blind Guardian - This Flight Tonight: Wouldn't be a complete volume without the required heavy-metal TFN! 15. Lillian Ho - The Circle Game: Wouldn't be a complete volume without the required Asian femvox Circle Game! 16. Rod McKuen - Both Sides Now: Never knew what this guy's appeal was, his voice makes Bonnie Tyler & Rod Stewart sound crystalline. I'm not sure I've ever listened to this one all the way through! Maybe he's a better poet. 17. Jude - Morning Morgantown: Fun, poppy version of MM. A very obscure & hard-to-find recording. Don't know anything about these guys either. 18. Art Lande - For Free: Well, we at least close the volume out with a very lovely selection; a solo piano version of For Free from jazz pianist Art Lande, who recorded an album of songs in 3/4 time that this comes from. He improvs a bit, and the result is a wonderful 5+ minute recording that leaves you longing for more! So there you have it...stay tuned to win a free copy! Bob NP: R. Stevie Moore, "Elation Damnation"
