Podcast 30!!!

Sorry for the long absence. I've been incredibly busy so I haven't had a lot of time for posting. But today, I am posting! And not just any old post, but the 30th Podcast! I can't believe I'm on Podcast #30. This one, if I dare say, is awesome! Starting off with one of my favorite songs sung by my good friend, Leon Dewain, followed by a wide variety of clips from Tears For Fears, Mark Pender, Flickerstick, Talking Heads, Winterpills, the Flintstones, Wild Man Fisher, Van Halen, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Flock of Seagulls and much, much more! Great listening material for home, office, car, bus, train or anywhere! Here is Podcast 30. Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #30

Dartman's Advent Calendar 2011: Day 22

Today marks the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year and the basis for all of the holidays celebrated at this time. To celebrate, we bring forth one, not three, king as we pull back the flap! Enjoy!

Advent Calendar 2011 Day 22

The King Takes Over Stax

In July of 1973, Elvis and his entourage entered the famed Stax Studios in his hometown of Memphis and proceeded to record. However, it would take a while to get the recording done. It all started on a Monday night. The first thing Elvis requested was that nothing happen until the end of Monday Night Football, a Monday night tradition he shared with the Memphis Mafia. When it was discovered that there were no televisions big enough for everyone to view it on, someone was sent out to buy the biggest tv they could find to watch the game on. When the "viewing party" was over, that's when the guys entered the studio only to be paused again when Elvis declared that the lights were too bright and needed to be changed to softer, colored bulbs. When that was done, the band and Elvis realized that the colored bulbs made it too dark to read the charts so the original bulbs were replaced. Then, and only then, did the recording session convene. An interesting fact about the recordings done at Stax: while the songs were recorded at the Stax studio, the actual recording equipment was the RCA Mobile Recording unit which was in a truck parked in the parking lot of the studio. Among the great tracks recorded at Stax are "Talking About The Good Times" and the classic version of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land". Here are a bunch of out takes from those sessions. Here is "Good Times In The Promised Land". Enjoy!

Elvis Presley- Good Times In The Promised Land

The Unseen Mirage

I recently popped in Fleetwood Mac's "The Dance" and once again realized how great that band really is. That live album is so worth every penny spent on it and I strongly suggest you run out and grab it if you don't have it already. Anyway, it got me to thinking that I had a great bootleg of outtakes from the band's great 80s album, Mirage. Not just starts and stops but full blown takes of almost every song on the album. The sound quality is superb and many of the songs sound even better than the actual released versions. A great find for any fan of this great band! Enjoy!

Fleetwood Mac-Mirage Outtakes

The February of Frank: The Lost Tapes Of The Capitol Years

Following yesterday's post featuring a concert from Sinatra's great Capitol era of the late 50s comes today's "lost" tracks from the recording sessions of those albums. "From The Vaults" was a privately circulated release from the mid 90s and only 1000 copies were originally issued. The collection featured mostly out-takes from the Capitol recording sessions from 1955 to 1960 with two tracks from Frank's Reprise era starting in 1960. Trying to find a copy of this album can be quite pricey. But well worth it when you consider that the sound quality on the disc is absoutely masterful and the material includes alternate takes of Same Old Song and Dance, Weep They Will (Tony Bennett's favorite Sinatra recording) and What Is This Thing called Love, featuring a great clarinet solo by Mahlon Clark which was excised from the final release. This collection, much like the "Inside Sinatra" box set, shows Sinatra in complete control of his recording sessions. Here is "From The Vaults, Volume 1". Enjoy!

Frank Sinatra-From The Vaults Volume 1

The February of Frank: A Look Inside Ol' Blue Eyes

Sinatra's discography could fill a book the size of the Bible. The amount of recordings that he did from the 30s through the 90s is amazing and almost unbelievable. As with any artist, there are the tracks and takes that made it to the records and the takes and tracks that didn't. Somewhere along the line, someone leaks the tracks and takes that didn't make it and thus a bootleg is born. A giant box set of Sinatra's recording sessions from the 60s was released sometime in the late 90s and it is truly amazing! It's entitled "Inside Sinatra" and each disc in the box set deals with an individual album from that era. Throughout the February of Frank, I will be posting the different albums from this box set for you to enjoy. Today we get to enjoy "Inside Basie". These are the sessions from the recording of the classic, "Sinatra-Basie" album that came out in 1962. These sessions show the album taking shape and in some cases, veering off into different directions from what was originally planned. If you are like me, then you love to hear what goes on in the recording studio. If that's the case, you are going to love this boot. Here is "Inside Basie". Enjoy!

Frank Sinatra-Inside Basie