If It’s Good To You (It’s Good For You) – Eddie Bo-Another New Orleans funk legend unbeknownst to me until undertaking this task. I’m running out of adjectives to describe them.
Imagine The Swan – The Zombies-A foray into baroque rock with rich harmony and harpsichord. The chorus is great, but it’s kinda clunky getting there. Overall, worth a listen.
In The Court Of The Crimson King – King Crimson-Broken up into 2 parts for the 45, as a part one and two deal. It only made it as high as #80 in the US, but it is obviously one of the more groundbreaking recordings that are being reviewed here. A watershed moment in the history of pop.
In The Ghetto – Elvis Presley-After Elvis “came back” in ’68, he followed that up with an astonishing run of 45’s. This is one of them. I don’t think there’s ever been such a seamless amalgam of pop styles so skillfully executed on one record.
In The Land Of Make Believe – Dusty Springfield-I could listen to Dusty sing the phone book. Love how on this track how it’s chock full of orchestrations, but the playing is understated so we can focus on the vocals, as it should be. Wonderful recording.
In The Year 2525 – Zager & Evans-This is just bad, right down to the cheesy reverb on the vocals.
Indian Giver – 1910 Fruitgum Company-Before the days of political correctness, you could write a song like this, and actually sell it to children. Title aside, it’s a nice big hunk of bubblegum, complete with a key change at the end.
Is That All There Is? – Peggy Lee-Love the sparse arrangement with the banjo and horn punctuations. “Let’s break out the booze and have a ball”….couldn’t agree more.
It Don’t Matter To Me – Bread-Mellow rock rears it’s ugly head, just kidding this is actually pretty good.
It Mek – Desmond Dekker-Jamaican reggae makes it’s first appearance here. This did not dent the US charts, but in the UK it went to #7 and sold over one million units worldwide. Nice little number that bounces along pretty much the way you’d expect it to.
It’s A Beautiful Day Today – Moby Grape-Do I detect a twinge of sarcasm? Odd choice here to whistle an entire verse, but the Grape always did their own thing. The harmonies are really nice, regardless.
It’s Your Thing – The Isley Brothers-Remember, you can order “The Whopper” any way you want it.
Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus – Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin-French for “I love You…Me Neither”—This thing is steaming up all the windows. A French spoken word tune that depicts sex without love, complete with simulated orgasm at the end. Wow.
Jingle Jangle – The Archies- Jughead and the dog layin down the backbeat, and a stellar duet by Betty and Veronica. Seriously, this is a teriffic record.