Whats on your turntable tonight?

Count Basie - S/T [Brunswick mono LP '57] Early 78rpm sides

The Gants - "I Wonder" [Bam Caruso (England) LP comp. '88, rec. '65-'67] Selections culled from their three albums and six singles on Liberty

The Pentangle - "Sweet Child" [Reprise 2LP '68] Half live, half studio, all excellent

Hickory Wind - "At The Wednesday Night Waltz" [Adelphi LP '74] Local DC area acoustic group mixed bluegrass, traditional Piedmont folk and string-band influences

Hickory Wind - "Fresh Produce" [Flying Fish LP '75]

The Plimsouls - S/T [Planet LP '81]

To the discard pile:

The Hollywood Stars - S/T [Arista LP '77] Great as he is, Kim Fowley involvement (only some shared songwriting credits in this case) has never been a guarantee

Slade - "Till Deaf Do Us Part" [RCA (England) LP '81] Great as they were, this one is too late in the game

Sergio Mendes Trio - "In The Brazilian Bag" [Tower stereo LP '66] Piano trio + guests Wanda de Sah vocals, Rosinha de Valenca guitar (fantastic playing), Bud Shank flute & alto sax. A gorgeous samba record originally released on parent label Capitol the year before.

Edmundo Ros & His Orchestra - "Rhythms Of The South" [London FFSS stereo LP '57]

Sonny Stitt Quartet - "The Hard Swing" [Verve stereo LP '60]

McCoy Tyner - "...Plays Ellington" [Impulse! mono promo LP '64] Trio with the Coltrane rhythm section of Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. What a perfectly mesmerizing album.

Quincy Jones - "The Lost Man" O.M.P. Soundtrack [Uni promo LP '69]

Traffic - "Mr. Fantasy" [U.A. LP '68] Outside of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and to a lesser extent "Paper Sun", most of the rest of this psyche-foolery really doesn't hold up all that well

The Allman Brothers Band - "At Fillmore East" [Capricorn 2LP '71]

Nilsson - "...Sings Newman" [RCA Victor LP '70] Songs and piano by Randy Newman

Robin Gibb - "Robin's Reign" [Atco LP '70] Probably one of the first, if not the first, art-pop album to make extensive use of an electronic rhythm box as a sonic-seasoning effect

The Bee Gees - "Trafalgar" [Atco LP '71]

Stairsteps - S/T [Buddah LP '70] AKA The 5 Stairsteps as they were formerly (and continued to be best) known, this album included their biggest hit "O-o-h Child" but also leads off with two mystifyingly pointless, though quite okay, Beatles covers (Lennon's "Dear Prudence" and "Getting Better"), in that the original arrangements are barely changed, while the style is hardly the Stairsteps' own.

Beethoven Cello Sonatas, Rostropovich and Richter, Philips 835 182/83

Cat Stevens, Teaser and the Firecat | Tea for the Tillerman (Island)

Paul Simon, Graceland
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Yello-Flag, Mel Torme-Swings Schubert Alley, Anita O'Day-Make mine the Blues, Clifford Brown -Clifford Brown All Stars.

Prokofiev, Lt. Kije
Stravinsky, Song of the Nightingale (wonderful!)
- Reiner/CSO, RCA LSC 2150-45 (45rpm Classic Records reissue)

Stravinsky, L'Histoire du Soldat, Suite - Markevitch/EnsembleDeSolistes, Jean Cocteau/Peter Ustinov, Philips 6500 321
.