Digression #6: New Posts & Re-Ups

Hello all,
Just wanted to say hello and that my absence was due to moving and getting settled in my new job as an English teaching assistant in Bordeaux, France. Now that I am comfortable (and have a two-week break!) I can resume blogging.

NEW POSTS:
* Penny McLean's 1975 album "Lady Bump" in remastered lossless audio.
* A continuing theme on this blog: the two most "ABBA-esque" albums (Brotherhood of Man's "Images" [1977] and Maywood's "Different Worlds" [1980]; the former is a personal upload while the latter is a link to another blog).

NEW POSTS TO COME (As mentioned in my 'Digression #5'):
* A couple of links to great albums on other blogs.
* "Ladies of the 80s" Sampler (P. Benatar, L. Branigan, J. Rush, etc.)
* Hi-NRG Sampler
* "Best of Lime" Sampler
* "Canciónes en Español" Sampler (Los Panchos, J.A. Jiménez, M.A. Mejía, etc.)

RE-UPS:
* I have re-uploaded the "Cher Sings Bob Dylan" Sampler.
* I have uploaded a revised/expanded edition of the Bacharach Sampler

RE-UPS TO COME:
* It appears that some of the Expanded Soundtracks are no longer available for download, so I will re-up when I have the chance.

POSTS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE PENDING RE-UP:
* I will upload a revised/expanded edition of the "Country Ladies" Sampler
* I will upload a revised/expanded edition of the ever-popular "Dionne Warwick Sings Burt Bacharach" Sampler using remastered versions of many of the songs, thanks to a link from an anonymous commenter

Bacharach Sampler (REVISED & EXPANDED)

I originally posted this Bacharach Sampler in June 2012, and it has proven one of my more popular posts. I have therefore decided to revisit it by expanding the tracklist out to a full two discs.
This Sampler is a collection of songs by composer Burt Bacharach, and is intended as the companion volume to the 'Dionne Warwick Sings Bacharach' Sampler, and as such I have excluded Warwick's solo works from this album (although two Warwick collaborations are included).
---
To build this album, I have borrowed generously from the double-disc "Burt Bacharach & Friends Gold" (released in 2006) and the single-disc collector's anthology "Always Something There" (released in 2008), both of which I own on CD. However, I have tried to be a bit creative with the track-listing, including lesser known versions along with some of the hit versions. This collection is by no means exhaustive, but should be fairly representative of Bacharach's works. The album is sequenced in mostly chronological order, with a few adjustments made for flow and such. Most of the songs are from my own CD collection, but a couple are from around the internet, and I have given credit to the sources when such is the case.
---
Wikipedia notes that "[a]s of 2006, Bacharach had written 70 Top 40 hits in the U.S., and 52 Top 40 hits in the UK," a pretty respectable number I would say.
---

--- 
Disc 1: 1957-1968 (here)
01. Magic Moments (Perry Como, 1957)
02. The Last Time I Saw My Heart (Marty Robbins, 1958)
03. I Looked For You (Charlie Gracie, 1960)
04. Mexican Divorce (The Drifters, 1962)
05. Baby It's You (The Shirelles, 1962)
06. (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valence (Gene Pitney, 1962)
07. Any Day Now (Dee Dee Sharp, 1962)
08. Blue On Blue (Bobby Vinton, 1963)
09. Wives And Lovers (Jack Jones, 1963)
10. Wishin' And Hopin' (Dusty Springfield, 1964)
11. Anyone Who Had A Heart (Cilla Black, 1964)
12. Only Love Can Break A Heart (Gene Pitney, 1962)
13. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (Dusty Springfield, 1964)
14. T'en Va Pas Comme Ça (Nancy Holloway, 1964)
- French Version of "Don't Make Me Over"
- From the album "Bye Bye" at Soulful Divas
15. Send Me No Flowers (Doris Day, 1964)
16. Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa (Dusty Springfield, 1964)
17. Trains And Boats And Planes (Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, 1965)
18. Make It Easy On Yourself (The Walker Brothers, 1965)
19. What's New Pussycat? (Tom Jones, 1965)
20. What The World Needs Now Is Love (Jackie DeShannon, 1965)
21. If I Never Get To Love You (Gene Pitney, 1965)
22. Alfie (Cher, 1966)
23. Message To Michael (The Marvelettes, 1967)
- From the 1967 album "The Marvelettes" at Snap, Crackle & Pop
24. 'Casino Royale' Theme (Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, 1968)
25. Do You Know The Way To San José? (The Johnny Mann Singers, 1968)
- From the album "Sixties Mann" at Lounge Legends
Bonus: 
26. Bacharach-David Medley (Carpenters, 1971)
---
Disc 2: 1968-1988 (here)

01. The Look Of Love (Dusty Springfield, 1968)
02. I Say A Little Prayer (Aretha Franklin, 1968)
03. Promises, Promises (Jerry Orbach, 1968)
04. This Girl's In Love With You (Petula Clark, 1968)
05. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (B.J. Thomas, 1969)
06. One Less Bell To Answer (The 5th Dimension, 1970)
07. They Don't Give Medals To Yesterday's Heroes (Dionne Warwick & B.J. Thomas, 1970)
08. (They Long To Be) Close To You (Carpenters, 1970)
09. Walk On By (Gloria Gaynor, 1975)
10. I Took My Strength From You (I Had None) (Stephanie Mills, 1975)
11. You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart) (The Stylistics, 1976)
12. Valley Of The Dolls (Eruption Feat. Precious Wilson, 1978)
- From the classic disco album "Leave A Light" at Moimix
13. Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) (Christopher Cross, 1981)
14. A House Is Not A Home (Luther Vandross, 1981)
15. Making Love (Roberta Flack, 1982)
16. (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me (Naked Eyes, 1982)
17. That's What Friends Are For (Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, & Elton John, 1985)
18. The Windows Of The World (The Pretenders, 1988)
---
P.S. If you are a fan of Burt Bacharach's music and like easy listening and lounge music, you may also enjoy the compilation assembled by the Lounge Legends blog. Bacharach's songs can also be found on many other albums posted there. Enjoy!
---
P.P.S. Here is a relatively recent (2008) performance by Adele of "Baby It's You"...

Maywood- "Different Worlds" (1981)

Hello,
I previously posted the first of two "ABBA-esque" albums, 1977's Images by Brotherhood of Man.
---
Here is the second: Dutch duo Maywood's Different Worlds, released in 1981. Their second album, it is probably their most consistently good work (along with their third album, Colour My Rainbow [1982]) and catches them at their height. A few of the songs here were included in the "ABBA-esque Sampler" that I posted a while back.
---
For this album, please follow the link below to go to the DiscoToGo Blog.
---

---
01. Rio
02. It's A Different World
03. Gone Without A Reason
04. You're The One
05. Since I Met You
06. Pasadena
07. I'm In Love For The Very First Time
08. Mano
09. What A World
10. Distant Love
11. Just A Little Bit Of Love
---
Get it at the Disco2Go Blog. Enjoy!

Brotherhood of Man- "Images" (1977)

Hello all,
In the next few days, I'd like to highlight the two albums I consider the most "ABBA-esque."
---
The first of these albums is Brotherhood of Man's 1977 album Images. BoM were often referred to at the time as the "UK's answer to ABBA," or even as the "Poor Man's ABBA." Although I think that neither characterisation is entirely fair, their similarity to ABBA is undeniable, and this is certainly their most ABBA-ey album.
A few of the songs here were featured in the "ABBA-Esque Music Sampler," including the UK #1 hit "Angelo" (reminiscent of ABBA's #1 hit "Fernando") and the follow-up single "Highwayman."
---
In addition to the original album, I have included four bonus tracks.
The first two - "Save Your Kisses For Me" and "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby" - were featured in the group's 1976 album Love And Kisses. As ABBA had done two years before with "Waterloo," BoM won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses For Me," which was also a UK chart-topper.
The third bonus is the title track of the 1977 album Oh Boy! and the fourth ("Circus") was the B-Side of "Angelo" and was included as the sole bonus track on the CD reissue of Images.
---

---
ORIGINAL ALBUM:
01. Angelo
02. Images
03. Safety First
04. Two Can Live As Cheap Babe
05. You Can Say That Again
06. Lullaby
07. Highwayman
08. Star
09. All Night
10. Sparky
11. To-night's The Night
12. The Night Of My Life

BONUS:
13. Save Your Kisses For Me
14. Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby
15. Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In)
16. Circus
---
Get it here. Enjoy!
---
The songs here come from the 2009 Remastered Double-Disc Reissue. If this piques your interest, you can purchase both double-disc collections ("Oh Boy/Images" and "Good Things Happening/Love & Kisses") at Amazon.

Penny McLean- "Lady Bump" (1975)

Hello all,
Here is my first post after an absence of a month and a half.
This is Penny McLean's 1975 debut solo album. Penny McLean was a member of the German disco studio group Silver Convention (of "Fly Robin Fly" and "Get Up And Boogie" fame). All three members released at least one solo album, but Penny McLean's solo works are by far the most interesting. This first album contains the hit singles "Lady Bump" and "1-2-3-4... Fire!."
---
This particular rip is of the 2005 24-Bit Remastered Russian CD Release (which I am admittedly not convinced is an official release, however official it may look). The disc contains no liner notes although it does contain production information; whatever the case, the sound quality is quite good. This album is relatively rare in good sound quality (it is available for download on iTunes, but it sounds as if it is sourced from a somewhat crackly vinyl LP).
---

---
ORIGINAL ALBUM:
1. Lady Bump (U.S. Album Version: 5:28)
2. Devil Eyes (3:50)
3. The Wizard Bump (3:29)
4. The A-B-C Of Love (3:12)
5. 1-2-3-4...Fire! (3:10)
6. Big Bad Boy (4:42)
7. Baby Doll (4:03)
8. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (6:08)
9. I'm Knocking (At Your Door) (3:15)

BONUS:
10. Lady Bump (Short Version: 3:45)
11. Lady Bump (12" Version: 6:22)
---
I offer it in two formats: Mp3 (256 VBR) or Apple Lossless (Tracks 1-5 and 6-11).

NOTE: Track 11 is in mp3 format as it is from an internet source rather than from the CD, but the sound quality is still quite good.
---
P.S. As a bonus, here is a Youtube post of the rare single "Tut-Ench-Amun," which IMHO is among Penny McLean's best singles. Enjoy!

Jennifer Rush- "The Power Of Love" (1984)

Hello all,
Today, as a taster for the upcoming "Ladies Of The 80s Sampler," I would like to share the 1984 Jennifer Rush single The Power Of Love. Rush was the first artist to record the song, having herself co-written it. It rose to #1 in many markets, including the UK, but only peaked at #57 in the US. The (all-but-forgotten) B-Side, I See A Shadow (Not A Fantasy), is a haunting and quite catchy tune in itself, and is certainly worth a listen.
In addition to the original single, I have included three bonuses: Rush's Spanish-language version of the song (Si Tu Eres Mi Hombre Y Yo Tu Mujer); Laura Branigan's 1987 cover, which peaked at #26 in the US; and Céline Dion's 1993 cover, which topped the US Billboard Charts and peaked at #4 in the UK.
I like all three artists' renditions for different reasons, but Branigan's cover is probably my favourite version all-around.

Original Single (Jennifer Rush, 1984):
1. The Power Of Love
2. I See A Shadow (Not A Fantasy)

Bonus:
3. Si Tu Eres Mi Hombre Y Yo Tu Mujer (Jennifer Rush, 1984)
4. Power Of Love (Laura Branigan, 1987)
5. The Power Of Love (Céline Dion, 1993)

Enjoy!

Digression #5: Hello!

Hi all,
Just a quick post to say I have not fallen off the face of the planet. I've just been very busy recently, as I am now one week away from finishing my Bachelor's degree. However, I have been brainstorming for some new posts and should have at least a couple of the following posts up in the next few days:

- "Ladies of the 80s" Sampler (P. Benatar, L. Branigan, J. Rush, etc.)
- Hi-NRG Sampler
- "Best of Lime" Sampler
- "Canciónes en Español" Sampler (Los Panchos, J.A. Jiménez, M.A. Mejía, etc.)

...And perhaps some other goodies as well :)