What are you listening to? May 2025

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Mikhail Pletnev - Tchaikovsky: 6 Piano Pieces (Op. 21), The Seasons (Op. 37B) (1994)

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Tchaikovsky is not known for his piano miniatures, but these 18 pieces have considerable variety and charm. The exuberance of Mikhail Pletnev brings them to glowing life. No wonder "1001 Pre-Mortem Classical Recordings" included this album.
 
Soundtrack - Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (rec. 1936, Disneyland Records 1957)

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Vinyl Spin of the Day.

The liner notes explain just how groundbreaking the first full-length animated feature really was back in 1937. A big part of its surprising success was the music which itself was a major innovation: the first commercially released soundtrack album.

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Walt Disney spared no expense to hire top songwriters and composers and the results contributed greatly to the film's magic. Six of the songs by Larry Morey and Frank Churchill hit the top ten. Leigh Harline and Paul J. Smith added elaborately orchestrated background music, including an overture, that compares favorably with what the major studios were using for their first rank films.

In 1957, Walt released this album on his own Disneyland label, which is the version I'm spinning now.

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My pristine copy of this release still sounds great today, even in mono, thanks to the sophisticated remastering. Disney insisted on this "to preserve this classic sound track for this and future generations of children of all ages."

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Shirley Temple presenting Walt Disney with an honorary Oscar for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, consisting of one full-size statue along with seven “dwarf” statuettes.
 
Gerry Mulligan - Butterfly With Hiccups (Limelight 1964)

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Vinyl Spin of the Day.

This outstanding set finds Mulligan in the company of Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Bob Brookmeyer, Dave Bailey and Bill Crow. Mighty fine company, if you ask me. This deluxe gatefold cover was printed on textured paper and included Limelight's usual cut paper booklet bound into the middle section.

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For whatever reason, Butterfly was never released on compact disc and does not seem to be available for streaming or download. :(
 
Connie Smith - The Best of Connie Smith (K-Tel 1983)

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Sometimes you just can't win for losing. Connie Smith, unhappy with the poor quality and poorer sales of her output for Monument Records, stayed home to raise her five children for several years. When she finally braved the studio again in February 1983, the label promptly declared bankruptcy.

Later that same year, she found herself re-recording her hits for K-Tel, the last refuge of fading stars. This collection actually did a very creditable job of recreating the sound of her RCA hits. In fact, it did such a good job that I suspect steel guitar ace Weldon Myrick who played a key role in the original studio sessions returned to add his unique style to these remakes. Unfortunately, the murky audio of the CD version released in 1989 sounds like it was dubbed from a well worn LP.
 
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