Six Street Vagabonds

VVer #1 was rolling solo out from a concert at the Black Cat the other night and out of the corner of his eye spotted a small stack of vagabond vinyl sitting against a nearby wall.  Since the Black Cat show had no vinyl for sale (boohoo), he had a little jonesing for the stuff.  "Sad vinyl out in the cold, it is I who will rescue you!"  In the dark it was hard to tell what was what, but it was definitely vinyl.  Here is what he found:

Rimsky-Korsakoff Scheherzade, Montreux Conducting the London Symphony Orchestra
This platter is loaded with all manor of flourishes.  Soft violins and flutes over gentle percussion lead to bombastic wind gusts of power.  Classy classic classical.  Though the VVers are by no means experts on classical, they know what they like and this is it.  Description on the back sleeve of Montreux as "the dean of living conductors," completing this recording at the age of eighty-six!  Welcome to the collection.

Bonnie Raitt Sweet Forgiveness 1977
This LP gets off to a "not entirely displeasing" start with two super bluesy numbers, the most interesting of which is a cutting rendition of the 50's Del Shannon hit "Runaway."  Things get sappy from here and a little into gospel territory.  Ick.  Side B has a similar unevenness.  The title track is a touch sentimental, but ... "I don't know what my tolerance is for any more of this yelping," says VVer #2.  Thankfully, "Three Time Loser" and "Takin' My Time" both have more swagger, and the later goes briefly into epic "November Rain" territory.

Anne Murray Love Song 1974 Wow, this is not the sort of music that ever gets played in the house of VV.  Is it bad?  No, not really.  Ms. Murray has a rich, calming voice.  The music is soothing, mellow, slightly country, and no.  No.  The VVers don't really do this sort of thing.  "BLAH BLAH BLAH WHOO WHOO AGH!" said VVer #2, the sound of a dying wombat.

Charlie Rich Behind Closed Doors 1973
Basically the same album, but with a lot more dude.  The first two tracks on this one were so badly scraped that they cannot be played.  This may indeed turn out to be a blessing.  In this case, the less music, the better.  The back cover write-up is so ridiculously over the top about Mr. Rich, it is to the point of deification.

Don't do it Bonnie!

Bonnie Raitt Home Plate 1975
Ms. Raitt gets another chance here and just from the first glance at the album cover things don't bode well.  Such a hokey pose Ms. Raitt.  VVer #2 is shocked that this is a cover for an album.  Horrible.  The music however starts off well.  The sound is a pleasing blend of funk, jazz, and blues with a decent amount of moxy stirred into the brew.  Ms. Raitt probably brought the house down at the small clubs.  This sort of music rarely makes the cut in the House of VV, but it's impossible to deny that Ms. Raitt's vocal chops go for miles with a healthy slice of soul to boot.  Too bad most of it is kind of boring.  YER OUTTA HERE!

Orchestra Harlow Heavy Smokin' 1966
Whoa, what's going on in here?  This cover really is kind of scary.  Looking at the vinyl is also scary.  It looks like hell.  It looks like somebody attacked it with a sandwich full of gravel.  VVer #1 assumed it couldn't even be played, but surprisingly, with a significant amount of cleaning, it played nine of the twelve tracks with minimal skippage.  Heavy Smokin' is an enjoyable salsa album.  While it isn't exactly "heavy," "smokin'," or remarkable (except for the cover), "it isn't terrible" exclaimed VVer #2.  And like a puff of smoke, gone.

Moral of the story for picking up a stack of random vinyl off the side of the road; have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised if one is a keeper.  Enjoy crappy records for all their crappiness, then toss them back onto the side of the road for another vagabonder to discover, or a squirrel to go sledding on.