Jimmy Buffett - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes Live (1978-2008) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here is another guest post by Mike Solof. I am putting words into his mouth, but I think what happened is that he Felt he really enjoyed the 1977 album "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," by Jimmy Buffett. But after hearing it many many times, he wanted to hear it in a different way. So he collected live versions of all songs on the album and put them in the same order as the original. 

He managed to find live versions of all of the songs, with all of them in excellent sound quality. Most of them come from a year or two after the album was released, though a couple are from significantly later. None of the songs are extended, so don't expect drastically different versions. In fact, this album is a minute or two shorter than the studio version.

This was Buffett's breakthrough album that turned him into a big star, helped greatly by the conclusion of the hit song "Margaritaville." If you like the album a lot, you should enjoy this one.

This album is 39 minutes long.

01 Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes (Jimmy Buffett)
02 Wonder Why We Ever Go Home (Jimmy Buffett)
03 Banana Republics (Jimmy Buffett)
04 Tampico Tundra (Jimmy Buffett)
05 Lovely Cruise (Jimmy Buffett)
06 Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett)
07 In the Shelter (Jimmy Buffett)
08 Miss You So Badly (Jimmy Buffett)
09 Biloxi (Jimmy Buffett)
10 Landfall (Jimmy Buffett)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/9UBFHbeV 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/z8ghyGoVXlXDmgg/file

The cover image is from a concert at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 4, 1976.

The Carpenters - Singles Uncovered, Volume 3: 1976-1981 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here is the third and last volume of "Singles Uncovered," a Carpenters collection curated by guest poster Mike Solof.

In my write up for Volume Two, I gave my thoughts on why Mike chose to include some songs, but not other songs. For this write up, I thought I would go straight to the horse's mouth – I asked him to explain his selection. Here's what he had to say:

"Hi everybody, I hope you’re liking the series so far. As Paul explained in the last post, I started with the theory of doing all the singles, but then hated some of the singles (lol) so I didn’t include them. As for the non-singles that I might of included… Did I do that??? If so, sorry, but they were probably songs that I knew and loved, so consider them singles adjacent and think of them as bonus songs without Paul’s perplexing method of not numbering the bonus songs (lol). Looking forward to your feedback… See you next project which is a fun Jimmy Buffett one, and which also might be posted soon."

This album is one hour and two minutes long.

01 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (Carpenters)
02 Can't Smile without You (Carpenters)
03 Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (Carpenters)
04 Two Sides (Carpenters)
05 I Just Fall in Love again (Carpenters)
06 The Christmas Song [Merry Christmas to You] (Carpenters)
07 I'll Be Home for Christmas (Carpenters)
08 Little Altar Boy (Carpenters)
09 Leave Yesterday Behind (Carpenters)
10 If I Had You (Carpenters)
11 Touch Me When We're Dancing (Carpenters)
12 Because We Are in Love (Carpenters)
13 Want You Back in My Life Again (Carpenters)
14 Those Good Old Dreams (Carpenters)
15 Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore (Carpenters)
16 The Rainbow Connection (Carpenters)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/PdtgCZu1 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/NH0bCyNdcDfuLLs/file

The cover image was chosen by Mike. I don't know the details. But they look pretty young. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program.

The Carpenters - Singles Uncovered, Volume 2: 1972-1976 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

The day before yesterday, I posted "Volune 1" in this series of Carpenters albums made by guest poster Mike Solof. This is the second volume, and the third volume will be coming very soon. 

As mentioned in the write-up for "Volume 1," this blog has already posted some different attempts to strip the Carpenters' music of excessive production and get it back to basics, especially Karen Carpenter's voice. But Mike has taken a different approach. He used his editing skills to get rid of most of the strings and excessive backing vocals, but still keep guitar, bass, and drums, as well as the lead vocals.

Also, note that while this is called "Singles Uncovered," that's not strictly true. Most single A-sides from this time are included. But there are some that Mike didn't like so he left them off. And I think they're also are some non-singles that he did like that he included.

This album is one hour long.

01 It's Going to Take Some Time (Carpenters)
02 Goodbye to Love (Carpenters)
03 Road Ode (Carpenters)
04 I Won't Last a Day without You (Carpenters)
05 Top of the World (Carpenters)
06 Sing (Carpenters)
07 This Masquerade (Carpenters)
08 Yesterday Once More (Carpenters)
09 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (Carpenters)
10 Please, Mr. Postman (Carpenters)
11 Only Yesterday (Carpenters)
12 Happy (Carpenters)
13 Solitaire (Carpenters)
14 Love Me for What I Am (Carpenters)
15 Tryin' to Get That Feeling Again (Carpenters)
16 There's a Kind of Hush (Carpenters)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/MY3dHuzL 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/2TR4KryTZswXVd9/file

The cover image was chosen by Mike. I don't know the details.

The Carpenters - Singles Uncovered, Volume 1: 1969-1972 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Hi Everybody,

This is Mike Solof, a frequent guest poster at this blog, and temporary introduction writer. Paul just texted me and asked if I would write a brief intro to my latest project for him, since he is gallavanting around Spain on vacation right now. I told him I would be happy to give it a whirl. So here, just like Paul would, is my whirl (written as if in Paul's voice):

Over the years, I have featured a lot of variations on Carpenters songs for this blog. Today, we continue that tradition once again. In the past, I have featured full acapella, and near acappella versions, piano recitals, and BBC sessions (some done by another guest poster, Fabio from Rio). Obviously there is just something about Karen’s voice and her harmonies with her brother Richard that we just can’t seem to get enough of around here. So when Mike approached me to do yet another take on their music, it was a no brainer. His versions follow the same path he takes with his Uncovered Beatles series. In those, he created new versions of songs you know and love by ripping apart the the commercial versions using modern audio editing technology, and eliminating the excessive and unneeded additions which in this case was all the orchestral backings, as well as the overuse of choral singers in their later years. This leaves the basic tracks, which usually include Karen’s and Richard’s vocals, accompanied by bass, drums, piano,  and guitar. Mike occasionally left in other instruments as well to fill out the extra quiet spots. He calls this "Pure Carpenters," and I tend to agree.

So here is Volume One, which covers the years 1969-1972. two more volumes will follow.

I did convince him he would have to change his picture for the cover though. What you see, presented here, is a shot he found online of Karen and Richard mixing their first album. His original version, had a beautiful picture of just two random carpenters working on a house. That’s his sense of humor, so ask him for that version if you’d like a copy. He’s strange in that way, but he hopes you enjoy this new project as much as he enjoyed putting it together.

---

Thanks, Mike. This is the real Paul writing again. Everything up above is true except for the part about the  original cover art featuring to actual carpenters working on a house instead of the two members of the Carpenters. Mike really wanted to use that, but I fought him tooth and nail on it. However, you can see it below if you're curious. You can also see it in the PDF file that he included in the download zip.

This album is 56 minutes long.

01 Ticket to Ride (Carpenters)
02 Your Wonderful Parade (Carpenters)
03 Don't Be Afraid (Carpenters)
04 All of My Life (Carpenters)
05 [They Long to Be] Close to You (Carpenters)
06 I Kept on Loving You (Carpenters)
07 We've Only Just Begun (Carpenters)
08 Mr. Guder (Carpenters)
09 Maybe It's You [Piano Version] (Carpenters)
10 Merry Christmas Darling (Carpenters)
11 For All We Know (Carpenters)
12 Rainy Days and Mondays (Carpenters)
13 Saturday (Carpenters)
14 Superstar [Groupie] (Carpenters)
15 Let Me Be the One (Carpenters)
16 Drucilla Penny (Carpenters)
17 One Love (Carpenters)
18 Bless the Beasts and the Children (Carpenters)
19 Hurting Each Other (Carpenters)

Maybe It's You [Orchestra Version] (Carpenters) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/aiKnKZiF

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/p7xLQDFG3Cz009H/file 

The cover image was chosen by Mike. I don't know the details. But they look pretty young. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program.

Also, just for fun, Mike asked me to make this alternate cover, which is a, uh, much more literal take on the word "Carpenters."

Klaatu - The Sampler Album (1976-2005) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's another Mike Solof guest post. This one came about because I was conversing with Mike, and the band Klaatu somehow came up. I mentioned that I'd heard of them, but I'd never gotten around to listening to their music. So Mike volunteered to enlighten me by making a sampler album containing what he considers the cream of their crop.

The band has a very unusual history. Probably their biggest claim to fame is that when their debut album came out in 1976, there was a widespread rumor that their album actually was a secret Beatles reunion album. Of course that wasn't true. But I can understand why some people believed the rumor, because the band had a Beatlesque sound. And I consider that a very good thing. If you like that style of music - and who doesn't? - you should give this a listen.

There's a lot more to this band and their history. But I'm not going to tell it here. For one thing, Mike has written extensive liner notes, which are included in the download zip, as is his wont. And you can also read Wikipedia for more:

Klaatu (band) - Wikipedia

I asked Mike why Woman is only a bonus track. Here's his response. "In case you are all wondering (and I know you all are) why I considered 'Woman' a bonus cut and not part of the main set, here's the answer (taken from Wikipedia): 'The trio very briefly reunited in 1988 at George Martin's AIR Studios in London with John Jones to record a single, "Woman," though no one was particularly happy with the results as the song was written by someone outside of the band (Paul Vincent Gunia) for the German television series Tatort. Initially, Long had wanted to merely use the Klaatu name, but could not get the rest of the band's approval without their involvement. The single was released only in West Germany and did not chart, making it an extremely rare item in the Klaatu catalogue; Draper confirmed that the song was considered for a few rarities compilations, but all three band members had agreed to not include the track.'"

This album is an hour and two minutes long.

01 Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (Klaatu)
02 Anus of Uranus (Klaatu)
03 Sub-Rosa Subway (Klaatu)
04 Doctor Marvello (Klaatu)
05 We're Off You Know (Klaatu)
06 Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III (Klaatu)
07 Around the Universe in Eighty Days (Klaatu)
08 Little Neutrino (Klaatu)
09 A Routine Day (Klaatu)
10 The Love of a Woman (Klaatu)
11 I Can't Help It (Klaatu)
12 True Life Hero (Klaatu)
13 Knee Deep in Love (Klaatu)
14 I Don't Wanna Go Home (Klaatu)
15 California Jam (Klaatu)
16 All Good Things (Klaatu)

Woman (Klaatu)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/vcsQKLJM

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/473QSPC1alBVbpl/file

Klaatu was a notoriously elusive band. For the band's first few years, there were no publicly available photos of them at all. They finally relented a bit in the early 1980s, when they briefly went on tour. So I think this promo photo dates from that time. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program. Also, the background was just blank white. So I took some artwork of the pyramids from one of their album covers and put that in the background to make things look a little more interesting.

Frank Zappa - 1971-1988 Strictly Commercial Live (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Guest poster Mike Solof has been busily slaving away in the salt mines, coming up with more albums to post at this blog. In particular, he's got a big Beatles project coming that hopefully will knock your socks off. Unfortunately, I've fallen behind getting some things ready to post, but hopefully I'll catch up soon. For this album, he came up with the idea of collecting live versions of all the songs on the Frank Zappa best of collection "Strictly Commercial."

I'll leave most of the explaining to Mike, in his PDF notes included in the download zip. But Zappa was well known for his lead guitar playing, and he's able to stretch some songs out here. For instance, the official album is about an hour and 17 minutes long, whereas this is almost two hours long. A lot of the difference there is with "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow." The official album has the three minute long single version, but this is a 20-minute-long live version of the entire suite. 

As is Mike's style, he's included a gapless single file of the album in the download zip, for those who prefer to hear it that way.

By the way, all the songs here feature Frank Zappa, except for one. His only Top Forty hit in the U.S. was "Valley Girl," in 1982. But that featured his daughter Moon Unit Zappa on lead vocals instead of him, and she was only 14 years old at the time. So it turns out he never performed the song before dying in 1993. But, much later, in 2010, his children Dweezil and Moon Unit performed the song in concert just once. So that's the version included here. But note the sound quality is a bit rough on that compared to everything else. It's one of only two unreleased versions (along with "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace)." All the others were chosen from the many dozens of official live albums.

This album is an hour and 56 minutes long. 

01 Peaches en Regalia (Frank Zappa)
02 Don't Eat the Yellow Snow (Frank Zappa)
03 Dancin' Fool (Frank Zappa)
04 San Ber'dino (Frank Zappa)
05 Let's Make the Water Turn Black (Frank Zappa)
06 Dirty Love (Frank Zappa)
07 My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama (Frank Zappa)
08 Cosmik Debris (Frank Zappa)
09 Trouble Every Day (Frank Zappa)
10 Disco Boy (Frank Zappa)
11 Bobby Brown Goes Down (Frank Zappa)
12 I'm the Slime (Frank Zappa)
13 Joe's Garage (Frank Zappa)
14 Fine Girl (Frank Zappa)
15 Planet of the Baritone Women (Frank Zappa)
16 Sexual Harassment in the Workplace [Instrumental] (Frank Zappa)
17 Tell Me You Love Me (Frank Zappa)
18 Montana (Frank Zappa)
19 Be in My Video (Frank Zappa)
20 Valley Girl (Dweezil Zappa & Moon Unit Zappa)
21 Who Are the Brain Police (Frank Zappa)
22 Muffin Man [Extra Guitar Mix] (Frank Zappa) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/424ohU9v 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/WWM2Cx8sAJ0funq/file

The cover art is by Greg Joens. The original version was in black and white. I colorized it (because I hate black and white covers) with the use of the Kolorize program.

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Bonus Volume: Foriegn Language Versions, 1964-1967 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's the finale for guest poster Mike Solof's collection of all the songs Dionne Warwick sang that were written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach. This is a bonus volume. That's because, while Mike was putting his collection together, he noticed that Warwick sang a number of Bacharach-David songs in foreign languages. There weren't a lot, but it's enough for a short album. 

Everything here is from 1964 to 1967. She sang three songs in French, then two songs in German, and finally four songs in Italian. All were released as singles in those countries. So this is an interesting curiosity, especially if you speak any of those languages.

This album is 28 minutes long. 

01 Un Toit ne Suffit Pas [A House Is Not a Home] [French Version] (Dionne Warwick)
02 Reach Out for Me [French Version] (Dionne Warwick)
03 How Many Days of Sadness [French Version] (Dionne Warwick)
04 You'll Never Get to Heaven [If You Break My Heart] [German Version] (Dionne Warwick)
05 Walk On By [German Version] (Dionne Warwick)
06 A House Is Not a Home [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)
07 The Windows of the World [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)
08 Walk Little Dolly [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)
09 Walk On By [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/bD6LzqHD

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Mcve2ptBTCaZJi9/file

The cover photo was taken near the Nice Jazz Festival in Nice, France, on July 11, 1987. Since this is a foreign language version album, we wanted a photo of her in one of the foreign countries here, though unfortunately you totally can't tell that from the photo.

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 7: 1987-2012 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I'm back from my two week vacation from Peru. It got off to a rough start due to the plane flight there, which I posted about. But everything else since then went great, with no more problems. :) I even had good weather the whole time, despite it being the rainy season there.

Here's the last album in a series that contains all the songs written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach and sung by Dionne Warwick. Though note that there's a bonus album of sorts still to come that will be explained later.

As I mentioned in Volume 6, the Bacharach-David songwriting partnership broke up around 1973, and they didn't collaborate for a long time after that. The second half of Volume 6 consisted entirely of songs written by Bacharach and another successful songwriter, Carole Bayer Sager. (In fact, Bacharach and Sager were married for a few years around this time). 

The Bacharach and Sager collaboration continued for a little while. The first songs are from a 1987, and are all co-written by those two. One song, "Love Power," was a hit. After that, there are a bunch of songs from 1989 to 2011, one song per year with many years skipped. "Sunny Weather Lover" from 1993 is a key song here, because it's the first song Bacharach and David wrote together since about 1972. However, that was a rare collaboration. Their songwriting partnership didn't reignite after that. (They also co-wrote two songs for the 2000 movie "Isn't She Great," but Warwick didn't sing them.) Furthermore, both of them were simply getting older and didn't write songs nearly as often as they used to. 

So the rest of the songs were written by Bacharach with others or David with others. For instance, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" was a Number One hit in the U.S. for Christopher Cross in 1981, and was written by Bacharach with Sager and two others. Track 101 is an unreleased live version by Warwick recorded in 2005.

The last four songs are from a 2012 album called "Now." It was billed as a celebration of Bacharach and David songs. However, it mostly consisted of rerecordings of old hits. The four new songs, presented here, were written by either Bacharach with others or David with others. For instance, "99 Miles from L.A." was written by David with Albert Hammond, and was a hit for Hammond in 1975. 

Hal David died in 2012, so that ended the chance for any more songs written by both of them. Bacharach died in 2023.

While I was on vacation, a commenter noted that a song, "(Theme From) The Valley of the Dolls" was included on Volume 4 of this series, despite neither Bacharach nor David being involved in writing it. Now that I'm back home, I was able to repost that album with that song removed. That also means that the numbering of all the songs after that has been fixed as well. So you might want to redownload Volumes 4, 5, and 6 if you're a stickler about such things. Also, since I had complaints about the cover art for Volume 1, I've posted an alternate version of the cover at the bottom of my write-up for that album that uses the original black and white photo, in case anyone wants that.

Thanks again to Mike Solof for putting this together.   

This album is one hour long. 

092 Take Good Care of You and Me (Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne)
093 Love Power (Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne)
094 In a World Such as This (Dionne Warwick)
095 Heartbreak of Love (Dionne Warwick & June Pointer)
096 On My Own (Dionne Warwick)
097 Sunny Weather Lover (Dionne Warwick)
098 Captives of the Heart (Dionne Warwick)
099 If I Want To (Dionne Warwick)
100 On My Way (Dionne Warwick)
101 Arthur's Theme [Best That You Can Do] (Dionne Warwick)
102 Keep Me in Mind (Dionne Warwick)
103 99 Miles from L.A. (Dionne Warwick)
104 Is There Anybody Out There (Dionne Warwick)
105 It Was Almost like a Song (Dionne Warwick)
106 Love Is Still the Answer (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ieF2gBUW

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/DKTsSUgj9dgKC43/file

The cover photo shows her in concert in an unknown location, in February 1989.

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 6: 1972-1985 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Things changed drastically for this volume of all the songs written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach and sung by Dionne Warwick. Since the start of Warwick’s hit-making years in 1963, she was signed to Scepter Records. She was their biggest star by far. But in 1971, her contract ended and she signed a new deal with Warner Brothers Records. (Scepter Records went bankrupt a couple of years later.)

For her first album on her new label, released in 1972, all seemed well, because all the songs were written by Bacharach and David. But in 1973, the two songwriters wrote the songs for the movie “Lost Horizon,” without Warwick’s involvement. This turned out to be a disaster. The movie was a flop and so was the soundtrack. But worst of all, Bacharach and David had a falling out during the making of the soundtrack. They wouldn’t write songs together for many years, and both of them had much less success without the other one. To make matters worse, Warwick’s new record company expected her to have most of her songs written by Bacharach and David. When that couldn’t happen anymore, that resulted in more lawsuits, including Warwick suing the songwriting duo.

Decades later, Bacharach wrote about this dispute in his autobiography: "It was all my fault, and I can't imagine how many great songs I could have written with Hal in the years we were apart. So I now know that on every level, it was a very bad mistake." But at other times, he suggested that both he and David were somewhat creatively exhausted, so they probably wouldn't have been able to keep their streak of hit songs going much longer anyway. That can be seen by the fact that the two of them had wrote very few hits for most of the rest of the 1970s. 

The first seven songs are from 1972. The eighth song, "One Less Bell to Answer," is from 1977, but was written in the 1960s. The Fifth Dimension had a hit with it in 1970. Warwick didn’t have much success without Bacharach and David for most of the 1970s, but she resumed having hits in 1979. 

In 1985, she resumed performing some songs written by Bacharach, but not David, since Bacharach and David wouldn’t reconcile until later. Instead, Bacharach was cowriting songs with Carole Bayer Sager at the time. The rest of the songs here are written by those two, from 1985. One of those songs,”That’s What Friends Are For,” was a massive hit, helped by Warwick being joined by some other big stars. Not only did it reach Number One in the U.S., it was the biggest selling song in 1986. 

Warwick had this to say about working with Bacharach again in 1985: "We realized we were more than just friends. We were family. Time has a way of giving people the opportunity to grow and understand... Working with Burt is not a bit different from how it used to be. He expects me to deliver and I can. He knows what I'm going to do before I do it, and the same with me. That's how intertwined we've been."

This album is 55 minutes long.

078 Be Aware (Dionne Warwick)
079 [They Long to Be] Close to You (Dionne Warwick)
080 Hasbrook Heights (Dionne Warwick)
081 I Just Have to Breathe (Dionne Warwick)
082 If You Never Say Goodbye (Dionne Warwick)
083 The Balance of Nature (Dionne Warwick)
084 One Less Bell to Answer (Dionne Warwick)
085 Early Morning Strangers (Dionne Warwick)
086 That's What Friends Are For (Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
087 Extravagant Gestures (Dionne Warwick)
088 Finder of Lost Loves (Dionne Warwick)
089 How Long (Dionne Warwick)
090 Stay Devoted (Dionne Warwick)
091 Stronger than Before (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ku4tY3Qr

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/msqzMLVw1J3DQje/file

The cover photo shows her at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, on February 9, 1972.

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 5: 1969-1970 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here’s another album of Dionne Warwick singing all the songs written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Once again, thanks to Mike Solof for putting these albums together.

Warwick, David, and Bacharach had a great thing going from about 1963 until 1970. They had hit after hit after hit. The end of this album marks the end of that golden era. The three of them would still collaborate together, but much more intermittently. There are two more volumes dealing with those later years.

This album is 53 minutes long.

061 I'll Never Fall in Love Again (Dionne Warwick)
062 Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (Dionne Warwick)
063 Dream Sweet Dreamer (Dionne Warwick)
064 Knowing When to Leave (Dionne Warwick)
065 Let Me Go to Him (Dionne Warwick)
066 Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets (Dionne Warwick)
067 Paper Mache (Dionne Warwick)
068 The Wine Is Young (Dionne Warwick)
069 Check Out Time (Dionne Warwick)
070 Make It Easy on Yourself (Dionne Warwick)
071 The Green Grass Starts to Grow (Dionne Warwick)
072 The Very First Person I Met [In California] (Dionne Warwick)
073 They Don't Give Medals to Yesterday's Heroes (Dionne Warwick)
074 Walk the Way You Talk (Dionne Warwick)
075 The Look of Love (Dionne Warwick)
076 Who Gets the Guy (Dionne Warwick)
077 Only Love Can Break a Heart (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/nMDebKmr

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/4j7hPKMNNw5COdY/file

The cover photo shows her on the Engelbert Humperdinck TV Show some time in 1969. 

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 4: 1968 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I am posting this while waiting in an airport for a flight inside Peru. So far, my vacation is going great after a rough start getting here. This is another volume of Dionne Warwick singing songs written by Hal David and/ or Burt Bacharach. At this point, their songwriting partnership was going strong and they were still writing all their songs together.

Thanks again to guest poster Mike Solof for putting these albums together.

This album is 45 minutes long.

048 As Long as There's an Apple Tree [Extended Version] (Dionne Warwick)
049 Do You Know the Way to San Jose (Dionne Warwick)
050 Let Me Be Lonely (Dionne Warwick)
051 Odds and Ends (Dionne Warwick)
052 Promises, Promises (Dionne Warwick)
053 The April Fools (Dionne Warwick)
054 Reach Out and Touch - All Kinds of People (Dionne Warwick)
055 This Girl's in Love with You (Dionne Warwick)
056 Wanting Things (Dionne Warwick)
057 Where Would I Go (Dionne Warwick)
058 Who Is Gonna Love Me (Dionne Warwick)
059 Whoever You Are, I Love You (Dionne Warwick)
060 Walkin' Backwards Down the Road (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/PQUwnfKQ

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/VBcAZtk0uWxyYgh/file

The cover photo shows her on an unknown TV show in London, in 1968.

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 3: 1966-1967 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here’s another Dionne Warwick album in Mike Solof’s series of all the songs she sang written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach. I’ll keep my comments short. But I’ll note I think the three of them were peaking around this time until the end of the 1960s, with songwriting, production, and singing.

This album is 39 minutes long.

035 I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself (Dionne Warwick)
036 Go with Love (Dionne Warwick)
037 Message to Michael (Dionne Warwick)
038 Trains and Boats and Planes (Dionne Warwick)
039 Here, Where There Is Love [Alternate Version] (Dionne Warwick)
040 What the World Needs Now Is Love (Dionne Warwick)
041 Alfie (Dionne Warwick)
042 The Windows of the World (Dionne Warwick)
043 Another Night (Dionne Warwick)
044 The Beginning of Loneliness (Dionne Warwick)
045 Walk Little Dolly (Dionne Warwick)
046 I Say a Little Prayer [Alternate Version] (Dionne Warwick)
047 [There's] Always Something There to Remind Me (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/oLsc5LBu

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/NEh31dMotYhnVFJ/file

The cover photo was taken backstage during an engagement at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City, on May 2, 1967.

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 2: 1965 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here is the second volume collecting all the songs Dionne Warwick written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach. Like all the other albums in this series, this was mainly put together by guest poster Mike Solof.

Since I’m writing this on vacation, I’ll keep the comments short. Enjoy.

This album is 44 minutes long. 

019 Are You There [With Another Girl] (Dionne Warwick)
020 Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Dionne Warwick)
021 Don't Say I Didn't Tell You So (Dionne Warwick)
022 Forever My Love (Dionne Warwick)
023 If I Ever Make You Cry (Dionne Warwick)
024 Here I Am (Dionne Warwick)
025 Is There Another Way to Love Him (Dionne Warwick)
026 Wives and Lovers (Dionne Warwick)
027 Looking with My Eyes (Dionne Warwick)
028 In Between the Heartaches (Dionne Warwick)
029 Only the Strong, Only the Brave (Dionne Warwick)
030 Window Wishing (Dionne Warwick)
031 How Many Days of Sadness (Dionne Warwick)
032 That's Not the Answer (Dionne Warwick)
033 How Can I Hurt You (Dionne Warwick)
034 Long Day, Short Night (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/dC4gq6mc

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/eODweEN1JWe1Yrp/file 

The cover photo was taken in Hyde Park, in London, in 1965. 

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 1: 1962-1964 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

In the last album I posted, I mentioned that I'm leaving for a two week vacation to Peru, starting tomorrow morning. But while I'm gone, I'm hoping to keep post albums from time to time. Most or all of the albums will be from two big musical projects, one by Fabio from Rio, and the other by Mike Solof. I've gotten them ready in a kind of assembly line fashion, and they take little extra work for me. That's the plan anyway.

So you already know the Fabio project: Covered albums for Neil Young. This Mike Solof project attempts to collect all the songs Dionne Warwick sang that were written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach. The vast majority were written by both, until the last couple of albums.

A couple of weeks ago, Mike came to me with the idea for this collection. I was delighted, because I already made a bunch of "Covered" albums for the Burt Bacharach and Hal David songwriting team. But when I did that, I deliberately avoided including any Warwick versions, because otherwise those albums would have probably been more than half her versions. So this collection perfectly complements that one. So a big thanks from me to Mike for making these albums. I did the cover art and some other minor things, but he was the one who collected all the songs.

Mike managed to find enough music for seven albums, plus a bonus album we'll explain later. If you want to know more, check out Mike's PDF included in the download zip. In fact, it's the same PDF for all the albums in this series.  

By the way, note that the song numbering begins with 001, 002, 003, etc... That's because Mike wanted the numbering from the end of one album to continue with the beginning of the next one. That way, you can put all the songs in one mega-album if you want. Since there's over a 100 songs, we have the extra zero at the same of each number. 

This album is 54 minutes long. 

001 Don't Make Me Over (Dionne Warwick)
002 I Smiled Yesterday (Dionne Warwick)
003 Wishin' and Hopin' (Dionne Warwick)
004 I Cry Alone (Dionne Warwick)
005 Make the Music Play (Dionne Warwick)
006 It's Love that Really Counts (Dionne Warwick)
007 The Love of a Boy (Dionne Warwick)
008 This Empty Place (Dionne Warwick)
009 A House Is Not a Home (Dionne Warwick)
010 Land of Make Believe (Dionne Warwick)
011 The Last One to Be Loved (Dionne Warwick)
012 Reach Out for Me (Dionne Warwick)
013 Anyone Who Had a Heart (Dionne Warwick)
014 Any Old Time of Day [Alternate Version] (Dionne Warwick)
015 I Could Make You Mine (Dionne Warwick)
016 Please Make Him Love Me (Dionne Warwick)
017 Walk On By (Dionne Warwick)
018 You'll Never Get to Heaven [If You Break My Heart] (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/75y7xMfQ

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/5blQU4ahwkF5DEG/file

The cover image shows, from right to left: Hal David, Dionne Warwick, and Burt Bacharach. I don't know the details, but it's from some time in the 1960s. The original was in black and white, and very poor quality. I got it in somewhat decent shape colorizing it with the Kolorize program, then cleaning it up and adding detail with the Krea AI program.

Since some people didn't like the transformation I made of this image, here's the totally unchanged black and white version, in case you want to use that instead. As you can see, the AI program made some changes as I tried to improve the quality. I wasn't happy with those, but I preferred the end result over the rough original. If anyone can do better, please do, and post it here.

Kevin Gilbert - Covers (1986-1996) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's the third and last album that make up guest poster Mike Solof's collections of his favorite songs from the music career of Kevin Gilbert. The first two albums focused on original songs, but this one consists entirely of cover versions.

As I mentioned in my write-up for the first album in this series, Gilbert often mixed a catchy pop sensibility in his songs with the musical complexity of prog rock. As a result, he especially liked prog rock type bands that also had some pop appeal. Probably his favorite band of all was Genesis. In fact, he was such a Genesis fan that he once performed the entirety of the Genesis double album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" in concert! This album contains three Genesis covers, as well as some other prog rock songs that are almost never covered by anyone, such as "Siberian Khatru" by Yes and "Karn Evil 9" by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. And yet we can see Gilbert's pop side as well, with covers of songs like "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band and "If I Fell" by the Beatles. Definitely interesting stuff here.

As usual, Mike has included a PDF in the download zip that has more information and photos and such. But note that it's the same PDF as in the other two Kevin Gilbert albums he put together. 

This album is 60 minutes long.

Here's a list of the original musical acts for each of the songs here: 

01 Suite- Judy Blue Eyes - Crosby, Stills and Nash
02 Firth of Fifth - Genesis
03 The Joker - Steve Miller Band
04 Rendezvous 602 - U.K.
05 Back in NYC - Genesis
06 Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
07 Rocket Man - Elton John (with Pink Floyd intro)
08 Siberian Khatru - Yes
09 If I Fell - Beatles
10 Karn Evil 9 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
11 The Musical Box - Genesis 

And here's the usual song list: 

01 Suite- Judy Blue Eyes (Toy Matinee)
02 Firth of Fifth (Kevin Gilbert & Mickey Sorey)
03 The Joker (Kevin Gilbert)
04 UK Suite [Rendezvous 6-02 - Danger Money - Caesar's Palace Blues] (Kevin Gilbert & Mickey Sorey)
05 Back in N.Y.C. (Kevin Gilbert)
06 Kashmir (Kevin Gilbert)
07 Rocket Man (Toy Matinee)
08 Siberian Khatru (Kevin Gilbert)
09 If I Fell (Toy Matinee)
10 Karn Evil 9 (Kevin Gilbert)
11 The Musical Box (Giraffe)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/mvhs6yEL

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/o1G0R8xtPXiJqQL/file

I believe I found the cover image in an Instagram post. It had some distracting things on it, like some text added on top. But I wiped that out using Photoshop. I don't know exactly when or where it's from. 

Kevin Gilbert - Rarities (1985-1996) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's the second out of three "best of" albums guest posted Mike Solof has made for singer-songwriter Kevin Gilbert. The first album, "Originals," focuses on Mike's favorite songs that were on Gilbert's studio albums (including albums for bands he led, such as Toy Matinee). This one digs deeper. 

Considering that Gilbert's music career only lasted about ten years, he created a remarkable amount of music. He only put out a few albums in his lifetime. But since his death in 1996, a couple dozen more albums have come out! Gilbert was one of those musicians, like Prince, who played practically every instrument he could get his hands on, and was always writing and creating. So there was a ton of rare material for Mike to draw on when making this album. (As usual, look to the mp3 tags for all the details on the sources of the songs.)

One interesting highlight of this album is "Leaving Las Vegas." That was a big hit for Sheryl Crow. But Gilbert co-wrote it, as well as co-writing most of the songs on Crow's debut album, "Tuesday Night Music Club." The two of them were romantically linked for a while, and Crow was a member of Gilbert's band for a time.  

Like Mike always does with his guest posts, he's created a PDF file with additional comments and photos and so forth. In this case, the PDF is the same for all three Gilbert "best of" albums he made.  

This album is 59 minutes long. 

01 National Public Radio (Kevin Gilbert)
02 Things She Said [Jazz Version] (Kevin Gilbert)
03 Circling Winds (Kevin Gilbert)
04 Goodbye L.A. (Kevin Gilbert)
05 Suit Fugue [Dance of the A & R Men] [Early Mix] (Kevin Gilbert)
06 God's Been Tapping My Phone (Kevin Gilbert)
07 Queen of Misery (Toy Matinee)
08 KMTT Jingle (Kevin Gilbert)
09 Leaving Las Vegas (Kevin Gilbert)
10 Tea for One [Sax Mix] (Kevin Gilbert)
11 Something Nice for My Dog (Kevin Gilbert)
12 Late for Dinner [Dark Mix] (Kevin Gilbert)
13 Souvenir (Kevin Gilbert)
14 Finally Over You (Kevin Gilbert)
15 All Fall Down [Toto Version] (Kevin Gilbert)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/N98cVBGz

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/pzxlRnsVOmw60ea/file

I don't know the details of where or when the cover image is from. It was selected by Mike. 

Kevin Gilbert - Originals (1984-1996) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's a really interesting album put together by guest poster Mike Solof. Have you ever heard of Kevin Gilbert? If you have, congrats, because he's not as well known as he sound be. Mike is a huge fan of Gilbert's music, so much so that he put together three albums to showcase Gilbert's musical talent. The first album, this one, consists of the original songs Mike considers the best. Then he's made another one of the best rarities, and a third one of the best cover versions. If you want to get started, this is the obvious first album to listen to. Then, if you're interested, check out the other two. (Then, hopefully, more than that.)

For a quick overview, I'll quote the intro paragraph to his Wikipedia entry, which states me "was an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and producer. He was best known for his solo progressive rock projects, Toy Matinee, and his contributions to 'Tuesday Night Music Club' (1993), the debut studio album of Sheryl Crow. Kevin Gilbert died from autoerotic asphyxiation. He was found dead at his Los Angeles-area home on May 18, 1996, at the age of 29."

Here's the link to the rest of the Wikipedia page:

Kevin Gilbert (musician) - Wikipedia

I have to admit I wasn't familiar with Gilbert's music before Mike made these albums, although I'd previously heard good things about his career here and there. After hearing the albums Mike made, I have to agree that Gilbert was a very talented musician who deserves to be much better known than he is. He often combined a catchy pop sensibility with the complexity of prog rock. That is a very difficult combination to pull off. It's a real shame he died so young, and the strange manner of his death probably didn't help his musical legacy.

Note that this albums combines songs from Gilbert's solo albums, as well as songs he did with bands he was in: Giraffe, Toy Matinee, and Kaviar. All the lead vocals are by Gilbert. 

Anyway, Mike has written extensive notes about Gilbert, his life, and why he likes his music so much. You can find that in the PDF included with the download zip, as usual for Mike's guest posts. 

This album is an hour and 23 minutes long. 

01 When Strangers Part (Kevin Gilbert)
02 This Warm Night (Giraffe)
03 Air Dance (Giraffe)
04 Tired Old Man Suite (Kevin Gilbert)
05 Last Plane Out (Toy Matinee)
06 Things She Said (Toy Matinee)
07 The Ballad of Jenny Ledge (Toy Matinee)
08 Goodness Gracious (Kevin Gilbert)
09 Shadow Self [Alternate Version] (Kevin Gilbert)
10 Miss Broadway (Kevin Gilbert)
11 Single (Kaviar)
12 The Sultan of Brunei (Kaviar)
13 The Best Laid Plans (Kevin Gilbert)
14 Certifiable No. 1 Smash (Kevin Gilbert)
15 All Fall Down [Alternate Horn Mix] (Kevin Gilbert)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GvEgk98D

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/BNCnBxCFRjJRq5o/file

I don't know the details of the cover image. It was found by Mike.

Dan Fogelberg - Best of Live: 1974-1995 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I just posted a "best of" album guest poster Mike Solof made of his favorite studio tracks by singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg. He wanted to divide his music up into a studio best of and a live best of, so here's the companion live best of.

Mike is a really big fan of Fogelberg's music and is making these to help me, and others like you, better enjoy his music. As he usually does, Mike made a PDF with more information and pictures, which is included in the download zip. I encourage you to give that a look. It's the exact same one as for the studio best of.

For the studio best of, all the songs are officially released, and usually from his studio albums. For this one, most of the songs come from official live albums as well. But four of the songs here come from bootlegs. Specifically, tracks 10, 11, 13, and 16. But they're excellent sounding ones, just as good as the live albums.

By the way, Fogelberg's last concert was for the "PBS Soundstage" concert in 2003. (He died of cancer in 2007 at the age of 56.) I would really like to post that here, but I've only found a few songs from it on YouTube. If anyone has all of it, please let me know. Thanks. 

This album is an hour and 13 minutes long. 

01 Songbird (Dan Fogelberg)
02 The Power of Gold (Dan Fogelberg)
03 Blow Wind Blow (Dan Fogelberg)
04 Hard to Say (Dan Fogelberg)
05 Innocent Age (Dan Fogelberg)
06 Looking for a Lady (Dan Fogelberg)
07 Once upon a Time (Dan Fogelberg)
08 Make Love Stay (Dan Fogelberg)
09 The Chauvinist Song (Dan Fogelberg)
10 Morning Sky (Dan Fogelberg)
11 Someone's Been Telling You Stories (Dan Fogelberg)
12 Part of the Plan (Dan Fogelberg)
13 talk (Dan Fogelberg)
14 Song from Half Mountain (Dan Fogelberg)
15 Souvenir (Dan Fogelberg)
16 To the Morning (Dan Fogelberg)
17 Here Comes the Sun (Dan Fogelberg)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/9q7tK9se

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/QZQOzX6EPddIoQh/file

As with the cover to the studio album, Mike picked this one. I don't know exactly where or when it comes from. 

Dan Fogelberg - Best of Studio: 1974-1987 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Recently, I mentioned to my musical friend Mike Solof that I wasn't very familiar with the music of the band Kansas, other than their big hits. He went and made me a "best of" album, which I've posted here. Then I happened to mention I wasn't familiar with the music of Dan Fogelberg either, again other than the big hits. So boom, once again he made me a "best of." I really need to be careful about what I say around Mike, it seems, or my music collection will keep growing too much! ;)

It turns out Mike is a very big fan of Fogelberg's music, just like he is of the music of Kansas. In fact, he likes Fogelberg's stuff so much that he made two albums. He made a studio album and a live one. As you can see from the title, this is the studio one. The live one will follow shortly.  

As is his habit, Mike has included a PDF to explain his thoughts, as well as provide some good pictures. So please check that out for more information. In this case, the PDF is the same for both the studio and live albums. 

This album is an hour and 12 minutes long. 

01 Nexus (Dan Fogelberg)
02 The Power of Gold (Dan Fogelberg with Tim Weisberg)
03 Lonely in Love (Dan Fogelberg)
04 In the Passage (Dan Fogelberg)
05 Better Change (Dan Fogelberg)
06 Beggar's Game (Dan Fogelberg)
07 Sweet Magnolia [And the Traveling Salesman] (Dan Fogelberg)
08 Tell Me to My Face (Dan Fogelberg with Tim Weisberg)
09 Times like These (Dan Fogelberg)
10 The Reach (Dan Fogelberg)
11 Empty Cages (Dan Fogelberg)
12 Tucson, Arizona [Gazette] (Dan Fogelberg)
13 As the Raven Flies [Alternate Version] (Dan Fogelberg)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/2MFP7NnJ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/ZhEqShKlvNQ1RV8/file

The cover image was selected by Mike. I don't know exactly where or when it's from.

Kansas - Best Of / Sampler (1974-1980) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's an album that came into being as a result of the Kansas concert that was posted here a few days ago. After guest poster Mike Solof suggested making an album of a concert from Kansas's 1979 Monolith tour, I agreed, but I mentioned that I was really familiar with the band's music. I only knew their big hits, especially "Dust in the Wind" and "Carry On Wayward Son." He really likes the band and thought that was a shame, so he offered to make a "best of" type album for newbies like me. I agreed again, and suggested that he post that on my blog too.

He went ahead and did that, so here we are. Of course, there are official "best of" albums for the band already. But Mike felt none of those had the ideal selection of songs that he wanted. He focused on just their 1970s heyday, because in the early 1980s they lost key members and became a kind of Christian rock band for a while, before returning to their roots (and getting some key members back) later in the decade. 

If you want to know more, Mike has made a PDF with his explanation, as he usually does. If you think some essential songs were left off, or there are songs that shouldn't have been included, leave a comment. Perhaps Mike will make an updated version.

Unusually for this blog, everything here is released and from the studio albums. But hopefully this is a sampler that will inspire some people to dive deeper into the Kansas catalog. 

This album is an hour and four minutes long. 

Before I get to the usual song list, here's the song list with names of the albums each song is from, and the year that album was released: 

01 Song for America - Song for America (1975)
02 Journey from Mariabronn - Kansas (1974)
03 Down the Road - Kansas (1974)
04 Carry On Wayward Son - Leftoverture (1976)
05 The Wall - Leftoverture (1976)
06 Miracles Out of Nowhere - Leftoverture (1976)
07 Point of Know Return - Point of Know Return (1977)
08 Dust in the Wind - Point of Know Return (1977)
09 How My Soul Cries Out for You - Monolith (1979)
10 A Glimpse of Home - Monolith (1979)
11 People of the South Wind - Monolith (1979)
12 Loner - Audio-Visions (1980)

And here's the usual song list: 

01 Song for America (Kansas)
02 Journey from Mariabronn (Kansas)
03 Down the Road (Kansas)
04 Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas)
05 The Wall (Kansas)
06 Miracles Out of Nowhere (Kansas)
07 Point of Know Return (Kansas)
08 Dust in the Wind (Kansas)
09 How My Soul Cries Out for You (Kansas)
10 A Glimpse of Home (Kansas)
11 People of the South Wind (Kansas)
12 Loner (Kansas)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/y1GhCvdC

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/h9B4sSiXYzdWPLl/file

Mike found the photo of the band. I don't know the details of where or when it's from.