Pip Pip! The Vinyl Countdown has been down for sometime, but it is not out! Today, we start back up again with The Chieftains. Six albums worth. (gulp) The perfect way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and the beginning of Spring.

Perhaps you don’t know The Chieftains by name, but you have heard them. If a a backup Irish folk band was ever needed by someone, they were undoubtedly the ones called upon. They’ve played with Elvis Costello, Mark Knopfler, Luciano Pavorotti, Ricky Skaggs, the Rolling Stones. The list goes on and on, really, but they have nabbed six Grammies of their own and have been playing flute-tin whistle-fiddle since 1962. I think I probably first took note of them when there was that brief wave of Irish music that lapped up onto our shores in the mid/late 90s – Enya, The Corrs, Sinead O’Connor, Loreena McKennitt (Canadian, not Irish), The Cranberries.

Earl Scruggs and the Chieftans

Read our ever evolving spreadsheets of albums we’ve listened to, lessons we’ve learned.

-A

The Vinyl Countdown-Episode 4
Bob Brozman — Hello Central… Give Me Dr. Jazz

Alexa and MLM discus the enchanting sounds of this ethnomusicologist, who’s soothing sounds of the islands blend with jazz, blues and steel guitars to produce a sound unlike most anything you’ve ever heard… unless of course you watch Nickelodeon.

LISTEN IN-Episode 4

View the complete album’s original liner notes.

Remember to track our progress on the spreadsheet.

Leave a comment let us know what you like, what we can do better, and maybe what you’d like to hear.

More as it develops,

<3

MLM

Two radio producers. One album. This is my version of the Bartow blogcast.

Compare with Matt’s own mix below to get a different sound on the same session.

Or maybe we’re turning into the same…antelope.

(There are a few mispronunciations of Bartow, but we self-corrected in the end)

— AL —

It’s been far too long my friends.  Alexa and I were lucky enough to get time together after work to tackle the sweet voice of Jim Bartow.  There is almost no information about him anywhere, if you happen to find some please let us know.

Jim Bartow – The Vinyl Countdown-3

Happy listening.

<3

MLM

After a very long hiatus we’re back.

We’ve been swamped with work.  But that’s no excuse.  The blog lives on after work hours.  We’re currently deep into the B’s now, listening to the challenging sounds of Carla Bley.

We have a brand new streaming segment with a look back to the beginning of our quest:
listen here Roy Acuff-The Vinyl Countdown 2.

There will be updates almost daily to the site.  You can track what we’re listening to below in our Google spreadsheet and follow our progress on twitter.

Please let us know what we’re doing well and what can be improved.  Like life this is a work in progress.  So, get creative, get productive and share with us what’s driving you to wake up and do the business of living each day!

<3

MLM

It’s finally here!  You can now listen to some of the incredible music we’ve been writing about!

Enjoy!

LISTEN HERE

– MLM

Having a blast on the beach!

I’m not sure if this is Paul or Kudu but you can’t deny the look in his eyes… he’s rockin’ out.  Surprisingly, despite what this picture may lead you to think, the music he produces is a refreshing, interesting blend of diverse sounds.  Kudos to Paul Berliner with Kudu!

MLM

Exhibit a) Exhibit B)

What do these two things have in common?  They both make it rain on my insides.

The pianist/composer David Benoit has been featured in such moving albums as The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II.  Granted he is prolific and maybe ahead of his time in 1986, “I’ll write music that will work perfectly on a channel devoted entirely to the weather,” but I came very close to using my veto.  Alexa and I will host our first AUDIO POST with him as our background music to give you an idea of what this music is like.

We’re back!

<3

MLM

So, we’re out of The Beatles and The Beach Boys.  I realize after listening to The Beach Boys that I like their lesser known songs more than what they’re actually famous for.

But, now we’re back in the quagmire, slopping through albums featuring large string-band families and other groups that have signed deals with record labels called “Kama Sutra Music Inc.”  Right now we’re listening to Beck, Bogert & Appice and it’s what I’ve christened as rusty blues; it’s rock/blues and it could give you tetanus if you listen too much–that’s how tough it is!  It’s the kind of music you should listen to before a “you-don’t-have-the-guts-off” with a friend.  This is where you and your friend scream at each other, “You know how I know you aren’t going to pull the trigger?!  ‘Cus I know you don’t have the guts to do it!”  It’s the kind of music this guy would listen to:

He's got the guts... do you?

Tune in often for more reports from the field.

<3

MLM

So it’s happened… we’ve hit the Beatles.  We’re doing all the albums that are in the collection in chronological order.  See where we are HERE.  These albums have seen a bit of use.  A few tracks skip too much to even be listened to.

Personally, I’ve never bought into the “hype,” if such a thing can exists over forty-years later, around “the greatest band ever.”  However, today has helped me to see how impressive they were.  The amount of experimentation in pushing their sound in new directions and remembering what your other options in music were at the time, demonstrates to me how impressive this stuff is.

From silly cover band in 1962 to albums that changed the way we listen to music in 1967; an impressive feat.  But, I’m still not sold on them as “the greatest band ever,” but who knows maybe I’m the walrus in this equation.

MLM