George Tipton Plays Nillson

Another Tipton obscurity. After tackling Jan & Dean, Tipton gives his impression of terminal geek Nillson's repertoire. And a nice album it is.

Highly talented but plagued by self doubt and a similar self hating lifestyle to sometime companion John Lennon, Nillson flared brilliantly in the late sixties and early seventies before succumbing to the Hollywood excesses and passing prematurely.

Thanks to the brilliant blog "For the Love of Harry" for this rare gem and there's a treasure trove of Harry's material there. For a (not so) minor talent the aforesaid site is an exhaustive labour of love for the Harryphiles involved.

Essential albums: Aerial Pandemonium Ballet, Nillson Schmillson and Son of Schmillson.

Track list

01. Rainmaker
02. Poly High
03. Nobody Cares About The Railroads Anymore
04. Think About Your Troubles
05. Marchin' Down Broadway
06. One
07. Maybe
08. Open Your Window
09. Without Her
10. Mourning Glory Story
11. Waiting

GTPN

Diablo Swing Orchestra

Seriously demented music here for the adventurous. A mad band from Scandanavia (it must be the climate) they combine elements of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman soundtracks with heavy metal riffing all overlaid with a Kate Bush like soprano. I can also here some trad jazz elements and the occasional Tijuana Band flourishes (seriously!).

I personally love it, although I've heard only a couple of tunes so far I'm sold. Sort of reminds me of a surf/death metal/country folk band called the Reventlos although the Diablo's take it to another level.

Anyhow I've found a couple of their albums on Avax (in lossless format) so get in quick as they don't usually last long there.

AMG likes them.

Sing a long Songs for the Damned and Delirious (great title).

The Butchers Ballroom

Ennio Morricone Platinum Collection Flac

Here's something I found in my travels. Three CDs in the lossless flac format. I'm in the process of converting my entire CD collection into Flac files for easy access and no loss in listening quality.

From the cover blurb: Three CD collection featuring some of the finest music composed by the legendary Ennio Morricone, recent recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Oscar at the 2007 Academy Awards. Features 60 tracks from his early 'spaghetti westerns' to Hollywood blockbusters like The Mission. A stunning, emotional musical trip that can stand on it's own without the listener ever having seen any of the films these tracks were composed for. EMI.

These are not my uploads as my upload speed is too slow to upload these 11 files so thanks to the original uploader.

Get em here . See comments for track list and p/w.

Bel-Aire Orchestra - Jan & Dean's Pop Symphony

I thought some of you might like to listen to this oddity. Its not just a Hollyridge Strings style orchestral version of a group's hits (good as Hollyridge are) its unique in that Jan Berry actually got involved in the production of this album and most of the ideas are his.

He's helped by the usual stellar Hollywood session men and George Tipton. Its very different to the usual strings play groups sounds and has some very good ideas and makes for interesting listening.

AMG thought it was pretty good too:

The general perception, of course, is that Jan & Dean were almost exclusively a singles act in terms of their most important output, and that is largely true. But a few of their albums were "conceptual" in nature...and then there's Pop Symphony, No. 1, the strangest album in their entire output -- an instrumental album of Jan & Dean hits played by the Bel-Aire Pops Orchestra (augmented by some top L.A. sessionmen, most of whom played on Jan & Dean's usual output), arranged by Jan Berry and George Tipton, who also conducted. What's funny is that Pop Symphony, No. 1 isn't a bad little record, and was also damned rare for a very long time. The material seems at first like standard pop instrumental music, except it does have those melodies, which work whether they're sung by Jan & Dean or, as is the case here, carried by a brass or string section. And it turns out that Pop Symphony, No. 1 is full of entertaining and unexpected delights, with the result that this record isn't quite as bizarre as it seems.

Link