Taxi Driver (1976) Collector's Edition

Widely considered the Swedish foursome's first classic album - and historically important as the first to use the now-famous mirror-B logo - 1976's Arrival contains three huge hit singles, the dramatic "Money Money Money," the downcast "Knowing Me, Knowing You," and quite possibly the band's finest four minutes, the absolutely perfect pop classic "Dancing Queen," a combination of Spector-ian grandeur, McCartney-esque melody, and the indescribable vocals of Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The rest of ABBA's fourth album is strikingly consistent and accomplished, from the sly, bouncy "When I Kissed the Teacher" to the atmospheric title track, making room in between for the three excellent singles and five other substantial pop tunes. Although three LPs and a greatest-hits compilation preceded it, Arrival is aptly titled, as this album announces the band's move beyond bubblegum.

Widely considered the Swedish foursome's first classic album - and historically important as the first to use the now-famous mirror-B logo - 1976's Arrival contains three huge hit singles, the dramatic "Money Money Money," the downcast "Knowing Me, Knowing You," and quite possibly the band's finest four minutes, the absolutely perfect pop classic "Dancing Queen," a combination of Spector-ian grandeur, McCartney-esque melody, and the indescribable vocals of Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The rest of ABBA's fourth album is strikingly consistent and accomplished, from the sly, bouncy "When I Kissed the Teacher" to the atmospheric title track, making room in between for the three excellent singles and five other substantial pop tunes. Although three LPs and a greatest-hits compilation preceded it, Arrival is aptly titled, as this album announces the band's move beyond bubblegum.

The name of the group might be immodest, but the combination of pianist Hank Jones, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Tony Williams lives up to its billing. Originally cut for the Japanese East Wind label and last available domestically as an Inner City LP, this swinging but unsurprising session features boppish interpretations of six jazz standards including "Love for Sale," "Secret Love," and "Autumn Leaves."

Not long after Island had disposed of his contract, Kevin Ayers hooked up with Harvest once again, releasing the mainstream-sounding Yes We Have No Mañanas in 1976. Although Ayers' symbolic banana references find their way into the title (the banana being his outlet for representing silliness in such a serious world ), the ten tracks find him singing some rather conventional pop/rock. Both "Star" and "Mr. Cool" were released as singles, with some noticeable guitar work from Ollie Halsall adorning both. Ayers made a name for himself by incorporating a unique brand of genial eccentricity into his music - 1970s Joy of a Toy and 1973's Bananamour, for example, as "The Ballad of Mr. Snake" and "The Owl" are typical of Ayers' discounted vaudeville-like fair…

It is indeed an oddity that, for all the considerable ambition of his albums, this collection of singles and unreleased outtakes may be Ayers' most satisfying LP. Why? Perhaps because when he's constrained within the 45 format, he taps his strongest and most endearing qualities: easygoing, singalong melodies, droll, nonchalant (even non sequitur) lyrics, good-natured sotto voce vocals, even female backup harmonies. There's little trace of the inaccessible, difficult (usually instrumental) passages that occupy much of the space on his early albums. Spanning 1969 to 1973, this includes eight tracks that wound up on flop singles, as well as six outtakes from the albums he recorded during this period, though there were no obvious reasons for their exclusion (too pop oriented, perhaps?)…

Not long after Island had disposed of his contract, Kevin Ayers hooked up with Harvest once again, releasing the mainstream-sounding Yes We Have No Mañanas in 1976. Although Ayers' symbolic banana references find their way into the title (the banana being his outlet for representing silliness in such a serious world ), the ten tracks find him singing some rather conventional pop/rock. Both "Star" and "Mr. Cool" were released as singles, with some noticeable guitar work from Ollie Halsall adorning both. Ayers made a name for himself by incorporating a unique brand of genial eccentricity into his music - 1970s Joy of a Toy and 1973's Bananamour, for example, as "The Ballad of Mr. Snake" and "The Owl" are typical of Ayers' discounted vaudeville-like fair…

It is indeed an oddity that, for all the considerable ambition of his albums, this collection of singles and unreleased outtakes may be Ayers' most satisfying LP. Why? Perhaps because when he's constrained within the 45 format, he taps his strongest and most endearing qualities: easygoing, singalong melodies, droll, nonchalant (even non sequitur) lyrics, good-natured sotto voce vocals, even female backup harmonies. There's little trace of the inaccessible, difficult (usually instrumental) passages that occupy much of the space on his early albums. Spanning 1969 to 1973, this includes eight tracks that wound up on flop singles, as well as six outtakes from the albums he recorded during this period, though there were no obvious reasons for their exclusion (too pop oriented, perhaps?)…

Garofano Rosso is an instrumental album. Now, why would a band with such a prominent singer as Banco del Mutuo Soccorso record an instrumental album? Because behind Francesco Di Giacomo's voice one finds strong instrumental compositional skills. And so the band was asked to write and record a soundtrack for the movie Garofano Rosso. (Keyboardists Vittorio and Gianni Nocenzi would later write a handful of other soundtracks, both together and separately.) But the album is not the actual soundtrack; two tracks, "Zobeida" and "Funerale," don't appear in the final cut, and the band fiddled with the track order to make things more interesting. Therefore, Garofano Rosso stands as a good album on its own, not as exciting as Darwin! or Io Sono Nato Libero, and not as impressive (or pompous) as Banco's other instrumental LP Di Terra, but still an honest effort…

A rare treat from vocalist Saundra Hewitt - a singer with an incredible range right from the start - and a righteous power that matches some of her bigger-name 70s contemporaries! The grooves here are jazzy, but with a definite soulful undercurrent - especially on the rhythms, which often get a nice crackle from Bernard Purdie's drums! Paul Griffin plays electric piano on the set, and Bob Mintzer serves up some nice tenor solos too - but the whole righteous vibe hangs heavily on Saundra's great lyrics - on tunes that inlcude "Won't Be Water Next Time", "Got A New Pair Of Shoes", "Heart Of Stone", "Up On Cripple Creek", "Just To Be With You", and "I Loved You Too Much".