Sometimes it Hurts

The 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s groundbreaking 1968 NBC-TV “comeback” special will be commemorated with the release of a deluxe box set by RCA/Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, on Friday, November 30. The set arrives just days before the anniversary of the world premiere broadcast of the original special on December 3, 2018.

One of the most interesting and difficult-to-categorize singers in '60s pop, Gene Pitney had a long run of hits distinguished by his pained, one-of-a-kind melodramatic wail. Pitney is sometimes characterized (or dismissed) as a shallow teen idol-type prone to operatic ballads. It's true that some of his biggest hits – "Town Without Pity," "Only Love Can Break a Heart," "I'm Gonna Be Strong," "It Hurts to Be in Love," and "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" – are archetypes of adolescent or just-post-adolescent agony, characterized by longing and not a little self-pity.

David Murray - The Complete Remastered Recordings On Black Saint & Soul Note, Vol. 2 (2013) {7CD BoxSet CAM Jazz rec 1979-1993}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.39 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 910 Mb | Full Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1979-93, 2013 CAM Jazz / Black Saint / Soul Note | BXS 1024
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Saxophone / Bass Clarinet

Murray's first box set in this series was one of Black Saint/Soul Note's better reissues. And this second volume is it's equal, and in some instances possibly better. The seven albums here span the years 1979 to 1993, and show Murray in different playing styles, but always close to the top of his skills. If you've read this far you're probably familiar with Murray's music, so I'll be brief in my album notes.

Paul Bley - Ballads (1967) {ECM Japanese Reissue UCCE-3003 rel 2007}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 198 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 76 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 12 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967, 2007 ECM Records / Universal Japan | UCCE-3003 / ECM 1010
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

Ballads, which really seems to make ballads out of ballads, has been considered both worthy of hanging on the museum wall alongside the other masterpieces and being accorded special merit as the jazz record most used for background music. Since no less a genius than the great French composer Erik Satie invented the concept of background music, this might not be such a contradiction or insult. Only the short "Circles" invites a real comparison with the piano music of Satie; elsewhere you're in extremely extended territory, Paul Bley's desire to play the slowest music in history meshing with a new style of rhythm section accompaniment that sounds like everything from tuning the drums to adjusting the drapes.