Fats Domino "Fantastic Fats (Sixteen of the Greatest Tracks by Fats Domino)" (1965)

Sixteen of the Greatest Tracks by Fats Domino (compilation)

release date: 1965

format: vinyl (1968 reissue)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5]

producer: Felton Jarvis

label: Stateside / Columbia - nationality: USA

Compilation album by Louisiana-born Fats Domino (aka The Fat Man - Antoine Dominique Domino Jr.) (Feb. 26, 1928 – Oct. 24, 2017).

Astrud Gilberto "The Shadow of Your Smile" (1965)

The Shadow of Your Smile
release date: Oct. 21, 1965
format: cd
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "The Shadow of Your Smile" - 2. "(Take Me To) Aruanda" (4 / 5) - 3. "Manhã de Carnaval" (3,5 / 5) - 4. "Fly Me to the Moon" - 5. "The Gentle Rain" - 6. "Non-Stop to Brazil" - 7. "O Ganso" - 8. "Who Can I Turn To? (When Nobody Needs Me)" - 9. "Day by Day" - 10. "Tristeza (Goodbye Sadness)" - 11. "Funny World"

2nd studio album by Astrud Gilberto. This is an attempt to expand her repertoire with (American) standards, and it's a bland experience. She still succeeds best with her narrow instrument and voice on the bossa nova tracks like "Aruanda".
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars ]

Astrud Gilberto "The Astrud Gilberto Album" (1965)

The Astrud Gilberto Album [debut]
release date: May 1965
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Once I Loved" - 2. "Água de Beber" (feat. Antonio Carlos Jobim) - 3. "Meditation (I Will Wait for You)" - 4. "And Roses and Roses" - 5. "O Morro (Não tem Vez)" - 6. "How Insensitive" - 7. "Dindi" - 8. "Photograph" - 9. "Dreamer" - 10. "Só tinha de ser com você" - 11. "All That's Left Is to Say Goodbye"

Studio debut album by Astrud Gilberto, who had become worldwide famous for her fragile latin English on the great Getz / Gilberto (1963) album featuring Stan Getz and Astrud's husband, João Gilberto for her participation on especially "The Girl from Ipanema", although, she was never part of the ensemble that stood behind the perhaps most important and best known album of bossa nova [Stan, well he just wouldn't have that...].
This is a strong debut thanks to Astrud but also Antonio Carlos Jobim. The style is very much the same as on the famous Getz / Gilberto album, which means bossa nova. Here just without the beauty of Stan's sax.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Frank Sinatra "September of My Years" (1965)

September of My Years
release date: May 27, 1965
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Tracklist: A) 1. "The September of My Years" - 2. "How Old Am I?" - 3. "Don't Wait Too Long" - 4. "It Gets Lonely Early" - 5. "This Is All I Ask" - 6. "Last Night When We Were Young" - 7. "The Man in the Looking Glass" - - B) 1. "It Was a Very Good Year" - 2. "When the Wind Was Green" - 3. "Hello, Young Lovers" - 4. "I See It Now" - 5. "Once Upon a Time" - 6. "September Song"

The king of croon with just one of his majestic albums. It's one of those essential albums in an artist's repertoire that you shouldn't skip. Also, I think it's kinda nice to own something released in the year I was born. At this point of his long career, Sinatra was a shining star and he had already made great covers of pop ballads but here he goes off the mainstream popular track and proves his talent as an emotional vocal jazz crooner. It's not Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald or Nina Simone vocal jazz but it's a more genuine Sinatra who seeks an expressiveness you hardly find on his blue-eyed jazz pop ballads, suited for coffee table arrangements and chit-chats about the husband's new well-paid job, or the kids' good grades. The type of swing and popular standards made him... popular at the time but looking at his long and shinning career, it is his jazz repertoire that shines the brightest. And he made lots of albums of this type of albums that also became known as easy listening. In a way it's almost like a natural progression from Where Are You? (1957), Only the Lonely (1958), No One Cares (1959), Point of No Return (1962), and Softly, as I Leave You (1964). The titles already signals the lost love theme. Instead of his blue-eyed pop ballads albums, this is like the aforementioned songs of: "ah, there's a real life, it ain't all blue sky, roses and happy-ever-after" tone and quality, which suits him and his splendid voice so well.
I most certainly didn't listen to this album until the mid-1980s but I certainly knew of Sinatra from quite a young age. I was familiar with at leat half of these songs before even going into my teens 'cause Sinatra was one of those familiar voices that I associate with my pre-teen years lisening to whatever came out of the national radio - and this was definitely something I enjoyed.

1965 Favourite releases: 1. Otis Redding Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul - 2. The Beatles Help! - 3. Frank Sinatra September of My Years

Not this particular album as such, but Sinatra plays a big part of my earliest music memories that wasn't purely children's songs.

👉 Another one from that earliest stage.

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This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

Johnny Reimar "Lille fregnede Louise" (1965) (single)

Lille fregnede Louise, 7 single

release date: 1965

format: vinyl

[single rate: 3 / 5] [2,75]

producer: ?

label: Philips - nationality: Denmark

Tracklist: A) "Lille fregnede Louise" - - B) "Gid det går dig godt"

Single release by Danish pop schlager artists Johnny Reimar (aka Reimar Kristensen). Around '63 Reimar had a near lethal accident on stage with shock from his electric guitar while performing in his (Cliff Richard and The Drifters' copy-) rock-band The Clifters - the band continued with various lead vocalists, while Reimar after recovering side-stepped with a new band, The Scarlett, before pursuing a solo career with a stronger family-minded appeal from around '64. This very single is his first attempt with a song with Danish lyrics and with a combo of schlager and pop music, and it turned out as an immediate national hit, and Reimar basically stuck to this genre for the rest of his career. For younger generations, Reimar became associated with non-serious music that mostly found an appeal for birthday parties and the like - and for many his music was regarded as a bit of a joke - and quite undeservedly, 'cause many people enjoyed it, and then he did make a fine living as a performing entertainer. What many didn't realise was that Reimar was a musical forerunner, as manager, songwriter, promoter, and as producer of a vast number of national artists during the late 60s throughout the 70s, and well into the 80s. He stood behind established and upcoming names and artists like The Hitmakers, Bjørn & Okay, Keld Heick and the Donkeys, Birthe Kjær, Eddie Skoller, Brødrene Olsen, Savage Rose, Gnags, Mabel, and many more.

This copy was part of my parents' record collection, and it was a single I would play on a portable turntable at 6-8 years of age. It never was the kind of music that I found appealing - it was more of an obscurity, I think. Already back then, Reimar was a name I associated with a much older generation, and it was the type music I soon found to be out of sync with good taste, which of course was a very subjective way of thinking, but Reimar fought with the status as some kind party-entertainer for older people, and he would forever be linked with a happy-go-lucky attitude of some sort.

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This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

The Everly Brothers "That'll Be the Day" (1965) (single)

That'll Be the Day / Give Me a Sweetheart, 7'' single

release date: 1965

format: vinyl

[single rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]

producer: Jimmy Hilliard

label: Warner Bros. - nationality: USA

Tracklist: A) "That'll Be the Day" - - B) "Give Me a Sweetheart"

Single release by The Everly Brothers taken from the duo's album Rock'n Soul (Mar. 1965). The title song is a cover song, written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison, first recorded by the Three Tunes (aka Buddy and the Two Tones) in 1956 and made famous from a recorded version by The Crickets in 1957.

This particular German issue comes from my parents' singles collection.

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This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

The Who "My Generation" (1965)

My Generation [debut]
release date: Dec. 3, 1965
format: 2 cd (2002 Deluxe Edition)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]
producer: Shel Talmy
label: MCA Records - nationality: England, UK

Studio album debut by Brittish mod and garage rock band The Who originally released by Brunswick Records. The original album was issued in 12 and a 13 track issues, and the 2002 remaster, Disc 1 contains three bonus tracks, and Disc 2, simply labelled 'Additional Bonus Tracks', contains 14 bonus tracks.
The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

I recall The Who from my pre-teen years, when listening to these songs on the radio. My Generation was one of those albums that kept luring in the dark, as something wild and uncontrallable - completely on its own terms, and I both really liked it but also felt a bit blown away by it. And it wasn't until the early 80s that I got to enjoy it fully.

~ ~ ~

This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

Burt Bacharach "What's New Pussycat?" (OST) (1965)

Burt Bacharach

What's New Pussycat? (OST) (1965)

[ Main title track featuring Tom Jones from the score (and full debut album) by Burt Bacharach to the movie directed by Clive Donner and Richard Talmadge, written by Woody Allen, and featuring Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Capucine, Romy Schneider, Ursula Andress and Woody Allen. The title track has become pseudonymous with Tom Jones. ]

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BEST OF 1965:Otis Redding "Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul" (1965)

Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul
release date: Sep. 15, 1965
format: cd
[album rate: 5 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Ole Man Trouble" - 2. "Respect" (5 / 5) - 3. "A Change Is Gonna Come" - 4. "Down in the Valley" - 5. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" (5 / 5) - 6. "Shake" (5 / 5) - 7. "My Girl" (5 / 5) - 8. "Wonderful World" (5 / 5) - 9. "Rock Me Baby" - 10. "Satisfaction" (5 / 5) - 11. "You Don't Miss Your Water"

3rd studio album by Otis Redding. Most of the songs here are cover-versions of famous r&b songs but here personalized into soul. Redding wrote three songs for the album himself (tracks #1, #2, and #5) and it soon became his best selling album reaching number #6 on the UK album charts. The album "is included in a number of best album lists, including Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Time magazine's list of the "All-Time 100 Greatest Albums", and Robert Dimery's "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". (from wikipedia). Another great soul singer, Sam Cooke, wrote three of the songs (tracks #3, #6, and #8), but as it is with all tracks on this album, Redding has a different approach, giving each song an emotional depth and feel that the original songs didn't have. Otis Redding is my all-time favourite soul artist and this album is one of his best.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, Record Collector, Virgin Encyclopedia 5 / 5 stars ]

1965 Favourite releases: 1. Otis Redding Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul - 2. The Beatles Help! - 3. Frank Sinatra September of My Years

The Maytals "The Sensational Maytals" (1965)

org. vinyl release

The Sensational Maytals
release date: 1965
format: digital (1999 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: unknown
label: Jamaican Gold - nationality: Jamaica

Track highlights: 1. "It's You" (4 / 5) - 2. "Daddy" (4 / 5) - 7. "What's On Your Mind" (4 / 5)

2nd studio album by The Maytals originally released on BMN in Jamaica only and later that year in the UK by Doctor Bird Records, reissued by Jamaican Gold on extended cd edition as Sensational Ska Explosion in 1999.
The Maytals were formed in 1962 as a trio consisting of Nathaniel 'Jerry' Matthias, Henry 'Raleigh' Gordon, and Frederick Nathaniel 'Toots' Hibbert. All tracks here are credited the trio, but the band soon became famous as 'Toots & The Maytals' for his lead in the band, and he also wrote many of the trio's songs - later almost everything - and they then became Toots & The Maytals. In the early aftermath of this album, Hibbert spent 18 months in jail from '66 to '67, which explains an unwanted hiatus at a time when the band really was on top of music charts in Jamaica.
The production sound miss much in comparison with American and European releases from that time, but the music is simply golden. At this point reggae was not an "invented" genre but the music by Toots & The Maytals together with The Wailers and Peter Tosh, who all played Jaimaican ska in a combo with soul and r&b was fused into rocksteady, and later became known as reggae [from the 1968 single "Do the Reggay" by Toots and the Maytals].
'Toots' Hibbert has been compared to Otis Redding and this album really proves that analogy quite well. Hibbert doesn't have the same strength of vocal range but listening to this makes you wonder if Redding also listened to this and the debut by The Maytals to find inspiration. The album is stuffed with great tunes, and I have also found this much more inspiring than Bob Marley & The Wailers who experienced international fame in the 1970s when Toots & The Maytals were seen as 'just another' Jamaican band also playing reggae, when in fact they were among THE most important figures in shaping the genre.

1999 reissue