| | Zydeco CD
Zydeco is the favored social and dance music of Louisiana's Creole population, who are the descendants of African and Afro-Caribbean slaves and free people of color. The related Cajun style occupies a similar place in the lives of a nearby white community, whose ancestors were a colony of French settlers called Acadians. Creoles are proud of their language, customs, and cuisine, and guard them fiercely. However, as time passes, zydeco has inevitably become heavily influenced by soul, R&B, funk, and gospel, although the time-honored squeezeboxes and metal washboards are usually still somewhere in evidence among the woodwinds, brass, and electric guitars. Among this lineup, the more traditional tunes tend to be the winners. Boozoo Chavis' "Lula Lula Don't You Go to Bingo" is a hilarious cautionary tale about the evils of gambling, while the riff underpinning Clifton Chenier's "Calinda" has been unceremoniously lifted by several rock bands, including the Rolling Stones in "Under-Assistant West Coast Promo Man." Joe KK and Zydeco Force contribute "Hootchie Cootchie," a roistering floor-filler full of fortune telling and macho bravado. The rhythms tend as much toward the straight-ahead stomp of Chicago blues as the more usual chug-chug preferred by the old timers, but even the more diluted tunes have a certain earthy, swinging something that screams zydeco from a mile away. ~ Christina Roden
Performers include: The Creole Zydeco Farmers, Keith Frank & The Soileau Zydeco Band, Rosie Ledet, Beau Jocque, Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas, Jude Taylor & His Burning Flames, Boozoo Chavis, Queen Ida & Her Zydeco Band, Clifton Chenier, Buckwheat Zydeco, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Joe K K & Zydeco Force, Chris Ardoin & Double Clutchin'. Zydeco Review
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Purchase Zydeco CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Spike Jones Let's Sing A Song Of Christmas CD (1998)
Zydeco album
 $7.85   
Verve's Let's Sing a Song of Christmas is an excellent collection of Spike Jones' Christmas recordings, featuring no less than 20 tracks, including "All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)," "Jingle Bells Medley," "Nuttin' for Christmas," "The Angel in the Christmas Play," "Frosty the Snowman," "Christmas Alphabet Medley" and "What Are You Doing New Years." There have been other collections of Jones' holiday tunes, but this one is arguably the best, given its generous selection, great fidelity and liner notes by Richard Carpenter. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Originally released on Verve (MGV-2021). Includes liner notes by Richard Carpenter.
Live Recording
Personnel: Spike Jones; George Rock (vocals, trumpet); The City Slickers, The Jud Conlon Singers, The City Slicker Juniors, The Saint Victor's Boys Choir, The Allie-Kai Malahinis (vocals).
| | Gary Hoey Ho! Ho! Hoey: The Complete Collection CDs (2003)
Zydeco CD music
$14.59
Arranger: Gary Hoey.
Personnel: Gary Hoey (vocals); Jamie Kaplan (vocals); Glen Sobel, Bobby Rock (drums).
Audio Mixers: Gary Hoey; Jim Wirt.
| | Fleetwood Mac CD (1975) Bonus Tracks; Remastered; Deluxe Edition
Zydeco music CDs
$12.19  
With this album, years of personnel changes ended for Fleetwood Mac with the departure of guitarist Bob Welch. The remaining core of the group (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Christine McVie) invited guitarist/vocalist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks to join, and thus began the most commercially successful period for Fleetwood Mac. With 3 strong songwriters in Nicks, Buckingham and Christine McVie, FLEETWOOD MAC was their first number-1 album.
PETER GREEN'S FLEETWOOD MAC, the band's full-length debut, is miles removed from commercially tailored soft rock of Fleetwood Mac's 1970s incarnation. The '60s version of the band, led by guitarist/singer Peter Green, was edgy, psychedelic, and rooted deeply in the blues. Green's love of revved-up 12-bar jams, raw boogie grooves, and shredding electric leads come together beautifully on this album, with the help of slide guitarist/singer/pianist Jeremy Spencer, drummer Mick Fleetwood, and bassist John McVie.
With the exception of Spencer, the members had played together in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and took the slashing, mercurial sound and lock-step interplay from that outfit and--arguably--improved on it. Though the album is steeped in traditional blues and includes covers of tunes by Robert Johnson ("Hellhound on My Trail"), Howlin' Wolf ("No Place to Go"), and Elmore James ("Got to Move"), the compositions penned by Green and Spencer stand up, especially the subtler singing and playing by Green (as on "Looking for Somebody"). Released at time when the market was glutted with amped-up British blues, PETER GREEN'S FLEETWOOD MAC stands above the competition with its superior musicianship and gutsy punch. It remains a template for hard-driving blues-rock.
It's unfair to say that Fleetwood Mac had no pop pretensions prior to the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to the lineup in 1975. When they were lead by Bob Welch they often flirted with pop, even recording the first version of the unabashedly
| | Stevie Ray Vaughan - Live From Austin, Texas DVD (1983)
Zydeco songs
 $9.99
Blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan was already a legend when he was killed in a helicopter crash in 1990. Like all talents who die early, he has left behind a legacy of myths and stories concerning his complex life and persona. This very special video release -- which contains a 1983 and a 1989 appearance on the television show "Austin City Limits" -- provide a glimpse into the mythical musician at the beginning and the end of his short career. Eleven tracks are virtuostically performed here; half by the young, newly successful Vaughan, and half by an older, calmer and more together Vaughan. An intriguing musical look at the evolution of a man who became a myth.
Standard Screen; Soundtrack English
| | Night Of Blistering Blues DVDs (1987)
Zydeco album
$17.09
These stars share the stage to pay homage to the master of blues.
Standard Screen; Soundtrack English; Import
| | Paul Butterfield Original Lost Elektra Sessions CD (1995)
Zydeco CD music
$8.39
THE ORIGINAL LOST ELEKTRA SESSIONS stem from the Butterfield Blues Band's attempt to record their debut album. The tapes were scrapped and a whole new album was recorded.
The songs here, recorded in late 1964 before keyboardist Mark Naftalin joined up, were intended for the Butterfield Band's first album. However, they were junked at the last minute by producer Paul Rothchild, who felt they weren't technically up to snuff for reasons that remain unclear despite his liner note reminiscences. The tapes then proceeded to languish in Elektra's vaults for 30 years, at which point Rothchild dug them out and decided they were better than he remembered.
And a good thing, too, because they capture the band raw and in its prime with no apologies necessary. The repertoire overlaps only slightly with the "official" first album (which was recorded a few months later), and musically it's apples and oranges as to which one is better, although some prefer this recording's in-your-face style.
Recorded in 1964. Includes liner notes by Paul Rothchild.
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Paul Butterfield (vocals, harmonica); Elvin Bishop (guitar); Mike Bloomfield, Mark Naftalin (keyboards); Jerome Arnold (bass); Sam Lay (drums).
Personnel: Paul Butterfield (vocals, harmonica); Michael Bloomfield (guitar, piano); Elvin Bishop (guitar); Mark Naftalin (organ); Sam Lay (drums).
Audio Mixer: Dan Rothchild.
Liner Note Author: Paul Rothchild.
Recording information: Mastertone Studios, New York, NY (12/1964).
| | Cowboy Junkies Lay It Down CD (1996)
Zydeco music CDs
$7.69 
Cowboy Junkies' sixth album finds the band reclaiming the jazz-tinged, ethereal mood-rock that is their forte. Margo Timmins' pensive soprano suits her brother Michael's mostly somber songs to a tee on this fine collection. The album's hushed recording style enhances the up-tempo material as well; the results can be almost Stones-y in spots. In fact, much of LAY IT DOWN's allure can be credited to the reemergence of Michael Timmins' guitar work as a prominent force within the group. He plays in a stripped down style that's both funky and reserved, always appropriate for the song's setting. LAY IT DOWN, the band's first release for Geffen Records, is evidence of the Cowboy Junkies' return to form.
Released in 1996, this CD definitively answers a question that has occasionally plagued the Cowboy Junkies: yes, they sound good, but can they rock? Though still laden with the melancholia that has marked previous efforts, this CD is sonically dense, guitar-drenched, and good at high-volume levels. Margo Timmins' voice has never been more expressive, and the lyrics shimmer with intensity. Although the band has occasionally touched on quiet moments reminiscent of fellow Canadian Neil Young, little they have done before this album approached the emotive wail of his louder efforts. The Cowboy Junkies have proven their versatility while retaining their unique sound. ~ Jeff Crooke
Recorded at John Keane Studios, Athens, Georgia in June and July 1995.
Personnel: Margo Timmins (vocals); John Keane, Michael Timmins (guitar); Peter Schab, Andy Carlson (violin); Carl Schab (viola); David Henry (cello); Tim White , Jeff Bird (organ); Peter Timmins (drums).
Audio Mixer: John Keane.
Recording information: John Keane's Studio, Athens, GA (06/1995-07/1995); Studio 306 (06/1995-07/1995); The Gas Station, Toronto, Ontar (06/1995-07/1995).
Photographer: Guzman/Rotterdam Conservatory Orquesta Tipica.
Cowboy Junkies: Margo Timmins (vocals); Michael Timmins (guitar); Alan Anton (bass); Peter Timmins (drums).
Additional personnel: John Keane (pedal steel guitar, guitar); Andy Carlson, Peter Schab (violin); Carl Schab (viola); Dave Henry (cello); Tim White, Jeff Bird (organ).
| | Best Of Sonny Boy Williamson CD (2006)
Zydeco songs
$9.79
Liner Note Author: Clive Richardson.
| | Duke Ellington First Annual Connecticut Jazz Festival CD (1956)
Zydeco album
$14.39
From the collector's label IAJRC, this CD, recorded three weeks after Ellington's sensational performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival), not only features the orchestra (best on the three-part "Festival Suite"), but has selections by a sextet led by the great swing trumpeter Buck Clayton and three numbers played by the classic pianist Willie "the Lion" Smith. Lots of fine music. ~ Scott Yanow
recorded on July 28, 1956 w. his orchestra, incl. rhythm section, wonderful playing from Clark Terry, Paul Gonsalves, et.al., 16 tracks
Arrangers: Duke Ellington; Billy Strayhorn.
Personnel: Duke Ellington (piano); Ray Nance (vocals, trumpet); Jimmy Grissom (vocals); Harry Carney, Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Russell Procope (reeds); Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Cat Anderson (trumpet); Quentin Jackson, John Sanders, Britt Woodman (trombone); Sam Woodyard (drums).
Photographer: Duncan P. Schiedt.
| | Rick Nelson Rick's Rarities 1964-1974 CD (2004)
Zydeco CD music
$15.05
It's true that Rick's Rarities is a vault-scraping exercise. The 23 tracks are about evenly divided between previously unreleased material on the one hand, and various items from non-LP singles and obscure soundtrack and compilation albums that haven't been on CD before on the other. It's not bad, though, even if it's not on the level of the best material he did for Decca, and certainly not on the level of his best early stuff on Imperial in the late '50s and early '60s. All but one of the songs was cut between 1964 and 1969, and as much as the compilation CDs that actually showcase the best of Rick Nelson's Decca output, they reflect his drift from mild rockabilly-pop to early country-rock. Of the more interesting mid-'60s earliest selections here, Sonny Curtis' "I've Been Lookin'" is a fair rockabilly-tinged rocker; "I Need You" a nearly gorgeous orchestrated ballad that didn't see release at the time; the Nelson-penned "Freedom and Liberty" an ultra-tentative stab at social consciousness; and "Your Kind of Lovin'" an obscure song by Jill Jones and Annette Tucker, who'd go on to write songs recorded by the Electric Prunes. But much of the material is unmemorably average, and sometimes lethargic, even if Nelson and his backup musicians deliver reasonably committed performances. Oddest are four string-laden Bacharach-David songs from the soundtrack LP to the forgotten 1966 television special On the Flip Side, one ("Try to See It My Way") sung with Joanie Sommers. Nelson sounds far more comfortable with the laid-back country-rock on the late-'60s sides, which include covers of Tim Hardin's "The Lady Came from Baltimore" and Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," as well as a nice 1967 Nelson-authored single, "I'm Called Lonely." The packaging on this CD is perhaps more inspired than the music, the 28-page booklet including not just thorough track-by-track details on these Decca-era rarities, but also excerpts of pieces in which several of Nelson's associates talk about their work with the singer. ~ Richie Unterberger
Here's a treasure-trove for fans of Rick Nelson - 23 ultra-rare tracks in perfect sound. 13 are previously unreleased Decca and MCA recordings, while the remaining ten appear on legitimate CD for the first time (although four tracks were released on CD i
Recording information: 12/08/1965-10/21/1974.
Authors: James Burton; Jimmie Haskell; John Boylan; Ozzie Nelson; Tom Brumley.
Arrangers: Jerry Fuller; Jimmie Haskell; John Boylan.
Personnel: Allen Kemp, Dennis Larden (vocals, guitar); Randy Meisner (vocals); James Burton (guitar, dobro); Glenn Ross Campbell (guitar, banjo); Clarence White, Dennis Budimir, Donald Peake, Jerry Cole, Al Casey (guitar); Tom Brumley (steel guitar); Earl Ball, Glen D. Hardin (piano); Norm Jeffries, Ritchie Frost, Pat Shannahan, Frank DeVito , Eddie Tuduri (drums).
Liner Note Author: Bill Parker.
| | Bill Haley Billy Haley & His Comets CD (2006)
Zydeco music CDs
$9.95 
Liner Note Author: George Avakian.
| | Robert Charels Three Leg Dogs And Old Skool Cats CD (2007)
Zydeco songs
$12.85
Personnel: Bob Petrocelli, Anthony Steele (guitar); Eric Mauriello (bass guitar); Dennis Cotton (drums); Michael Hill, Robert Charels (background vocals).
| | chris arduser Hapless CD (2007)
Zydeco album
$18.99
Hapless is a new collection of songs by Chris Arduser respectfully dedicated to luckless women and unfortunate men. Strewn with teen beats, growling basses, off color guitars, jangling strings, groovy guest star girl singers and more Mellotrons than you can shake a stick at!Dire contemplations of life on earth as well as depictions of nightclub so sad and seedy no fiction was required!All of the above and reversible cover art! "Arduser's third release, "Hapless," is easily his best, thanks to a seamless batch of smart pop songs, high-end production values, and a wonderful mix of shiny, happy melodies that counter dark, twisted lyrics.It's a sophisticated disc that takes what he learned on his first two solo outings - "Hostage" and "Celebrity Motorcade" - and leaps forward. The most apt comparison is to the later works of XTC, with layered arrangements, crafty writing, and a sense that each song has something new to reveal each time you hear it.Arduser is a talented multi-instrumentalist, but he fleshes "Hapless" out with musicians like Rob Fetters and Bob Nyswonger, both of the 'dots and the Bears, and George Cunningham, another Sylvania expat living in Cincinnati. The diversity of sound they provide augments the tunes and gives the sad barfly lament of "Poor Suzette" a good hard kick and takes the avant pop of "Washing My Conscience Clean" into another realm.The disc's strongest cut is "Everything," a soaring, uber-catchy soul-pop song that perfectly captures the frustrations of a man who just might break out of his emotional shell. But, then again, maybe he won't.That kind of paradox is at the heart of "Hapless." Arduser is hitting his stride, and here's hoping that he keeps at it for a long time.- ROD LOCKWOOD/toledo blade"Exquisite. Hook-filled pop." - RICK BIRD/Cincinnati Post
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