Giants Of The Big Band Era - Benny Goodman

Advantages: Some really good tracks
Disadvantages: Some are "so-so"

...is also by Benny Goodman and his Quartet, which is a little slower and more really for dancing. Perhaps that was were the Savoy came in to the title? Benny Goodman and his Quartet next give us Moonglow, which starts with some sophisticated piano, which is soon joined by Goodman and the rest of his band. The style is somewhat muted. And, I suppose if you consider the jazz of the 1920s as being like bright sunlight, then, yes, I would guess that you could call this tune an example of Moonglow. Pretty, though not as bright as real jazz. Benny Goodman and his Quartet are featured again with a song called Body and Soul. Re Again, it is more "sophisticated" and is best described as lift music for the more discerning type of building. Louis Armstrong (thank God! We are back to some real jazz!) is next with I Want a Big Butter and Egg Man. Strange... Read review

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Advantages: Brave effort, going quite against the grain at the time
Disadvantages: Some efforts are significantly weaker than the originals

...The image we have today of Bryan Ferry as the super-smooth balladeer hasn't always been the case, you know. Back in the early 1970's he was as vital a figure as Bowie or Bolan in the (very loose) glam rock movement (though to call it a movement would be a rather big exaggeration, but it is as apt a word as any other). His intelligent, often downright weird lyrics on Roxy Music's self-titled debut album and on its 1973 follow-up 'For Your Pleasure' and fascination with the aesthetic side of music, the very presentation of the band in terms of their costumes and album covers, mark him out as one of music's most pivotal figures of that era. But at some point, things seemed to alter and become rather different. Roxy Music would become smoother and smoother, with the edginess of the early records being gradually phased out until the result... Read review

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Advantages: Strong material
Disadvantages: Bit American at times

...Billy Dolls and other friends of mine". The Billy Doll is the New York Doll Billy Murcia who died in London in 1972. Such contemporary references are scattered liberally throughout the album, Mick Jagger and Twiggy in Drive In Saturday, Bolan in The Prettiest Star, Benny Goodman in Watch That Man and Che Guevara in Panic In Detroit. It gives the thing a very stylised feel, trapped very much in that era, and yet equally as timeless as all of Bowie's work. Time in particular is a big favourite of mine, and Aladdin Sane is packed with others, the heavy riff, stomp bump and grind of The Jean Genie, the piano soaked jazz ballad of Lady Grinning Soul, the effervescent but stylish pop of the Drive-In Saturday single, and the sex obsessed horror of Cracked Actor among others. Still you feel that its the surface sheen and veneer that is more... Read review

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