One home project over the last month resulted in me browsing through numerous LPs (yes, actual vinyl) I acquired over the years. I came across and thought of various LPs that have yet to appear on CD. Several of the artists has a variety of other albums reissued (and remastered) on CD but not these. Others were probably on just such small labels that they will never see the light of day. Makes me wonder what hapens to old LP catalogs and what decides what gets reissued on CD. Here’s several I’d like to see:
- Circle Filled With Love, Sons of Champlin (1976)
- Before Bill Champlin joined what now passes for the band Chicago, he headed a Bay Area band called the Sons of Champlin. This is by far my favorite Sons album. In fact, my copy of the record (which is at least my second, if not third) is so beat up it would be impossible to create a decent CD restoration. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, a fellow fan was kind enough to make an MP3 rip of his halfway decent LP, as well as provide a rip of a bootleg of a 1975 Marin County show with many of these tunes as the band was working them out before the LP was recorded.
- Midnight Rain, Ursula Dudziak (1977)
- Ursula is from Poland and a master of the jazz vocal improvisation known as “scat.” You ain’t never heard Night in Tunisia until you’ve heard the version on this record. Unfortunately, a college roommate had this LP and it never was part of my own collection or converted to another medium. I’ve heard “restored” versions converted to CD but the original sources still suffer scratches and nicks undoubtedly similar to those inflicted on my roommate’s copy.
- New City, Blood Sweat & Tears (1975)
- This LP came from about the eighth permutation of BS&T. Half the album is cover tunes but it was the first LP released after David Clayton-Thomas rejoined the band. It’s certainly not an award winner and far from the band’s best. I always found it an enjoyable listen, though.
- One World, Rare Earth (1971)
- Although best known for a hit single, I Just Want To Celebrate, this LP is important to me for other reasons. Imagine a kid in northeast South Dakota looking at the back cover of the LP and discovering some guy named Ray Charles wrote the tune What’d I Say?. He decides maybe it’s worth checking out the original version since he didn’t hear anything but this Charles guy on local radio. Can’t think of many better reasons for wanting to preserve an LP on CD.
- Everybody’s Painting Pictures, Wayne Johnson Trio (1984)
- This is another LP that belonged to a college roommate but which I was wise enough to make a cassette copy when I heard it when visiting him in Minneapolis. It is in that transition from jazz fusion to what is today known as “smooth jazz.” This LP clearly falls more in the classical jazz/fusion genre than smooth but was released on such a small label that its chances of surfacing on CD are probably slim to none.
- The Mob, The Mob (1971)
- After Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago charted several times in the Top 40, it seemed record companies rushed to sign as many horn bands as they could. This was one of several out of the Chicago area and a band that actually garnered a small following in eastern South Dakota. While certainly not the caliber of the nationally-known acts, this record was a horn band version of Northern Soul, making it unique enough to be memorable.
