I've picked up several (to say the least) records in the past several weeks and I finally got around to listening to some and I've been pleasantly surprised by many.

Mitch Ryder
I bought an album of his from the early 80s that was quite good, Never Kick a Sleeping Dog. I hadn't heard anything from MR in many years but I knew of his hits from the 60s so I splurged and for a buck I bought the album. MR still hasn't lost his edge or his musical background. Nice album. On an upside, when I put the album away I found that I owned MR and the Detroit Wheels' Greatest Hits and that's a great album. I highly recommend it if you can find it.

Nat King Cole
A butterscotch voice whose sound is all so rich and enveloping. Another artist I highly recommend. What a voice :thmbsp:

Tony Bennett
Great singer with awesome phrasing and style, and to say the least a great voice. Sinatra may have been more famous but I like Bennett more.

Fortunately the records I bought for the above artists are almost as new, other times I'm not so fortunate.

Next up are the Gilbert and Sullivan operas :)

Other Items
I bought 2 'new' used TTs in the past month and I highly recommend both if you can find them in working condition. Denon 61F - one of those electronic jobbies that took some getting used to as I came from a Micro Seiki. Quite a good deck with great ability to resist skipping on less than the solid floors of my 80YO house. The cart I installed is a Shure 97XE which is quite nice and the music sounds quite good - at least to my older ears. I ain't no Audiophile! Easy as pie to set up as all you need to do is twirl some knobs for tracking and anti-skate.

I also got my hands on a Kenwood 750 on a trade and boy, is that one heavy friggin' deck! Almost 40 lbs and it resists feedback and footfall quite well. A completely manual deck with a very nice arm (to my eyes and ears) and completely adjustable. Makes my MS and the Denon feel like lightweights.

I got both through tag sale ads in the local paper at extremely reasonable prices, especially the Kenwood. Not many people are into vinyl anymore.

My Dad was a Nat King Cole fan from way back - I grew up listening to that while other kids were discovering Rock-n-Roll and Heavy Metal! Still love it!

Nat King Cole-aww, man ! Grew up listening to "Ramblin' Rose"..."Unforgettable"...I appreciate what they were trying to do when they "updated" the 1951 original w/his daughter, but it was like trying to improve on the "Mona Lisa"-and THAT was another one of his songs I fell for a looooooong time ago....

Tony Bennett
Great singer with awesome phrasing and style, and to say the least a great voice. Sinatra may have been more famous but I like Bennett more.

Get his album, 'Positively Frank' where he sings all Sinatra songs.

Nat King Cole was a fantastic singer and a great human being.

Well, you don't often find those three artist's names in the same thread title!

Mitch Ryder I've had the fortune or mis-fortune (depending on your perspective) of hearing live a few times. Mitch is very talented, and could have been one of the all time greats. Unfrotuantely, the times where I've heard him, he was usually late to the stage, and didn't seem to give a crap about it. His reputation off stage is dicey: hard to manage, hard to deal with if you're a record company or an agent.

I wonder what things would have been like for Mitch if he didn't insist that the rest of the world live on his terms.

Great music, though.

Sounds like Axel Rose.

I've picked up several (to say the least) records in the past several weeks and I finally got around to listening to some and I've been pleasantly surprised by many.

Mitch Ryder
I bought an album of his from the early 80s that was quite good, Never Kick a Sleeping Dog. I hadn't heard anything from MR in many years but I knew of his hits from the 60s so I splurged and for a buck I bought the album. MR still hasn't lost his edge or his musical background. Nice album. On an upside, when I put the album away I found that I owned MR and the Detroit Wheels' Greatest Hits and that's a great album. I highly recommend it if you can find it.

Mitch is local for us here in South Lyon, MI, he and the Martindales just performed a fund raiser here at the local theatre on 5/18/2006, I wish I could have made it!! :music:

MR (http://www.observer-eccentric.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060504/LIFE/605040841/1112/NEWS19)

The Mitch Ryder album that you refer to is quite good - almost vintage Mitch. I first saw him in 1964 before going to England to make it big. His band was called Billy Lee and the Riviera's. His Greatest Hits is another album you can find in the bargain bin from time to time - another must have, if there is such a thing as a Mitch Ryder must have.
Larry

I had a roomie from Dee-troit my freshman year at Michigan State (1970), and he turned me on to Mitch. My one disk (CD)* from that era is the "Detroit with Mitch Ryder" album that has his cover of Lou Reed's "Rock 'n' Roll".

Mitch's is THE definitive version of that song, and I do believe Reed allowed to that in an article I read many moons ago. Anyway, if there's any one song that makes me want to turn the amp to 11, that is it.

* I had it on vinyl but I put the record behind the driver's seat of my 1970 VW Beetle when I was moving one winter day, and the hot air from the miserable vent there warped the record beyond playing. Man, I was blue that day.

Steve A.

Well, you don't often find those three artist's names in the same thread title!

Mitch Ryder I've had the fortune or mis-fortune (depending on your perspective) of hearing live a few times. Mitch is very talented, and could have been one of the all time greats. Unfrotuantely, the times where I've heard him, he was usually late to the stage, and didn't seem to give a crap about it. His reputation off stage is dicey: hard to manage, hard to deal with if you're a record company or an agent.

I wonder what things would have been like for Mitch if he didn't insist that the rest of the world live on his terms.

Great music, though.

Sounds like Sly Stone too!!!! Another rock star whose ego or drug taking got in the way of a great recording career and/or stardom .

Hendrix and Morrison weren't far behind on the drug taking part and in the late 60s/early 70s put on some awful shows as a result.

Sundazed (Bob Irwin) currently has some Mitch Ryder reissues available. I have the "greatest hits" album, which has the original mono "New Voice" singles mixes.