Tony Bennett w Count Basie - Strike Up The Band (1959) - VINYL, MONO - 1963 re-issue - 24-bit/96kHz plus CD-compatible format

I found this LP in delicious mono in EX- condish, so here we go.

Classic Records has a 45rpm set of this. If you have it, I would love to rip it for all of us to enjoy. PM me, please.

Damn, but this is good. Long story: the deal was, a disk for Tony, and a disk for Basie. Well, they effed up recording the first one, so they recorded the set in the studio with added "audience reaction". It's so bad that you cannot believe it. The gold disk of recent years removes all of that nonsense and just gives us the music. (Yes, I have it – somewhere – in my archives.) It's perfectly fine. But this is the second set, recorded for Basie's label. Intially released on Roulette as a Count Basie set named "Bennett Sings, Basie Swings", this is the Roulette re-issue from all of 4 years later under the Tony Bennett name. It was then released and released and released ad infinitum and under various titles ever since then. The cd has an extra track (which solves my head-scratching Q of "shouldn't there be 12 tracks on here?"), but I don't have the cd. I found this LP in delicious mono in EX- condish, so here we go. Way way too short an album, so to quote Spencer Tracy, "there ain't much there, but what's there is cherce." Aaaaah, Kate….


A couple trouble spots as an FYI: the end of side 1 and the beginning of side 2. A bit rough, but it's all over soon enough, unlike an Obama press conference. And generally, the end of songs will fade off of a cliff. It's the record!! Not me :-) I TELL YOU EVERYTHING.


From allmusic:
Review by William Ruhlmann
Tony Bennett recorded two albums with Count Basie and His Orchestra under a contractual agreement giving one of the records to Bennett's label, Columbia, and the other to Basie's, Roulette. The Columbia album, In Person!, was released once, while the Roulette album, initially issued under the title Strike Up The Band, has been re-released by various labels under various titles endlessly. This is one of those reissues, and while one may deplore the duplicitous marketing scheme, the pairing between Bennett and Basie remains impressive. The band raves through tunes like "With Plenty Of Money And You," and Bennett matches them, drawing strength from the bravura arrangements, while band and singer achieve a knowing tenderness on "Growing Pains." This is an album well worth owning; just make sure you don't buy it twice.


01 - Strike Up The Band.flac
02 - I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plans.flac
03 - Chicago.flac
04 - With Plenty Of Money And You.flac
05 - Anything Goes.flac
06 - Life Is A Song.flac
07 - I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face.flac
08 - Jeepers Creepers.flac
09 - Growing Pains.flac
10 - Poor Little Rich Girl.flac
11 - Are You Havin' Any Fun.flac



No music was harmed in the making of this vinyl rip.