music Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

#1 hits of 1925

Irving Berlin

Here are the #1 hits of 1925. But before that, I want to quote something from Joel Whitburn Presents A Century of Pop Music. “For popular music, the most historic event of the 1920s was a switch from acoustic to electric coal recordings, which followed a year of experiments by engineers of Bell Laboratories in 1924-25. Instead of the acoustic process of singers and musicians performing directly into a recording horn, they were now able to record with a condenser microphone in a spacious studio.

“With the use of a vacuum tube amplifier and an electromagnetically-powered cutting stylus, the frequency range of recorded music expanded by two and a half octaves. The Associated Glee Clubs of America’s pairing of ‘Adestes Fideles’ and ‘John Peel’ became the first electrically-recorded hit in July 1925, and within months, every major label record label had gone electric.”

The Prisoner’s Song – Vernon Dalhart (Victor), written by Guy Massey, 12 weeks at #1, gold record

Yes, Sir, That’s My Baby – Gene Austin (Victor), written by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson, “ukulele and jazz effects by Billy (‘Yuke’) Carpenter,” seven weeks at #1

I’ll See You In My Dreams – Isham Jones with Frank Bessinger (vocals) and Ray Miller’s Orchestra (Brunswick), listed as instrumental – seven weeks at #1

If You Knew Susie (Like I Know Susie) – Eddie Cantor (Columbia), written by B. G. Sylva – five weeks at #1

Harlem Globetrotters theme

Sweet Georgia Brown – Ben Bernie and His Hotel Orchestra (Vocalion), written by Bernie/Casey/Pinkard, instrumental, five weeks at #1. It shouldn’t be surprising, but I know these last four tunes, plus Tea for Two, astonishingly well, even though they are a century old.

All Alone – Al Jolson with Ray Miller and His Orchestra (Brunswick), written by Irving Berlin, five weeks at #1

Manhattan – the Knickerbockers (Columbia), from a Rodgers and Hart musical Garrick Gaieties, instrumental, four weeks at #1

Oh, How I Missed You Tonight – Ben Selvin’s Cavaliers (Columbia), instrumental, three weeks at #1; scratchy sound, unfortunately

Tea for Two – Marion Harris (Brunswick), from No, NO, Nannette, three weeks at #1

All Alone – Paul Whiteman and his orchestra (Victor), instrumental, written by Irving Berlin, three weeks at #1

All Alone – John McCormick (Victor), two weeks at #1

Oh, Katharina! – Ted Lewis and his band (Columbia), instrumental, written by Fall and Gilbert, one week at #1

Remember – Isham Jones Orchestra (Brunswick), instrumental, written by Irving Berlin, one week at #1

March rambling: Trimmer

me and Maurice Ravel

Trimmer (def 1): One who adjusts beliefs, opinions, and actions to suit personal interest.

Let There Be Light by Sharp Little Pencil

Fact-checking FOTUS’ address to Congress and CPAC

ICE Detention: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

RFK Jr. Misleads on Vitamin A, Unsupported Therapies for Measles

‘Project 2025 in Action’: Administration Fires Half of Education Department Staff

DEI Is Disappearing In Hollywood. Was It Ever Really Here?

Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True.

Meet Everyone Hates Elon, the U.K.-Based Collective Attempting to Take Down Musk: “Let’s Make Billionaires Losers Again”

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Also

The “I Am Canadian” commercial returns!

13 Minutes To The Moon, the podcast about how NASA got to the moon. Produced by the BBC World Service and hosted by Kevin Fong from NASA, with fascinating interviews. Hans Zimmer did the music.

Sports Betting: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Devin “Legal Eagle” Stone is not quitting

The 6668th Central Postal Battalion

Read an interview with Jim McNeal and J. Eric Smith, the authors of Crucibles: How Formidable Rites of Passage Shape the World’s Most Elite Organizations, now available for preorder

John Green reads Chapter 1 of his new book EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS and is interviewed on the CBC

We Will Eradicate Measles

Joseph Wambaugh, L.A. Cop Turned Novelist and Screenwriter, Dies at 88. I used to watch Police Story.

Kevin Drum, writer of solid political commentary, died

Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, dies at 82

A collection of the Mickey Mouse shorts from 1929, including Mickey speaking his first words in The Karnival Kid

Captain America Co-Creator Jack Kirby Getting Definitive Documentary ‘Kirbyvision’

Now I Know: Bombs Away! (Cat Version) and The Jigsaw Puzzles Worth Their Weight in Gold? and A Whopper of a Way to Pay For Your Wedding and How Homer Simpson’s Comical Gluttony Saved Lives and A Classical Way to Save the Whales and Why 19th Century Britons Lost Their Heads

Albany Public Library

Two Open Seats on APL Board. Albany voters will select two trustees for the Albany Public Library Board in the May 20 election. Both positions carry full five-year terms, which commence on July 1.

The library is hosting the following public forums:

“So, You Want to be a Library Trustee” Information Sessions

March 22 (Sat) | 10-11:30 am | Howe Branch | 105 Schuyler St.
March 26 (Wed) | 6:30-8 pm | Pine Hills Branch | 517 Western Ave.

Hear from current trustees about what it’s like serving as an APL trustee, how to get on the ballot, and tips for a successful campaign.

Meet the Trustee Candidates Forum and Library Budget Session

May 6 (Tue) | 6-7:30 pm | Washington Ave. Branch | 161 Washington Ave.

Bad news for libraries: ALA’s statement on the White House assault on the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library Author talks/book reviews in April, Tuesdays at 2 pm, 161 Washington Ave, large auditorium:

April 1 | To Be Announced

April 8 | Author Talk | C. M. Waggoner, who as a youngster ‘spent a lot of time reading fantasy novels in a swamp,’ discusses & reads from her mystery, The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society.

April 15 | Book Review | Piranesi, a novel by Susanna Clarke. Reviewer: Sarah Reiter, prolific local fiction writer & artist.

April 22 | Book Review | Tracing Homelands: Israel, Palestine, and the Claims of Belonging by Linda Dittmar. Reviewer: Jim Collins, PhD, professor emeritus, Linguistic Anthropology, U at Albany, SUNY.

April 29 | Book Review | Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System by Wes Marshall. Reviewer: Jackie Gonzales, PhD, environmental historian & project manager, Capital Streets.

MUSIC

Beethoven’s Opus 72 (Fidelio), Overture, which, of course, is all about me!

In February 2014, my wife and I attended the Albany Symphony Orchestra concert, which included Maurice Ravel’s Bolero. We got the tickets from friends at church who gave them up because one of them hated that piece of music, thinking it was boring. Seeing and hearing Bolero live was exquisite.

Flash forward to March 2025, and blogger buddy Kelly linked to a performance of Ravel’s Bolero despite his long-standing disdain for the piece. He wrote, “This one’s really very good, and the camera work in this video is pretty terrific.” Not incidentally, this being the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth this year, ASO is performing Bolero again on April 5, 2024, at the Palace Theatre in Albany. We are not going because of a conflict, but I recommend it. Incidentally, Maurice and I have the same birthday.

Lisztomania -Phoenix

Bach at Home: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 Movement III by Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Defy Democracy – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Bored in the U.S.A. – Father John Misty

Hello, It’s Me – Evan Marks & Rebecca Jade. Vote in this year’s San Diego Music Awards for this song in Category 21 every day through March 27!

Personality Crisis – New York Dolls; Hot! Hot! Hot! – Buster Poindexter. David Johansen, Flamboyant New York Dolls Vocalist and Co-Founder, Dies at 75

Name of God – Mustafa

Mambo Lido – Peter Sprague

Oh! You Pretty Things – Lisa Hannigan

Lupron – Time Wharp

One O’Clock Jump – Buddy Rich

Joy, Joy! – Valerie June

Look What I Found – Lady Gaga (from A Star Is Born)

Bulletproof -La Roux

Death of Samatha – Yoko Ono

Coverville 1525: Cover Stories for Missing Persons and New Bohemians

Intro -The xx

Concern – William Tyler

Pique Dame by Franz von Suppe

The writer who reviewed every album

Rolling Stone’s ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time’ list

Every album? On January 28, Medium writer Harris Sockel noted: “Last weekend, I spent several hours digging into a majestic 138-minute read by Tom Morton-Collings (it’s more of a book, to be honest). He began the project last year, inspired by Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time…

“He decided to listen to all 6,800 songs on all 500 albums. It took him over six months. He writes:

“’I grew up as a music fan believing in the medium of the album as sacred. Somewhere along the way, I’d lost sight of that. I ditched all my physical media a long time ago. I only used streaming services and, more and more, was only listening to playlists curated… based on my listening habits. […] I wasn’t expanding my musical horizons at all. If anything, they were narrowing.’”

As you likely know, I’m enough of a dinosaur to play CDs still. And I received a record player for Christmas!

“What follows is the most detailed, exhaustive journey through the last 70 years of music that I’ve ever seen… While reading, I kept pausing to revisit albums I hadn’t heard in decades… I made a few new discoveries, like Laura Nyro’s Eli and the 13th Confession (1968) [LISTEN!]. And I learned that Rolling Stone really needs to listen to its own list, because Morton-Collings points out a few (what he perceives as) lazy choices — like including a five-hour Merle Haggard compilation as one of its ‘top albums of all time.’ A more discerning curator would’ve picked just one of the artist’s 66 studio albums.”

Suffice it to say, I LOVED reading these reviews. Albums he thought he should like but didn’t. Artists he’d heard of but had never listened to: Carole King’s Tapestry! [LISTEN] (He Loved/Liked it.)

How to

Morton-Colling’s process: “I made the decision to listen to every single one of these 500 albums, in full — in reverse order, from number 500 down to number 1 — to provide a short summation on each (5 words at first, but this was changed to 10 for the top 100) along with an arbitrary rating of my own (Loved/Liked/Maybe/Nah, or a combination of those). Also to give more elaborate feedback on selected highlights. Generally, I just wanted to open myself up to it all.”

And he owns his biases. Regarding Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits [LISTEN]. “Now then. At some point, I was always going to have to ditch my attempt to not include albums I was already familiar with as highlights. But this is with good reason. This isn’t just an album I’m familiar with, at this point it almost makes up some of the sequence of my DNA. It was released when I was 1 yr old and I feel like it has been part of my life ever since. It seeped through my skin due to constant exposure. I wouldn’t choose to be without it any more than I’d choose to be without my thumbs. It’s the sound of childhood, of endless car journeys, sat in the back seat in the middle, sandwiched between my 2 big brothers.”

More Island Records

So what albums besides these would be in my Top 25? Here are some, with links to all of them.

Not on the RS list: East/West– Butterfield Blues Band

343. Greatest Hits — Sly and the Family Stone (1970): “Funky-soul singles from improbable family. (Liked/Maybe).” This is the only greatest hits album I’d put on my list.

334. Abraxas — Santana (1970): “Relaxing, Latin-rock, guitar hero vibes. (Liked)”

I especially liked the longer piece about 3. Blue (1971) Joni Mitchell

“Overall, it made me think about how we interact with albums. How, with further listens, certain music can open up for you, but how many times those further listens won’t happen? I think sometimes, you just need that one moment to hang onto and go back. I mentioned that with this, for me, it was ‘River.. With that one moment as an anchor you can go back and find more moments that you like, and again until it all falls into place…

“With one listen, I might have dismissed this album. With repeated listens, it might become one of my all-time favourites. (Loved/Liked)”

This is why I have listened to every new album I’ve received three times before putting away.

Roberta Flack (1937-2025)

with Donny Hathaway

The first Roberta Flack album I ever heard was Chapter Two (1970). It belonged to my sister Leslie. The opening track was Reverend Lee (Gene McDaniels), a PG-13 song about a “sexy Southern Baptist minister.” My all-time favorite Roberta song is Gone Away (Donny Hathaway, Leroy Hutson, Curtis Mayfield), which I’ve used in my depressing quartet of songs when I broke up with someone. A song I didn’t appreciate as much at the time as I did subsequently is Business Goes On As Usual, a song by Fred Hellerman and Fran Minkoff, which is a stark reflection of consumerism and war. I eventually purchased it and every other album mentioned here.

I bought Quiet Fire (1971), her third album, which starts with the anthemic Go Up Moses (Roberta Flack, Jesse Jackson, Joel Dorn). There are some lovely covers, but my favorite is To Love Somebody (Barry and Robin Gibb), especially the second half.

Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972) paired two Atlantic Records artists to great commercial success, reaching #3 pop and #2 RB. The first single was You’ve Got A Friend (Carole King), #29 pop, #8 RB, #36 AC. Be Real Black For Me (Charles Mann, Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack) would appear on the six-CD anthology 100 Years of Black Music. But the hit was Where Is The Love (Ralph MacDonald, William Salter), which got to #5 pop and #1 RB and AC.

Finally

I finally purchased First Take (1969), which reached #1 on the pop and RB album charts. It was propelled by The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Ewan MacColl) after Clint Eastwood included it in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me. The single went #1 pop and AC for 6 weeks, and #4 RB. The first song on the album was Compared To What (Gene McDaniels).

The Killing Me Softly album (1973) went to #3 pop and #2 RB. It featured Killing Me Softly With His Song (Charles Fox, Norman Gimbel) that went to #1 pop, #2 AC.

Rubina Flake

Feel Like Makin’ Love (1975) is the singer’s first album, under the pseudonym Rubina Flake, to be produced by Flack herself. I Can See The Sun In Late December (Stevie Wonder), at nearly 13 minutes, is about 6 minutes too long, but interesting. She’s Not Blind (Stuart Scharf) is my favorite song on the album. The title track (Gene McDaniels) went to #1 on pop, RB (5 weeks) and AC (2 weeks) charts.

Blue Lights in the Basement (1977) starts with the song Why Don’t You Move In With Me (Gene McDaniels); the intro is grand. When I saw Roberta at First Night in Albany, NY, in the late 1990s, she could not replicate the great piano line. The Closer I Get To You (Reggie Lucas, James Mtume) is a duet with Donny Hathaway that went to #2 pop, #1 RB for 2 weeks, #3 AC

Roberta Flack (1978) was a contractual obligation album. If I Ever See You Again did go #1 AC for 3 weeks, #24 pop, #37 RB

Dakota

Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway (1980) featured only two pieces with her old singing partner. You Are My Heaven (Eric Mercury, Stevie Wonder) #8 RB, #46 AC, #47 pop, is the last song Hathaway would ever record. “After having dinner with Flack at her residence in the Dakota, Hathaway had then returned to his suite on the fifteenth floor of Essex House, later fatally falling from the window of his suite.”

I missed buying a couple of her albums before Oasis (1988). The title track (Marcus Miller, Mark Stephens) went to #1 RB, # 13 AC

The last album of hers I bought was Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles (2012). Roberta lived across the hall from John and Yoko in the Dakota building in New York City. Here, There, and Everywhere is the only live track.

My post from 2012. Obits from Variety, Rolling Stone, and THR. From the latter: “In November 2022, it was revealed that she had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and could no longer sing. In 2016, she suffered a stroke, and she retired from performing two years later.”

Roberta Flack Performs “Killing Me Softly” and “Just Like a Woman” | Carson Tonight Show. Air date: July 13th, 1973

Coverville 1524: Roberta Flack Tribute and Mitch Ryder Cover Story

March rambling: Latibulate

a new Rebecca Jade song!

Latibulate: To retreat and lie hidden; to hide in a corner, which I’m trying very hard not to do.

Feb 28 Economic Blackout

A Paul Tonko Town Hall in Albany

As Suppression of Dissent Increases, Know Your Rights If the FBI Comes Knocking

TIME Women of the Year

Facebook & Content Moderation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; the 60 Minutes interview with John Oliver

EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS, Chapter 1, read by John Green

Two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman, 95, was found dead alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa,64, and their dog, at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I only saw him in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Antz (1998-voice), The Birdcage (1996), Crimson Tide (1995), The Firm (1993), Unforgiven (1992), Postcards from the Edge (1990), Mississippi Burning (1988), Hoosiers (1986), Reds (1981), Superman II (1980), Superman (1978), Young Frankenstein (1974), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The French Connection (1971), and very likely some episodic television in the 1960s. I’ve been to Poughkeepsie but never picked my toes there.

HELLO! MY NAME IS BLOTTO THE MOVIE trailer.

The Birth of a Community: Early Black Churches, Schools, and Organizations that Built Binghamton, NY

Are You Lonely? Adopt a New Family on Facebook Today

The State of American History: Lincoln and Immigrants

Now I Know: Dead People, Supporting Each Other and The Loophole That Gets You Paid for Riding a Bike and How To Plant Nearly 1,000 Trees an Hour

If You Ever Stacked Cups In Gym Class, Blame My Dad

Them. Again.

2.0: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Muskrat’s Billionaire Welfare: How the world’s richest man built his empire on government funds while attacking public workers

FOTUS Says He’s Above the Law in Social Media Post Invoking Napoleon: If you haven’t started worrying yet about his plan to destroy democracy and crown himself king, start now.

Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump (2019) – Rick Reilly: “If you’ll cheat to win at golf, is it that much further to cheat to win an election? To turn a Congressional vote? To stop an investigation? If you’ll lie about every aspect of the game, is it that much further to lie about your taxes, your relationship with Russians, your groping of women?”

The Presidency and the Constitution: Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States (2010). “Those who are entrusted with [power] must educate themselves in self-restraint. A republic is about limitation, and for good reason, because we are mortal, and our actions are imperfect.”

Can Ethical People Work in the Administration?

The Republican Party’s NPC Problem — and Ours | The Ezra Klein Show

DOGE’s Illegal Takeover Pulls From Fascist Playbooks. When we see a parallel government taking shape, we should not refrain from calling fascism what it is.

FOTUS Puts America in the Axis of Evil

And. More.

From Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge

“We should have seen this coming. [FOTUS]… has finally cut out the middleman and put U.S. citizenship up for sale like a clearance item at one of his bankrupt casinos. For a mere $5 million, the world’s wealthiest tax-dodgers can now purchase a ‘Gold Card’—a visa so opulent and sleazy it might as well come with a free timeshare in a collapsing Florida high-rise.

That’s right, [he] has replaced America’s immigration system with a Black Friday deal for billionaires. Who needs democracy when you can just PayPal your way into the country?”

Plus, a bunch of other stuff, including his now-confirmed, terrible Cabinet. But I highlight this because I had read it in only one place, the hardly liberal Foreign Affairs:

U.S. government escalates feud with Pretoria by cutting aid and offering refugee status to Afrikaners. “Few would have foreseen an executive order awarding refugee status to Afrikaners—the white South Africans descended mainly from Dutch settlers who dominated the country’s politics and led the apartheid regime from 1948 to 1994. South African media queried whether he was even aware that Afrikaners differed from English-speaking whites like his South African-born billionaire advisor Elon Musk, whose criticisms of the South African government appear to be the source of the idea. It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the US for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the US from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship,” South Africa’s foreign ministry responded in a statement.”

And yet

Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter, R-Ga., proposed a measure that would empower FOTUS to begin negotiations with the Danish Government to acquire Greenland. The bill would also rename the territory “Red, White, and Blueland.”

MUSIC

Hello, It’s Me – Evan Marks & Rebecca Jade. Vote in this year’s San Diego Music Awards for this song in Category 21 every day through March 27!

Hostile Government Takeover (EDM Remix)

Black Bottom by Nkieru Okoye

He Will Break Your Heart – Jerry Butler, who died at the age of 85

The Message -Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five

I Put My Ring Back On – Mary Chapin Carpenter

Cabo Frio – Peter Sprague

Starburst by Jessie Montgomery

Coverville 1522: The Peter Gabriel Cover Story III and 1523: Cover Stories for Howard Jones, Steely Dan, and Smokey Robinson

Another Day In Paradise – JOYNER (from the Hulu Original Show “Paradise”)

Careless Whisper – Wham

American Eagle Waltz by Jacques Offenbach

Why Wasn’t I More Grateful (When Life Was Sweet) – Maria McKee

Suite from The Wind and the Lion by Jerry Goldsmith

Green Grass Grew All Around – Pete Seeger

Creep – [fan edit] I’m not a robot

Everybody Wants To Rule The World -SOFTBARDCORE (cover in Classical Latin)

You Make My Dreams (Come True) · Daryl Hall & John Oates

I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner