Hello and welcome to another episode of Vinyl-O-Matic. I am your host, Your Old Pal Will. It is so nice to be with you again as we continue our journey through albums that begin with the letter B as in Bravo. We'll be tackling a lot of "Best ofs", so that sets me to thinking that this week's listener challenge will be to provide me with your top 3 Good, Better or Best songs, as in songs with good, better or best in the title. You know, like "Nobody Does It Better" or "The Ballad of El Goodo" or "The Best of Jill Hives". Leave a comment in the show notes, which can be found by pointing your browser in the direction of vinylomatic(dot)com(slash)s05e08. Before we get to the bests, however, let's do the Huckle Buck.

That is some mighty fine guitar pop from Bebop Deluxe with their song "Maid in Heaven" from 1974, but in this case from a 1979 Harvest records compilation entitled The Best of and the Rest of Be-Bop Deluxe. We heard an easy listening rendition of JB Greaves' hit "Take a Letter" from Lest Baxter and his Orchestra taken from a multi-disc set entitled the Best of '70. The Ohio Express let us know just how yummy bubblegum pop can be from a super fun compilation entitled The Best of Buddah, as in Buddah records. And starting that all off, we had pedal steel guitar pioneer Alvino Rey's alter ego Ira Ironstrings with a fun take on The Huckle-Buck from an album called The Best Damned Dance Band in the Land on Warner from 1960.
And now it's time to party.

Welcome back to Vinyl-O-Matic dear listeners. If you cast your mind back to the top of that set you will recall that we heard from Bob Marley and the Wailers bringing us "Soul Shake Down Party" from The Best of Bob Marley & Peter Tosh with the Waylers (wailers spelled with a y), a release from 1981 or so. That was followed up by Earth. Wind. And Fire with their Wonder-esque take on The Beatles "Got to Get You into My Life" from The Best of Earth Wind & Fire, Vol I. Mama Africa aka Miriam Makeba brought us some splendid afro-pop called "Iya Guduza" from The Best of Miriam Makeba on RCA Victor released in 1968. Finally, we had Mr. Henry Mancini and the theme from the second Pink Panther film "A Shot in the Dark" from 1966's The Best of Mancini, Volume 2.
Next up, we have Mel Tellis' take on a Charlie Walker hit that was also made famous by both Robert Mitchum and Dean Martin.

There they went! The Beau Brummels that is. One of the first garage rockers to emerge from the San Francisco scene, that was a single that failed to make the Hot 100 unfortunately, but I like it just fine. That was from a Rhino Records compilation entitled The Best of the Beau Brummels, 1964-1968. Fans of The Flintstones will recall that a group called The Beau Brummelstones made an appearance with Fred and Barney once upon an episode. We heard 2 from the Beach Boys. "Don't Worry Baby" is from Best of the Beach Boys, Vol. 2 and Brian does his best to capture the magic that is The Ronettes "Be My Baby". From Best of the Beach Boys, we heard the appropriate-for-the-times-we-are-living-in tune "In My Room". Starting everything off, we had Mel Tillis with "Little Ole Wine Drinker Me" form The Best of Mel Tillis.
Let's continue things in a more country vein, shall we?

Hooowee. We started that last set off with Merle Haggard's cautionary tale "Mama Tried" from not just the best of Merle Haggard, but The Best of the Best of Merle Haggard, released in 1972. That was followed up with The Stylistics doing some kinda role-playing in "I'm Stone in Love with You". Isaac Hayes brought us "I Stand Accused" from this 1974 compilation The Best of Isaac Hayes. And finally, Herman's Hermits brought us a pretty ok version of the Frankie Ford/Huey Piano Smith classic "Sea Cruise" from MGM's 1965 The Best of Herman's Hermits.
This concludes our time together for now. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a line: will(at)vinylomatic(dot)com. Show notes, archived episodes, RSS feeds, podcast platform links and such can be found at vinylomatic(dot)com. When next we meet, we're actually done with the Best ofs but still have plenty of albums that begin with the letter B as in Bravo. Join me, won't you?