Hey, it's me, Your Old Pal Will. While we may be socially distant, we are sonically close in the episode as we nearly round out our journey through albums that begin with the letter A as in Alpha. And in the spirit of letting the mind wander while this body lingers, I think this week's listener challenge will be to provide me with your Top 3 songs about travel, like Marakesh Express, or Caravan, Ticket to Ride. Let me know where your mind takes you by leaving a comment in the show notes for this episode, which can be found at vinylomatic(dot)com(slash)s05e04. Results will be shared in Spotify playlist form in the next Amplifier newsletter.
Many of you out there in listener land may be raising a glass or two in your solitude, so let's have one, "Straight, No Chaser".

Beep beep. That was a number called "Jeep's Blues" performed by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra at the Newport Jazz Fest in 1956. The album of that name was released in 1957 on Columbia. Also recorded that same year at Newport, we also heard The Miles Davis Sextet featuring Davis on trumpet, Adderley on alto sax, Coltrane on tenor sax, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. They performed Thelonius Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" from the album Miles & Monk at Newport. The flip side of this album features the Thelonius Monk Quartet. Next, let's listen to one of the defining sounds of 1976.

Welcome back to Vinyl-O-Matic. I am Your Old Pal Will. Way back at the top of that last set, we heard Wings with their lovely song "Let 'Em In" from the album Wings at the Speed of Sound, released in 1976. The album reached number 1 on the Top 200, and this song made it to number 3 on the Hot 100. Not quite as successful as the lead track on the other side "Silly Little Love Songs", but pretty wonderful in its own right. That was followed up by Nina Simone singing "Fine and Mellow" from her 1959 Colpix album At Town Hall. Last but certainly not least, we got a little taste of the Santa Rosa music scene from 2011 with a collection of music on Sell the Heart Records, all recorded at the fabulous Atlas Studio, called Atlas Amped. The Spindles brought us the evocative song "Night Time Is a Holy War City".
Let's keep moving things along with one of David Gilmour's songs.

I hope you are indeed holding on like Blondie held on to their cover of The Paragon's "The Tide Is High". That track is one of the highlights of their 1980 Chrysalis album Autoamerican. From a Folkways collection entitled Australian Folk Songs and Ballads, John Greenway and his guitar brought us a number about a voyage to the down under. Starting things off, from Pink Floyd's 1970 Harvest Records release Atom Heart Mother, we heard "Fat Old Sun", a song that has grown on me in recent years, especially after hearing some John Peel BBC recordings of that track in development stages.
Next up, some music that was partially recorded at Prairie Sun Studios in beautiful Cotati CA.

At the top of that last set, we heard a find jam from Comets on Fire entitled "Hatched Upon the Age" from their 2006 Sub Pop release, Avatar. Rounding the show out, we heard Stan Getz and his interpretation of the Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne standard "Time After Time" from 1957's Verve release Award Winner: Stan Getz.
Ten albums down, so many more to go. If you have any questions or comments or would like to sign up for the Vinyl-O-Matic Amplifier newsletter, point your browser in the direction of vinylomatic(dot)com. When we meet again, we will quickly finish up albums that begin with the letter A as in Alpha, and undertake albums that begin with the letter B as in Bravo. Join me, won't you?