Happy New Year and welcome back to Radar! This week, we clear the decks for whatever new goodies are in store for us in 2021. This show is completely on vinyl (almost). We start out with some recently cleaned up 45s! You’ll hear The Masqueraders, Junior Parker, Hugh Masekela, Bettye Swann, and Donnie Elbert.
We also acknowledge the passing of Charley Pride—a trailblazing country star who broke down racial barriers during his hey-day and beyond—and who played some of the coolest electric guitars ever to be seen in the country world. We take a few of his old RCA Camden Records out for a spin and you can hear for yourself just how great a Dynaflex record can sound! Quite good, actually.
While there aren’t many non-holiday related releases at the end of the year, we play a brand-new, hypnotizing track by Bob Hillman and Spooky Ghost (guitarist Gerry Leonard) from their recently released EP. Do you have wild animals that live in your urban or suburban region? Mr. Hillman has coyotes in his neighborhood, and he’s going to tell you about them on “Urban Wildlife.” I’ve got wild turkeys that often roam my property, but I don’t foresee writing a song about them.
The great mastering engineer, Michael Graves hipped me to some very cool South African releases that he worked on. You’ll hear a cut from one of them on this program: Analog Africa’s Orchestre Super Borguou de Parakou (AALP 071). Hopefully, an in-depth interview with Mr. Graves is coming your way soon. The South African vibe continues: we also spin The Heshoo Beshoo Group’s Armitage Road, a super rare album which was recently reissued by Canada’s We Are Busy Bodies label.
More on the reissue front as well, you’ll hear the 50th anniversary of Ray Barretto’s Barretto Power (CR00330) album, a AAA vinyl reissue of the album by Craft Recordings and Fania. I’ve played the title track in the past, but there’s plenty more salsa-funk goodness where that came from.
Plenty of other music comes your way on this episode as well. So, join us and let’s find some great tunes this year, together!
Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Sharp Notes each Saturday evening at 6pm and TVD Radar on Sundays at 5AM on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.
