ALL OVER THE WORLD

This collection presents some of the most interesting attempts by Françoise to cross over into different language markets during her tenure at the French Vogue label.
While it would be nice to have a box set that covered all of these multilingual efforts, this disc provides a nice overview (in English, German and Italian) and nabs the most essential efforts.
Five of the songs (7 - 8 - 10 - 12 - 15) are brand new songs, which Françoise Hardy never sang before in French. And the Italians "Parlami di te" and "La tua mano" can be included in any Hardy's Best Of.

Many of the tracks are completely different recordings than the French versions, rather than just having Hardy slap a new vocal track on the existing instrumentation. This provides many delights - the version of "Le Temps de l'amour" is much looser, and the version of "Le premier bonheur du jour" features an arguably far superior arrangement to the original French one.
Some tracks are simply new vocals on the familiar tracks, though. In the case of the Italian version of "Voila" it's welcome: while the version of this classic on the "Ma jeunesse fout le camp" CD is muddy mono, the Italian version here is the full, vibrant, remastered, glorious stereo this sound masterpiece deserves.

Bad Memories

Today is not a good day to remember, at least for some pop stars.

In 1965, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman were each fined £5 at East Ham Magistrates Court, London, after being found guilty of insulting behaviour at a Romford Road service station, where they had urinated against a wall.

Four years later, also on this day, Aretha Franklin was arrested for causing a disturbance in a Detroit parking lot. The same happened to Paul and Linda McCartney in 1972, when they were caught for possessions of drugs in Sweden.

THE END

Chegou a hora das despedidas. Pois é, meus amigos, foi giro enquanto durou mas agora é tempo de dizer adeus. O Rato vai de férias e… não vai voltar!
O blog tem sido agora atacado indescriminadamente todas as semanas e, sinceramente, a paciência esgotou-se. Ainda se houvesse um critério lógico para a remoção dos ficheiros poderia tentar-se uma continuação. Mas infelizmente o Rapidshare está-se borrifando para isso e acede prontamente a todas as queixas, independentemente de quem as faça.
Talvez daqui a uns meses um novo blog apareça por aí, nunca se sabe. Se isso acontecer os amigos mais fieis do Rato serão avisados. Caso contrário só me resta agradecer aos milhares de pessoas que visitaram o blog neste ano e meio de existência: MUITO OBRIGADO A TODOS!
>>>>>>>>>>
The hour of farewells has arrived. That’s right, my friends, it was fun while it lasted but now it’s time to say goodbye. Rato is going on holidays and… he’ll not come back!
The blog has been now attacked every single week and, sincerely, my patience has run out. Rapidshare doesn’t give a damn to removal’s criterions and says quickly yes to any complaint received.
Maybe a couple months from now a new blog will appear, we never know. If it’ll happen, Rato’s closest friends will be informed. If not, I just want to thanks the thousands of people who visited the blog during this year and half of existence: THANKS A LOT TO EVERYBODY!

OST: "RAGTIME"

Randy Newman was the nephew of film composers Alfred, Emil, and Lionel Newman, which would suggest at least some familiarity with the field, even though he had only scored one minor movie (Cold Turkey). And in his songs, heard on his series of solo albums, he displayed far more knowledge of popular music styles of the early 20th century than any of his singer/songwriter peers. Listening to his records, you could always tell that he knew his way around Scott Joplin's rags. Who better, therefore, than Newman to make his debut as a big-budget film composer by scoring an adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime? So must movie producer Dino DeLaurentiis have reasoned in giving Newman the assignment. And the result worked out quite well. Newman naturally re-created much of the cakewalking Tin Pan Alley style of the turn-of-the-century era depicted in the film, but he actually had a more challenging assignment than might have appeared, since the story moves from one social stratum to another and ranges in tone from the comic to the melodramatic to the tragic. Especially impressive is the three-part "Dénouement," which brings the plot strands together. On this soundtrack album, billed as "music from the motion picture plus additional music," one gets to hear several vocal numbers in addition to the instrumental cues. A period song, "I Could Love a Million Girls," sung by Donald O'Connor, gives a sense of frivolity; "One More Hour," sung by Jennifer Warnes and, like the score, nominated for an Oscar, has a drawing-room formality; and Newman himself is heard singing "Change Your Way" (which was not in the film), the sort of song that would be at home on any of his solo albums. The 2002 reissue adds Newman's demo of the "Ragtime Theme." (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic).

ROOMS FOR RENT

Original Released on LP Elektra EKS 75007 (March 1970)

In this day, thirty-five years ago, Jim Morrison was found dead in his hotel bathtub, in Paris, by his girlfriend Pamela. The cause of death was given as a heart attack. He's been buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery and since then his grave has been visited every year by thousands of people.

To remember the charismatic lead singer of The Doors, Rato shares this great album from 1970.

After several albums that found Morrison’s influence shrinking within the band, the singer reasserts himself as the principal dynamic force on the aptly titled Morrison Hotel. It’s not hard to hear why many felt this was a return to their blues-based debut -- the opening “Roadhouse Blues” rumbles and roars like nothing since it. The album is actually divided into two halves: the first, subtitled “Hard Rock Café,” is by far the better half, with the powerful psychedelia of “Waiting for the Sun,” the politically charged “Peace Frog,” the masterfully smooth “Blue Sunday” and the straightahead blues of “You Make Me Real.”

On the second side, which shares the album’s title, the songs settle into storytelling that are less electrically charged but still interesting. “The Spy” slinks like its namesake, “Indian Summer” floats along like a raft on a slow current, but only “Maggie M’Gill” summons the singer’s dark vocal powers. There are a few clunkers on here -- “Ship of Fools” and “Land Ho!” in particular haven’t aged so well -- but Morrison’s performance rights what might have been, material-wise, a listing ship. Apparently, The Doors realized that strings and psychedelic arrangements were no match for Morrison’s raw magnetism, and Morrison Hotel is the better album for it. (Dave Connolly)