Ramsey Lewis Take Another Look-Deluxe Edition

Back in 2011 Ramsey Lewis released Take Another Look.  It was a CD going back to his electric band roots of the 1970s.  What I like to call the 'Sun Goddess' Era.

The deluxe edition released in 2015 has three bonus songs 'Jungle Strut', 'Tambura', and 'Sharing Her Journey.' This CD takes me back to my younger days when my parents played their Ramsey Lewis records.  Below you can see Ramsey talking about how the CD Take Another Look came together.

Track  Listing:
1.  Intimacy
2.  Tambura
3.  Love  Song
4.  Living  for  the  City
5.  Betcha  by  Golly  Wow
6.  To  Know  Her
7.  The  Way  She  Smiles
8.  Jungle  Strut
9.  Sharing  Her  Journey
10.  Sun  Goddess
Bonus  Tracks:
1.  Jungle  Strut  - Dr.  John
2.  Tambura  -- Kung  Fu
3.  Sharing  Her  Journey  - TAUK

I like the mixture of  songs on this CD.  There's something for everyone. This is a great CD to listen to while relaxing or hanging out with friends and family this holiday season.  And for the Ramsey Lewis or jazz music fan in your life this would make a great gift.  It's never too early to start thinking about holiday gifts. 

Speaking of holidays, my first introduction to Ramsey Lewis was his Sound of Christmas album as a child.  It wasn't officially Christmastime until that album was played in our home  and I still feel that way.  I bet once you hear this CD it will be on heavy rotation in your home too!

Any Ramsey Lewis CD would be an excellent addition to your music library.

 
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I received this CD free for an honest review. The opinions are my own and results may vary. I received no monetary compensation for my review.

Celebrating My Favorite Year In Music 1985:April

At the beginning of this project I wrote down my favorite albums released in 1985.  As I was going through the list right now I noticed that none of them were released in April.  I went to the Wikipedia page to see what albums were released during that month and found a few by some great artists.

"Around the World in a Day" isn't one of my favorite Prince albums, but it does have one of my favorite songs by him called "Pop Life." It's very difficult to find Prince's music on the internet. I did find this clip from American Bandstand of the kids dancing to Pop Life. check it out here. The biggest hit to be released from this album was "Raspberry Beret". Every time I hear that song, I think of summer 1985.

"Be Yourself Tonight" by the Eurhythmics was a huge success in 1985.  This album released four great singles "Would I Lie to You?" which is now the theme song to one of my favorite shows "Border Security." "There Must Be An Angel (Play With My Heart)", "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" a duet with the phenomenal Aretha Franklin and (It's Alright) Baby's Coming Back."  I believe this is the album that made them a household name. Even my mother knew who they were.

A few more notable albums to be released in April 1985 were "Nervous Night" by The Hooters. This was their second studio album and probably the most successful. "Mr Bad Guy" was the first solo record released by Freddy Mercury, the lead singer of Queen. It only peaked at 159 on the chart in the US. That's probably why I don't remember it. Another album I don't remember is "Two Hearts" by Men At Work.  That one peaked at 50 on the Billboard 100.

April was kind of a slow month.  Looking ahead to May and it looks like there were two times the albums released in April. Do you have a favorite album from April 1985?! Let me know in the comments below.

 Disclaimer: This post does contain affiliate links.

Celebrating My Favorite Year in Music 1985: February

Continuing my celebration of this great year in music, we move to February.  I will just highlight some of my favorite albums that were released that month. During this month we saw releases from Til Tuesday with "Voices Carry."Great debut album, my favorite track was not the title song, but "Looking Over My Shoulder."  Tears for Fears released their second album "Songs From The Big Chair."  To my every song on that album is great, but my favorite track is "Head Over Heels." The video is fun and shows a lighter side to the band.  Also Mick Jagger released his solo debut "She's the Boss". "Just Another Night" was a hit song from that album. 

There were a couple of movie soundtracks released that month from "The Breakfast Club" and "Vision Quest".  "The Breakfast Club Soundtrack" included the hit song from Simple Minds called "Don't You (Forget About Me)." "The Vision Quest Soundtrack" included a hit song from Madonna "Crazy For You."

The most notable album release is from the late Whitney Houston.  "Whitney Houston" was her debut album and it became the best selling debut album from a female artist of all time. This album had a ton of hits "How Will I Know," "Greatest Love of All," "You Give Good Love." I remember seeing the video for "You Give Good Love" for the first time and saying to my friends "That's the girl from Seventeen Magazine! Now she's singing!" You can watch my favorite song "Saving All My Love For You" below.

 

Do you have any favorite songs from these albums?! Please feel free to leave a comment below. And please go to my contact page to find out how to connect with me!

Celebrating 1985 My Favorite Year For Music: January

I was watching a show on Channel 5 in the UK. It was called 10 Things I Hate About 1987. I was curious about this show because for me there wasn't much to hate about the 80s. I'm an 80s girl and proud of it!

The host talked about some of the cringeworthy things that happened that year and yes ok some of it was bad, but because it was the UK I didn't remember a lot of it. That got me to thinking about my favorite year for music which was 1985. That was the year I lived in record stores and concert venues. Saw some great concerts that year and spent a ton of dollars on music.

I'm not a musician or a professional critic, I'm just a music lover. So I will just talk about the albums released each month, some events that happened that month and I will highlight my favorite album(s) released during each month.

In January 1985 many artists gathered together after the Grammys to record We Are The World for USA for Africa. It was a response to the British Do They Know It's Christmas. Which was a huge success in raising money for the people of Africa.  John Fogerty released Centerfield, David Lee Roth released his first solo album Crazy From the Heat and my favorite album released that month was from Phil Collins No Jacket Required. The album went 12x platinum in the US. Worldwide success and spawned many hits. There are many great songs on No Jacket Required, but I think my favorite is Don't Lose My Number. It has a great video as well.





Of course I have to talk about the title of the album because of the Chicago connection.  Collins was not allowed to dine in The Pump Room a restaurant in Chicago because he didn't have the proper attire, a suit jacket. Very clever of him to take a situation that made him angry and turn it into something great. I'm sure he had no problem getting into The Pump Room after this album was released.







Please join me every month this year as I highlight my favorite albums  and events from the year 1985.  I would love to hear what are some of your memories from 1985? Please feel free to leave a comment.  You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and now finally I'm on Instagram!