DICK VAN DYKE "Songs I Like"

My blog cherry is broken. My first post. Little Elpees was created so that I have an outlet to showcase some of my vinyl collection. Also, it'll encourage me to actually rip some of the albums I own to my iTunes, maybe I won't be so lazy. There are approximately 7 billion albums released each year. No, that can't be right. Whatever, I do know I'm sitting on piles of interesting releases that probably haven't even been considered for transfer to zeroes and ones.

Dick Van Dyke's Songs I Like was a $7.99 score from a thrift shop in Westchester County. Firstly, Van Dyke, or Dick, is one of my favorite famous people. Like a good pop song, he's got a certain ebullient comic nature crossed with a deep sadness. Jack Lemmon, same way. Songs I Like came out in 1963 and what caught my eye was the "produced by Enoch Light". Later, I found out he recorded all his vocals LIVE in one day. Wanna know what day that was? The day JFK was shot. Shit you not. A ton of info here: IMDB. He also covers Bacharach and a ton of Gershwin. I used to live in the town in Westchester where the Gershwins are buried. Coincidence? Blah. Enjoy these selections:

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