Quad LP/Tape Poll Hirt, Al: The Best of Al Hirt [Q8]

[EMB]

RCA PQ8-1101, based on RCA Victor LSP 3309, originally issued on vinyl in 1965.

Program 1:

Java
Stranger in Paradise
Bourbon Street Parade
Sugar Lips
Stella By Starlight
Holiday For Trumpet

Program 2:
I Love Paris
The Best Man (w/Ann-Margret)
Poor Butterfly
Cotton Candy
Love Makes the World Go 'Round
When the Saints Go Marching In


ED

 

[Quad Linda]

7. His two best tracks are here, but he did several that are better than the lesser tracks. Mix is far from spectacular. A nice listen, nonetheless.

 

[EMB]

Indeed it is. Al was recording a long time before he finally a big hit (his biggest) with "Java" a song they had recorded years earlier with its writer, Allen Toussaint. Then came "Cotton Candy" and Sugar Lips" his two other biggest. After that he slowly began to fade commercially, but it wasn't until 1968 that he was off the charts. Even after that, he kept on recording and performing for a long time.

The 8-track slightly reshuffled the Lp sequence, with "The Best Man" moved to the second half and "Sugar Lips" moved to the first, for timing reasons no doubt. As for the mix, nothing adventurous, but then, this isn't adventurous music, just entertaining. Non-hit selection might have been better, but like many labels, RCA was thinking about Vol. 2 even before compiling Vol 1, intentionally leaving out some stuff they could've included.

ED