Day 20: Soundtrack to "Hilary and Jacky" and Buddy Guy & Junior Wells "The Real Blues"

What I'm finding most is how much I remember of getting certain CDs more than I am how much I forgot about getting others. I think I remember getting one of today's CDs, while the other is a complete and total mystery to me. They clearly come from different places in my collection because they are in entirely different conditions.

Let's get started.


Barrington Pheloung
Soundtrack to Hilary & Jackie

Every once in a while a promo gets taken home completely by accident. You're taking home a big stack of promos, and somehow one of these promos that's only in a sleeve slips in with them. You can't do anything about it, you can't sell them, they usually only have enough information on them for ordering when ordering was relevant, so when you discover them months later you really have no idea what they are or what to do with them.

I probably picked this one up on purpose, though, it's a soundtrack and it's a classical CD, so it was 'up my alley' so to speak.

Actually, as I look through the accumulated grime (this CD was still in its wrapper, so that was some persistent grime) it's actually mostly the work of composer Barrington Pheloung. I don't feel too bad, iTunes thinks the whole album is Elgar's Concerto for Cello.

I don't know very much about this movie. And by 'very much' I mean I don't know anything about it. Apparently it's a biopic about famous cellist Jacqueline du Pré from the point of view of her sister who wrote the memoir the film is based on. This explains the dominance of cello music and the inclusion of cello pieces from noted composers. The opening recording is by du Pré herself, the others are by Caroline Dale.

I've never heard of du Pré before, despite having a love for the cello. I'm not sure if I should feel ashamed of that or not. Apparently the movie was well received and nominated for two Oscars. What the hell was I doing in 1998 that I completely missed this?

It might have been right after I quit the movie theater where I had been a projectionist for a number of years. There was about a year or so I just stopped watching movies because for the previous years I had almost literally watched every major release to come out.

The music is dark and deeply emotional. The cello is really an expressive instrument. For a CD I really knew pretty much nothing about, this is kind of a treasure.

I was going to mention this on the Canadian Brass album, but there is something about classical music that makes people cough. I guess people cough at every concert, you can just hear it in classical. Even in recordings that don't appear to be 'live' recordings.

This provides a much classier soundtrack for the climax of Days of Thunder and this episode of Miami Vice, by the way. I don't know why I don't turn the TV off to do this. I have really good headphones, so I can't really hear it. I'm just used to having it on even if I don't particularly pay that much attention to it.

I'm kind of surprised that this CD has survived this entire time. To be as dirty as it was it must have been in some of the more neglected piles. I'm glad it did, I can always do with some good cello music. I might have to dig this movie up, it sounds kind of racy if not completely depressing.


Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
Real Blues

Once again, I am completely stunned by the amount of blues in the collection so far.

There are no liner notes (disappointing for a blues CD, as I mentioned earlier) and I can find virtually no information on the CD except that it is widely available for download.

This is clearly a live recording, including his announcements to the audience and thanks to an unnamed sponsor for the concert. The first half is Buddy Guy who is joined on the second half by Junior Wells.

The instruments are recorded well enough, but the voice mic sounds like he was using a pair of headphones.

I've never heard a blues version of Satisfaction...interesting. Also, by the time this song started they have apparently improved the voice mic, it's not great, but it's better.

So far the Albatross has dealt up Chicago Blues, we just keeping getting older and older.

Well, the mic problem is back, which is too bad because I love Messin' With the Kid. Now it seems like they're running the guitar through the same amp. All in all this has a bootleg quality to it. But really, for blues, that might lend a legitimacy to it.  Talking about the recording quality of a blues CD might be akin to complaining the seats aren't comfortable in a vintage sports car. This kind of recording gives it a kind of authentic feel. But the recording can't be that old that they can't mix it properly.

Well, we had a fade out on the last live CD, now we have a fade in. That's a little weird. I would guess that this is an anthology, but the recording quality is consistently poor. The copyrights on the back are 1994 and 1999. The CD was still in its wrapper. The performances are pretty good, obviously, and if you don't have a problem with that 'bootleg' sound, then you wouldn't have a problem with this.

I'm kind of floored at how little info I have on this recording. It's another short one, too, at 42 minutes.

Feedback even. Was this recorded in a school gym? This is probably the best known blues artists to go in so far and it sounds like it was recorded on a $10 budget.

Still and all, it's kind of cool not in spite of its flaws but because of them, in a very weird way. What could I expect for free, I guess...