Ray Price - Night Life - 1962
The first two times I listened to this album, I wasn't really that impressed, and figured I wouldn't really like it. But third listen around I found myself singing along anyway. The intro is a bit interesting, with a spoken yet slightly lyrical portion as though he is speaking to you directly, which I guess is something that was a little more usual in its time. I suppose this is typical country, where most of the songs are pretty sad and negative. Depsite a couple of tracks I could get into a little more (Lonely Street, 24th Hour) overall it didn't really do a lot for me. I ponder if you were to photoshop what you can see of the guitar out of that shot, what most people would think of that cover...

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Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto - 1963
I don't remember what I said about the previous collaboration from Stan Getz that was on this list, and I don't really want to check until after I've written this. Joao sings in Portuguese, and his voice wasn't really like anything I'd heard before, and initially wasn't appealing. After a few listens, I imagine it has the potential to bring women to their knees, though I'm still on the fence as to whether I actually like it or not. On a few tracks, his wife sings, reportedly because the producers wanted some English on the album. And here I think is the highlight. I imagine the particular inflections she puts on the words are a result of English being her second language, and that combined with her beautiful voice just seems to work so well.

All that said, the music itself still seems to be background music like most jazz sounds to me. Still, I'd recommend anyone who likes latin jazz has a listen.

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The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night - 1963
Two Beatles albums in two weeks, crazy overload. But it makes it a little easier to compare. After my first listen, I was thinking that the opening title track is just like 'It Won't Be Long' from With The Beatles, in that it pulls you in straight away and is catchy, but then that the album fell away pretty quickly after that. After a few more listens, there were certainly more songs that I enjoyed, and I would say the albums are on par, though this one has better production. I think this album may be a bit more varied in pace, though it still seems the albums are all about the same subject. Something I did find perhaps a little hypocritical is 'Can't Buy Me Love'; certainly a highlight of the album and a great song in it's own right, but I find it funny that this follows an album that had a cover of 'Money' which seems at opposite spectrums with this song. 'And I Love Her' is a slower song but still powerful.

I still don't know that The Beatles are exactly my cup of tea and that I will be inclined to make a purchase... but I can certainly understand why they are so well loved.