Chet Atkins - The RCA Years [1947-1981]

Here's an out-of-print Atkins 2CD box with a selection from his recordings on RCA.


Chet Atkins - The RCA Years [1947-1981]
190VBR, 112 mb
megaupload
Disc 1
1. Avalon (w/Les Paul: guitar) (Rose / Jolson / DeSylva) (6:32)
2. A Taste Of Honey (Scott / Marlow) (2:41)
3. Snowbird (Gene MacLellan) (2:13)
4. El Condor Pasa (Robles / Milchenberg) (2:55)
5. Main Street Breakdown (Chet Atkins) (2:16)
6. Yakety Axe (w/Charlie McCoy: harmonica) (Randolph / Rich) (2:03)
7. Slinkey (Chet Atkins) (2:01)
8. Windy & Warm (John D. Loudermilk) (2:26)
9. Chinatown, My Chinatown (Jerome / Schwartz) (1:57)
10. Country Gentleman (w/Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops Orchestra) (Chet Atkins / Boudleaux Bryant) (1:56)
11. Blue Angel (Natalico Lima) (2:24)
12. Black Mountain Rag (Tommy Magness) (2:35)
13. Good Stuff (w/Jerry Reed: guitar) (Jerry R. Hubbard) (2:43)
14. Cascade (Gene Sloane) (2:28)
15. Jerry's Breakdown (w/Jerry Reed: guitar) (Jerry R. Hubbard) (2:11)
16. Vincent (Don McLean) (3:14)
Total timing: 42:58

Disc 2
1. Sweet Georgia Brown (w/Lenny Breau: guitar) (Bernie / Casey / Pinkard) (4:41)
2. Terry On The Turnpike (w/Boots Randolph: saxophone) (Chet Atkins) (2:28)
3. Do I Ever Cross Your Mind (w/Dolly Parton: vocals) (Dolly Parton) (2:41)
4. Boo Boo Stick Beat (M.Harmon / J.D.Loudermilk) (2:10)
5. Floatin' Down To Cotton Town (Frost / Klickmann) (2:16)
6. Swedish Rhapsody (Hugo Alfven) (2:32)
7. Little Music Box / Lagrima (Francisco Tarrega) (3:38)
8. Junk (Paul McCartney) (2:09)
9. The Boxer (Paul Simon) (3:43)
10. Wimoweh (Linda / Campbell) (2:43)
11. Nine Pound Hammer (w/Merle Travis: guitar) (Merle Travis) (2:50)
12. Jitterbug Waltz (Thomas Fats Waller) (2:57)
13. Take Five (Paul Desmond) (2:39)
14. Don't Monkey 'Round My Widder (Karl Davis) (3:30)
Total timing: 41:35

The artwork on the CDs:

Chester and Lester - Guitar Monsters

Another installment in the Atkins retrospective, the second album with Les Paul.


Chester and Lester - Guitar Monsters
210VBR, 52 mb
http://lix.in/37ebae
1 Limehouse Blues (Braham, Furber)
2 I Want to Be Happy (Youmans, Caesar)
3 Over the Rainbow (Arlen, Harburg)
4 Meditation (Meditação) (Jobim)
5 Lazy River (Carmichael, Arodin)
6 I'm Your Greatest Fan
7 It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (Mills, Ellington)
8 I Surrender, Dear (Barris, Clifford)
9 Brazil (Russell, Barroso)
10 Give My Love to Nell (Traditional)
11 Hot Toddy (Flanagan)

Chet Atkins and Les Paul - Chester and Lester

No introduction needed to this one.


Chet Atkins and Les Paul - Chester and Lester, 1977
http://lix.in/545d7e
190VBR, 48 mb
1. It's Been a Long, Long Time
2. Medley: Moonglow/Picnic
3. Caravan
4. It Had to Be You
5. Out of Nowhere
6. Avalon
7. Birth of the Blues
8. Someday, Sweetheart
9. 'Deed I Do
10. Lover, Come Back to Me

Lenny Breau and Chet Atkins - Standard Brands

I believe that Chet Atkins' best solo records come from the 50s and 60s. Afterwards he settled into the role of a "country gentleman", big label executive and godfather of the country music. While all that success was certainly well-deserved, it took some of the edge from his playing; Chet did not take risks on his records anymore, preferring instead a smooth, very produced and orchestrated sound. However, he did not lose his spark of genius, but it often took another musician to bring it out. In addition to his radio fodder, Chet recorded a number of duo records with other guitar players, and you can hear that these were done not for the commercial demand, but for the pleasure of playing with a fellow musical giant. The duet with Lenny Breau is a case in point.
Lenny Breau is a fingerstyle jazz player, whose life fits only too well in the "troubled genius" mold: his brilliance on guitar was combined with a difficult personal life, complete with psychological instability and drug addiction, and an untimely, violent end at 43yo. Chet's playing was a major inspiration for Lenny Breau; they were introduced to each other and Atkins, very impressed, also became Lenny's producer, mentor and musical partner.

Standard Brands is a record amazing for the virtuosity of the players, for the telepathic rapport between them, for the effortless genre-hopping - the pair feels equally at home with the jazz standards, bossa of Batucada, and country of Cattle Call, - and for the simple joy of making music that rings in every note. Most highly recommended!


Lenny Breau and Chet Atkins - Standard Brands, 1981
http://lix.in/ac7208
190VBR, 44 mb
1. Batucada
2. Tenderly
3. Cattle Call
4. Taking A Chance On Love
5. Somebody's Knockin'
6. This Can't Be Love
7. This Nearly Was Mine
8. Going Home
9. Polka Dots And Moonbeams

You can read more about Breau here or here.
A solo Lenny Breau album here: The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau Live

Chet Atkins Picks On The Beatles

I think I will ran a short Chet Atkins retrospective in the next few days. A good way to begin it would be with the first Atkins album I have heard. Chet Atkins was very prolific, and not all of his records are top-notch; this one is, though. Chet plays his fingerstyle arrangements of the Beatles' tunes. This album was recorded when the Fab Four were still merseybeat-playing, teenage-girl-pleasing moptops, and the selections on it are drawn from their first albums. The music comes full circle on this record: the Beatles grew up listening to Chet's guitar sounds on the Everly Brothers' songs, and now Atkins salutes them back. The liner notes are written by Harrison. My own rip, high VBR.


Chet Atkins Picks On The Beatles
REUP: megaupload
43 mb, ~200VBR

Side 1
I Feel Fine
Yesterday
If I Fell
Can't Buy Me Love
I'll Cry Instead
Things We Said Today

Side 2
Hard Day's Night
I'll Follow the Sun
She's a woman
And I Love Her
Michelle
She Loves You