Category: Album Reviews
The Very Best Of Burl Ives Christmas
Why has it taken this long to bring Burl Ives into our Classic Christmas line-up? This year, the 50th anniversary of the televised broadcast of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, it seemed like the right thing to do. This beloved voice Read More …
June Christy
March 22, 1945. “I can’t remember my own birthday, but I’ll never forget that date.” June Christy knew her life would never be the same. It was on that day that she officially joined Stan Kenton’s Orchestra as the girl Read More …
The Sound of Christmas-Vol. 2
As I combed through my record collection to find another holiday album to toss into the mix of reviews and recommendations, I realized I’ve come to a point where I can no longer identify the origins of my “new” additions. Read More …
Johnny Hartman: The Greatest Singer You Never Heard
10.8.13 One of my favorite things about hosting The Heavy Petting Zoo is having the opportunity to introduce perfect strangers to fabulous artists they may not have gotten to know before. And I always take great pleasure in bringing the Read More …
“Songs I Like” by Dick Van Dyke
1.27.13 Longtime listeners of The Heavy Petting Zoo know very well the amount of admiration I have for Dick Van Dyke. Some might even recall the 48-hour weekend jaunt my mom and I took to Fort Worth, Texas just to Read More …
Ultimate Christmas Cocktails – Various Artists
Half the fun of the holiday season is throwing (and/or attending) holiday parties! Here’s a great collection to serve as a soundtrack to your shindig. In fact, its usefulness as background music might be its best selling point. If you Read More …
“Leaves will fall from winter’s chill…”
11.17.11 Are there albums and artists that you have to listen to at a certain time of year? For me, Dean Martin is the voice of autumn/early winter. I can’t explain it other than to point to the fact that Read More …
Album Review: Putumayo presents “Jazz”
Putumayo has been a favorite record label of WSUM’s world music genre leaders (fancy name for DJ wranglers) for some years now, if for no other reason than because their releases serve as primers for any DJ slightly nervous about Read More …
“Snow” Fight!
. vs. In honor of December, and HPZ’s annual “White Christmas Pre-Christmas Countdown to Christmas,” I present a head-to-head match-up Read More …
The Cole Porter Story
. For years, a copy of The Cole Porter Story, as told to Richard G. Hubler, has been tucked away on the bookshelf of the headboard of my grandma’s guest bed upstairs. It appears to be stolen from a library, Read More …