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Chuck Brodsky's lifelong love affair
with baseball is on the public record (no pun intended) through the
baseball storysongs he has included on each of his fine albums. The
inevitable collection of baseball songs is here. Fittingly there are
nine songs plus a brief “Seventh Inning Stretch” with Chuck on the
organ playing “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.” Four of the nine are
reissues from Chuck’s albums on Red House and five are new
recordings. Two of these, “Lefty” and “Moe Berg: The Song,” are remakes.
Three are completely new. “Dock Ellis’ No-No” (SO! v.46 #2) recounts the amazing story of when Ellis tossed a no-hitter while grilled on LSD. “The Unnatural Shooting of Eddie Waitkus” is a stunning piece of storytelling in which Chuck tells of how in 1947 deranged fan Ruth Ann Steinhagen shot Waitkus. Brodsky’s research here is amazing. He has enough detail for the song to serve as a storyboard for a film of the story. “Whitey and Harry” is especially poignant. “Whitey” was Richie Ashburn, perhaps the most beloved Philadelphia Phillie of all time, as much for his 27 years of broadcasting the games as for his great play. Chuck tells this story as only a lifelong Phillies fan can, especially one who listened to games for years at a great distance. It is especially poignant since this year Whitey’s broadcast partner Harry Kalas is being inducted into the Baseball Halll of Fame. This is a wonderful album of great songs sung with love about stories the artist obviously cares deeply about. Excellently executed, produced, and packaged. --- MT |
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