I'm going post this just in case someone comes along this page and is curious to know what this is all about. It's definitely super rare and cost me an arm and a leg and more to purchase. I thought it just might be like some other brilliant overlooked funky fusion mid-70s albums since really there was nothing to go by online but it turns out that the first three sides are orchestral composed music in a variety of styles some of which are silly or downright annoying, while the last side which featured the great Roger Nichols is a rehash of the old songs he made with Paul Williams, great as those songs were, and exemplary of the decade.
It's databased here. The description:
Concert in honor of Santa Monica's One hundredth Birthday. Thursday, March 13 and Friday, March 14, 7:30 p.m. Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
The actual record is marred by the fact the beginnings of both sides a and b are horribly warped and can't be played for the first five minutes, though you might be convinced this isn't so bad as it sounds when you hear the music.
One of the tracks with Roger Nichols from side d:
Anyhow I post this in case someone else out there is curious about this rarity and would like to purchase it not knowing the contents.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/ts7n20
ReplyDeletehttps://www10.zippyshare.com/v/STD8XtN3/file.html
Many thanks
ReplyDeleteWhatever the audio condition is, thank you for your sense of sacrifice! Much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI’m Roger Nichols’ daughter and just want to say this is such a treat to come across. My dad passed away May of this year and it’s been a joy to find more and more details of his creative life and career. He wrote so much music and accomplished many things, my mom sisters and I are very proud of him. Of course, his greatest accomplishment was being a husband and father. Thank you for the sacrifices made to purchase this record and post this for the public to see!
ReplyDeletewow that's so wonderful to hear!
Deleteno doubt your father was a musical genius...
_Stairway of the Stars_ was an annual concert put on by the Santa Monica Unified School District. Basically, all of the junior high and high school choruses and orchestras got together and put on a show for 2 nights in a row, centered around one celebrity (or at least celebrity-ish) guest star. In 1975, the guest star was Roger Nichols.
ReplyDeleteI was one of the chorusters in _Stairway_ from 1979 through 1983. 1980 was probably the most memorable, because the guest star was Lorne Green (fresh off his stint as Commander Adama on the original _Battlestar Galactica_).
I have the record albums for those 4 years, all of which are in decent shape. I was interested in Stairway '75 precisely because my elementary school (in 1976) put on its own school performance of "Our Town by the Sea" less than a year after Stairway '75, and used this record album to rehearse with.
thanks for the information, I had no idea, of course
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