The perils of virtuosity

    Virtuosity may or may not have been a word as of this morning, but it is now. Floyd Cramer was a piano player, most prominent in the '50s and '60s, a father of the Nashville Sound and generally considered to be a virtuoso. I had heard of him and saw one of his Best of records at a thrift store for a dollar and decided to take the plunge. (The fact that I had him confused with Les Paul had nothing to do with this decision.) The tunes were selected (oh sorry, it's 2015; the record was curated) by Paul Williams, a fellow who took a lot of unfortunate acting gigs in the '70s, but who also wrote Evergreen and Out In The Country, so no bozo.
    Still, maybe another curator might have been better. This is a pretty bad record. Or it sounds that way now. Floyd originated (I think) a lot of the little figures and effects that became popular and then run into the ground in Nashville later. Think Charlie Rich. In fact, listening to the record and since then, I can't stop thinking about Charlie Rich. Those little piano figures probably weren't twee when Floyd did them. Hell, they probably weren't twee when Charlie did them on Behind Closed Doors. It was more a problem with it getting played a few million times. One grows tired.
    Anyway, if you ever come across a rockin' Floyd Cramer record, send it my way. I did like his Flip Flop and Bop. (Paul Williams did pick one good one! Oh wait, to be fair to Paul, he was the producer of the compilation. Somebody else curated. Sorry about that, Mr. Williams!) But if you come across The Essential Floyd Cramer, unless you like Muzak, pass on by. Flip Flop and Bop is one of only two cuts on the record recorded during the '50s. That's it; I'm a '50s Cramer aficionado!