Although they were contemporaries dating back to the 1930s,
the Mills Brothers and
Count Basie's band did not perform together on record until the late 1960s, when they cut these two albums in less than a year. Both are characteristic efforts combining songs associated with each group of artist with recent hits by others. Of course, the remakes of songs like "(Up A) Lazy River" and "The Glow-Worm" work better than "Gentle on My Mind" (mistakenly credited to
Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II instead of
John Hartford!) and, yes, "I Dig Rock and Roll Music." As usual, it's the supposedly timely material that sounds dated, while the old favorites remain timeless. Nevertheless, this is an excellent match-up that should have been tried earlier and more often. ~ William Ruhlmann