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The Phi Mu Washboard Band - "...Just Because"

When I originally supplied The Phi Mu Washboard Band's rendition of "Love Hurts" to the original 365 Days Project in 2003, there were several requests for the rest of the album. I didn't have the resources or ability to provide that sort of thing at the time, and eventually forgot about it.

But out of the blue last month came an e-mail request for the entire album, and this seems like the perfect venue for it. A few notes about the album, which I bought at the very last Mammoth Music Mart, which used to be an annual event in Skokie, Illinois, to raise money for ALS research, can be found at the original 365 days post.

Many of the songs are quite brief - some under one minute - and the entire album, which is a 12 incher, is over in barely 24 minutes. I have supplied the titles just as they appear on the jacket and the label, even though at least a few of them are incorrect (for example, track 14, listed as "I Can Smile" is actually a 1960 pop hit called "Happy Go Lucky Me", originally sung by Paul Evans).

And so, by special request, "...Just Because", by The Phi Mu Washboard Band:

Bob Purse

1.) Just Because (MP3)

2.) Love Hurts (MP3)

3.) Side By Side (MP3)

4.) Seven Daffodils (MP3)

5.) Whale of a Tale (MP3)

6.) Saints (MP3)

7.) Chilly Winds (MP3)

8.) Mamma Don't Allow (MP3)

9.) This Land (MP3)

10.) Take Me Back (MP3)

11.) You Are My Sunshine (MP3)

12.) Wanderer (MP3)

13.) Chinatown (MP3)

14.) I Can Smile (MP3)

15.) Today (MP3)

16.) Phi Mu Suwannee (MP3)

Front Cover (JPG)

Back Cover (JPG)

Bernie Green Plays More Than You Can Stand

A few years ago, I was scanning through a batch of used reel to reel tapes I'd bought, when I came across one which contained several tracks which were much less mainstream than the rest of the material on these tapes. I was particularly taken with a pair of songs which the original owner of the tapes had indicated were by Bernie Green, and described as "More Than You Can Stand". Both tracks were fantastic, and I assumed that the notation was a joke about the "fringe" quality of the material.

A search through the internet found enough references for me to learn that Bernie Green had released at least three albums, one in conjunction with both the great Henry Morgan and Mad Magazine, and another one called "Bernie Green Plays More Than You Can Stand In Hi-Fi". I quickly snapped up copies of all three albums via various online sellers. While the Mad album (and the other one) have their moments (and both of those have been reissued on CD), "More Than You Can Stand", which as far as I can tell has not been re-issued since its original 1950's release, is the real killer.

Today I've provided four of my favorite tracks. The music strikes me as a combination of Spike Jones and Raymond Scott. This is particularly true of "Ragging the Scale", which for my money is the standout track, particularly for the role played by the timpanist, who must have worked long and hard to be able to do things he does here.

One other note is that the calliope on the final selection is played by the great Dick Hyman.

(Incidentally, the scan of the cover is quite clearly a composite from two separate scans, as my scanner can't take in the full cover, and I can't seem to make the two parts scan at the same degree of darkness!)

Bob Purse

1.) Mister Peepers Theme (MP3)

2.) Ragging the Scale (MP3)

3.) Saxophobia (MP3)

4.) Concerto For Calliope (MP3)

Cover (jpg)

More Star Ads

Today, as a sequel to a post I did for the original 365 Days project, I've selected five more radio advertisements from the wondrous Star Ads collection that I was given by my Uncle, who once worked as a salesman for the company. What I know of the story is in the original post here.

In today's post, we have another ad for National Bohemian Beer, another great Puritan Meats ad, a commercial for "the Mercury and the Comet Caliente", and Frankie Laine selling Potato Chips (if you've ever seen the clip of Johnny Carson with the potato chip lady, well, she worked for the same company being advertised here). Oh, and the last one, for the phone company, has always amazed me, what with its theft of the melody of "King of the Road" for the opening phrase of its melody.

Bob Purse

1.) Star Ads - National Beer Octopus Ad (MP3)

2.) Star Ads - Assorted Puritan Meats (MP3)

3.) Star Ads - The Mercury and the Comet Caliente (MP3)

4.) Star Ads - Seyfert's Potato Chips (MP3)

5.) Star Ads - Two Phones That Ring As One (MP3)

While You Finish Your Easter Candy...

...Imagine that, rather than thanking the Easter Bunny for all those goodies, instead, you keep trying to blame him for bad things that you did. Just like Little Cindy.

Bob Purse

Little Cindy - It Must Have Been the Easter Bunny (MP3)

Jeremiah McNamara: Passionist, Accordionist

I am forever finding, buying or trading for reel to reel tapes - the home recorded type, mostly those which are clearly from 40 or more years ago (based on the style of the packaging, the brand name or the writing on them) - wherever I can find them. My hope is always to find some sort of unique or rare recordings from the 1960's or earlier: a family at home, vintage television or AM radio recordings, live performances, etc.

I've shared a few of the most wondrous of my finds in the two 365 days projects, such as the Star Ads and the Merigail Moreland tapes. While my most recent addition does not reach the height of those two examples, it's still an interesting, obscure little recording.

Recently, I played a five inch "Soundcraft" brand reel, and was quite taken with the contents. An accordionist plays an tune which is unfamiliar to me, and then someone sings what sounds like a patriotic song, about, of all things, China. The entertainer is then introduced as Father Jeremiah McNamara, accordionist. A few performances later, we hear him also introduced as Father Jeremiah McNamara, Passionist. After ten performances, Father McNamara is heard accompaning Father Arthur McNally, who sings "Bicycle Built For Two". The beginning of laughter heard at the end of this last track is an extra treat.

(By the way, the rest of the tape contained someone speaking about his hopes for England's eventual turn away from the Church of England, and its return to the Catholic fold someday.)

The sound quality of the first few tracks is poor, but it improves thereafter, with a few glitches here and there.

Bob Purse

1.) China Theme Song (MP3)

2.) The Helena Polka (MP3)

3.) The American Patrol (MP3)

4.) Liebestraum (MP3)

5.) Beautiful Dreamer (MP3)

6.) Serenade (MP3)

7.) Tulips and Heather (MP3)

8.) Irish Washerwoman (MP3)

9.) The Ricketts Hornpipe (MP3)

10.) When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (MP3)

11.) Bicycle Built For Two (MP3)

Johan Pa Snippen (mp3s)

The Nordic Rhythm Boys - Johan Pa Snippen (The Jazz Farmer) (MP3)

Sigge Furst - Bonn Jazz (Johan Pa Snippen) (Live) (MP3)

Ann Kristin "Grynet" Molvig - Johan Pa Snippen Twist (MP3)

Britt Damberg - Johan Pa Snippen Twist (MP3)

The Adventures - Johan Pa Snippen (MP3)

Sigge Furst - Samling Vid Pumpen (MP3)

In the mid 1980's, I developed a taste for traditional Nordic music that has never really gone away since. Anytime I came across a record that looked like it might contain this type of music (usually a 45 or a 78), I snapped it up. So it was that I found a 78 by the Nordic Rhythm Boys, around 1992.

I was unusually taken with this particular song, "Johan Pa Snippen", with it lilting melody and (in this version) rapid keyboard runs, but I was also intrigued by what the record label indicated was the English translation of the title: "The Jazz Farmer", a combination of two terms that did not seem to have anything in common.

Several months later, while listening to a used, home recorded reel-to-reel tape I'd bought, I came across a recording of a TV program called "International Cafe" from circa 1958. At one point, the band struck up a catchy tune and a man with a wonderful voice and infectious energy sang, in Swedish, a melody that seemed familiar to me - I quickly realized it was the same tune I'd learned to love a few months earlier. The singer's name, as introduced, sounded like Ziggy Ferst.