WFMU's Beware of the Blog

A Song-Poem Easter, From Halmark Records (MP3's)

The varied and numerous song-poem companies which have existed for decades have always attracted writers of religious lyrics in large numbers, but no label seemed to draw them in as high percentage as did the Halmark label, one of the most peculiar purveyors of the song-poem scam.

You can read all about the Halmark story here, but the short version is that they stood alone, among the many providers of this service, for their cheapness, taking existing backing tracks from wherever they could find them, and recycling the same fifteen or twenty-some tracks - nearly all of them sounding like leftovers from 20 or more years earlier - over and over again, using, primarily, a core group of four vocalists to sing the customers' lyrics over this limited set of canned backings. Keep in mind that these records were mostly released in the 1970's, and not, as their sound would indicate, the 1940's or early 1950's. That the folks at Halmark had the nerve to adopt the slogan "Sound of Excellence" just ads to the ridiculousness of their endeavor.  

For the most part, Halmark did not label the vocalists on their 45's, choosing instead to list the name, and often the address, of the lyricists. Those that do list the vocalist have assisted those of us who collect song-poems in identifying the mainstays of the label, but even this can be confusing; on the relatively few records where the vocalist is listed, I've found at least three where the wrong person is credited. 

Today, for Easter, six tracks from various Halmark 45's, all with Christianity as the subject matter, a few specifically related to the observances and celebrations of this week, and others with a more general Christian focus. Unfortunately, the most astonishing, ridiculous and unctuous vocalist from the Halmark stable, Bob Storm, doesn't seem to have appeared on very many of their religious releases, and he is not represented here, but you can hear plenty of his work, and other Halmark sides, on my own song-poem site, as well as on Darryl Bullock's masterful "World's Worst Records" blog.   

I'll start with a song that was heard on the very first song-poem I ever owned, one I picked up in 1975 or so, at the age of 15 - it was 20 years before I knew what a song-poem was, or that this record was a song-poem, but even at 15, I knew that there was something bizarre, otherworldly and somehow just wrong about this record. I particularly enjoy the end of this record, as the lyrics appear to run out of words long before the pre-recorded track runs out of music, and the singer ends up singing "He brings me Joy" over and over and over again. As mentioned above, there is no artist named, but I believe the vocalist here is Halmark mainstay Jack Kim (real name, Jack Kimmel), singing "The Man Called Jesus". 

No Artist Named - The Man Called Jesus (MP3)  |  Record Label (JPG)

Focusing more on the Easter theme than the previous track, here's Jack Kim, again, joined by wife Mary, in the song of a man who thanks Jesus for his life, especially after having been "in a coma, twice!". It's called "He is the Resurrection and the Life": 

No Artist Named - He is the Resurrection and Life (MP3)  |  Record Label (JPG)

Over on the flip side of the same EP, we hear one of my favorite of Halmark's ridiculous backing tracks, this time fitted with the lyrics of the most excellently named Larn Headley, with "From the Manger to the Cross", a song which introduced me to The Legend of the Dogwood Tree, which I'd never heard of before. Mary and Jack sing us this one, yet again: 

No Artist Named - From the Manger to the Cross (MP3)  | Record Label (JPG)

"Jesus Was Standing Right There" is the odd man out in this batch - it comes from what appears to be a later (or different) period of releases from Halmark, it contains a traditional country styled backing that I've never personally heard on another Halmark release, and a vocalist who I do not recognize - I don't believe it's the ubiquitous Mary Kimmel, although I could be wrong. Note that this record likely belonged to either lyricist C. M. Covey of Wallace, ID, as my copy of the record has a whited-out correction to that writer's name, right on the label. 

No Artist Named - Jesus Was Standing Right There (MP3)  |  Record Label (JPG)

The opening bombast of "A Walk on a Lonely Road" seems to promise great things ahead, or at least weird things, but instead, the track bogs down into nearly four minutes of trite lyrics and over-the-top vocalizing from Mary Kimmel. 

No Artist Named - A Walk On a Lonely Road (MP3)  |  Record Label (JPG)

And finally, back to Jack Kim, for the song "My Savior". It's hard to miss that this track features the same singer and the same backing track as the song we started with, "The Man Called Jesus", and this last track offers a nice window into how the same singer and track were used with two different sets of lyrics. By the way, the tape glitch about halfway through this track is right on the record - "sound of excellence", indeed. 

No Artist Named - My Savior (MP3)  |  Record Label (JPG)

A Trip to Hell, With Wayne Pyzer (MP3's)

As the Christian calendar approaches its holiest days, the time is right for some holier-than-thou listening. And here's a perfect example, a two sided trip to hell from our friends at Creative Sound Recordings of Los Angeles, an awkwardly titled EP-length release "Decision for Destiny: The Region Beyond", narrated by Wayne Pyzer. 

This really has to be heard to be believed. Over a variety of B-Movie sound effects, Wayne Pyzer portrays death, I guess, leading a poor soul from her wretched life right into hell, where even when she holds her head in her hands, those hands themselves are in flames. The first voice we hear is actually the dear departed soul herself, then death invites the listener along, and although he asks questions, the woman from the beginning of the record is never heard from again. 

Pyzer's performance is perfect, in terms of appealing to those who already agree with him about where the wicked of the world will go (and surely, they get to decide what makes someone wicked). I can't, however, imagine that this record managed to convince anyone who wasn't already on the same page of anything at all. He performs with a smug, obnoxious, know-it-all tone, sounding very much like a fun-house mirror version of Peter Lind Hayes as "Genie, The Magic Record". But instead of enthusiastically and warmly introducing the listener to the wonders of sound and imagination (as did Hayes), Pyzer sounds like he's looking down his nose at something icky on his shoe, while introducing the listener to the concept of being too late to repent.

In a way, this record reminded me of right wing radio and television - an echo chamber for the converted. I have a hard time believing that anyone who wasn't with him before the record started was converted into any new way of thinking once it was over. It is, however, a quite entertaining little play, especially if one listens to it as if it were meant as satire, and will be the source of many a sound clip for those who like to play with sounds. 

Wayne Pyzer - Decision for Destiny: The Region Beyond (Part One) (MP3)

Wayne Pyzer - Decision for Destiny: The Region Beyond (Part Two) (MP3)

Record Label (JPG)

 

Star Children: Heaven’s Gate and the Self-Destructive Family

by Joe DeMartino

Watch the whole video on Network Awesome

If we’re very, very lucky -- and I’m talking here about the kind of luck that would get you rudely expelled from even the highest-class Las Vegas casino -- the star Betelgeuse, located 640 light years away from us in the top-left corner of the constellation Orion, will die within our lifetimes. Betelgeuse is much larger than our sun, which means that its lifespan is correspondingly shorter. Its death throes will manifest in a supernova -- a stellar explosion of such magnitude that it will put out apocalyptic amounts of light and energy. Stars operate on eonic timelines, so Betelgeuse could erupt in the next ten seconds, or the next hundred thousand years. If our luck holds, we’ll see it almost as a second sun -- it’ll rival the moon in the night sky. We’ll be able to read by its light. For a few brief months, Betelgeuse will put on an inspiring show.

Most of us will stare at it and see something gorgeous. Others will be quietly terrified -- the heavens rarely speak unless to say something, and nothing good can come of a message sent through the death of another solar system. Still others will marvel for a day, until the wonder of the thing recedes into banality, long before the star itself dims.

For at least one person -- and I don’t yet know who that is, but I’ll near-guarantee he or she exists -- the supernova won’t be inspiring, or terrifying, or banal. It’ll be an excuse. Time to go. Time for everyone to go.

Marshall Applewhite -- slight, wide-eyed, with the calm conviction of an airline pilot -- saw his excuse in the comet Hale-Bopp, whose passing was perhaps the most widely-observed celestial event in human history. Applewhite’s cult, Heaven’s Gate, counted among its beliefs the idea that the Earth was

Putin Summer Retrospective

As befits the future Savior of Humanity (or at least the Savior of Blonde Russian Gymnasts in the Duma), Vladimir Putin has been extremely busy this past summer. One of his major tasks has involved recruiting new members of the Putin Pals, his protective managerie of super-powered animal agents. Thunk Tank Cohost Jay and I often wondered why it was that the Putin Pals did not have any bird members, when their primary mission will be to defeat the insect forces of MANTIS. How is it that Putin would recruit a Were-Whale before he’d got even one bird? (Anuka, the Flying Donkey, does not count as a bird, because: Legs. Hooves. Hair. Mammal.) Naturally, the Leader was just waiting until the time was ripe, and this summer he finally judged time to be squooshy and soft enough to unveil his Craneforce. Dressing in the uniform of a Crane Obergruppenfuhrer—sort of a white hazmat jumpsuit with weird black goggles—Putin jumped aboard Craneforce One and led the baby cranes on skywriting maneuvers high in the sky above Moscow, where they wrote “Surrender, Pussy Riot!” in smoke, and also in Russian, not English. And Cyrillic. Cyrillic letters are really hard to make in smoke, but of course Putin enjoys the challenge.

Memorial Day Reflections with Reverend Bruce Howard…. SPEEEEAAAK

Memorial Day, a day to reflect on the nature of man, the nature of war, the nature of sacrifice and what the cost of freedom really means. In this modern era where every thing about an individual is sliced, diced into micro tuned categories I would probably call myself just a hermenaut with intense and passionate Christian leanings. The church gets a bad rap these days, with clowns like Pastor Charles Worley, new Vatican scandals, etc. Yearning for a  shining light in murky faith Spectrum Spools' John Elliot tipped me to perhaps one of God's greatest voices, Reverend Bruce Howard, a man who lives the words of 2 Timothy 4:17: But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the world might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. Or something, I honestly don't know. Where I see faith and redemption, others see totally BERKO. I'm used to it. In another life I could see myself as one of Reverend Bruce's silent goth krewe, in the shadow of his greatness.

More Bruce

Update: No Airplane for You

From the land that brought you St. Olav and Hornorkesteret came the oxymoronic competition to place the images of Famous Norwegians on the tails of airplanes belonging to the national airline. When I last wrote about this contest, Euronymous (aka Øystein Aarsteth) of Mayhem was wa-a-ay out in front in the voting, so I was astonished when I checked the final results and discovered that the winner was Ludvig Karlsen, a “beloved Norwegian Gypsy Christian Evangelist.”

Whu? The only info I could find out about him was in Norwegian, except for one English-language website of Famous Gypsies which lists Elvis Presley as a Famous Gypsy, so I don’t know what to say about Mr. Karlsen. But apparently Euronymous didn’t win the poll because his family asked that his name be withdrawn.

If this had happened in the US, it would be because the Authorities and Officials would have “asked” the family to withdraw his name to avoid the embarrassment of having a Black Metal guy in corpse paint on the tail of their plane. But Norwegians are actually proud of their black metal and the global influence it’s had on popular music, so I think maybe the story about the family is legit.

For a taste of what Norwegian music is up to now, here’s a bit of Hornorkesteret performing their soundtrack for the great silent film, Nanook of the North.

 

For black metal, and all kinds of other dark doings, check out the archives of Wm. Berger’s great WFMU show, My Castle of Quiet.

P.S. about the corpse paint: It kinda makes them look like Boston Terriers or pandas, doesn’t it? So scary!

Bloody Aliens And The Future Of Mankind: An Technocratic Education

by Gabriella Arrigoni

Vampires of Geona & The Masters of Geona (Gennady Tishchenko)

What's on Network Awesome today?

The Red Star (1908) is a Russian science-fiction novel describing the coming into being of a perfect Communist society on Mars, where the principle of egalitarianism is pushed to the point where even blood is a common good and must be constantly re-distributed and shared in equal parts among the whole extraterrestrial population. This process of transfusion also allows the communist Martians to overcome death and set up the basis of an immortal, omnipotent empire. In the Vampires of Geona (1991), the pterodactyl-esque blood suckers that gave the title to the cartoon are the bad guys and certainly not an incarnation of socialism, but it is not unlikely that their creator Gennady Tishchenko got to know the novel and the theories of its author, Aleksandr Bogdanov. He was one of the major representatives of that weird assemblage of science, philosophy and occultism which comes under the name of Russian Cosmism.

Cosmism's ideas about the possibility of a new man and a new society based on the technological triumph of man over nature to gain the resurrection of the forefathers, immortality and the progressive colonisation of the universe seems to fit rather well with the declaration we find in Tishchenko’s website about his own

Interview with dave phillips: "Any form of definition will eventually work against itself"

The most important thing to convey about Dave Phillips is that he fuses rawness and intensity with meticulous composition, rendered with an indelible form of scarcity. Whether it is short, sharp, and sparsely explosive tracks, or what Ron Lessard called “Otto Meuhl having his way with Hermann Nitsche”, Phillips uses body sounds, amphibian field recordings, conventional musical instruments, or things like party balloons, with widely varied results, but most apparently as a means to “activate primordial shared emotions otherwise hidden by civilized experience”. Not limited to that, “dp” has been participating in various punk, hardcore, metal acts or projects that are as light hearted as covering the B-52s, or the somewhat absurdist collaborations with Tom Smith (To Live And Shave In .LA), or Schimpfluch Gruppe, and others, since 1984.

Full interview beneath the fold...

Andy to be Crucified on Vinyl Cross Next 7SD

It's true, pledgers to 7 Second Delay raised enough money last Wednesday to win an enviable prize - Andy will be crucified on a vinyl cross that's been kicking around the station, largely unused for years. More info here.  Video by Yvonne.

 

7 Second Delay! WFMU Marathon! from WFMU on Vimeo.

Elvis To KLF: The Train I Ride Is Sixteen Coaches Long

Life with a three-year-old can find you focusing on on forms and representations of transportation you wouldn't otherwise. Trains, for example, hold a particular resonance with the developing mind that challenge their relative rarity compared to cars and airplanes. We've found ourselves meeting constant demands for all things trains by discovering the online world of obsessive documentarians of all things locomotive. Watching this narration-and-music-free modern footage of old-fashioned steam engines has caused us to consider the sensual impact the advent of train travel would have on the rural blues men who would incorporate the sound of trains into their music and use the eeire whistle of the coming train as a metaphor for all great changes in life, love and death.

A Rev. J. M. Gates Holiday Side

Today a visit with the Rev. J. M. Gates, known for his beautifully-delivered sermons, recorded between 1926 and 1941, which vary widely in theme, tone and intensity. He can caress you on one 78 and then scare holy hell out of you on the next. He was one of the biggest-selling recording artists there ever was.

A Germs Whisky Christmas: Cruising For Oki-Dogs

December 23, 1979, Germs play the Masque Christmas Ball at Whisky-Au-Go-Go, performing what would be dubbed on-stage "art" by singer Darby Crash, self-proclaimed "Manimal" and possessor of "television and supervision," who read "every Bible story," and was educated in mind-control by public school Scientologists, an A+ hustler whose world-famous catchphrase was "buy me a beer" and whose demands for "beer and damage" do not go unheeded this night. Watch as Darby, spolight directly in his eyes, eats a lit book of matches, transforms into a panther, demands each audience member "hit the person next to you," sets fire to his (A+) lyrics (balls-on-fire-great teenage Blake) all before guitarist Pat Smear kicks a bouncer in the head (several times+) for crossing number one invisible line in rock n roll: the artists own the stage.

A Carla and Linda Christmas, 1958 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 23) (MP3's)

On an ancient Scotch brand seven inch reel of tape, I found a series of recordings by Carla and Linda, made in late 1958 (and either on or just before New Year's Day, 1959), taking about their Christmas presents, and mostly, singing songs.

Oddly enough, the recordings labeled last in chronological order come first on this tape - the writing on the back of the tape, and the contents confirm this, although why that would be I can't imagine. The girls announce that it is New Year, 1959, then sing Christmas songs and carols, and briefly talk of what they got for Christmas.

Then it's back to Thanksgiving, for a few Thanksgiving related songs and what the box describes as "Camp Songs". The last of these, which is sung partially in German, has the same melody as a song called "I'm Dressing Myself", which I offered up as part of the first 365 days project, back in 2003!

Then, for the final segment (and fully half of this 30 minute tape) it's Christmas, 1958, and we're again treated to carols and songs. One is again sung in German. I get a kick out of the fact that the girls are clearly reading some of these songs out of a book, as they misread and mispronounce many words, as they get into the later verses of familiar songs, sometimes to humorous or even ironic effect.

Here's to Carla and Linda, wherever they are today, 53 Christmases later!

1.) Carla and Linda - New Year’s 1959: Christmas Songs and Carols (MP3)

2.) Carla and Linda - New Year’s 1959: What We Got for Christmas (MP3)

3.) Carla and Linda - Thanksgiving, 1958: Thanksgiving Songs and Camp Songs (MP3)

4.) Carla and Linda - Christmas, 1958: Christmas Songs and Carols (MP3)

Tape Box (JPG)

Storytelling In Japanese Art at the MET

Up through May 6th at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is an exhibit entitled "Storytelling In Japanese Art" with a main focus on the Emaki, or Emakimono hand scrolls; some dating as far back as the 12th century. What's interesting about these pieces is that they are physically lengthy, so only certain portions of the scrolls are available for viewing at a time. The scrolls will be advanced during the length of the exhibition, so if you visit more than once, chances are you'll see different sections of the scrolls, which contain illustrations as well as japanese character text. Some are faded and reflective of their age, and some are in phenomenal shape considering the fragility of the medium. The exhibition also includes full views of some of the handscrolls on iPad displays in the beautifully crafted reading room. The current of the presentation of the pieces is very fluid - literally, with a fountain by Isamu Noguchi in the center of the route and a study/bamboo mat room.

When visiting the exhibition, we learn narrative was not only told on the medium of the scroll; visitors will see illustrations on screens, fans, cards, hanging banners, books, kimonos and porcelain as well. Some are showing one or two ideas as a story, and other pieces have multiple scenes and many utilize the stylized cloud formations to separate panels or sections of the stories that is present in Japanese art through the years. Take a look at some of the details of this show in the photos after the jump and see if it doesn't pique your interest!

The Ecstasy Of Break-Up Psychosis: Possession (1981)

We are all the same, but in different words,
In different bodies, and different versions.

These words above (especially the dub-science word, version and the ultimate word, words) called out to me from the media feed of fellow sub sub Jason D. Bigelow, subtitling what seemed to be a still from one of the only 70s/80s Occult Horror Films Starring Moon Eyed Brunette I hadn't seen yet. The web search for the phrase brought only one return, an ancient message board movie-quote stump game for which this phrase proved successful in obscuring its source, the Andrzej Zulawski film, Possession 1981.

Come Alive At Christmas with the Sacred Heart Singers of Ewen, Michigan (MP3's)

Today marks the beginning of Advent. Although this is technically the season for Advent music, rather than Christmas music, it’s been a long time since that distinction was recognized (if it ever really was). And so, today I’m offering up my new favorite Christmas album.

The Sacred Heart Singers were a group of young women - all but a few of them teens and younger girls - from the small town of Ewen, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula. They made a handful of records, and were popular enough to have made a number of appearances on local and regional TV, and, if the text on this album is to be believed, were internationally known, for a time. A friend of mine shared their first album with me, “Come Alive”, which has some wonderful moments, and this put me on the lookout for their other material, which brought me to the “Come Alive at Christmas” album.

As much as I enjoyed the first album, this Christmas album is even better. I adore the sound of children singing naturally (as opposed to Broadway, Pop, Classically or otherwise “trained” singing children), and the addition of the sweet acoustic instruments, simple, direct harmonies and great, timeless songs adds up to something very special.

But there’s something else, too. The accent heard in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a wonder to hear, with a lilt and rhythm that is unique and which I find hard to describe. But one feature that crops up in the singing here is a tendency to seemingly race through vowels in order to get to certain consonants, ending sounds which are then held onto for a longer period than is the case for most English speakers. This can be heard on many words ending in “M”, “N”, “R”, and particularly, “ING”. Heard here, sung by a large group, there a ringing, resonant sound to those words, and I find the effect magical, even sort of intoxicating in places. It’s heard on almost every track here and there, but most obviously in “Silver Bells”. This a song which I’ve never even liked, but here, all of those lovely "ING's" bring me back for repeated listenings.

The album starts of slowly, with an odd choice, a Perry Como song called “C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S”, which I find to be one of the lesser tracks. But keep listening, because that’s followed by “O Come Little Children”, easily my favorite on the album – maybe my favorite “new to me” track that I’ve heard this year – and (except for a version of the fairly awful song “My Two Front Teeth”) the high quality remains for most of the remaining tracks.  

This album fairly well defines “Guileless” for me, and that’s one of the best things I can say about an album, particularly a Christmas album. Maybe there’s something in the air up there – this album was made about an hour’s drive away from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where another singularly guileless, even more magical album, “Musical Memories of Camp Bryn Afon” was created.

Incidentally, you can find a posting of the Sacred Heart Singers best song of all, a track from their first album titled “Once Upon Eternity”, posted at my friend’s blog here.

I hope you find some of the same joy in this record that I've experienced:

1.) The Sacred Heart Singers - C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S (MP3)

2.) The Sacred Heart Singers - O Come Little Children (MP3)

3.) The Sacred Heart Singers - Silver Bells (MP3)

4.) The Sacred Heart Singers - Silent Night (MP3)

5.) The Sacred Heart Singers - Angels We Have Heard On High (MP3)

6.) The Sacred Heart Singers - All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth (MP3)

7.) The Sacred Heart Singers - Christmas Bell (MP3)

8.) The Sacred Heart Singers - Jingle Bells (MP3)

9.) The Sacred Heart Singers - White Christmas (MP3)

10.) The Sacred Heart Singers - Little Drummer Boy (MP3)

11.) The Sacred Heart Singers – Children’s Hymn to the Holy Child (MP3)

12.) The Sacred Heart Singers - Away in a Manger (MP3)

13.) The Sacred Heart Singers - Joy to the World (MP3)

Front Cover (JPG) - Back Cover (JPG) - Label Side A (JPG) - Label Side B (JPG)

Cyrillic Tiny-Voice Death Metal Techno

Sluggo sent me these, and that's all I know about 'em, except that they're amazing.

 

It Takes a Nation of Billions - Adam Curtis' The Century Of The Self

By Scott Tienken

Watch more on Network Awesome (Plus the other 3 parts of this doc!)

Adam Curtis’ 2003 Documentary The Century of the Self  gets right to the business of reminding us what a mass of consumeristic sheep we have been molded into.

He provides us with the story of Edward Bernays(1), the nephew of Freud who adapted his uncle’s theories concerning animalistic drives and deeply-sunken baser motives for the purposes of propaganda and, far more pervasively, advertising and politics. We are relentlessly reminded of our tendency toward self-interest, vile competitiveness, shallowness, and weak-minded caprice.

This is not unfamiliar territory in that we’ve been reminded of our tendencies towards conformity, self-gratification, and egoistic drives well before Freudianism put the whammy on our way of thinking about ourselves. What makes this a very valuable document is that the level of conversation is a bit more

O, The Humanity: "The Door" starring Dr. Jack Kevorkian

By Jake Goldman

Watch more on Network Awesome

Being human is tough business. From the moment we’re born, expectations are hung heavily around our necks. Parents dream of what their children might amount to and years of anxious hand-wringing begins. The pressures don’t get any easier as we grow older, either. Perhaps there’s a peak as we enter whatever one might consider life’s “twilight,” but up until that point societal pressures of finding success, starting a healthy and wholesome family, and generally being an impressive human being poke at us constantly like little needles breaching our skin. There are constant reminders too, like the people around us that seem to be more successful or happier or put together. Shit is hard, man.

But, what we often forget is that so much of our lives are wildly out of our control. You may be gunning for a promotion, busting your ass staying late at the office, taking on extra tasks but the CEO may have always had his nephew in mind. You might have the most astonishing singing voice anyone’s ever heard but the agent you audition for is more interested in finding a hot piece of ass that can only sing okay but will look amazing sprawled out on a velvet couch for a Maxim photoshoot. You can only do so much, it turns out.

That isn’t to say that hard work gets you nothing; of course it does. But, when it comes down to it, we humans have very little control on how our lives might turn out. We can make decisions, sure, and steer ourselves down certain “paths,” but what happens along those paths might surprise the hell out of us.

Jack Kevorkian believed in this. You might know him as Dr. Death, the man who helped upwards of 130

Child Guidance / Rosicrucian Sleep Progamming Record

   
Sleep, sleep, my little one;  adrift in your replica solar ark, sweet dreams carry you closer to the western lands;  and while you're at it, I'll just slip this lovely little ruby-colored ten-inch record onto your baby turntable and let it whisper Rosicrucian knowledge into your shell-like tiny ears.

One of my all-time fave ten-inchers, this one is loaded up with phrases you'll be repeating for some time. Many of the recordings that came out in the early 1960's from San Jose's Rosicrucian Temple are still in print and available from them in some fashion, but I imagine that this one is a little hard to find. Perusing the entire recording will give one a capsule description of some basic tenets of Rosicrucianism; their concepts of Universe, Prayer and Deity itself are superficially presented here to linger in a sleepy child's ear. All this and a large slice of particularly sepulchural organ music on delicious red vinyl have kept this ep around when many others had to go away in my last two moves. It is indeed a mighty strange thing to want to have on mp3, but I imagine that producer/sampler/cut-up monkeys like me as well as peculiar and bold DJs will hear something on this disc to use and love. Those of you like me who are big fans of all things Ancient Egypt-related will also enjoy visiting the Rosicrucian Museum and Temple in San Jose, California, although it can't compare with the fantastic collection of mummies and things in the Vatican Museum in Rome - so visit both if you get the chance!

Their other records made contemporary to this one (and for adults, as this appears to be their only Child Guidance disc) have delerious titles like At One-Ness With the Infinite; a record of music played in their temples around the world, such as: Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life, and the ritualistic Colombes' march, Secreto Eterno; and of course the essential platter of:  Sanctum Rituals and Exercises.

 
The full back and front cover art in high resolution is reproduced here, and there's a Rosicrucian publication displying an ad for the record I'm presenting today here.

The first side:    Wonders of Nature     The second side (two cuts):       Preparation for Sleep      and           Sleep Guidance (the subliminal cut- designed for listening to after the little buggers have gone under)