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Hoppe-hoppe Reiter! Improved Sound Ltd. mp3s

You know the feeling.  You stumble on a local yard / stoop sale that features a lot of tasteless glassware and sweatshirts, ancient kids' toys and one thin box of records seemingly dominated by James Last and Chicago records.  That feeling is despair.  But you pulled over, so you might as well get your fingers dusty.  Then you spot an inexplicable cover featuring the upper quarters of a Gérard Depardieu lookalike being ridden, hobbyhorse-style, by a mostly naked angel-winged nymph.  Hope creeps in.  You ask how much - the answer: a dime.  Turning it over, you spot song titles such as "Leave This Lesbian World", "Don't Know Baby If You Are Safe" and "Hit'em In The Face", mismatched with the frumpiest looking set of anti-rock stars Bavaria could cough up.  Yes yes, that despair has now flipped itself into a feeling indescribable yet holy and life-giving.  If you know, you know.  If you don't, well... it's like I said to Terre T during one of my insufferable attempts to justify my coffee-snobbery: "it's like trying to explain WFMU to your grandmother".

What this thing is is the soundtrack to one of those arty lite-porn German offerings from the late-60's (1969, precisely), written and performed entirely by the band IMPROVED SOUND Ltd.  The title is "Engelchen macht weiter hoppe-hoppe Reiter" (buy it here).  You want the plot?  Here's a Google translation, courtesy listener Freddy:

"Gustl seller leads a harmonious marriage with Helene, in which sexual life is not too short.  From the time Sexrummel infected, he would like to see a sex party to organize.  Because it echoes Mitmacher not a lack of potential, a date for the orgy reported, but since Gustl gets under suspicion, to have smallpox, he must away from the big event. When thinking about his Helene because without him so everything could drive, it packs the jealousy ..."

Jump the flip for mp3s, the full cover (of which the above is a zoom), some links, and a little more info.

Gene Simmons Knows From Prostitution

On July 8, the new book by New York Times bestselling author Gene Simmons will be released by Phoenix Books. Ladies of the Night: A Historical and Personal Perspective of the Oldest Profession in the World, is Gene's take on doing it for pay. Given that money and sex are his two fave subjects (and given that he's been talking about writing it forever), the book shouldn't be too big a surprise. The press release promises an "entirely new take on a traditionally taboo topic (which) promises to spark debate."

It's hard to really argue that it's such a taboo subject, but the book will no doubt be huge, if only because Gene will devote himself to endlessly telling the world how huge it is. And to say Gene is an expert on the subject is hardly a stretch. He's the brains behind what's easily the most merchandised band in rock history, and has never made bones about his whorishness.

Economus Stimulis

What are you guys doing with your extra check from Uncle Sam?  I will be spending a frivolous night in The Shagadellic (Room #1) <<<--- at the Roxbury Hotel "nestled amongst the picturesque Catskill Mountains in the historic village of Roxbury".  I'm a sucker for a good theme motel. 

Here's Ol' Dirty Bastard to tell you all about it.

Money (mp3)

My Secret Garden (the weird alienated one)

I sometimes hear guys talking about how mystified they are by choices women make when it comes to a hetero partner. Frankly, even as a broad, I can offer little insight into what goes on in the minds of women myself. I just know that girls start a hell of alot earlier than you may have been led to believe when it comes to creating a sexual inner life. Add to that mix the fact that most boys find girls icky until they are almost thirteen and you've got yourself the first giant chasm in the gender gap.
As early as the age of four back in the late sixties/early seventies my preoccupation with and crushes on celebrities were a mental tsunami drowning the village of my own potential. Worse was the fact that my crushes were on personalities so incredibly unsexy to other young girls who dreamt about the classic version of Prince Charming that I could not even share during girltalk, leaving me left out of that whole female bonding thing. The endurance of each of my manias made Wuthering Heights look like a Peanuts cartoon. Meanwhile other girls flipped their crushes as quickly as they thumbed through the latest Tiger Beat. Similarly when other little girls collected 45s, I sat transfixed with my LPs stacked on the return arm of the stereo.                                                                                                            
For the sake of some (any) logic, I've lumped my pre-teen loves into three different categories. Mind you, some of the celebrities are literally shoe-horned into these groups but I'm trying make things easier for you people. Anyhoo, there are "The Nice Jewish Boys", "The Pan-Sexuals" and "The Feel Funnys".
In the first category, I give you Barry Gordon From A Thousand Clowns, one of the more influential films for me as a kid. I guess I related to Barry's geekiness. He plays Larry David's Rabbi now on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Then there's Wes Stern. You might remember him from Getting Together with that douchey Bobby Sherman, and also The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where he played Lou Grant's nephew who wanted to lose his virginity to Mary. Later I think he grew up, changed character and did it with Brenda Morgenstern on Rhoda. Scott Jacoby was the Nice Jewish Boy who played Bad Ronald, one of the greatest '70s TV-movies ever. There's quite a bit of Scott up on youtube and I still think he was pretty hot back then.
Inevitably, we come to Gene Wilder in this first group. When I finally did get a friend by the sixth grade, she and I fought over who was going to marry him first. I really resented her for this. Can I just say a million dorky girls like me were really really happy when he married Gilda Radner because we actually could relate to her just a little bit more than say, Farrah Fawcett-Majors? 

Enough already

Spitzer went to prostitutes, and McGreevey had threesomes with his driver, and Paterson had affairs and did coke, and NOW we find out Bush is into furries.

You'll Never Look at Breakfast the Same Way Again

The clip after the jump may be the most hilariously disturbing thing I have ever seen. A friend slipped this scene quietly onto a video he made for me and it changed my life forever. I have shown this video to everyone who I can force to watch it and the reaction has always been the same - beautiful howling horrors.

Enjoy! (NSFW *porn* after jump!!!)

My Favorite Movies I Won't Ever Watch

The cinematography in this music video reminds me of those weird interludes between Kids In The Hall sketches.  Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet did to the latter what fellow Canadians Fifth Column do to the former.  By vaguer association, I can't help thinking of a newish Blank Dogs video I recently saw.  At any rate, here's Fifth Column's video for "Like This".

I dig the yo-yo cut up stuff two minutes into the video.  Does anybody have 1985's out of print Fifth Column At The Funnel movie?  Post clips on youtube or contact me or something please!  Drawing in large part from the above music video's director, Bruce LaBruce, Fifth Column drummer, guitarist and vocalist GB Jones went on to direct a couple of movies herself.  Below you'll find trailers from Jones' films and the trailer to Bruce LaBruce's new "melancholy gay zombie" film...

Fake Beach Boys (videos)

For the first forty seconds you be may be turned off by this tone-deaf frog's croaking, but then the good vibrations start happening…

None other than Montreal’s Aut’Chose are responsible for ‘Sexe-Fiction’, a brilliant slice of sexpropriation from the fairly solid 1975 album Une Nuit Comme Une Autre.  The band did a more conventional cover too, which was released a bit earlier on a single.  Check out mp3 samples and words you might understand at the website as well as another video clip from the same concert.

Influenced in particular by Jim Morrison, singer Lucien Francoeur has had quite a bit of poetry published over the years; a few english translations are available.  But whereas Morrison croaked in ’71, this rock and roll frog (mp3)…how shall I put it…evolved as an artist.  Here’s the video for Francoeur’s 1983 solo hit ‘Rap A Billy’.

No Ifs, Ands, or Butts

Pardon me, by "Butts" I meant "Lady Butts."

The FCC recently fined ABC affiliates a total of $1.4 million for airing images of a lady's butt on broadcast TV. This particular 2003 episode of NYPD Blue wasn't the first time a naked butt was broadcast to the American public, but it may have been the first time that a pretty lady's naked butt was shown. You can watch the 42 sec lady butt scene in question, and mull over the inherent sexuality in Charlotte Ross' posterior. Then put your brain on rewind, and drum up some images of NYPD Blue's Dennis Franz, whose naked man butt was broadcast to America nearly 14 years ago without inspiring the FCC to fine anyone. Does his butt not possess a similar sexual potential?

We're dwelling on the sexuality of butts here because the FCC's rationale for last week's belated fine was that the NYPD Blue scene in question depicted "sexual organs," namely the buttocks. Sure, lady butts could be used sexually (we recommend buying us a drink before you breach that subject, cowboy), but in this particular scene, Charlotte Ross' butt was not engaged in any sexual activity. In fact, I would characterize it as a non-sexual butt, since the FCC once made a distinction between sexual and non-sexual uses of the word fuck. Contrary to this, the FCC mysteriously maintains that Charlotte Ross' butt is sexual, despite it not being involved in any sexing. Feds, pray tell: when is a butt merely a butt?

If a non-sexual lady butt is against the rules, but a non-sexual man butt aired nearly a decade earlier is ok, what does it all mean for the cartoon butts of today?

 

Follow this link for more FCC hijinks.

Photo via

John Ford Box Set is NOT Genital Warts And All.

When I saw the humongous saddle sized John Ford Box set on the floor of the office next door, I was seized by swag envy. "Ford At Fox" (link) is a 12 pound 299 dollar 21 disc box set collecting 24 films by one of the greatest directors of them all: John Ford. This is a very impressive collection - and a few of the old silents are making their DVD debut (from new restored prints too!). I am sure the photo book is beautiful as well. To keep my jealous rage in check I scanned the dark corners of the internets and discovered to my delight that 23 of the films are readily available, as well as some of the films that should be included in any box this size: The Black Watch, Men Without Women. But It is great to see the films Ford made during World War II included in this release (especially since both Ford and Fox Studio Boss Darryl F. Zanuck signed up for service)  but wait! If you want these films you need to buy the stand alone version of the documentary Becoming John Ford (link) (in the big box) to get the films The Battle Of Midway, December 7th, and Torpedo Squadron (not in the big box). 

BUT what is missing from all of the hoopla is a WWII era training film John Ford made with Otto Brower : Sex Hygiene (link) This is abstinence education 1942 style - Sexual Shock and Awe to remind the troops that screwing only leads to disfigured genitals - even today this film can inspire celibacy. You can watch this formerly classified movie on the Internet Archive (link) without spending a cent, or you can watch it right here and right now:

 

The Fetid Corpulence of Brian K. Jones

Brian K. Jones' paintings of fat men culled from the Craigslist classifieds are strangely alluring. I usually find that source material of this nature trumps any “artistic” copy because of the incredible difficulty in conveying the dense but subtle narratives of the originals. Jones seemingly started this project for shits and giggles (some of the paintings come off as one-note fat man jokes) but somewhere along the line he hit a painterly stride where he began to enjoy rendering the mounds and folds of flesh in a manner not unlike Jenny Saville albeit in a much (appropriately) cruder manner.

Name That Photo

Not to rip off Liz B's awesome caption contests, but this was just too amazing not to share.

See the actual title of the photo after the jump.   

The Lead & How To Swing It

Who doesn't like scrawny rockers in tighties. But wait a second, who is that after the jump (NSFW)?

365 Days #335 - National Safety Council Records (mp3s)

Six scratchy pop-filled 33 1/3 rpm records (to accompany a filmstrip or slides?) from the National Safety Council (in collaboration with the United States Department of Labor on 5 of the discs) from well over 50 years ago.

Open for Infection - Part 1 (8:24)
Open for Infection - Part 2 (7:31)
Image: Open for Infection

Follow The Leader - Part 1 (9:14)
Follow The Leader - Part 2 (9:34)
Image: Follow The Leader

Right Dress - Part 1 (10:23)
Right Dress - Part 2 (10:28)
Image: Right Dress

Principles and Interest - Part 1 (10:03)
Principles and Interest - Part 2 (8:53)
Image: Principles and Interest

Stop, Look and Listen - Part 1 (8:29)
Stop, Look and Listen - Part 2 (7:54)
Image: Stop, Look and Listen

Production with Safety - Part 1 (8:50)
Production with Safety - Part 2 (7:53)
Image: Production with Safety

Picked up the lot at a second hand furniture store in Oakland, California in 2005. The shopkeeper pointed to me a corner of broken down tables and chairs and cabinets that were free and on the way out the door. I took a look figuring I could always use something (or possibly restore something). It was all trash, but... looking inside a small side table cabinet I saw a box in the far back. I pulled it out and dusted it off and looked inside and there they were, these 6 records. No paper sleeves, just the vinyl and layers of dust about them. I asked the store owner how much and (bless her heart) she let me have them for free. So here they are. For two years they have been collecting dust at my home so it's about time they got shared, for everyone's safety.

- Contributed by: Otis Fodder

365 Days #314 - Pent-R-Books, Inc. - Sexual Pleasures (mp3s)

MP3:
01 Sexual Pleasures - Intro (2:18)
02 Sexual Pleasures - The Vagina (6:36)
03 Sexual Pleasures - The Breast (3:05)
04 Sexual Pleasures - The Buttocks and Anus (3:18)
05 Sexual Pleasures - Douches (2:12)
06 Sexual Pleasures - Personal Hygiene (2:27)
07 Sexual Pleasures - Menstruation (2:39)
08 Sexual Pleasures - Contraception (2:21)
09 Sexual Pleasures - Hair (2:15)
10 Sexual Pleasures - Masturbation (3:10)
11 Sexual Pleasures - Masturbation (continued) (0:58)

Here's another record in the Pent-R-Books' "Film Documentary Series".  This recording precedes "Sexual Adventures In Marriage" (featured on July 16, 2007) by a year. Check out the previous post as it has some background information on Pent-R-Books. If you need some photographic material to go along with the Pent-R-Books audio, looks like you can snag "The Photographic Manual Of Sexual Intercourse" right here!

What else?  What can I say. What more can be said... except, have fun listening!

- Contributed by: Sid Safari

365 Days #307 - Picking Up Girls Made Easy! (mp3s)

Hey there fella! Ready to make that move, but a bit shy, eh? Have no fear, picking up girls is here! Yes, in no time you too can be swarmy, gross and be that odd duck out in a social setting. Taught by super lady master Eric "you come here often" Weber circa 1975!

Check out the amazing blog Scar Stuff for more on Weber + a scan of an ad for this album and thanks to Hyde Park Records for the front and back cover images! In 2003 on 365 the Women's Clothing Store Pick Up was featured, but now you can get your groove on with the whole album (which by the way has been file shared and posted to blogs but this way it will have a permanent resting home at WFMU and UBUWEB.

And now... start seducing...

The Street Pick Up (6:00)
Love In The Library (5:11)
Single's Bar Action (6:12)
Women's Clothing Store Pick Up (6:39)
The Ballet Is A Ball (4:08)
Museum Pick Up (5:42)
Walking The Dog (5:53)
Pick Up At The Beach (5:46)

BUT HOLD ON... before you go tearing out there on these 'exercises' i'd like to share the following public service announcements from the Seventh Day Adventist Church with you...

Sexually Transmitted Diseases? (0:30)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases?? (0:30)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases??? (0:57)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases???? (1:00)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases????? (0:31)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases?????? (0:31)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases??????? (0:31)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases???????? (0:59)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases????????? (1:00)

Now who's up to performing one of the Picking Up skits in public, video it, and send it to us so we can post it to the blog?

- Contributed by: Sid Safari

365 Days #286 - Terri "Cup Cake" O'Mason - Stag Party Special #4 (mp3s)

MP3:
Side One:
01. Introduction/Des Moines (4:35)
02. Limericks 1 (0:26)
03. Mother (1:38)
04. Limericks 2 (0:26)
05. Men, One to A Hundred (2:09)
06. Limericks 3 (0:27)
07. Love Is A Wonderful Thing (2:33)
08. Limericks 4 (0:25)
09. Vitamins (3:01)
Side Two:
10. Introduction/Relax (4:12)
11. Limericks 5 (0:23)
12. The Love Affair (1:39)
13. Limericks 6 (0:25)
14. Have A Good Time (3:09)
15. Limericks 7 (0:24)
16. Triangle (1:31)
17. Limericks 8 (0:21)
18. Mademoiselle (5:15)

Fans of the 2003 365 Days Project may remember a charming song called "Cupcakes" sung by Miss Terri "Cup Cake" O'Mason. Miss O'Mason was a burlesque performer who signed a contract in 1960 with Fax Records to record for their "Stag Party Special" series of LPs. And where "Cupcakes" (from Stag Party Special Number 2) is a mere taste of her unique talents, here's a full on dessert; "Stag Party Special Number 4; 'Back for Seconds' ". The back cover proclaims, "She's back again, brighter, better, more daringly naughty than before." And from the sound of it, drunker as well.

This is an audio experience soaked in gin and smelling of smoke and Old Spice. Terri sings bawdy songs, recites bawdy limericks and tosses off bawdy words like "made", "piece", "tail" and "fairy". Plus she mentions The Russians and The Kinsey Report, so you know it's timely.

A shower may not actually wash away the sticky feeling one has after listening to this entire LP, but it helps.

365 Days #245 - Outtakes from the 2003 365 Days Project - Part II (mp3s

In 2003 on the first run of the 365 Days Project there were a lot of contributions that did not make it online.  Now in 2007 we are compiling those tracks into volumes for your download.  Here we go with volume 2 in the ongoing series.

Australian Cricket Team (1972)
01 Australian Cricket Team Song (2:32)
This was one of those 'must buy' incidents; i've spent so much time trawling thru badly stacked, random piles of discs, the same old names, the same old covers, sometimes no covers at all - so, picture my smile as i witness, gazing from a drawer on top of an old chest in a temporary, charity shop, in chiswick, W4 - (that's "chiz-ick", for anyone outside the uk), the wry, disheveled lounge-lizard looks of a mid-eighties, not-yet-serial-killing, Anthony Hopkins! Bude-iful! The thin, paper sleeve; the juice label, so low budget, it can't be true, i thought, biting my lower lip, but there was the face: unmistakable... I simply had to buy it, 50p, but it seemed strangely indulgent, i'd got my heart set on the 1972 australian cricket team single also present (stay tuned!) - yes, it was a must buy. As i listened to it at home, a slight crackle, clearly not unplayed, i consulted with the Guinness book of hit singles - had this release troubled the top 75, surely not? My god, it had - number 75, for one week, the lowest of the low!
- Contributed by Lazyeye

Unknown Artist
02 Reciting Black Flag lyrics (0:47)
- Contributed by Scott Bass

Valerie and Everett Hull (Swank 45 #HFCS-167 B-Side)
03 Foreign Policy (3:34)
- Contributed by Bob Purse

Tammy True - Funtown: Favorite 20 Selections (K-tel NC498, 1978)
04 All My Loving (2:49)
Another song from this album.
- Contributed by Gary Ouimet

Home Recordings
05 Kim's Party with her friends (1973) (0:20)
06 Moss Record Part 2 (January 13, 1941) (2:55)
- Contributed by Scott Elledge

Alta Tension
07 The Alta Tension Singers - Caramelitos De Cafe (Coffee Toffee Squares) (2:18)
08 The Buckingham Group - Dulce Viajera (Sweet Hitchhiker) (2:37)
Straight from Argentina comes Alta Tension, an American Bandstand type TV program featuring teens dancing to the latest hits. All tracks are upbeat, but these two are particularly fun. The Alta Tension singers give us "Caramelitos De Cafe" which translated, means "Coffee Toffee Squares" and The Buckingham Group perform CCR's "Sweet Hitchhiker" or "Dulce Viajera"
- Contributed by Mike Harras

Jim Turner - The Well-Tempered Saw (1971)
09 Timbermill Mountain (3:23)
- Contributed by Scott Elledge

The Smurfs (Finnish)
10 Megabailut (Mambo No. 5) (3:46)
- Contributed by Johan Birath

Marv Welch - Here's Looking Up Your Glass (drunk by Marv Welch)
11 Side One (20:19)
12 Side Two (25:31)
Raunchy drunk comic from the detroit area in the 50's.
- Contributed by Jef Stevens

Movie Trailer
13 Swinging Barmaids (1:04)
- Contributed by Pete Martin

Bedford High School Band - 1968 Spring Concert
14 Brazilian Festival (Medley) (4:01)
- Contributed by Matt Strauss

Image: Front Cover

Most Inexplicably Nude Album Covers

There are many nude rock impulses I can understand: sexy singer, looks good naked (Bow Wow Wow, Boss Hog); fashion (Prince, Buckingham / Nicks); defiance (Slits); unemployed tube sock (Chili Peppers); transgression, shock, titillation, art, and whatever Herbie Mann was thinking.  Then there's what these bands are doing.  In some cases, it looks like a defiant over-identification with hippiedom, like "we are your children and we are unclothed!"; but what are Orleans, Pablo Cruise, Steam, Styx and Man trying to say?  My best guess: "Bros Before Hos".

Update: all the links above now work - sorry about that former plethora of suddenly dead links! 

Fun with Phonetic Dutch (video)

We already knew that Dutch was the best (funniest) language on earth, but it took B3ta's CCC to demonstrate the limitless possibilities of fake phonetic translations of Dutch children's videos:

365 Days #203 - Dr. Dianna: Nastiology Now! (mp3s)

MP3:
Dr. Dianna: Nastiology Now! (26:01)

I found this entry on a cassette I'd gotten back in the 1980s, on which I'd marked only "Dr. Dianna: Nastiology Now!" The recording was apparently intended to pitch a sexology radio show to prospective client stations. I don't know whether the pitch succeeded or not, but the utter dearth of info on the Web about Dr. Dianna or her school of Nastiology suggests, alas, a failure to launch.

- Contributed by: Phil X Milstein

This Week in Sex: Get Your Panties in a Bunch

Today, This Week in Sex is This Week in Panties. That means if you want to know about the world's largest penis, you'll have to come back later. Curious about the effects of semen chemistry on women? If there were panties in that story, we could talk about it. Now you'll never know about how women exposed to semen are less depressed, except when they come down from their spunk addictions, which apparently is a drag.

And definitely no talk about the fat chihuahua who went on a diet but is still a fat chihuahua. I know that doesn't have anything to do with sex, but christ, that's one motherfucking fat chihuahua.

Come fly with me. Ecuadorean Icaro airlines is having lingerie fashion shows in the aisles. Adjust your vacation plans accordingly.

Dirty laundry. If, like me, you often find yourself waking up to the sight of your bra hanging from the ceiling, an empty bottle of wine rolling under the bed, and the guy next to you wearing your panties, you'll wonder where the makers of the Tagalongs Panties hid the video camera to make this commercial for their disposable underwear. via AdRants

More dirty laundry. Deborah Harry wore dirty knickers for five days when British Airways lost her luggage. She could have borrowed some used undies from Dita Von Teese, who saves them for fans. Hey, Neko Case sold her corset on eBay.

Olde dirty laundry. The printing press helped, but the rise of medieval literacy was built on a pile of used underwear. The increased use of underwear in the 13th century led to an increase in the number of rags available for paper making. It's kind of sweet to think of a medieval Bible printed on used underwear.

After the jump: more panties.

365 Days #197 - Pent-R-Books, Inc. - Sexual Adventures in Marriage (mp3s)

MP3:
1 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Intro (1:35)
2 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Reel 1 (10:40)
3 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Reel 2 (10:40)
4 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Reel 3 (10:41)
5 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Reel 4 (10:40)

About 11 or 12 years ago, while digging through a forgotten  part of the Chelsea  flea market, I found a copy of the classic Fornicating  Female Freaks on Audio Stag Records. That was cool, but stuffed inside the  jacket was a second record: this little gem.

A soundtrack to a "film documentary" of the same name, Sexual Adventures in Marriage is a  terrific mess largely due to the narrator, who is aloof, maybe tipsy, and most definitely  rushed. He coughs repeatedly, clears his throat, flubs his lines, and loudly  turns his pages. A phone rings next to him at one point, and you can also hear  what sounds like a big truck driving by outside. As the narration goes on, I  could swear that a couple of the pregnant pauses are due to the narrator  actually stifling a yawn. And that's not even getting into the content of Sexual Adventures in Marriage. Most of  it is only moderately spicy, but things definitely heat up by Reel 3, which contains  such progressive maxims as "Never tolerate muscular softness in your wife" and  "Give her a good slap where she's built for slapping."

Pent-R-Books was a cheapo, X-rated publishing outfit based  at 120 13th St  in Brooklyn, in business from the late-60s  (maybe before) through the late-70s. From what I can tell, they published  mainly adult fare disguised as how-to books. They published a book version of Sexual Adventures in Marriage (written  by one Rudiger Boschmann), as well as other titles such as The Full Color Guide To Sexual Pleasures A-Z, The Picture Book of Sexual Love, and Love's Photo Album.

The story got more interesting when I discovered that  Pent-R-Books was, in a way, some kind of free speech pioneer. In New York in 1971,  Pent-R-Books challenged what was known as the Goldwater Amendment, a law that  had passed requiring notices on any sexual oriented mail. At the same time, the  Post Office had made available a blanket protection form for anyone who did not  wish to receive such material. According to articles in the New York Times, the  law stated that publishers had to purchase the lists (which were updated weekly  by the Post Office) to make sure they were not breaking the law when sending  out their explicit material. The law itself carried stiff fines and jail  sentences. Pent-R-Books apparently had a mailing list of over 8 million  potential customers they regularly sent sexually oriented ads to, and demanded  a restraining order on the law. They claimed that the law was a violation of  free speech, and would irreparably damage their business. The State's Attorney  disagreed, and a 3-judge panel was ordered.

Problem is, that's where the news dries up on my end.  By late 1971, 500,000 people had signed the Post Office forms, and Pent-R and  four other publishers had been dutifully purchasing them at great expense,  while still pursuing the matter in the courts. Missing from the newspapers was  a 1974 case, United States  vs. Pent-R-Books, which appears in a finding aid for the John Francis Dooling  papers at the Harvard Law Library. In 1976, Pent-R-Books was still kicking  around, as that's the date of this recording. However, by 1979, the company was  bankrupt and an attempt was made to purchase (for ten grand) the rights to  their holdings by one Jay M. Halpert.

- Contributed by: Jonathan Ward

Images: Record Label

365 Days #177 - Nights of Love in Lesbos (mp3s)

MP3:
Nights of Love in Lesbos - Part 1 (20:11)
Nights of Love in Lesbos - Part 2 (19:20)

Remember snooping through your parents' Anais Nin and Xaviera Hollander books to find your first vintage erotica? Well, this sounds nothing like those.

Described as "a frankly intimate description of a sensuous girl's lesbian desires" it's really just a verse from "Songs of Bilitis" by Pierre Louÿs. Although not a lesbian himself, the French poet from two centuries ago is regarded for his favorable depictions of women, especially his lesbiana.

The flaccid female vocal talent, credited only as "Ilona", narrates the Sapphic sounds with heavy breath and audible smile. A flute-y score plays throughout, accompanied lightly by piano and sometimes a tambourine shake at hot moments. Consider the cover art by Lud of Hollywood; interesting from a Cray-Pas-on-toned-paper perspective. Described on back as, "one of the foremost exponents of the pastel medium in the fine arts field".

The back also claims that previous U.S. court rulings on works by James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, and Henry Miller paved the way for this radical recording, boasting it makes no compromise with prudery. The label dealt head-on with forbidden pleasure in 1960 and 1961 regarding the legality of mail order desire.

This being last of five in FAX Records' Special Erotica Series, the plain brown wrapper catalog had sixteen other titles among these:

• FAX Personality Record Series (all of comedian Bert Henry)
• Wild Party Record Series (including two of "Wild Service Songs")
• Adam Party Record Series (for the Adam men's magazine)

- Contributed by: Sara Johnson

Images: Front Cover, Side 1, Side 2, Back Cover

Media: LP
Album: "Nights of Love in Lesbos" (FAX Special Erotica Series #5)
Label: FAX Record Co.
Catalog: FAXLP – 1009
Date: 1962

365 Days #167 - Stanley Z. Daniels, M.D. - Sex For Teens (Where It's At) (mp3s)

MP3:
Sex For Teens (Where It's At) - Side 1 (20:28)
Sex For Teens (Where It's At) - Side 2 (21:27)

By request... this one is for  "snoopy" who wrote, "Ooooo! Do you have "Sex for Teens" by Stanley Daniels? please, please, please, please....."

With 4 mentions of the word please and having the cdr by my computer, the call had to be answered.

Never have owned the album or the ones in the series... yes series!  I have only heard this one and hope to hear the others one day. The series featured "Sex Explained For Children," "Sex For Teens (Where It's At)," and "Sex For Adults (Is Fun - Particularly When You're In Love)".

I obtained a really nice quality copy of Sex For Teens on CDR from John K. Fitzpatick (proprietor of The Oddball Auditorium years back). I remember John mentioning he found it on Napster (or maybe Audiogalaxy or Newsgroups). It's a great quality copy of my all time favorite sex-ed record (the Christopher Recordings coming in at second place). So here it is... Sex For Teens!

Oh yea, some guy named Beck sampled it too. And a handful of other folks.

- Contributed by: Otis Fodder

Media: LP
Album: Sex For Teens (Where It's At)
Label: Event/Carapan
Catalog: EV-5693
Credits: Stanley Z. Daniels, M.D.
Date: 1969