MP3 Download Dinner Bell for February

Soundtrack "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo" (MP3's)
After playing this on the air (and playing air electro along with it), I threatened to put the entire 1984 soundtrack up on the blog. When I didn't, I received several death threats from irate listeners. I want to live to see tomorrow.
Ollie and Jerry "Electric Boogaloo" (MP3), Firefox "Radiotron" (MP3), George Kranz "Din Daa Daa" (MP3), Ollie and Jerry "When I.C.U." (MP3), Steve Donn "Gotta Have the Money" (MP3), Carol Lynn Townes "Believe In the Beat" (MP3), Midway "Set It Out" (MP3), Mark Scott "I Don't Wanna Come Down" (MP3), Firefox "Stylin', Profilin" (MP3), Rags and Riches "Oye Mamacita." Bet you didn't know that in the scene where Boogaloo Shrimp breakdances on the walls, they borrowed the rotating room from Nightmare On Elm Street.

Neil Young with Devo "Hey Hey My My" (Mp3)
I was blown away to see that Neil's 1982 futuristic opus with Devo is commanding almost $60 on Amazon these days! For the uninitiated, the Neil/Devo alliance came about during Shakey's fascination with Kraftwerk and all things new wave (which is well documented on Trans and several other records that got David Geffen on his ass for "not being Neil Young"), and before there was Greendale, Young created and co-directed Human Highway with Dean Stockwell, casting himself as a goofy gas station mechanic, Devo as glowing, bathed-in-toxic-goo transporters of nuclear waste happily singing their songs in transit, and Dennis Hopper as a short order cook named Cracker. Neil's character has rock star fantasies, and at the end of the film the ensuing jam between Neil and Devo in studio is legendary. Booji Boy gets knocked around in his crib while twiddling a moog while a crazed Sex Pistols-tee'd Neil goes ballistic with guitar feedback. Of course, like with Greendale, Neil fans were divided, somewhat confused, but hopefully this thing will find its DVD audience soon.

Chartsweep "1970" (MP3)
FMU listeners may have been either enamored by or driven insane by the off-and-on airing of the strange audio phenomenon known as Chartsweep, that is, an endless medley of period hits arranged in short snippets back to back ala the old school K-Tel commercials. The cuts would range from the 1960's through the 80's, though the 80's segments seem to especially drive people nuts, because the river-flow spew of hooks actually reactivated certain sensors buried deep in your grey matter that hadn't been "massaged" by that sound in 20 years. And sometimes it isn't always, that, y'know, pleasant. Three seconds of "Hip To Be Square" can ruin my day, I say. Anyway, we see this whole thing like a big party ala those Killed By Death punk comps, anyone is welcome to do one and throw theirs into the pot. Hence the 1970 Medley lovingly pieced together by Scott Williams. It's been generally agreed that 1970 wasn't as bad on the pop charts as 1972, and not nearly as horrible as 1974, which should be thrown out the door altogether for music (popular *or* underground). But it still reflected the cheese starting to grow under the asses of post-Altamont America. And what cheese it was. By the way, if you are compelled to immerse yourself deeper, you can get the other Chartsweep MP3s right here.

Sounds of Tomorrow "Explanations and Demonstrations" (MP3)
The Silver Apples of the supperclub set? The Sounds of Tomorrow were Max Crook and Scott Ludwig, and this latest excavation of retro futurism comes courtesy of the fine archivists at RPM in the UK, who have done an especially amazing job chronicling the jungle of Joe Meek recordings. Crook's most visible moment was providing the soaring, hooky electronic solo in Del Shannon's "Runaway", which was performed on an instrument called the Musitron, a heavily souped-up Clavioline. When Crook joined forced with fellow electronic music enthusiast Ludwig, the two added another invention called the Sonocon and began recording at home and performing out in 1964. The novelty value of doing far out versions of "Summertime" and "Caravan" certainly earned these guys the loungy/social club atmosphere they found themselves in, but this particular track is especially creepy since they're using their inventions to reenact the atomic bombing of Japan (followed by polite audience applause).

Silver "Do You Wanna Dance" (MP3)
1980 deconstruction of the Bobby Freeman classic that might outdo the Ramones' version. Silver were a bunch of Helsinki, Finland teens who recorded at home and allegedly would not even meet with record company reps who wanted to sign them. This thing whips up to a total hysterical cacophany, and can be found on the excellent Love Records collection More Arctic Hysteria/Son of Arctic Hysteria, the second volume in a series documenting the Finnish avant-garde music scene through the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.

Vice Versa "Eyes of Christ" (MP3)
A nice slab of cheap Sheffield UK late 70's synthblat weirdness courtesy of Mark White and Stephen Singleton, who released this on their own Neutron label. They wound up bonding with Martin Fry, who interviewed them for a fanzine called Modern Drugs, and went on to form none other than ABC.

El-G "Au Grand Dam Du Jour" (MP3)
This mysterious CDR arrived from France and won me over immediately, a weird amalgamation of spare electronic folk, Residents zonked atmosphere, and Beefheart sidestep. His My Space page, which also drops the curious references to Phew, Jessica Rylan, and Bobb Trimble, says it best: "I played sometimes Live, I was too much drunk, nothing happened. Now I live in a kind of secret erotic laboratory and record stuffs all the day long. Some people like it. Soon I'll be on stage again; no alcohol, just red wine."  Beautifully decorated website, check it out and give a listen.

Dick Clark "An Open Letter to the Older Generation" (MP3)
Frank Garlock "A Friend of Teenagers" (MP3)
Two geezers both "having studied rock and roll in depth" offer their diverse appeals to the public at large. Dick Clark's ramblings come from a 1967 single (thanks to Ken for the MP3), while Garlock's track comes from The Big Beat: A Rock Blast LP goes under the assumption that some rock music is inherently evil (and dedicates a whole track to the Rolling Stones).

Breakout "Pomaluj Moje Sny" (MP3)
Breakout were a great blues rock band out of Poland in the 1970's led by Tadeusz Nalepa and formerly called Blackout. This track (thanks Russ Waterhouse who gave me their CD) is from their 1971 disc "Blues".

Below is a digest of all MP3s featured in Beware of the Blog over the past month (shovelled out by Liz Berg):

- Have you been bad? Really bad? So bad you need to be disciplined? Amanda's got the perfect soundtrack for you, pervert.

- Songs inspired by the fantastical stories of H.P. Lovecraft, brought to you by William Berger.

- What do banned records sound like after they've been incinerated, you might ask? Look no further than this post, by Station Manager Ken.

- Tons of shortwave radio MP3s from the Professor, available here, here, here, and here.

- Experience the amazingly warped sound collage artistry of Ed Special, presented in this post by Kenny G.

- Old Glory waves proud, and your rights are rattled off before you. Kenzo gets all patriotic on your ass, right here.

- Presidential, Pentagonal, and Puritanical Podcasts! Courtesy of Ken.

- Beat poems with titles like "Salad Freak" and "Psalm of the Male Sperm." Need I say more? Hop to this post from Ken, boasting a wealth of goodies by Boruk Glasgow.

- Eine kleine Deutchemusik. Der MP3en seien sie hier, von Lukas.

- Ubuweb update: Lacan, Beckett, Pinter, and even more outsider snobbery!

- Cut and paste Stairway. Thanks, Kenny G.

- Nurse With Wound list obscuro MP3 explosion, ignited by William Berger.

- The pastoral sounds of Christian Anti-Communist Crusader, Janet Greene. Posted by Ken.

- More right-wingery with radio-turned-TV host Glenn Beck, presented by the Professor.

- Boney M. brings us back to our roots: cheesy Euro disco. From Lukas' dancefloor to yours.

- Our favorite lo-fi christian rock couple, Wayne and Liz...brought into the light by Father G.

- Dip into some live bubble glam with a ton of Milk 'n' Cookies MP3s, presented by Hatch.

- Brush up on your Barthes... French philosophy guaranteed to score you some dinnerparty bonus points, courtesy of Kenny G.

- From Ken's repository of irresistably weird, an entire Yann Tomita album.

- Awesomely rocking Ukranian MP3s accompanied by some quickie cultcha pointers, expertly presented by Lukas.

-  Movie trailer scripts all scrambled up and read by a professional voice-over... how could that not kick some seriously absurdist ass? Thank you, Ken.

 

Comments

[Don]

This is fantastic. Thanks for posting Breakin' 2. Only two of the links don't work-Oye Mamacita and Set it Out. The URLs point to 2004 when they should point to 2006.
Thanks again. I have such great memories of watching this movie as a kid.

[Paul Simononymous]

I love the Neil Young/Devo collaboration. Absolutely fan-freaking-tastic. Thanks.

[Mike Lupica]

Sorry, links getting fixed up right now.

[bruce]

Neil has said that human highway will be on DVD at some point. Geez I picked up my copy for like 6 bucks a few years ago on tape.

[Vic Perry]

So sad to see WFMU repeating the usual garbage about 1974 being a terrible pop music year. There hasn't been as good a top 40 year SINCE 1974. I could go on but I'll save it for my book. All you need to know is that "Angie", a Helen Reddy song about a "crazy girl" who traps a horny boy in her radio, went to #1 that year. And if you can't handle "Rock Your Baby" "Skin Tight" "Billy Don't Be a Hero," "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" or Joni Mitchell's "Help Me" or The Three Degrees or War or Terry Jacks - it's probably because you are A WUSS. Real early 70's pop was OUT. It was FLAMING. It was in POOR TASTE. Baby Boomers CAN'T HANDLE IT.

[Brett]

The link to Frank Garlock's "A Friend of Teenagers" also doesn't work.

[Mike Lupica]

Sorry about that, it's fixed now.

[arto]

That Frank Garlock rant + Zappa's "Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny" = Best accidental mashup EVER!

[Moka]

Whoa! this surely took a long time. Really good stuff! Thank u very much

[Pete]

Dunno about paying $60, but I've been wanting to see Human Highway for 20 years since I saw Devo's performance of "Worried Man Blues" from it on Night Flight. Now, if we could only get all the old Night Flights on demand, I'd actually get cable again.

[Krys O.]

We've got the Human Highway laserdisc at home and it IS a good movie.

[Blake Wallington]

I love anything Dick Clark, thanks.

["Mad" Max]

The $60 at Amazon is for a USED copy. A NEW copy is also available - for $140! In an extremely unusual turnabout, it can be found cheaper on eBay, where the last copy sold for $17.

[ray d]

according to the soundtrack off imdb.com your version of breakin 2 is missing these tracks

Do Your Thang (artist unknown)
Combat - Ice-T

Thanks for posting this though, the only other copy of Oye, Mamacita i had previous was a version I'd ripped off a tape version of the soundtrack.
excellent!!!
we assume everyone has mentioned Jean-Claude Van Damme is in Breakdance at the start where they go and meet Turbo and Ozone at the beach for the 1st time?

Everyone has spotted him by now, haven't they?

[Kim]

I just love your Breakin 2 shrine. I listen all of the time from work. I can't find the cd anywhere, actually there is one on ebay and it sells for $150 so...I did purchase the vinyl version. Thanks for providing a way to jam!!

[lrna]

i found some more songs that were in this movie..
1. electric boogaloo - ollie and jerry
2. physical clash - ollie and jerry
3. reckless rivalry - ice t.
4. stylin' - firefox
5. i dont wanna come down - mark scott
6. when i.c.u - ollie and jerry
7. radiotron - firefox
8. din daa daa - george kranz
9. gotta have the money - steve donn
10. set it out - midway
11. oye mamacita - rags and riches
12. do your own thing - ollie and jerry
13. go off - afrika islam
14. do your thang - howie rice
15. high tension - j.d. nicholas
16. combat - ice t.
17. jamin in manhattan - james tyzik

[Rick Garcia]

Devo and Neil Young? I actually forgot that I had seen that movie (it being totally forgettable to a 19 year old trying to figure out how he was going to get laid after bringing a date to this movie) but this song rocked!

[Tyvian Corry]

if you have Physical Clash by ollie and jerry, please post it, been looking for it for years.

[Mike O]

Yes please. I have been looking for Physical Clash and a few others by Ollie and Jerry for years. Still cant find it.