365 Days #144 - The Moonbillies / Brett & Lori / Listen To The Quiet (mp3s)

MP3:
1. The Moonbillies - The 'Lectronic Brain (2:34)
2. The Moonbillies - The Fall Of The Planet Earth (2:25)
3. Brett And Lori - Lady Of Nature (3:39)
4. Brett And Lori - Life (3:48)
5. Listen To The Quiet (mono) (2:05)
6. Listen To The Quiet (stereo) (2:10)

Here's a set of three unrelated 45s that nevertheless seemed to have an associative flow to them, so I'm grouping them here together. You should listen to the sides in the order presented here.

The first is by The Moonbillies. "The 'Lectronic Brain" really reminds me of one of the earlier 365 Days cuts from this year, "The Mechanical Man." Great bass vocal on this. The flip side of this is "The Fall Of The Planet Earth," a cautionary tale which leads us into "Lady Of Nature" by Brett & Lori, a folk song on a similar theme. When I picked this one up, I was really puzzled by the B-side, called simply "Life." While the A-side was dated 1971, the B-side indicated a date of 1992...?! But after listening to the track, and reading the rest of the label, and studying the graphic, and thinking about the theme of the A-side, I figured it out. See, "Life" is just a silent groove. I managed to find Brett Slattery, the guy who created this, on the web. He writes:

That's interesting. Where did you find the 45? I recorded it 37 years ago. The B-side is silence, meant to represent a recording in Grand Central Station in the year (I think) 2000. 37 years ago, protest songs dominated the airwaves. It was believed that, by year 2000, the world would have blown itself up.

Lady of Nature was a song I wrote about mother nature. I was influenced by Joni Mitchell. Trees were being cut down in masse for urbanization.

There are only 2 copies left of this 45, including yours. You are welcome to keep it, of course. I'm just curious where you found it. It received much airtime in San Diego when it was released, but I never signed a contract because I am too  tone deaf to perform. Lori Hamsch, a friend whom I've lost contact with, recorded the vocal track for me.

"Life" immediately brought to mind an odd 45 I found awhile back. It's a promo for an album called "Listen To The Quiet" on Capitol. A web search turns up an album by that name on Capitol by Joe Bushkin, though this 45 doesn't indicate any artist. And I suppose that makes perfect sense, since there's nothing on this record. Side 1 is in mono, side 2 in stereo. Be sure to listen to side 2 first in order to get the best flow of continuity from "Life," which is also in stereo.

- Contributed by: Pea Hix

Images: The Moonbillies, Brett And Lori, Listen To The Quiet

Media: 45
Titles: The 'Lectronic Brain b/w The Fall Of The Planet Earth
Label: Republic
Catalog: 2003
Credits: The Moonbillies
Date: early 1960s

Media: 45
Titles: Lady Of Nature b/w Life
Label: private issue
Catalog: FM 7182
Credits: Brett And Lori
Date: 1971

Media: 45
Titles: Listen To The Quiet (mono) / Listen To The Quiet (stereo)
Label: Capitol
Catalog: PRO 1021
Date: early 1960s

Comments

[Pinball King]

One time my friend and me were taking turns choosing records to play. When it was my turn, I put on "The Nothing Record". After five minutes of listening to the soft crackle of nothing, my friend said "Ok, that's enough" and yanked it off the turntable. The Nothing Album also came with a free poster of, you guessed it, nothing! These guys owe John Cage royalties, he did this in 1951. And aliens have southern accents. Why not?

[Pinball King]

By the way, if you're ever near a jukebox and you want silence, play "Something In the Way" by Nirvana. The song is followed by twelve minutes of silence and then a loud instrumental called "Endless, Nameless". It's fun to watch the reactions of the patrons, too. They think that the jukebox is broken and then the owner resets the machine. The track can seldom be played in it's entirety in public.

[jpeatt]

There's a 12" version of late 80's pop hit "IOU Nothing" by Bros, which features an 18 minute long version of the aforementioned track, and a b side called nothing... also about 18 minutes long

[Joe]

Loving these Moonbillies tracks. Thanks for those. And the silence on the b-side of the Lori & Brett single is kind of haunting when you add the human self-destruction pretense.

[Jeff Phinney]

Just like the Nirvana track mentioned above, I recall another band(who shall remain nameless) that put out a CD where the last track was almost 34 minutes long. The track consisted of the first 3 minutes being music and some guy singing "I am not obsessed with this" and the remainder of the track being silence. All except for the last minute or so which consisted of some kind of course scratching noise.
I made the mistake of putting this CD on late one night. I let it play thorough while I was busy working on something else. Paying no attention to it and 30 minutes after what I assumed the last track had played, I heard what I thought was someone trying to tear the side of my house off using shovels and a rakes. I paniced trying to figure out what I was going to do. I had the phone in my hand ready to dial 911 when I realized that the noise was coming out of the speakers. Certainly made me feel like a fool.

[Jeff Phinney]

I noticed the writngs credits for the Moonbillies were shared between Pat Buttrum("Mr. Haney" from TV's "Greenacres", I assume) and Carl Cotner, who, if it's the same Cotner listed in the IMDB, worked as Gene Autry's musical director. Both Buttram and Cotner worked with Autry. The whole Hill/Moon billie thing fits right in there with Buttrams "Hick Schtick".
My wife recalls as a Child going to see Pat Buttram
perform at the Del Mar Fair(AKA The San Diego County Fair). She remembers that along with his comedy routine, there were also musical numbers thrown in. It was a long time ago, but who knows, maybe she saw the 'Lectronic Brain performed live.

[SillyWilly]

I listened to "Live" and "Listen to the Quiet" back-to-back. Interesting how unnerving it was to me. I almost couldn't wait until the last track was over. Now I'm going to listen to "Lady Godiva's Opderation."

[Richard Brandt]

Since The Moonbillies are on a division of Melody Ranch Records, I'd say the Autry connection is pretty durn sound.

[strictly kev]

I need a copy of that Moonbillies 45 - another great post Pea

[Cord Cameron]

If this is the same Brett Slattery I recorded with in San Diego... actually at Fanfare Studios in El Cajon... I'd sure like to get a copy of "No Leap for Mankind", which we recorded in 1972 or 3. Now that I think of it, I'll bet it was Lori on vocals. I played bass.

Also, Brett had a tape called 'Moaners'. It was a fab listen! HA!