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MP3:
The Feelies - Extracts From The Forthcoming Release By New York's Most Original Combo (4:52)
To promote their release of the first Feelies album, "Crazy Rhythms," in 1980, Stiff Records issues this flexidisc of an extended medley crafted from excerpts of a few of the album's key tracks. Shortly thereafter the "Stars On 45" phenomenon began. Coincidence, or idea thievery? We think not.
- Contributed by: Phil X Milstein
Images: Cover Sleeve With Label, Label
When you move to certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn and your last name is "Berg," a trigger sets a ball bearing down its track, which bumps into a lever that engages a pulley, sending an egg careening towards a pot of boiling water, and all of a sudden you discover that someone has taken the liberty of adding you to certain mailing lists. Postal profiling?
Of course, I enjoyed receiving Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz' annual Happy Passover letter, (and waving it victoriously in front of my roommate at the time, who has a less fortunate, non-Berg surname, and was thus excluded from this illustrious mailing list). On other occasions, I would receive long diatribes in Hebrew or Yiddish (neither of which I understand), some featuring curious photos of old Hasidic men casting ballots into a black box. However, one of my unsolicited junkmail pamphlets surpassed all others in terms of intrigue:
Without the language skills required, what the hell was I to make of this nefarious piece of junkmail other than "Chinese Baby Auction"? This not-for-profit group is clearly proud of auctioning off 334 babies, building families one soul at a time with your help. Incredible! I wanted so badly to believe even half of the tale this pamphlet appeared to relay that I put off showing it to WFMU's resident translator and superstar of JM in the AM, Nachum, for fear of inevitable disappointment. The true story behind this junkmail is far too terrible and pedestrian to discuss here.
What's the best piece of junkmail you ever received?
Follow Dana Brown, renowned big-game hunter, in his hunt of the great man-eating tiger of Western Nepal. Awaiting the tiger's approach while patiently sitting in a tree, Dana waxes poetic into a cheap microphone in a strange stunted and blustery meter about the beauty and horrors of the jungle as birds chatter and wail in the background.
Jungle Nights & Man-Eaters with Dana Brown Side One (mp3)
Jungle Nights & Man-Eaters with Dana Brown Side Two (mp3)
I have extracted some choice bits from the record...starting with an example of Dana's blubbering verbose observations of hunting in the jungle.
Dana Brown - Jungle Poetry (mp3)
Dana lets his listeners hear a bit of violent tiger mating.
Dana Brown - Authentic Sounds Of Tigers Mating! (mp3)
Towards the end of the record, Dana starts to adopt an almost b-movie horror movie affectation.
Dana Brown - Stalking Creeping Terror (mp3)
Eventually Dana gets down out of tree to take part in the "weird music of Western Nepal" during the eight-day holiday named "Holi" when all marriage ties are dissolved! Dana gets lost in reverie as he lusts after the girls of Western Nepal..."one of the prettiest women of the world."
Dana Brown - Eight Days of Holi (mp3)
front cover - back cover - Dana Brown autograph
Special thanks to Matt Marsden for lending me this gem that I have been pestering him about for a couple years now. Also- for a very similar stunted and blustery oratory style, check out Unkie Dunkie, the worst comedian of New Jersey.
MP3:
1. Helen Wheels (McCartney) (3:36)
2. Girl From The Isle of Wight (Humber) - (one of their own songs) (3:51)
3. Hide Away Girl (P. Sanders) - (another one) (4:01)
4. Flyin' High (D.Chandler) - (the drummer wrote this - the Derek Smalls of the band it seems ;-) NEVER let the drummer write songs!) (6:17)
5. Hey Tonight (Foggerty) (3:48)
I dunno what it was about the Seventies. maybe it was to do with being there as an awkward teenager, but it does seem to have been the decade when Average Geezerdom was monumentally unappealing. But I had lank hair, a greatcoat and The Yes Album back then so shouldn't talk.
This lot, were the summer season band at Pontins in Camber Sands in the early seventies apparently. This is a self produced effort, presumably to sell at gigs etc.
It turned up in a Streatham charity shop in the eighties and of course I had to buy it. Not to play you understand; though they are a perfectly competent covers band of their time, but for the brilliant cover.
For me the cover image has a horrible fascination. It's unashamedly what it is, a bunch of average geezers seemingly picked at random from some pub or other in some suburb or other plonked next to a canal, in freshly laundered trousers...
So why does that provoke even the smallest degree of fascination? I think it's the otherness of it. On one level it's perfect for who they are and what they are doing, I mean, you gotta say it's unpretentious, and you know pretty much what you are getting, but on another level it's just so BAAAAD! And not in the Isaac Hayes sense. The question "What is it that we are trying to convey in this picture?" doesn't seem to have been asked. Not that that in itself is particularly surprising, it's just that it's the kind of thing that has anyone of a Graphic Design persuasion banging their heads on the table...
I bet they never thought, when they were having the photo taken, that in fifteen years time, a bunch of stoned art students would spend significant amounts of time sniggering at their trousers...
The back cover has a profile of each of them and a list of their likes and dislikes. . great stuff. I'd give a lot for photo of "Deaf Cuckoo"...
The music is, to me at least, better than the cover might suggest, in that they are obviously a very pro covers band who feel quite able to mess with the arrangements of the songs they cover and who evidently know what they are doing. That doesn't mean that you will wanna listen to the album particularly, but I feel I should give them their due.
The A side is all covers, the B side has three originals, one a ploddy blues workout, one a Chuck Berry/Quo type thing and one that can be loosely described as a kind of prog psyche fest complete with phased drum solo... Hey, you could sample that!
I ripped side 2 for your listening pleasure. Enjoy, and If you're out there guys, the very best to all of you, and I bet you had some great laughs down in Camber Sands. Forgive me a smile or two at your expense ;-)
- Contributed by: Jon Allen
Images: Front Cover, Back Cover 1, Back Cover 2
Media: LP
Album: Maxwell Plumm - We Can Work It Out
[ This post contains 26 MP3s for the kids after the jump. ]
You know a compilation of children's songs has to be good if it features Foetus and Tiny Tim. And honestly, the compilation "Goobers - A Collection of Kid's Songs", released in 1993 on T.E.C. Tones (who were somehow associated with the Residents' Ralph Records label, as I understand it), is damn near perfect. But what the heck is a "goober"? Urban Dictionary offers several different definitions, among them "chocolate-covered dick" and "a crazy cool person whos funny as hell and rocks any shindig like no other; a totally cool person bascially (thats a little insane)". Now that leaves me with the questions what "whos", "rocks any shindig" and "bascially" mean. But I am just a stupid foreigner, so what do I know? Anyway, the album is long out of print and needs to be heard, so get ready for the music in MP3 form after the jump. Enjoy!
Throughout the nineteen sixties, seventies and eighties, most issues of Archie Comics featured a two-page spread titled Archie Club News. The banner at the top of the page announced, "ARCHIE CLUB MEMBERS send in your news reports and be eligible to win cash prizes in the Archie Series Magazines." The results of this venture were generally irrelevant notes sent in like "Dear Archie, Let me tell you about the time I got food poisoning..." Often what was sent in appeared to be part of a class project. Elementary school children were in the process of learning how to write letters and encouraged by a teacher to send something Riverdale way. Sometimes the letters were weird or even profound as we saw in posts one and two of this series. I've been sorting through my musty collection of Archie Comics trying to find the next gem but, believe me, Starchild is a very tough act to follow. That is why today I am posting two letters, to sorta soften the blow of having to follow a kid from space.
This letter originally appeared in Jughead #164, January 1969:
Dear Archie,
MP3:
01. Floatsome Driftwood (2:08)
02. She Said Goodbye (3:18)
03. Dust On Your Picture Frame (2:22)
04. Materialistic Man (1:11)
05. I Know It's Love (2:45)
06. His Crimson Blood (2:06)
07. The Joy Came Down (0:40)
08. Oh Glory Hallelujah (2:43)
09. Jesus Is The Christ (5:17)
10. Your Rugged Cross (3:25)
11. Jesus Of Blue Galilee (2:23)
12. The King Is Come (1:05)
13. Go Into The World (0:56)
This is one of those religious records that, when you see the cover, you think "WOW I GOTTA BUY THIS!" But then the next thought is "I'm sure the music won't live up to the cover!" In this case, the music, while not really being all that weird or crazy per se, actually DOES live up to the cover, though it does so in its own quiet way. Esther's songs are very plaintively heartfelt and haunting. Despite my distaste for religion, this is the sort of religious music I can listen to and just sort of tune out the lyrics an enjoy as pure sound.
There's no real explanation of Esther's illness or condition on the back of the jacket: mostly it's just lyrics. Inside there are a couple of mimeographed copies of typed letters to her admirers and/or family, where she recounts the trials and trevails of some sort of tour she went on.
- Contributed by: Pea Hix
Images: Cover
Media: LP
Album: Esther Lee - Where Glory Began
Label: (private press)
Catalog: 42769
Credits: Produced by The Ministering Carpenter, recorded at Ye Old Garage Studio
Date: 1974
From Celebrities At Their Worst .MP3 (18.5 MB's)
Mississippi GodDamn .MP3 (6.2 MB's)
MP3:
1. Laughing Gnome (1:30)
2. Silver Screen (2:12)
3. It Started With A Kiss (4:00)
Enjoy the accidental genius of one P Gill. I was given a load of cassettes which were part of a Search-for-a Star type event from the early 1980s, and this was one of the few examples which I thought was worth holding onto. The others were everything from semi-pro pop and cabaret bands offering up their regular demo tapes, to teenage girls singing along to their favourite pop stars. But P Gill took three songs and made them his own. It sounds as though he is reading the lyrics out but has never heard the tunes of each song. Whether he’s being serious or is having a joke I'm not sure, but he is certainly sincere, and there is sooo much to enjoy here.
First up is a unique reading David Bowie's novelty hit Laughing Gnome where Mr Gill opted to be both Bowie and the gnome. He has little sense of rhythm or timing and I love the way he does the first gnome part in slightly demented voice, more akin to a serial killer, but then forgets about it and does all the gnome parts in a variety of other voices. The second song appears to be a bizarre cover of the little-known Bay City Rollers track Marlena, here re-dubbed Silver Screen. PG has changed the lyrics and seems content to repeat the chorus over-and-over again until he sounds like he's having a seizure at the end. But watch out for the random, tuneless harmonica interjectionswhich have nothing to do with the rest of the song. Brilliant!
He rounds of his set with a unique rendering of Hot Chocolate's It Started With A Kiss which he sings in several keys, most of which are too high for him. His endless, pitiful whines of 'You don't remember me do you?' ensure that we certainly will remember him for many years to come.
My apologies for the bad quality, and the low volume, but it was a bad home recording to start with and the tape has suffered a little with age, but crank up the volume and enjoy.
- Contributed by: David Noades
Images: Record
Media: Cassette tape
Date: 1982
A friend of mine got a call from a road tripping pal who ranted about a strange monument he had encountered in some nowhere town in Kansas - a monument to 'the first white child born.' For some reason I found myself wanting to see what this ridiculous monument could possibly look like - which leads to this google image search I now share with you (link) It turns out that the first white child born was a momentous occasion for many American burgs and townships. (note: image is a similar New York marker)
We're in for a rainy couple of days in the the city, but hopefully all of the free outdoor shows scheduled this weekend will still go on. Here's your weekly installment of Live Catch, Beware Of The Blog's guide to live music in the New York and New Jersey area.
New York synth/punk pioneers Suicide play a free show tonight at the South Street Seaport. Saturday at Central Park SummerStage, King Britt will play set of his remixes of the late artist and a capella gospel singer Sister Gertrude Morgan.
This week's free Sunday show at McCarren Park Pool will be headlined by the TV On The Radio and is sure to be packed to the gills. There's another terrific show scheduled Sunday at Central Park SummerStage in honor of the 25th anniversary of the classic hip-hop film Wild Style. They'll be screening the movie after live performances by The Chief Rocker Busy Bee, The Cold Crush Brothers, GrandMaster Caz, DJ GrandWizzard Theodore, and Fab 5 Freddy.
Soul legend Mavis Staples will play a free show on Wednesday night at Rockefeller Park. Also on Wednesday, Negativland will do a live version of their Over The Edge radio show at the Highline Ballroom, and incredible fingerstyle guitarists Duck Baker and Richard Crandell--who also plays a mean thumb piano--perform together at The Stone.
Finally, The Flatlanders play a rescheduled free show on Thursday at Castle Clinton.
For comprehensive listings, check out our regularly updated Arbitrary Guide To Popular Culture.
Been drinking a lot of beer this summer. Most of it on the radio. Mmm mm mm, that's so nice I want to watch beer movies. Let's see what youtube can contribute.
Viv Stanshall's ad for Ruddles Real Ale
The legendary Bonzo Dogger swallows the worm and dives down his own peculiar rabbit hole in order to shill for swill.
Yellow Magic Orchestra's ad for Kirin Lager
Or is it Kirin Lager's ad for Yellow Magic Orchestra? The tables turn when they start flashing snapshots of the Band As Young Men.
Gilberto Gil Approves of FREE BEER
The co-cap'n of Tropicalia and Brazil's current Minister of Culture shouts out not just free beer, but GOOD beer!
Live! Nude! Fermentation!
Like it says.
(Thanks Brian Turner for the YMO and Jeff Moore for the flickr set!)
Next week, more zymurgological ephemera -- Beer songs!! I'd love to hear your suggestions in the comment section of this post.
Meanwhile, at 2:40 this afternoon (and every Friday thoughout the Summer 2007 WFMU air schedule), I'll be drinking and talking about beer on the air with a bunch of pals. Today we'll be sampling suds provided by Listener / Volunteers Therese and Colleen. I'm podcasting this weekly 20 minute debauch (and even occasionally the after party), feel free to subscribe here. There's even a flickr set devoted to the afterparty. Past beer posts here and here. Past beer-obsessed radio shows via all this.
MP3:
Jack Paar and Jack Haskell - I-M-4-U (2:19)
This was once the opening theme song of the Tonight show.
- Contributed by: Henry Lowengard
Images: Front Cover, Back Cover
Media: 7" 45 RPM
Label: Columbia
Catalog: 4-40628
Notes: Open Theme 1: "I-M-4-U (I Am For You)" [aka: "The Jack Paar Theme"; aka: "I Am For You"; aka: "I M 4 U (Jack Paar TV Show)"; This was also used as a THEME on "The Jack Paar Show"; Verified on 1997 PBS Special on Jack Paar, where Jose Melis group is heard playing this melody in a double-time latin arrangement at beginning of the show]. Composers: Jose Melis (ASCAP) [professional name of Jose Melis Giui], and Sev F. Marino (ASCAP) [professional name of Severino Frank Marino]. 1978 Publishers: Piano Melodies (ASCAP), and Oniram Music Publications (ASCAP). 1997 Publishers: Piano Melodies (ASCAP), of Bronxville; NY and Oniram Music Publications (ASCAP), of College Point, NY. Copyright Date: Oct. 24, 1955; EU 414 107. Renewal Date: May 16, 1983; RE-169-746. Recordings: LP: "Jose Melis plays Jack Paar Favorites" (1960) Secco CELP-462 Jose Melis Group.
Jump the flip to find out, and remember what I said - "for cryin' out loud, don't say I didn't warn you!"
On the eve of the opening of the hottest anticipated flick of the summer (we've got our tix for tomorrow night!), Listener Lou Cabron reminds us that donuts and Duff aren't the only vices propagated on the Simpsons: "It all started when the federal "drug czar" for President Bush (in 1990) warned patients at a drug treatment center that watching The Simpsons was 'not going to help you.' For the next 17 years, the writers added scenes where the characters were doing drugs. (And it isn't stopping; the movie's trailer shows Homer demanding more psychotropes.) The Simpsons have been taking drugs for 17 years -- pot, hallucinogens, and even trucker speed. These six video clips (via 10 Zen Monkeys) show the funniest examples -- plus a list of other Simpson drug binges.
MP3:
Side 1: HANA Certificate Course: Dental, Mouth, Throat (45:05)
Side 2: HANA Certificate Course: Dental, Mouth, Throat (45:03)
Want pearly white teeth in a day? Want to drop twenty to thirty pounds at will? Enter into the mysteries of the genetic harmony diet, the only diet that does not fall prey to that all-too-common tendency to ignore the vibratory imprints of food onto each being's energy body. Free yourself from starch addiction and remedy your vitality level!
Here's good proof that words like 'professional' and 'official' are hollow terms: a portion of the HANA (Hahnemann Academy of North America) certification cirriculum. The lecturer, Dr. Robin Murphy, N.D., is considered an expert in the field of Homeopathic medicine, directs HANA, has published many books on medicine and has taught at the accredited (!) Bastyr University of Seattle, Washington. This lecture, presumably part of a larger series of lectures, deals with "Dental, Mouth, Throat" as handwritten red ink on the cassette indicates. The lecture (especially side one) seems to focus more on diet than dentistry. Regardless, Dr. Murphy's strength lies in his ability to connect mundane sciences to the most lofty religious concepts. Be ready for a full on new-agey amalgam of Eastern religion and pseudoscience.
I believe this tape was recorded at a 1991 conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico - I in fact found the tape sitting by itself on a shelf of Santa Fe's Goodwill. A collection of tapes, from which this tape probably came, called "Dental, Mouth and Throat" is listed for $90 online (although it is out of print); for that price, this recording is remarkably unprofessional. Both sides of the tape abruptly cut in and out mid-speech, questions from the audience are barely audible and occasionally the tape itself cuts out. Quality problems aside, this tape gives fascinating insight into contemporary new age culture at its wish-washiest.
- Contributed by: Nash Rose
Images: Cassette
Media: Cassette
Title: HANA Certificate Course: Dental, Mouth, Throat
Date: 1991
