Showing posts with label historic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historic. Show all posts

Saturday, July 22, 2017

VA - Britxotica!: London's Rarest Primitive Pop And Savage Jazz

VA - Britxotica!: London's Rarest Primitive Pop And Savage Jazz 

So you thought exotic recordings only came from Hawaii or the USA? Well, you're wrong. Here's a collection of amazing, far-flung sounds from the UK. Rare, wild, and just itching to turn your turntable into a strange pagan place of sonic worship. Just try to keep those cocktails from flowing and your clothes on. "Britxotica" (pronounced "Britzotica") is a word you may never have come across before. This term neatly describes an odd and undocumented pre-Beatles musical scene in which famed UK composers, singers, and bandleaders threw convention to the wind and went wild wild wild! Drawing influences from Hollywood, Hawaii, and holiday (any hot and frantic destination would do) they conjured up sounds to suit a modern but fledgling escape from the gray trudge of postwar London. The result is a bunch of rare, mod, wild, and naïvely experimental trips into the tribal, but keeping the white suit, shirt, and tie firmly in place no matter what the temperature. Fascinating, sometimes fierce, and often absolutely bananas, this new album of old toss is an absolute trip! 

Tracklist:

1. African Waltz - Lyn Cornell
2. Jungle Drums - Ted Heath
3. Poinciana - Allan Bruce
4. Bahama Rumba - Rawicz And Landauer
5. Follow Me - Lucille Mapp
6. Taboo - Sounds Incorporated
7. Run Joe - Nadia Cattouse
8. Street of a Thousand Bongos - Brian Fahey
9. Zambezi - Tony Mansell & Johnny Dankworth
10. Ritual Blues - Reg Owen
11. The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God - Harry H. Corbett
12. Take My Lips - Laurie Johnson & His Orchestra
13. A Night of Adventure - Edmundo Ros
14. Cha Cha Cha Calypso - Maxine Daniels
15. Cerveza - Cherry Wainer
16. The Hat - Jerry Allen

britbeatjungle 

More history and track info in comments.

VA - Britxotica Goes East! Persian Pop and Casbah Jazz From the Wild British Isles!

VA - Britxotica Goes East! Persian Pop and Casbah Jazz From the Wild British Isles!

A breathtaking follow-up to the successful Britxotica! This takes us on a magic carpet ride to a place where the Sphinx, sheiks, sand dances and caravans of camels are the magical, musical norm. But this is music made by post war jazz musicians and show girls from London - blimey! Yep, this is perfect Persian pop and killer Casbah jazz made by Eastenders. It's also British music as rare and as beautiful as Tutankhamun's treasure. You may never come across a more exotic British sound ever again…you'll be cursed if you miss it.

Tracklist:

1. Sphinx Won't Tell - The Beverley Sisters
2. Yashmak - Chico Arnez & His Orchestra
3. Caravan - Stanley Black
4. Four Beats to the Casbah - Johnny Keating & His Z-Men
5. Persian Twist - Charles Blackwell
6. Baghdad Bazaar - Philip Green & His Mayfair Orchestra
7. Sheik Or Morocco - Kenny Day
8. Marrakesh - Tony Osborne
9. Climb Up the Wall - Yana
10. Miserlou - Stanley Black
11. Delilah's Theme - Johnny Keating Kombo
12. Call of the Casbah - Laurie Johnson
13. Lonely One - Roy Tierney
14. Turkish Coffee - Tony Osborne
15. Kazoo - Reg Owen
16. The Sultan of Bezaaz - Ray Ellington

bellydance

VA - Tropical Britxotica! Polynesian Pop and Placid Jazz from The Wild British Isles!

VA - Tropical Britxotica Polynesian Pop and Placid Jazz from The Wild British Isles!
Ah exotica, that curious creature. Where (in this case) British musicians dress up as what they imagine musicians from distant lands sound like, with strange and wonderful results. Jonny Trunk and Martin Green have assembled a strong selection of rare exotica records with a tropical theme for this edition of their Britxotica compilation series: Polynesian Pop and Placid Jazz .

Tracklist:

01 Lucille Map - Mangoes 02:27
02 Frank Weir - Hawaiian Honeymoon 03:01
03 The Sound Of Ed White - Coral Reef 02:45
04 Ron Goodwin - Tropical Mirage 02:59
05 Geoff Love - Heatwave 03:04
06 Marion Ryan - An Occasional Man 02:12
07 Edmundo Ros - Summertime 02:26
08 Dick Katz - Dreamride 02:34
09 George Melly - Run See Jerusalem 02:50
10 International Pops All Stars - Green Eyes 02:14
11 Johnny Gentle - Milk From The Coconut 02:32
12 Ted Heath - Haitian Ritual 03:33
13 Betty Smith - Stormy Weather 02:45
14 Martinas And His Music - Quiet Village 02:52
15 Norrie Paramour - Hawaii 02:01
16 Lucille Map - On Treausre Island 02:31

tropics

Friday, April 21, 2017

Mickey Baker - In the 50s (1952-56)

Mickey Baker - In the 50s (1952-56)
71 minutes. Mostly instrumental greasy, slinky, gut bustin' guitar. GIT IT!
Few rock & roll or R&B guitarists of the '50s and '60s have a more consistently frantic body of work than the great Mickey Baker, though his name isn't nearly as well-known as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, or Ike Turner. Baker did most of his work as a sideman, and his best-known recordings as a headliner found him playing second fiddle to Sylvia Robinson as half of Mickey & Sylvia (whose "Love Is Strange" remains a puzzling delight 50 years after it was recorded), but folks who know and love first-era rock & roll are aware of Baker's greatness, and this collection is a superb overview of his work, both as a bandleader and as a hired gun.

Containing a hefty 31 tracks recorded between 1952 and 1956, In the '50s: Hit, Git & Split runs the gamut from the low-key acoustic blues of Baker's "Love Me Baby" to the wailing electric dread of Larry Dale's "Midnight Hours," the uptempo rockabilly of Joe Clay's "Did You Mean Jelly-Bean," the easy-swinging jump blues of Sam Price's "Rib Joint," a double-time rewrite of Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" on Brownie McGhee's "Anna Mae," and a rockin' re-recording by Louis Jordan of "Caldonia" with Baker's guitar answering the hearty peals of the horn section and Jordan's vocals. The word "Wild" tended to pop up in the titles of Mickey Baker's solo albums, and one spin of this disc will show you why – the man's rough-and-tumble style screamed and hollered the blues whenever he hit the strings, and Baker's solos are death-defying hoodoo magic no matter what cut you cue up. Hit, Git & Split is a thoroughly enjoyable set of vintage R&B that's good and greasy throughout, and a peerless introduction to one of the great unsung heroes of rock & roll.
Personnel & tracklist:
01 - Bill Hendricks - Spinnin' Rock Boogie
02 - Mickey Baker - Love Me Baby
03 - Mickey Baker - Brandstand Stomp
04 - Mickey Baker - Riverboat
05 - Big Red McHouston - I'm Tired
06 - Big Red McHouston - Stranger Blues
07 - Larry Dale - You Better Heed My Warning
08 - Larry Dale - Midnight Hours
09 - Mickey Baker - Shake Walkin'
10 - Larry Dale - Down to the Bottom
11 - Mickey Baker - Greasy Spoon
12 - Larry Dale - Please Tell Me
13 - Mickey And Sylvia - Where Is My Honey
14 - Mickey And Sylvia - No Good Lover
15 - Mickey Baker - Rock With a Sock
16 - Mickey & Sylvia - Love Is Strange
17 - Joe Clay - Did You Mean Jelly-Bean
18 - Charles Calhoun - Runaway
19 - Little Willie John - I Need Your Love So Bad
20 - Titus Turner - All Around the World
21 - Sam Price - Rib Joint
22 - Brownie McGhee - Anna Mae
23 - Eddie Riff - My Baby's Gone Away
24 - Louis Jordan - Caldonia '56
25 - Tiny Kennedy - Country Boy
26 - Mr Bear And His Bearcats - The Bear Hug
27 - Roy Gaines - Worried 'Bout You Baby
28 - Square Walton - Pepper-Head Woman
29 - Champion Jack Dupree - Stumbling Block
30 - Big John Greer - Come Back Uncle John
31 - Young Jessie - Hit Git And Split 




Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Red Hot Chili Pipers - Music for the Kilted Generation

Happy Bobby Burns Birthday!!! In celebration of Robert Burns birthday today went to our annual party - I provided these for music. For those who wonder HUH? Here's Wikipedia's sanitized bio ---
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known as Rabbie Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire, Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets,[nb 1] was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.
He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.
As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include "A Red, Red Rose", "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "The Battle of Sherramuir", "Tam o' Shanter" and "Ae Fond Kiss".
 I'm sparing you my 100 plus versions of "Auld Lang Syne" and giving you this to help celebrate. Enjoy. If you want the "Auld Lang Syne" I'll post them for your enjoyment and your friends/enemies/guests annoyance.
 Red Hot Chili Pipers - Music for the Kilted Generation Bagpipes with attitude. Drums with a Scottish accent. A blazing rock band and a show so hot it carries its own health warning. The Red Hot Chilli Pipers have rocked the world from New York to Beijing with musicianship of the highest order and a passion for pipes that will leave you breathless!
An abundance of energy--all the power of the Scottish bagpipe times three and an amazing rock band enhanced by brass, pipes, and drums. An unforgettable and unique sound. Modern classics and rock anthems fused with the adrenaline rush created by a passion for the Pipes! OK - not the best in the world but really fun . As for this album, the Pipers only get better and better. Best cut, Low Rider. Most fun, Everybody Dance, least favorite Amazing Grace (not bad, just my least favorite rendition of this song.) Been to too many funerals. 
 Track listings 1. Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Bagrock) 2. Just For Willie 3. Chasing Cars 4. Hellbound Train 5. The Hidden Gem 6. Amazing Grace 7. Black Knight On The Crazy Train 8. Low Rider 9. Radio Ga Ga 10. Little Cascade 11. Everybody Dance Now 12. Let Me Entertain You 13. Baba O’Reilly 


 
Me and my Kilt celebrating Bobby Burns.

Friday, October 28, 2016

VA - Kan-Gu-Wa and Chop Chop

Trick and Treat - - enjoy the madness.
First time on CD! The third and fourth volumes in the Exotic Blues & Rhythm series were released on limited edition 10" vinyl (500 copies per volume) and sold out in next to no time! Enjoy amazing and danceable tunes from the late 50s and early 60s - a handful of Popcorn dancefloor smashs, a few grinding Tittyshakers, awesome Rhythm & Blues - most of them with an exotic twist! 24 songs.

TRACKLIST

01. Ubangi Rock - Chaino
02. Kan-Gu-Wa - The Scholars
03. Man From Utopia - Donald Woods & The Vel-Aires
04. Haunted Lover - Carole Bennett
05. Little Doe-Doe - Curtis Knight
06. Ghost Train - The Electro-Tones
07. Big Foot - Googie Rene
08. Twistin' Fever - The Marcels
09. I Want Her Back - Dick Jordan
10. Rise Up And Walk - Troy Dodds
11. Voodoo Drums - Les Elgart
12. Volcano - The Three Suns
13. Chop Chop - Sandy Nelson
14. Don't Go - Vince Everett
15. Ali Ben Ghazi - Jack Hammer
16. Monkey See, Monkey Do - The Sherwoods
17. Johnny Lee - Faye Adams
18. I've Been True - Jannie Williams
19. Baltimore Jones - Chuck Miller
20. I Go (King-Kong) - The Go-Rillas
21. She's Mine - John Lee Hooker
22. Red Lips - Marty Hill
23. Little Indian Girl - Billy & The Moonlighters
24. Bullfrog - Johnnie Moore & His New Blazers

VA - Katanga Ahbe Casabe: Exotic Blues and Rhythm

 Happy Halloween --- 
This reissue combines the first two volumes from the “Exotic Blues & Rhythm” compilation series named “Katanga!” and “Ahbe Casabe!” with two additional bonus tracks. This album is a colorful garden of delights consisting of R'n'B and rock'n'roll based songs from the 1940s to the early 1960s that all have this slightly exotic, dark and mystical feeling from the melody structures and instrumentation. Most of the tunes at hand sound astonishingly fresh and timeless. EDDIE COLE & THREE PEPPERS with their hypnotizing groover “Police” for example present a Caribbean mento with a mambo and rhythm'n'blues feel. The beat will drag you directly from your seat and make you swing on the dancefloor. This piece finds its roots in the late 1940s and demonstrates impressively how far even the predecessors of rock music already got in their development. The simple yet haunting lead vocal harmony makes this song a steaming hot all-time fave. And this is only one out of 26 rare gems. The album already starts magically with a gloomy bluesy tune named “Green onions” played by German composer and conductor Claus Ogermann, a cover of a BOOKER T & THE MG'S tune from 1962 with a rather specific basic melody that will stay with you forever. There is much more simmering popcorn rock and enchanting exciting pop from those old times to be found on this compilation and when you reach the “Ahbe Casabe” this is where the strange and quirky charme of exotica music captures your soul even more. The title track for example is a song from the late 50s written by proto hippie Ehden Ahbez that combines a Latin groove with a vocal melody speaking of dark backstreets in oriental cities. The album is rich on colors and the view behind the obvious you are allowed to take will open an entirely new world for you. The 1940s, 1950s and 1960s had much more to offer than what we already know and this is a field of diamonds you get to dig in when you spin this record. A nice little oddity is the bonus track “The riddle of the papawhos” by Danny Staton, based on old spirituals and gospels with a 1950s pop music base. The backing vocal effects here are more than strange somewhere between a deep gnarling and chipmunk style squeaking while the lead vocals on the other hand are soulful and striking as expected. The other bonus track by Kip Tyler named “Pu-Chun-Ga” is another outstanding mad Latin tune with wild female vocals and memorable lead melody. Tracks like "Shadow Street" leave you once more somewhere in between the jungle and a haunted oriental café in a town near the desert plains of Egypt. Next to master Ike Turner (still without his later wife and coming legend Tina) with his exotic surf instrumental “Katanga” from the first part, good old rock'n'roll pioneer Bill Haley should be the most famous contributor to this musical treasure chest. The sheer sensual stimulation you receive from these 26 songs will make you groove your mind away. Regardless where you are, these catchy Rhythm and Blues tunes will turn any place into a vintage dancefloor!

TRACKLIST

01. Green Onions - Claus Ogerman Orchestra
02. Nene Aman - Artie Barsamin & Orchestra
03. I'm Going Home - Prince Conley
04. Everything I Touch Turns to Gold - Joe Valino
05. Lucky Me - Chance Halliday
06. Apache - The Chiefs
07. Katanga - Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm
08. Where Were You? - Jimmy Rushing
09. Police - Eddie Cole & The Three Peppers
10. Hey! Little Woman - Sonny Til & The Orioles
11. Woke Up This Morning - Emmet Davis
12. Classie's Whip - Classie Ballou
13. Cleopatra Kick - Jack La Forge
14. Ahbe Casabe - Marti Barris
15. They Took John Away - Steve Arlen
16. Lucky Is My Name - Bruce Cloud
17. Thirteen Women and One Man - Dickie Thompson
18. Cleo - Rene Hall
19. Asia Minor - Machito & His Orchestra
20. Lament - Mamie Perry
21. Chick Safari - Bill Haley & His Comets
22. Big Bamboo - Lord Kitchener
23. Cleopatra - Jamie Coe
24. Shadow Street - Kip Tyler



Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Surf-Age Nuggets Trash and Twang Instrumentals


Been a while so here's a start to stay warm when the weather gets cold -- 

Monster wave of obscure ‘60s surf gems
It’s no accident that this deluxe 4-CD set uses the word “Nuggets” in its title; this is an apt reference to Lenny Kaye’s landmark 1972 compilation of psychedelic and garage rock. An even better touchstone, however, is Bomp’s follow-on series of Pebbles releases, which dug deeper into the world of one-off local and indie releases. In that sense, Surf-Age Nuggets is the Pebbles (with a touch of Las Vegas Grind) to earlier anthologies of major label releases, hit singles and nationally-known acts. Producer James Austin (who previously helmed Rhino’s Cowabunga! The Surf Box), focuses here on the impossibly rare and ephemeral: obscure singles that barely managed local distribution, with just a hint of rarities from a couple of well-known names. The result is a magnificent musical essay on the scene that flourished in the wake of surf music’s brief rise to commercial popularity.
Dozens of earlier collections have explored this DIY wave, but never in the luxuriousness of this set. Not only are the discs stuffed with 104 tracks (including a sprinkle of period radio spots and a 16-minute bonus montage hidden at the end of disc four), but the collection is housed in a wide 11 x 6 hardcover with a 60-page book of liner, song and band notes, full-color photographs and reproductions of picture sleeves, posters, period ads, comics and other ephemera. Although the material was sourced primarily from early ‘60s vinyl, unlike the first-state (that is, pops-and-clicks intact) condition of many collections of vintage singles, mastering engineer Jerry Peterson worked some very special voodoo in cleaning up the digital transcriptions. The complete lack of surface noise is a bit eerie, but the results remain largely true to the powerhouse mono vibe of a vintage 45.
The selections are guitar-centric, beat-driven and up-tempo; a formula whose thousands of variations have yet to get old. This is the sound of four guys getting together in a garage, working up covers and a couple of originals, scoring a gig and getting a crack at recording. Being true to the period, what’s here isn’t all strictly surf music; there’s plenty of reverb-drenched Dick Dale-styled staccato picking, but instrumental rock was a bigger lineup into which musicians crowded from every state. California surf bands provided inspiration, but the twang of guitar slingers like Duane Eddy, Link Wray and Lonnie Mack also held sway. Most of these acts had brief careers, but this collection is more than a set of surf songs; it’s a soundtrack to an era in which surf culture captured the national attention, even among those who didn’t surf or listen to surf music. This is a document of a time when radios had only an AM band, and teen culture was on the rise. Paddle, turtle, hangout and catch this tasty wave!


DISC 1-01 The Velvetones-Doheny Run/02 The Shan-Tones-Sheba/03 The Valiants-

Jack the Ripper/04 Vasqueros-Echo/05 Johnny McCoy and the Cyclones-Scrub Bucket/06 Surf Teens-Moment of Truth/07 The Ramrods-Night Ride/08 The Emeralds-Earthquake/09 The Runabouts-Surfer's Fright/10 Avengers IV-Slaughter on 10th Avenue/11 The Phantons-X-L3/12 The Vistas-Moon Relay/13 The Scouts-Mr Custer Stomp/14 The Vibrants-The Breeze and I/15 4 of Us-Batman (Freefalling)/16 Chiyo and the Crescents-Pink Dominos/17 The Pace Setters-Mustang/18 The Reekers-Don't Call Me Fly Face/19 The Lincoln Trio-Garden of Eden part 2 20 Dick Dale and the Del-Tones-Jungle Fever/21 Vasqueros-80 Ft. Wave/22 Steve Rowe and the Fuyrs-Minor Chaos/23 Kan Dells-Cloudburst/24 KHJ Radio Jingle (1963)/25 The Roadrunners-Quasimoto
DISC 2-01 The Emotionals-Miserlou/02 The Revelairs-The Cruel Sea/03 The Surfaris-Kick Out/04 The Velvetone-Mr X/05 Robin and the Hoods-The Marauder/06 Vox Instruments Radio Commercial/07 The Ric-A-Shays-Turn On/08 The Travelers-Windy and Warm/ 09 The Vulcanes-Cozimoto/10 King Rock and the Knights-Scandal/11 Reveliers-Hanging Five/12 The Hollywoods-Scramble/13 The Mockers-Madalena/14 The Royal Coachmen-Loophole/15 Rich Clayton and the Rumbles-Flip Side/16 The Losers-Snake Eyes/17 The Carnations-Scorpion/18 The Gestics-Rockin Fury/19 Pipeline Pete-Commercial/20 The-Ron-De-Voos-Pipeline "66"/21 The Torquetts-Side-Swiped/22 Sinders-Sinner/23 The Royal Flairs-One Pine Box/24 The Nautiloids-Nautiloid Reef/25 Surfing Soft Drink Commercial

DISC 3-01 The Squires-Batmobile/02 The Roadrunners-Roadrunner/03 The Rhythm Surfers-502 (Like Getting Pinched on a 502)/04 The Ree-Gents-Downshiftin'/05 The Tradewinds-Gotcha/06 Irredescents-Swamp Surfer/07 The Creations-The Crash/08 Jerry and the Silvertones-Ce'ny/09 The Monzels-Sharkskin/10 THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH TRAILER/11 The Vy-Dels-Unknown/12 The Countdowns-Do It/13 The Avants-Wax 'Em Down/14 The Cherokees-Uprisin'/15 The Royal Flairs-One Pine Box (Unreleased/Undubbed Version)/16 JAMES BOND TRAILER/17 The Twilights-.007/18 The Debonairs-High Wall/19 The Motivations-Motivate/20 The Persuaders-City of Atlantis/21 The Sherwoods-Tickler/22 TheSting Rays-One Mo' Gin/23 The Tempests-Lemon Line/24 Bobby Fuller-Stringer/25 The Vibrants-Scorpion/26 Newport Nomads-Blue Mallards /27 The Breakers-Jet Stream

DISC 4-01 Manuel and the Renegades-Rev-Up/02 The Telstars-Spaghetti Strap/03 THE BIRDS MOVIE TRAILER/04 The Motivations-The Birds/05 The Frogmen-Beware Below/06 The Hollywood Surfers-King of the Stomp/07 Charades Band-Sophia/08 Calvin Cool-El Tecoloto/09 Dave and the Customs-Ali Baba/10 Jim Head and his Del-rays-Harem Bells/11 The Fugitives-The Fugitive/12 The Tourquays-The Other Side/13 BAJA CALIFORNIA RADIO ID/14 the Turks-Baja/15 St. John and the Cardinals-The Rise/16 Five More-Avalanche/17 The Mosriters-On the Run/18 Elite UFO-Tarantula/19 The Buddies-Pulsebeat/20 The Vasqueros-Desert Wind/21 The Dantes-Desert Walk/22 The Decades-Strange Worlds/23 The House on Haunted Hill Movie Trailer/24 Kenny and the Fiends-House on Haunted Hill/25 Marlow Stewart and the Illusions-Earthquake!/26 The Toads-Morpheus/27 The Vistas-No Return/28 (Untitled)


surfint 1
surfint2
surfint3
surfint4


 

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Tom Lehrer - An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer

An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer (1959)
A classic - In 1959, when the so-called "sick humor" of Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, and Shelley Berman was the new rage among America's hipsters (and would-be hipsters), the acid-penned musical satire of Tom Lehrer doubtless seemed to be daring indeed, as he worked his audiences for laughs with tunes like "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "Oedipus Rex," and "The Masochism Tango." Thankfully Lehrer's humor still works well thanks to its considerable skill and its charm, even if its ability to shock isn't what it once was. Recorded before an enthusiastic audience at a concert at Harvard University (where Lehrer spent his days teaching mathematics), An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer finds him in superb form as a performer, able to dissect various musical forms for their comic potential with the skill of a surgeon and displaying not merely dead-on comic timing in his vocals but a easy élan as a pianist; for a guy who picked musical comedy as a part-time job, he sure had a knack for the trade. And while Lehrer's songs no longer shock, that's not to say they've entirely lost their sting, as the bitter twists of "Bright College Days," "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier," and "A Christmas Carol" hit their target just as well as ever, while inspiring no small amount of laughter. And it's worth noting that the album's final punch line, "We Will All Go Together When We Go," is just as apt today as it was in 1959, for good or ill. While the work of many of his contemporaries today sound like the products of their time and place, Lehrer's best songs are still slyly funny and corrosively charming, and An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer ranks with his finest work on record. Highly Recommended.

1 Poisoning Pigeons in the Park
2 Bright College Days
3 A Christmas Carol
4 The Elements
5 Oedipus Rex
6 In Old Mexico
7 Clementine
8 It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier
9 She's My Girl
10 The Masochism Tango
11 We Will All Go Together When We Go

tomisfunny

Monday, April 4, 2016

The Raymond Scott Quintette - Microphone Music

The Raymond Scott Quintette - Microphone Music (2003)

Microphone Music is a 2003 double CD compilation by The Raymond Scott Quintette. It is "a collection of unreleased titles, radio performances, first-rate rehearsals and forgotten gems by the Raymond Scott Quintette recorded between 1936 and 1939." (The sizes of each version are correct, these are mono recordings converted to each format.)

Warner Bros. licensed his music for the Looney Tunes cartoons. Powerhouse and few others will be familiar to fans of these classic cartoons. Enjoy.


Jazz music, always known for its spirit of improvisation, was hardly the medium for composers or producers during its first 50 years. Even the greatest early arrangers – Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman – allowed plenty of room for solos, and would've been deserted by most of their musicians if they hadn't. All of which explains why Raymond Scott was never considered a jazz artist. His pieces, impressionistic yet rigidly composed, did use all the same components of a jazz band and exhibited close superficial similarities to Duke Ellington's early jungle band and the Benny Goodman Orchestra. The difference lay with his insistence on perfection, in his recording techniques and the members of his band. The Raymond Scott Quintette was a clean, technical, utterly precise swing machine – the logical progression, in his mind, of the noisy jazz racket originally delivered on record by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917. Microphone Music, another Scott-related reissue by the Basta label, is a two-disc bonanza of unreleased titles, rarities, and rehearsals from the late '30s that will taste of manna from heaven for listeners who spent a decade in the wilderness after Columbia's greatest-hits volume, 1992's The Music of Raymond Scott: Reckless Nights & Turkish Twilights. These certainly don't sound like afterthoughts, either; Scott took quality control very seriously, and the result is a set of 40 splendid, fascinating songs that often sounds better even than the Columbia release. Most of the songs are new to CD, and even the familiar titles (like the Scott perennial "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals") are presented in radically different interpretations. Drummer and percussionist Johnny Williams (father of composer John Williams) is revealed as an extraordinary talent, not just keeping time for the quintette, but splitting it into halves and quarters with his brisk, perfectly timed fills. As for Scott, who's usually recognized solely as a compositional or arranging genius, the focus here is on his talent for sound reproduction. The title is a nod to the importance of engineering and microphone placement in his music – a reprint of a Popular Mechanics article appears in the liner notes – and his constant recording experiments produced dynamic music utterly unlike anything heard before, since sound had never been picked up and amplified the way Scott did it. The relative scarcity of Quintette recordings is enough to boost this set into recommended status, but the bounty of fabulous music inside makes it essential for fans and highly recommended for the uninformed. Really fun with headphones.
oooops- for you early adopters - disc1 is now fixed.

DISC 1
1. Egyptian Barn Dance (April 1938)
2. The Penguin (December 1938)
3. Christmas Night In Harlem (March 1939)
4. Pretty Petticoat #1 (April 1939)
5. Square Dance For Eight Egyptian Mummies (1938)
6. Moment Whimsical (December 1938)
7. Devil Drums (June 1939)
8. A Little Bit Of Rigoletto (APril 1939)
9. Hypnotist In Hawaii (April 1939)
10. Dinner Music For A Pack Of Hungry Cannibals (April 1937)
11. The Toy Trumpet (December 1936)
12. Suicide Cliff (December 1939)
13. Siberian Sleighride (1938)
14. Steeplechase (April 1939)
15. Peter Tambourine (March 1939)
16. Celebration Of The Planet Mars (January 1938)
17. Brass Buttons And Epualettes (January 1938)
18. Bumpy Weather Over Newark (June 1939)
19. Pretty Petticoat #2 (May 1939)
20. Turkish Mish-Mush (March 1939)
(UNLISTED TRACK)
21. Powerhouse (rehearsal) (1940)
DISC 2
1. Microphone Music (January 1938)
2. Twilight In Turkey (February 1939)
3. New Year's Eve In A Haunted House (December 1938)
4. Tobacco Auctioneer (April 1939)
5. The Girl With The Light Blue Hair (January 1939)
6. Sleepwalker (March 1937)
7. The Happy Farmer (April 1938)
8. Oil Gusher (January 1939)
9. Boy Scout In Switzerland (March 1939)
10. Reckless Night On Board An Ocean Liner (April 1937)
11. Swing, Swing Mother-In-Law (December 1936)
12. Girl At The Typewriter (1939)
13. Yesterday's Ice Cubes (March 1937)
14. Pretty Petticoat #3 (April 1939)
15. War Dance For Wooden Indians (February 1939)
16. Dead End Blues (January 1937)
17. Harlem Hillbilly (June 1939)
18. The Quintet Goes To A Dance (March 1939)
19. Bugle Call Rag (March 1937)
20. Powerhouse (June 1939)
(UNLISTED TRACK)
21. A Happy Frenzy At Aquackanack

wowser d1

wowser d2

Saturday, May 30, 2009

The Beach Boys - Instrumental Hits


Here is EVERY instrumental track officially released by The Beach Boys (from Surfin' Sufari through 20/20), all neatly compiled on one album. As usual, the Japanese hold the standard for archival quality masters, but most fans already own all the tracks. For instrumental collectors and the uninitiated, however, this is a gem. Resonably well played covers of popular hits of the time with a few vocal hummmms ala Bboys, it’s a pleasant listen and cool for trivia. Excellent sound quality for it’s time.

1. Moon Dawg 2. Misirlou 3. Stoked 4. Honky Tonk 5. Surf Jam 6. Let's Go Trippin' 7. The Roking Surfer 8. Boogie Woodie 9. After The Game 10. Shut Down, Part II 11. Denny's Drums 12. Carl's Big Chance 13. Let's Go Trippin (Live) 14. Summer Means New Love 15. Let's Go Away For Awhile 16. Pet Sounds 17. Fall Breaks And Back To Winter (Woody Woodpeckers Symphany) 18. Passing By 19. Diamond Head 20. The Nearest Faraway Place
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