Robbie the Werewolf

This album is a live performance from Robbie Robison in 1964.  Hewas a kind of monster-folk troubador; he later became a member of  a band called Clear Light.

Some of these songs are pure genius, and some are -- ehh.  Still, it's fun.

The songs are:

1       Vampire Man
2       Drums and Guns
3       My Little Brother
4       Frankie Stein
5       That Judge
6       Censored Man
7       Count Dracula
8       Lucifer
9 Streets of Transylvania
10 Rockin' Werewolf
11 Inside Story of Flamenco
12 Tip-toe Through the Wolfbane
13 Censored Dooley

Here is the link:    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JXBRDG3S

Stomu Yamashta - Tempest

The 1982 movie Tempest was a film I was never interested in.  When I saw the previews it looked like a dumb sex comedy.  The star John Cassavetes looked like one of those wrinkled old guys still trying to get a twenty-year-old girl.  The flash of lightning emerging from the finger on the poster looked, well, lame.

So I never saw the film.  Wasn't interested at all.

That lack of interest changed after I learned that some of the most beautiful music I had heard (on the radio show Music from the Hearts of Space) was from this soundtrack, and that it was composed by Stomu Yamashta, the guy who also composed the (to me) heartbreakingly beautiful Sea and Sky.

So, nerd that I am, I found a copy of the soundtrack LP for sale and bought it.  Well, some of the music was great, and some was not.  So I kept the parts I liked, dubbing them to CD, and then re-sold the LP so somebody else.

Here are the parts I liked.  The "Tango" is very traditional in the form, but I liked it too.  The last track, "Epilogue," is the piece I had originally heard on Hearts of Space.

1) Tempest Fantasia
2) Nature
3) Tango
4) Theme from Tempest
5) Wind Words
6) Epilogue
Here is the link:   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LMX96WZ6

Still couldn't care less about the movie.

 

Come on in, Joe! That's "Mr Ragtime" to YOU

This is fun music!  Very honky-tonky and raucous.  None o' that refinery heard in the Bolcom Heliotrope Bouquet album I listed earlier.

Nope, this is about FUN.  But, don't forget that, at least in THIS case, there's just as much artistry in these presentations, as in something more "refined."  It's like the trope of a refined-looking longhaired guy in a tuxedo taking the stage at Carnegie Hall in front of a bunch of stuffed shirts and ripping into "Turkey in the Straw" or a smokin' "Devil Went Down to Georgia."

Here are the tracks:
1) Sunflower Rag
2) The Old Piano Roll Blues
3) Entertainer's Rag
4) St. Louis Blues
5) Black and White Rag
6) Twelfth Street Rag
7) Spaghetti Rag
8) Alexander's Ragtime Band
9) Temptation Rag
10) Jelly Roll Blues
11) Maple Leaf Rag
12) Tiger Rag
Here is the link to this fun music:  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WGIH7BHH

The Kynge's Musicke

Here is some music from the Renaissance period.  I for one like this style of music from time to time.  It feels very ornate, precise, and restrained, but with fire underneath (if that makes any sense).

Here is the track list:

Early Tudor Dances and Fantasias
01 - Three Popular Dances (Anonymous)
La bounette
La doun cella
La chymyse
02 - Six Fantasias
Henry VIII: Tanndernaken
Robert White: In nomine
Thomas Tallis: A point - Veni redemptor - Clarifica me pater
John Mundy: Tres partes in una
03 - William Cornysh: Fantasia: Fa la sol
04 - Master Newman: Pavane
Anonymous: Galliard
05 - William Byrd: Fantasia
Elizabethan Popular Tunes and Consort Music
06 - William Byrd: My Lord of Oxenford's March
John Dowland: Frog Galliard
07 - Elway Bevin: Browning
John Ward: Arye
08 - William Byrd: O Mistress Mine
09 - John Ward: Fantasia
10 - Giles Farnaby: Rosasolis
John Dowland: Lachrymae Triste
11 - John Coperario: Fantasia


And here is the link:    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4D1A653P

 

It Escaped from the 1980s

Yeah, there was a lot of uninspired music from the 1980s --oftemtimes by bands that turned from rock music to easy-listening mush (Chicago, anyone?)

But before I got too old, I found some music that I liked from that decade, and put it together here.  You'll note that the first track is MTV's "Man on the Moon."

And that's an indentifying characteristic of a lot of these songs.  You see, I am so old that I remember when MTV showed music videos.  And a lot of these songs, I remember the videos for them!

Go ahead, call me a codger.  Here are the tracks:
01. MTV Theme ''Man on the Moon''
02. Eddie Money - I Think I'm in Love
03 . Pat Benatar - We Belong
04. Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love
05. Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
06. Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
07. Julie Brown - The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun
08. The Pretenders - Message Of Love
09. The Vapors - Turning Japanese
10. Joey Scarbury - Theme From The Greatest American Hero
11. Electric Light Orchestra - Roll Over Beethoven
12. Fleetwood Mac - Hold Me
13. Eddie Money - Shakin
14. Scandals - I Am The Warrior
15. Missing Persons - Words
16. Pat Benatar - Shadows Of The Night
17. Toni Basil - Mickey
18. Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio
19. Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian
20. Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey

And here is the link:   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NECY2QGD
Now all you shakin' warriors, get out there and shock the monkey with a message of love while walking like an egyptian, and tell Mickey that once in a lifetime you get addicted to love on a Mexican radio.

Jesus Sound Explosion

In 1972, I was 15 and in Youth for Christ.  The more I think about that time, the more I am touched and thankful that those people were able to put up with me.

A big one-week youth rally was held in Dallas, called Explo '72.  I went with about 20 other kids from our town.  At the end of the week there was a huge concert.  This album was sent (for free) to people who asked for it.

It is a wild snapshot of some of the acts at the concerts and performances put on over the week.  We have the then-current and we have the Tammy Wynette sound-alikes.  We have the thoughtful and creative Larry Norman and the sincere but less artful other folks.  All united in trying to share their faith.

I rounded off this CD with a few songs from the 1974 Myrrh Records sampler Love Peace Joy. Yes, it's nostalgic.  Yes, I will listen to this maybe only once every few years.  But, as part of my life, it meant a lot at the time and so this "Jesus music" still means something to me, even if I don't really like every one of the styles presented here.  Kind of like when your child gives you a messy stick-figure drawing.  It means something because of the sentiment behind it, and because it was given to you by somebody you love.

Here are the tracks:

01 -  Johnny Cash  -        I See Men As Trees Walkin’     3:26

02   - Armageddon Experience  -       One Way     3:32

03   - Randy Matthews  -        Didn't   He        4:26

04   - Andraé Crouch & the Disciples  -     I'm Satisfied    3:37

05   -Larry Norman   -  Sweet Song Of Salvation 3:51

06 -Great Commission Company  -  Anticipation 3:05

07 - Danny Lee & the Children Of Truth - Spread A Little Love Around 2:54

08 - Connie Smith  -  Plenty of Time 4:12

09 - Forerunners  -  Lord 2:48

10 - Willa Dorsey  -  I Have the Joy in My Soul 2:40

11 - Love Song  - A Love Song 5:34

12 - The Speer Family  -  The King Is Coming 3:50

BONUS TRACKS

(from Love, Peace, Joy - Myrrh)

13 - 2nd Chapter of Acts - Love Peace Joy   2:30

14 - Malcolm & Alwyn - Fool's Wisdom   3:05

15 - Eddie Robinson - I Give My All to Thee  3:36

16 - Randy Matthews - It Ain't Easy  2:37

17 - Love Song - A Love Song  1:45

18 - Petra - Parting Thought  1:22

And here is the link:    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LGQCNWHJ

The Electrosoniks

Somebody on rateyourmusic.com said of this album,

"I was shocked to discover the back-story about this album; it being recorded in 1962 (the title track in '57!). Talk about ahead of it's time! Judging it by 1968 standards (it's U.S. release date), this is electronic driven prog/psych instrumentals, with strong exploitation flavor, a few horns, and with a few soundtrack style cuts."

It has also been released as Song of the Second Moon, but the title was originally just Electronic Music.

It's fun and quirky and oh-so-retro, like a boiled-down soundtrack to Forbidden Planet.  But it will always hold a place in my heart as one of the featured title music themes of Tulsa Channel 2's Fantastic Theatre, hosted by the German-sounding Peter Hart in the 1960s.  (The other theme song was "Quiet Village.")  So whenever Mom allowed me to stay up late on Saturday night to watch a dinosaur movie at 10:30PM, this was the magic music I heard.  Track 5, "Sonik Re-Entry," is the one used on TV.

Here are the tracks:
1) Song of the Second Moon
2) Moon Maid
3) The Ray Makers
4) The Visitor from Inner Space
5) Sonik Re-Entry
6) Orbit Aurora
7) Twilight Ozone

and here is the link:    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ENDPPO00  

 

William Bolcom's Frescoes

I have to apologize for the record sound, but I still enjoy listening to the structured chaos that is "Frescoes."

It's one of those LPs I bought in the 1970s, with "modern" classical piano music, full of dissonances and sudden loud and soft parts.  It indeed sounds a bit like a War in Heaven, followed by the genial sounds of a few piano rags.

The tracks:
FRESCOES
1 - War In Heaven
2 - The Caves Of Orcus
rags:
3-The Tabby Cat Walk 4 - The Eternal Feminine
5 - The Poltergeist (Rag Fantasy)
6 - The Serpent's Kiss
7 - Rag InfernalAnd the link:    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O04XXKYA

Themes for Secret Agents

Roland Shaw came out with several albums in the 1960s.  Unlike many spy-related productions, his albums were impeccably arranged and well-performed.

Here are the tracks for this fine album:
1) The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
2) Mr. Kiss-Kiss Bang-Bang
3) The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
4) Goldfinger
5) The Ipcress File
6) The Saint
7) Thunderball
8) The Avengers
9) From Russia with Love
10) I Spy
11) Our Man Flint
12) The James Bond Theme

The only possible fault you could find in this album is that the "U.N.C.L.E." theme is in 4/4 time, not 5/4.

Here is the link:   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AWME2G78

Music Inspired by 2001

The front of this album (originally bought at Montgomery Ward's in 1968) said that is music from 2001, "Volume Two."  The back said it was music "inspired by" 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Actually, it is MGM producer Mike Curb's early foray into the "tie-in" market.

The back of the CD liner reproduces the liner notes for each selection from the LP jacket.  Only the first cut, "Sunrise" from Also Sprach Zarathustra, was in the film.  Actually, this PERFORMANCE was not in the film, but was used on the original soundtrack LP and reproduced in this one.

This music was not "inspired" by 2001 really, because all of this music was written before the movie was made!  But, I think, as Curb intended, it's going to put you into the same mood or frame of mind as the music used in the film.  Also it will make MGM some more money because people will buy it for the Starchild image on the cover, eh?

When I was growing up and wearing those two records to pieces, the version of Also Sprach Zarathustra from these LPs became the "real" performance to me.  So when the age of video and DVD dawned, I was readily able to tell that the performance in the film is not the same one from the "soundtrack" albums.

Rhino Records' deluxe version of the 2001 soundtrack actually contains the version of "Sunrise" used in the film, and as an addendum also includes "my" version from the soundtrack albums.

Incidentally, that "soundtrack album" version is by Karl Bohm and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Here are the tracks.  This is a rip from a wellworn album.  The music is fine, but there IS some record wear audible. 

1. Richard Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra

2. Leo Delibes – Coppélia

3. György Ligeti – Lontano

4. Anton Webern – Entflieht Auf Leichten Kähnen

5. Richard Strauss – Waltzes From Der Rosenkavalier

6. Richard Strauss – Thus Sprach Zarathustra (Part 2)

7. György Ligeti – Volumina

8. Aram Khachaturian – Berceuse

9. György Ligeti – Requiem

10. Charles Gounod – Margarethe

Here is the link:    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QNZNTSP5

 

Bach on Harmonica ?!?

Being a sucker for rearrangements/transcriptions, I couldn't pass this album up a million years ago in somebody's thrift store.  And yesterday, while dubbing it for you, I again marveled at the sheer obsession and musicianship of one George Field, who made his own transcriptions and overdubs to produce this fas-key-naytin' (as Popeye would say) piece of work.

These are the works featured on this LP:

01 - Invention No. 10, S.781
02 - "Little" Fugue in G minor, S.578

03 - Invention No. 14, S.785

04 - Sarabande from the Fifth Cello Suite, S.1011

05 - Gavottes I & II from the Third English Suite, S.808

06 - Fugue No. 7, S.876, from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II
07 - Invention No. 12, S.783

08 - Invention No. 3 & Sinfonia No. 3, S.774 & 789

09 - Invention No. 8 & Sinfonia No. 8, S.779 & 784

10 - Invention No. 13, S.784

11 - Prelude and Fugue No. 22, S.891 from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II

12 - Invention No. 4, S.775

13 - Sinfonia No. 11, S.797

14 - Bourrees I & II from the Second English Suite, S.807

And here is the link:   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T4DXNBMS

Sci Fi Music on the Laserlight Label

As many folks know, Laserlight is one of those companies that release mid-to-low-priced albums.  They're not like the companies who in the 1960s released "cover" albums of James Bond by a group of session musicians with a made-up "mod" group name.

The Laserlight products I am most familiar with is their classical line, with perfectly competent performances by some not-famous performers.

However, here we have a real tribute to obscurity.  We have some -- umm, interesting -- cuts here.  For instance, "Raumpatrouille Orion" is a theme from a German TV SF show that ran for seven episodes in 1966.

It's also fascinationg to have composer information, but no info as to who the performers are!  And what is a "G.S.O."?

And why is Carol Anne, the little girl from Poltergeist, front-and-center in the art when music from that film is not on the album?

Here are the tracks that ARE on the album:

01. Vangelis - Blade Runner

02. Richard Strauss - 2001 A Space Odyssey

03. Jerry Goldsmith – Alien

04. John Williams - Return of the Jedi

05. John Williams - Star Wars

06. John Williams – ET

07. Les Baxter - The Black Hole

08. Wagener  Lohmer - Silent Moon

09. K Doldinger - The Neverending Story

10. Stu Phillips - Battlestar Galactica

11. P Thomas - The Noah's Ark Principle

12. P Thomas - Raumpatrouille Orion

13. John Williams - The Time Tunnel

14. Marius Constant - The Twilight Zone

15. Alexander Courage - Star Trek

16. John Williams - Close Encounters of the Third Kind

17. Leith Stevens - War of the Worlds

18. John Williams - Raiders of the Lost Ark

19. Wagener  Lohmer – Frost

and here is the link:    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6Z97L1C5

 

Splitting Mad!

Here is another fun assortment of songs for and against the bomb, or nuclear power, or the Cold War, or other things atomic.

Some of these connections are more obvious than others.  According to a research paper found on a Columbia University website ( http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cjas/print/shboom.pdf ), the song "Sh-Boom" was directly inspired by the Bikini H-Bomb tests.  The writers of the song were sitting in a car trying to come up with a sound to represent this new explosive force.  And, "Sh-Boom"!

"99 Red Balloons," of course, theorized an atomic war set off by a bunch of helium balloons.

Monty Python's "I Like Chinese" is only marginally related to our topic, but it's fun -- so there!

Our last song, "The Iranian Bomb," concerns a topic we fervently hope DOES NOT happen.

Here are the tracks:
1 Fireball Boogie Camille Howard 1948
2 Sh-Boom The Chords 1953
3 Watch World War Three (on Pay TV) Crown City Four 1960
4 The Sun Is Burning Simon & Garfunkel 1964
5 I Come And Stand At Every Door The Byrds 1966
6 Atomic Bombs Away Blues Creation 1971
7 Nuclear Blues Blood Sweat & Tears 1980
8 Your Attention Please Scars 1981
9 After the Rain Comsat Angels 1982
10 99 Red Balloons Nena 1983
11 Party at Ground Zero Fishbone 1985
12 Protect And Survive The Dubliners 1987
13 Everyday Is Like Sunday Morrissey 1988
14 I Like Chinese Monty Python 1989
15 April 2031 Warrant 1992
16 Nuclear Supremacy Dayglo Abortions 1995
17 Jesus Hits Like an Atomic Bomb Chanticleer 2004
18 Bring Back the Bomb GWAR 2004
19 Brighter Than A Thousand Suns Iron Maiden 2006
20 The Iranian Bomb Tal Gilad 2011

Here is the link:  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QUEH6P4A
Let me know what you think.

Famous Monsters Speak!

It wasn't until decades after seeing the ad from Captain Company in the back of old issues of Eerie or Famous Monsters that I finally came across this album.

It's really pretty good, in a kid kind of way, thanks to the script and "the voices of Gabriel Dell."

Obviously the Aurora model kit art was the inspiration for the album cover art.  Too bad they used the Glenn Strange Frankenstein Monster instead of Karloff, but that's the way the model kit was, too!  Lugosi and Chaney Jr are obviously the Dracula and Wolf Man characters.

The album consists of one band per side -- one about Dr Frank and his critter; the other about this thirsty guy.  Here is the link:    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V5QWFBLB

Greatest Stories Live

For some reaons, as with the "Keith Emerson with the Nice" commercial release, the version of this that you can buy, leaves some songs out.  In this version, all the songs from the original LP release are included.

Harry Chapin wrote wonderful story-songs, showing his compassion for us "little people," like taxi drivers and midnight watchmen.  However, it's sad that along with his compassion he seemed to find no hope to alleviate his characters' loneliness.  (Except sex, that is.)

Some time in the early 1970s I had my Dad sit down with me and listen to "Cats in the Cradle."  I honestly think he hadn't heard the song before, being a country-music kind of guy.  But he could get the message.  It's all about a father who ignores his son while chasing success, and in turn is shunned by his grown-up son when he wants companionship.

When the song ended, I took the needle off the record and turned to Dad and said, "I wanted to thank you for NOT being a Dad like that."

Folks, I hope and pray that you had parents as wonderful as mine.  If you did not, then perhaps you can, like me, try to BE a great parent. 

When we found out we were expecting our first child, I asked Dad if he had any advice on fatherhood.  WORDS OF WISDOM ALERT!  He said, "The best way to be a good father is to be a good husband."

End of sermon, here are the songs:
1. Dreams Go By
2. W.O.L.D.
3. Saturday Morning
4. I Wanna Learn A Love Song
5. Mr. Tanner
6. A Better Place To Be
7. Let Time Go Lightly
8. Cats In The Cradle
9. Taxi
10. Circle
11. 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas
12. She Is Always Seventeen
13. Love Is Just Another Word
14. The Shortest Story
And here is the link:   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DD2TSCFX

Calling All "Spies & Private Eyes"

Al Caiola released this album around 1965.

Once again we have some familiar music and some originals given titles suitable for espionage.  Here are the tracks:

1. Theme From The Man From U.N.C.L.E
2. The Fugitive Theme
3. Secret Agent Man
4. Underwater Chase
5. The Third Man Theme
6. Slaughter On Tenth Avenue
7. Man Of Mystery
8. The Bronze Doll
9. Goldfinger
10. The Eye In Flat Five
11. A Quiet Thing

And here is the link:   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=51NVJLM0

As always, if you like it, leave a comment.: