"Major" in Awesome!

As you might assume from the title and illustration, these are recordings made during MIller's serivce in WWII, with the Air Force Orchestra.  Those guys can swing!

01 - Over There

02 - The G. I. Jive

03 - Peggy the Pin-Up Girl

04 - Speak Low

05 - Tail-End Charlie

06 - Anvil Chorus

07 - Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'

08 - There Are Yanks

09 - Pistol Packin' Mama

10 - Everybody Loves My Baby

11 - Enlisted Men's Mess

12 - I'll Be Around

13 - There'll Be a Hot Time in the Town of Berlin

14 - People Will Say We're in Love

15 - Pearls on Velvet

16 - St. Louis Blues March

17 - Poinciana

18 - It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake Like That)

19 - Jeep Jockey Jump

20 - Victory Polka

21 - Farewell Blues

Never give up. Never, never, never give up.

See ya, pardners!

 

McCallum Conducts What Is Now Cheesy

In 1966-1967-1968, our favorite Russian U.N.C.L.E. agent branched out into sharing his love for music. no doubt collecting a bit of cash along the way.  Working with producer David Axelrod at Capitol Records, the dreamy Scot conducted from Axelrod arrangements.

Young fans of the show would have sniffed in scorn and called it "elevator music" or worse.  But ah! their parents would have called it "Adult Contemporary" or "Easy Listening."

Tracks 1-12 are the first LP, and Tracks 13-24 comprise the second.

1    1-2-3 (2:12)
2    Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) (2:33)
3    The "In" Crowd (3:12)
4    A Taste of Honey (2:56)
5    Yesterday (2:37)
6    (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (2:33)
7    We Gotta Get Out of This Place (2:13)
8    Downtown (2:17)
9    The Far Side of the Moon (2:30)
10    Louise (2:22)
11    Insomnia (2:16)
12    The Sugar Cane (2:21)
13    Uptight (2:44)
14    Michelle (2:32)
15    Batman Theme (2:10)
16    Call Me (2:43)
17    Isn't It Wonderful (2:31)
18    My World Is Empty Without You (2:20)
19    Five O'Clock World (2:23)
20    The Shadow of Your Smile (Love Theme from "The Sandpiper") (2:59)
21    It Won't Be Wrong (2:05)
22    Far Away Blue (2:30)
23    The Edge (2:53)
24    Final (3:12)

Take a listen.  Just close your eyes and pretend you're in a dentist's office!

See ya.

 

From an Old Cassette to You

I bought this cassette off a clearance table at Peaches Records in around 1984.  You can probably tell  that it's "old media," if you choose to listen with a nit-picky attention. 

But for me it's a lot of fun.  I don't know if these are "disco" arrangements, or just rockin'  ones.

1)  Themes from E.T. The Extraterrestrial
2)  Themes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
3)  Themes from Jaws
4)  Themes from Star Trek
5)  Themes from Raiders of the Lost Ark
6)  Themes from Superman
7)  Theme from Poltergeist

And now, coming to you from 1982, here it is!

 

I Was There! in 1972

My wonderful parents were gracious enough to let me be part of a group that went to Explo '72 in Dallas, in June 1972.

I was a part of the Bartlesville Youth for Christ contingent that bused down together and were put up in dorms somewhere.  My conscious memories of that week would fill up about fifteen minutes.

I know now that a lot of my behavior was typical teen dumbness -- smarting off, sarcasm, show-offery -- that didn't show much evidence of a life changed by God's love.  I hope and pray that I'm a bit more reformed now!

The purpose of the conference was to give young folks like us a few tools to share God's love with our classmates, family, and anybody else we met. 

One constant was the little booklet "The Four Spiritual Laws" , along with a pocket-sized Gospel of John with floral cover art.

There were workshops/discussion groups during the day, and nightly rallies/services in the Cotton Bowl.  The big wind-up was a daylong concert that featured all kinds of music, from straight "your parent's gospel music" to then with-it acts such as Andrae Crouch and Larry Norman.

I was at Explo, and I was at that concert for four or five hours.  I have NO IDEA who was playing while I was there.

But I got this cool record (several months later) as a memento!

*                       *                    *                    *                       *                     *

The Jesus Sound Explosion LP contained 12 cuts.  To round out the CD, I've added six songs from a 1974 "sampler" album from Myrrh Records.  A complete listing of the Love Peace Joy LP's contents can be found about halfway down on this page.

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

So, Happy Easter!

Back in the Days When Russia Was Cool

...And I'm not talkin' about weather-related tripe, neither!

This great classical music will enhance many of your social activities:

• bare-knuckle boxing
• strangling a moose
• playing soccer with a live grenade
• skinny-dipping with your love in the Chernobyl reflecting pool
• cracking coconuts with that furrow between your eyebrows
• filling a hot-air balloon with your flatulence
• eviscerating a giraffe with toenail clippings

Yes, this tumultuous music, by turns gentle and turbulent, till take you by the scruff of your neck and either shake you back and forth until your spine snaps; or bear you to safety in a warm cave.

I like it!

01 - Borodin - Overture from Prince Igor
02 - Borodin - Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor
03 - Gliere - Russian Sailor’s Dance from The Red Poppy
04 - Glinka - Overture from Russlan and Ludmilla
05 - Ippolitov-Ivanov - Sardar’s Dance from Caucasian Sketches
06 - Mussorgsky - Introduction from Khovanshchina
07 - Rimsky-Korsakov -  Overture from The Maid of Pskov
08 - Rimsky-Korsakov - Introduction (Sea Episode) from Sadko
09 - Rimsky-Korsakov - Overture from May Night
10 - Rimsky-Korsakov - Overture from The Tsar’s Bride
11 - Rimsky-Korsakov - Tumbler’s Dance from The Snow Maiden
12 - Tchaikovsky - Marche Slav

You like it too! Da!

 

Columbia Special Products Presents ...

Yep, in the golden age of the tie-in, Columbia Special Products produced this far-ranging conglomeration of various Columbia signees in "spy mode."

You can call it cheese ... you can call it silly ... or you can call it AWESOME!

1)  Percy Faith - Thunderball   
2)  Mel Tormé - Secret Agent Man   
3)  Village Stompers - From Russia With Love   
4)  John Barry - The James Bond Theme   
5)  David Lloyd - 007   
6)  Bobby Vinton - Goldfinger   
7)  John Barry - Ipcress File   
8)  Ray Conniff - Third Man Theme   
9)  David Lloyd - On Her Majesty's Secret Service   
10)  Orchestra U.S.A. - The Man from U.N.C.L.E.


Yep, Track 2 is the Velvet Fog himself singing a tune for John Drake the Danger Man.  And perpetual Chipmunk-soundalike Bobby Vinton singing "Goldfinger" is about as sinister as a pair of cotton-candy handcuffs.

OK, I'll call it "cheesy" too.  But don't say it's not http://yadi.sk/d/-xhQUvCZD46CN

See you Monday!

Cowboy Songs, Vol II, by Yodelin' Slim Clark

Cowboy Songs, Vol II, by Yodelin' Slim Clark, came out in 1964.  In the words of Raul Julia in The Addams Family,  this stuff sounds like "the echt Addams" -- errr, the TRUE 1960s version of the Western song.

(Yes, yes, I know that the Addams Family was referring to TS Eliot's The Waste Land's bit about being "echt Deutsch.")

Anyway, back to THIS country.  Here are the songs, performed on yodel and git-fiddle:

01. The Fox (2:42)
02. My Montana Blue Eyes (2:45)
03. Plantonio the Pride of the Plains (3:26)
04. Memories of Old Chuck Wagon Days (3:00)
05. When the Work's All Done This Fall (2:57)
06. Swiss Dreams (John White) (2:29)
07. The Blue-Tail Fly (3:01)
08. Mathilda Higgins (2:57)
09. The Jam at Gerry's Rock (4:01)
10. The Lane County Bachelor (2:59)
11. Billy Venero (4:07)
12. Just Yodelin' (2:17)

And now you can yodel along.

The Classical Harp (Gotcha!)

George Fields did a lot of recording and redubbing of himself playing all sizes of harmonicas to come up with these interesting and even fun performances.

This LP came out in 1971, and if ever there were an image suitable for the phrase "tight-fittin' jeans," this is it.

Ahem ... back to the music.

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

You can listen to Mr Fields breathe heavily here.

The "Gotcha!" in the post's title is that it's not a stringed harp, but a (slang name for harmonica) "harp" that's being performed on.  (In case somebody did not understand.)