In Honor of Soonercon!

I bought this cassette at Skaggs Albertsons soon after the real Batman movie came out in 1989.  According to MusicBrainz, performers are Ernie Earnest, Jim Boling, and William Goldstein.

01. Batdance (6:53)

02. Batman (TV theme) (2:26)

03. Ghostbusters (3:59)

04. Ghostbusters II (3:10)

05. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (2:28)

06. Star Trek (TV Theme) (2:09)

07. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (4:11)

08. Superman the Movie (3:08)

09. I've Had the Time of My Life (5:52)

It's a heavy hunk of steamin' synth, baby!

We're going live one day early because tomorrow is the set-up for Soonercon, Oklahoma's premier pop-culture sensation!  I double-dog guarantee that if you come, you will see more Batmans than you saw in the new The Flash movie!

Gotham's Greatest

See you Monday, Bat-cats and Bat-kitties!

  

Can You Welcome Summer?

This 1969 album is full of sometimes dreamy, sometimes intense music.

01. Kôjô no Tsuki (Moon over the Ruined Castle) (3:42)

02. Chûgoku Chihô no Komori-uta (Lullaby from the Chûgoku Area) (2:06)

03. Aka Tombo (Red Dragonfly) (3:13)

04. Chinchin Chidori (3:14)

05. Nambu Ushi-oi Uta (Iwate Cow-herding Song) (5:02)

06. Defune (Setting Sail) (5:44)

07. Kono Michi (This Path) (3:46)

08. Hanayome Ningyô (Bridal Doll) (1:55)

09. Jôgashima no Ame (Rain Falls on Jôgashima) (5:25)

10. Hana (Blossoms) (3:42)

11. Sakura Sakura (7:07)

I first encountered it when parts were aired on an episode of Music from the Hearts of Space back in 1984.  Fell in love.  Had to possess the beloved.  And so on.

Japanese Melodies

Enoy the languid, urgent music of (one interpretation of) Japan.

 

It's an Adventure, They Promised!

This is from 1983. I probably bought it at TG&Y.

Just think! One track … 13 minutes … ALL of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE! The mind boggles!

And it’s not a bad job at all. The Kirk voice is a good mimic. You gotta love it when he says, “There’s something ….. deadly out there.”

The fx for the transporter are pretty good. The Mr Scott voice’s accent IS NOT.

Ilia’s voice is close to Persis Khambatta—it might even be her. Speaking of accents, the voice for the female Vulcan Master is pretty good, though the English voice has a pretty strong Russianesque tone to it.

The bosun’s whistle heard as Spock boards the ship is true-to-Trek.

On page 12, thirty minutes or more of the movie’s very expensive visual effects are dispensed with, “Once through the mist, the crew was stunned by what they saw—an enormous ship.”

Remember that pesky light-beam probe on the bridge? “To Decker’s horror, the probe took control of Lt Ilia!” And that, as they say, is that—as far as the nine-year-olds need to know.

Remember, if you would like to hear it again, turn the tape over!

STTMP - Buena Vista

See you Monday!

Not Dancers in Nighties!

It's a 1998 release.

01. Sleep Sound Ida Morning/Cup of Tea (4:33)

02. Dick's Maggot (2:45)

03. Heartdance/Monahan's Jig (5:37)

04. The Crossing/Restoration/Snowdance (6:35)

05. Night Dancer (5:16)

06. Simple Gifts (3:35)

07. The Carousel (3:22)

08. Humors of Winter (3:11)

09. The Rights of Man (4:31)

10. The Winter In Me (2:44)

11. Marquis of Huntley (3:34)

12. Abbots Brobley Horn Dance (2:13)

13. Shooting Star Reel (2:39)

14. Cavan Girl/O'Carolan's Draught (5:37)

15. Awake/Oh the Wildwood (4:36)

16. Southwind/As the Sun Was Setting (5:44)

17. Pariah/Road To Lisdoonvarna (6:49)

It’s pretty and lively and dreamy, altogether a good time.  I guess it’s the parent in me that looks at the photos on the CD rear and wants to tell these artists, “You look like a couple of ditzy 14-year-olds!  Look like serious musicians!”

Night Dancer

Bye-bye until Thursday!

  

Into the Shadows

This is a 1990 release by Carole Koenig, a fine dulcimer player, who isn't necessarily served to her best in this album.

The selections are:

01. Lotus Land (4:43)

02. Three Distinguished Waltzes (excerpt) (1:25)

03. La Plus Que Lente (excerpt) (3:47)

04. Prelude #2 (3:24)

05. Descriptions Automatiques (excerpt) (1:55)

06. Crooked Dances (Cold Pieces/excerpt) (1:13)

07. Reverie (3:53)

08. Prelude #8: The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (2:27)

09. Gnossienne #5 (3:11)

10. Nocturne #4 (2:42)

11. Gymnopedie #1 (2:46)

12. Gymnopedie #2 (2:04)

13. The Mother Goose Suite: Dance of the Beautiful Lady in the Sleeping Forest (1:28)

14. The Mother Goose Suite: Little Tom Thumb (2:50)

15. The Mother Goose Suite: The Conversation Between Beauty and the Beast (2:40)

16. The Mother Goose Suite: The Fairy Garden (2:29)

Sadly, most of the classical selections require sustained tones, which a hammered dulcimer don’t got.  This requires the arrangements to depend on other instruments than the title instrument!  So we have a lot of harp and flute taking the weight.

Still, you may find it charming.

Carole Koenig - After Shadows

See you Monday.

  

You Can Feel it in Your Temples

Gail Laughton was a harpist of some note. He played for recording sessions and other stuff.

A track from this album, they say, was used in Blade Runner.  

01. The Hebrews 425 A.D. (2:09)

02. Japan 375 A.D. (3:02)

03. Pompeii 76 A.D. (2:14)

04. Greece 300 B.C. (1:57)

05. The Mayans 700 B.C. (2:03)

06. Crete 1400 B.C. (3:13)

07. Babylon 1500 B.C. (2:28)

08. Stonehenge 1600 B.C. (2:22)

09. Egypt 1700 B.C. (4:14)

10. Lemuria 16,000 B.C. (1:29)

11. Atlantis 21,000 B.C. (2:02)

You can read a little more about him here.

Harps of the Ancient Temples

This is cosmic unaccompanied harp, eerie and effective.  Don't forget to bring your consciousness back down to Earth to visit us Thursday!

  

The Sky Is Full of Bells!

This is a 1969 Nonesuch release, and it's intriguing and enchanting.

There are two tracks:

01. Sôkaku-Reibo (Depicting the Cranes in Their Nest) (12:57)

02. Kokû-Reibo (Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky) (15:08)

A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky 

See you Monday!

You Are Now ... Hypnotized!

This fascinating bit of esoteric solo piano music isn't pop or bubble-gum melodies.  It's not dizzy and sometimes dissonant like the pianistic whirlwinds of Nancarrow.

But it's one of the trance-endental foundations of my musical experiences.

01. Part 1 (8:41)

02. Part 2 (7:57)

03. Part 3 (5:54)

04. Part 4 (4:30)

05. Part 5 (8:29)

06. Part 6 (3:18)

07. Part 7 (8:45)

08. Part 8 (4:34)

09. Part 9 (3:44)

10. Part 10 (5:57)

11. Part 11 (4:59)

12. Part 12 (4:35)

The Book Of Sounds

Now it can entrance you too!  See you Thursday!

  

Don't Tell Those One-Worlders

... But we got a lot of individual countries in this-here world!  Case in point:

It's a 1979 CD.  Its contents:

01. Austria (Land der Berge, Land am Strame) (1:33)

02. United Kingdom (God Save the Queen) (1:17)

03. Western Germany (Deutchland uber Alles) (1:37)

04. France (La Marseillaise) (1:42)

05. Italy (Inno di Mameli) (1:47)

06. Russia (Hymn of the Soviet Union) (2:20)

07. USA (The Star-Spangled Banner) (1:34)

08. Israel (Hatikvah) (1:15)

09. Belgium (La Brabanconne) (1:03)

10. Japan (Kimi Go Yo Wa) (1:00)

11. Norway (Ja vi Elsker dette Landet) (1:08)

12. Australia (Waltzing Matilda) (1:50)

13. Sweden (Due Gamia, du Fria) (1:16)

14. Spain (Marcha Real) (0:59)

15. Netherlands (Wilelmus van Nassouwe) (1:23)

16. Finland (Friedrich Pacius) (1:03)

17. Switzerland (Rufst du mein Vaterland) (1:17)

18. Denmark (Kong Kristian Stod ved hojen Mast) (1:14)

19. Turkey (Independence March) (1:19)

20. Canada (O Canada) (1:24)

21. Czechoslovakia (CSSR) (1:32)

22. Bulgaria (BLR) (1:12)

23. Hungary (MLR) (1:46)

24. East Germany (NDR) (1:17)

25. Poland (PLR) (0:46)

26. Roumania (RSR) (1:17)

27. Yugoslavia (SFRJ) (0:43)

28. Albania (1:15)

As you might infer, time has affected the accuracy of this presentation.  For example:  Track 20 gives "CSSR" as a denotation of Czechoslovakia.  I bet that stands for the "Czech Socialist Soviet Republic."

And since 1979, there's been a sort-of regime change in Olde Englande, so the noun in Track 2's  title is wrong ...

Have a listen.  I hope any overseas listeners will tell us their opinion of the performance of their own country's song.

National Anthems of the World 

How's that for a wild and weird bunch of nationalistic mortals!?!