Jazz Music: May 2014

Brain In A Box: 5 Disks of Science Fiction Sounds!

Disc: 1
1. The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Science Fiction/Double Feature - Richard O'Brien
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Introduction) - The City Of Prague Philhamonic/Nic Raine
3. Forbidden Planet: Main Titles - Overture - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
4. The Day The Earth Stood Still: Prelude/Outer Space/Radar - Bernard Herrmann
5. It Came From Outer Space: Visitors From Space - Dick Jacobs
6. Creature From The Black Lagoon: Main Title - Hans J. Salter
7. The Incredible Shrinking Man: Main Theme - Dick Jacobs
8. The Time Machine: Main Title/Credits - Russell Garcia
9. Them!: Main Title - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
10. The Thing Aka The Thing (From Another World!): Prelude - The National Philharmonic Orchestra/Charles Gerhardt
11. First Men In The Moon: Main Title - London Studio Symphony Orchestra/Laurie Johnson
12. The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms: Main Title - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
13. Fantastic Voyage: Radio Spot Announcement - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
14. Fantastic Voyage: Main Title Sound Effects Suite - Leonard Rosenman
15. Planet Of The Apes: Main Title - Jerry Goldsmith
16. The Andromeda Strain: Desert Trip - Gil Melle
17. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind: The Conversation - John Williams
18. Aliens: Ripley's Rescue - The London Symphony Orchestra/James Horner
19. E.T.The Extra-Terrestrial: Three Million Light Years From Earth - John Williams
20. Robocop: Robo Vs. Ed-209 - The Sinfonia Of London Orchestra/ Howard Blake
21. Robocop: Main Title - The Sinfonia Of London Orchestra/ Howard Blake
22. Terminator 2: Judgement Day: Trust Me - Mark Ayres
23. Outland: The Mine - The National Philharmonic Orchestra/Jerry Goldsmith
24. War Of The Worlds: Main Title & Introduction - The City Of Prague Philhamonic/Nic Raine
25. Predator: Main Title - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
26. The Fly: Main Title - London Philharmonic Orchestra/Howard Shore
27. Mars Attacks!: Main Title - Artie Kane
28. The Matrix: Anything Is Possible - The City Of Prague Philhamonic/Nic Raine
Disc: 2
1. The Twilight Zone, Main Title: First Season - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
2. Lost In Space: Main Title/Main Title - Season 3 - John Williams
3. My Favorite Martian: Theme - The Warner Bros. Orchestra/Carl Brandt
4. Doctor Who: Dr. Who - Eric Winstone & His Orchestra
5. The Jetsons: Theme - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
6. The Time Tunnel: Main Title - John Williams
7. One Step Beyond: Fear - The Berlin Symphony Orchestra/Harry Lubin
8. The Outer Limits: Control Voice Introduction - Vic Perrin
9. The Outer Limits: Main Title - Dominic Frontiere
10. Men Into Space: Theme - The Buddy Morrow Orchestra
11. The Thunderbirds: Theme - Barry Gray
12. Stingray: Theme - Barry Gray
13. Astro Boy: Theme - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
14. Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea: Main Title - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
15. Land Of The Giants: Main Title - Season 1 - John Williams
16. Star Trek: Main Title & Closing Theme - The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Fred Steiner
17. Star Trek: The Next Generation: Main Title - The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Daniel Caine
18. V (The Series): Main Title - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
19. Babylon 5: Main Title - Christopher Franke
20. The Simpsons: Treehouse Of Horror I (Kang & Kodos Medley): Holy-Moly/We Offered You Paradise - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
21. The X-Files: Main Title - Mark Snow
22. Changing Channels - Brain In A Box: The Science Fiction Collection
Disc: 3: Pop
1. Telstar - The Tornadoes
2. Blast Off - Jimmie Haskell And His Orchestra
3. Out Of Limits - The Marketts
4. Have You Seen The Saucers - Jefferson Airplane
5. Waiting For The UFO's - Graham Parker & The Rumour
6. Spaceman - Nilsson
7. Space Child - Spirit
8. Flying Saucer Safari - Suburban Lawns
9. UFO - Soul, Inc.
10. Rocket - Jow Bennett & The Sparkletones
11. Rocket To Nowhere - Webb Wilder
12. For Science - They Might Be Giants
13. Machines - Lathar & The Hand People
14. Beyond Tomorrow - Stan Ridgway
15. Theme For The Creature From Under The Sea - Milton DeLugg
16. Humans From Earth - T-Bone Burnett
17. One Step Beyond: Fear - Main Title - The Ventures
18. Rocket Ship - Vernon Green & The Medallions
19. Radar Blues - Chris Conner
20. Creature With The Atom Brain - Roky Erickson
21. Rocket Ship - Kathy McCarty
22. After The Gold Rush: Prelude - Prelude
Disc: 4
1. Frozen Neptune - Russ Garcia & His Orchestra
2. Lunar Rhapsody - Les Baxter
3. Man From Mars - Ferrante & Teicher
4. On The Dark Side Of The Moon - Frank Comstock
5. Saturday Night On Saturn - Les Baxter
6. Welcome To Tomorrow - Attilio Mineo
7. Space Reflex (Blues In 5/4) - Dick Hyman
8. The Planets: Mars, Bringer Of War - The City Of Prague Philharmonic/Nic Raine
9. Theremin Solo - Dr. Samuel Hoffman
10. Guitars In Space - Billy Mure
11. Nova (Exploding Star) - Russ Garcia & His Orchestra
12. Space Is The Place - Sun Ra
13. Twilight Zone - Raymond Scott & His Orchestra
14. Cosmic Ballad - Perrey-Kingsley
15. Moon Gas - Dick Hyman
16. Monsters Of Jupiter - Russ Garcia & His Orchestra
17. She Likes Me - Jerry Goldsmith
18. Tone Tales From Tomorrow - Frank Coe
19. Alien - Leonard Nimoy
20. On Planet X - David Garland/John Zorn
Disc: 5
1. The Flying Saucer (Parts 1 & 2) - Buchanan & Goodman
2. Beep! Beep! - Louis Prima
3. The Blob - The Five Blobs
4. Martian Hop - The Ran-Dells
5. Music To Watch Space Girls By - Leonard Nimoy
6. Planet Claire - The B-52's
7. Gigantor - The Dickies
8. Two Little Men In A Flying Saucer - Ella Fitzgerald
9. Flying Saucer Attack - The Rezillos
10. Flyin' Saucers Rock 'N' Roll - Billy Riley & His Little Green Men
11. UFOs, Big Rigs & BBQ - Mojo Nixon & World Famous Blue Jays
12. We're Going UFO'ing - Jimmy Durante
13. Surf Trek - The Rubinoos
14. Mister Spaceman - The Holy Modal Rounders
15. Meet Space Pilot Jones - The Satellite Singers
16. The Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley
17. Knocked Out Joint On Mars - Buck Trail
18. Tiny Space Man - Bill Carlisle
19. (When You See) Those Flying Saucers - Buchanan Brothers & The Georgia Catamounts
20. Unfunky UFO - Parliament
21. You Came From Outer Space - The Kirby Stone Four

Happy 80th Birthday, Bob: MOOG BREAKBEATS 2014

Tomorrow, May 23rd, would have been Robert Moog's 80th birthday. When Mr. Synthesizer died in 2005, I quickly went thru my '60s/'70s Moog-sploitation vinyl and started slapping platters on the turntable, digitizing all the songs with the ill-est drum breaks and the most head-nodding beatz. For a while I'd been thinking about putting together such a mixtape, but Bob's death prompted me to finally do so as a tribute. It proved to be pretty popular, getting mentioned in some prominent music websites. I even heard 8 tracks from it in a row when I just happened to be listening to the radio one night. Of course, I had to call up the station and say: hey, I'm that guy! So here's a new edition, with some slight track changes, and higher bit rates.

Not included: the most famous/sampled Moog funk song, Jean-Jacques Perrey's 'E.V.A.', as it is in print, and I have decided to focus on OOP rarities taken from vinyl. Hard to believe that most of these classics have never been digitally re-issued. So let's blast off! And thanks again, Bob.

MOOG BREAKBEATS 2014

00 Gershon Kingsley's First Moog Quartet - Shank [pre-Kraftwerk live Moog band; song inspired by Isaac Hayes' "Shaft" theme]
01 Electronic Concept Orchestra - Grazin In The Grass
02 Walter Sear - Love Child
03 Enoch Light - Pass and I'll Call You
04 Herbie Mann - Pick Up The Pieces
05 The Moog Machine - Jumpin Jack Flash
06 Jerry Styner and Larry Brown - Orbit III
07 John Murtaugh - Slinky [w/Herbie Hancock on piano]
08 Les Baxter - Rachmaninoff: Prelude in c# Minor [the song The Beastie Boys sampled for "Intergalactic"]
09 Robert Byrne - Donna
10 Zeet Band - Gimme 5 Cents Worth Of Love
11 Dick Hyman - Give It Up Or Turn It Loose [James Brown cover]
12 Claude Denjean - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
13 Enoch Light - Sittin On The Dock of the Bay
14 Hugo Montenegro - Yo Yo
15 Sounds Galactic - Spinning Wheel
16 The John Keating Space Experience - Solitaire
(dubious bonus track: a perhaps not-so-funky, utterly ridiculous bit of 'tard-tronica)

PRAISE THE LORDS: 3 ALBUMS OF GERMAN BEAT/PSYCH

Recently we posted an album by "The Rattles," a curious early German take on rock-n-roll. The Lords were another band from the '60s pre-Krautrock era, very famous and successful in their homeland, but more likely to rise eyebrows and cause mutterings of "WTF..?" from elsewhere. Their English lyrics in particular are, er, interesting. And how 'bout those fashion-challenged album covers?

"Some Folks By The Lords" (1967) is largely a collection of covers, many of them strangely inappropriate for an alleged rock band to be performing. Perhaps they and/or their audience simply didn't know enough about American music to make genre distinctions. Or maybe they were geniuses who realized it didn't matter: "Miss Otis Regrets" may be a Cole Porter showtune, but it's still a great song. Much of it, like "East Virginia" and "Sing Hallelujah," are inspired by 'down-home' folk and gospel. "San Miguel" is sung in a ludicrous Spanish accent on top of their usual sometimes-thick German accent. And I must admit: "Greensleeves" made me giggle.

"Ulleogamaxbe" (1969): No more fake-folk Americana covers - it's fake UK psych this time. Tho it's two years after the fact, they finally betray a 'Sgt Pepper' (or at least a BeeGees) influence, what with all the strings, horns, and "poetic" ambition. After six songs of this, we get an unexpected proto-metal garage fuzz blast in the excellently apocalyptic "The World Is Falling Down". The frantic "Fire" could be a Roger Corman exploitation film theme song. Musically, "Poor Chin-Lee" is a Pet Sound-alike; vocally and lyrically, however, not even Brian Wilson was this weird. On "Cut My Hair" they "get back" to basic rock n roll, tho I don't recall Little Richard ever penning lyrics that detail instructions to his barber. The bonus single "John Brown's Body" goes back to the American folk/gospel of the first album, but now with added flutes and intrusive sound-collage elements. And it's b-side is a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else" that out-punks the Sid Vicious version of a decade later. Apparently, these guys will do any style at least once, and do it strangely. Does anyone have any idea what that album title means?

"Shakin' All Over '70" is a bit of a hodge-podge, with a few tracks repeated from "Ulleogamaxbe." The title track recasts the rockbilly swinger into a "heavy" acid-rock-with horns biker stomper. "Feeling Chicago" is a response to modern bad-man ballads like "Rocky Racoon" or "Bad Bad Leroy Brown." "Four O'Clock In New York" is a swell bit of Bay City Rollers-ish bubblegum, while the chicken-squawking "Talk About Love" from 1970 might be the most ridiculous thing these guys did, and that's saying something. Needless to say, it's one of my favorites.

Elsewhere, the flower-power sounds continue as if it were still the Summer of Love. The fact that they cover not one but two songs from the "Hair" soundtrack suggest that they either never really understood what rock'n'roll was all about, or they were just went straight for mainstream commercialism. I actually love "Hair," but it's purely musical theater, hippie culture depoliticized and sensationalized for tourists. In any case, it's pretty awesome to hear 'em try to wrap their accents around the wordy nugget, "Manchester England."

A big danke to Count Otto Black!

THE GREAT CELEBRITY SING-OFF

Remember the wildly popular "Golden Throats" collections of singing celeb records? 'Twas one of the few areas where the strange-music world and the mainstream met. Those comps, the gods' gift to "morning zoo" radio shows, reveled in recordings by misguided (mostly) actors who probably shouldn't have had any business singing. Record collector extraordinaire MadJon, the man who bequeathed the "Disco Sellout" and "Come Suck With Me" collections unto us, has picked an amazing assortment of Hollywood fruits for us, continuing the "Golden Throats" tradition. There are some straight novelties here by actors who were not trying to be real singers, e.g.: Jim Backus' classic "Delicious," in which he and a lady friend get gradually rip-roaring drunk, and Frank Gorshin's utterly nutso appearance as his "Batman" character, The Riddler. But most of these sincere attempts at musical art range from unintentionally hilarious to just appalling. The Bruce Willis track in particular will make you want to punch the guy should you ever meet him.

The Brady Bunch's version of the usually interminable "American Pie" is one of the best recorded - it's only 3 minutes long! Why does Pat Boone get so much crap for his Little Richard cover? After all, Gale Storm's take on Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knockin" is just as jaw-dropping. Both Rex and son Noel Harrison are repped here, and the Burl Ives song is actually called "The Tail Of The Comet Kohoutek." Was great to finally get a copy of Bert Parks singing the traditional "there she goes...Miss America" pageant theme. And what the hell is Richard Harris on about? Even if you're not familiar with all the names here, the tunes, in styles ranging from rockabilly to schmaltzy lounge, are a sick treat.

MAD JON'S GREAT CELEBRITY SING-OFF

Much thanks to Mad Jon!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

¡Hola, amigos! Let's celebrate today by re-upping (is "re-upping" even a real word?) this collection of strange new takes on trad Mexican musics:

PunkmMariachi

and an album of Chicano parodies of punk rock classics:

Manic Hispanic "The Recline of Mexican Civilization"

and finally, 2 collections that have absolutely nothing to do with Mexico, but were requested to be re-posted, so here 'tis:

Seattle World's Fair 1962 Postcard Records

Ray Schmitt's music for tree-huggers

The Big Beat A-Go-Go Sound of DYMAXION

This intensely obscure band recorded these songs between 1995-1998 using methods I cannot quite figure. Clearly, there's a mixture here of sampled sounds, low-tech electro beats, and live instruments...but the samples are all instrumental, and of things I can't identify. And I'm not even totally sure that there are live instruments. I'm just assuming, as the same twangy-surfy guitars do seem to pop up quite a bit. One song covers The Fall's "U.S. 80's - 90's," and indeed there's a bit of off-kilter post-punk influence here, too. Bloops, bleeps, peppy beats, and the afore-mentioned guitars give the whole thing a retro '60s discotheque feel, but the somewhat lo-fi sound removes any Space Age optimism from these tracks. Rather, there's a gritty, black-and-white feel that negates any Technicolor beach party atmosphere. Bummer in the summer.

This, their only album, collects everything they did. They thank Stereolab in the liner notes, which isn't too surprising, but otherwise, there's no info, tho according to Internet sources, two New Yorkers named Jeremy Novak and Claudia Newell are the responsible parties, and Newell dropped out half-way thru, and has not returned to music.

Pick Hit: "I-Man Transport", the one song with (sampled) vox, apparently from a dance instructional record, mixed with a synth reminiscent of Pere Ubu's "Blow Daddy-O."

Dymaxion x 4 + 3 = 38:33