W.C. Fields is Alive and Drunk at Your Father's Mustache

This record is an atrocity. At first glance I believed that it might be a recording of Fields doing some kind of nightclub routine that I hadn't heard. It is nothing of the kind. I suspect the title is playing off of Jacques Brel, but it is some weird musical group that performs songs ranging from late 1800's (Stephen Foster) to late 60's (the Beatles) in a sort of ragtime kind of style with a large chorus on vocals. It was released in 1967, and seems to have trying to play off the strange resurgence in popularity that Fields had in the sixties. Why that happened always stumped me... I guess it was because of Fields' obvious flaunting of authority, and his blunt authenticity? I can distinctly remember seeing adults getting a weird kind of glassy-eyed nostalgia for him, even in the seventies. I believe that I had a version of "Big Shot Pool" from Ideal that had a picture of him on the box, since it was a game about fancy trick billiard shots (and an excellent game, by the way!) though that could be my imagination.

Anyway -- I can't say I understand the sixties fascination with Fields, but this album in no way does him honor; it is saccharine and dull, and I like to imagine that he would smash it with a hammer, or perhaps just chuck the entire Victrola out the window.

Less Than Art

My brother introduced me to Ookla the Mok... How did I not find these albums before? The songs are fun, a lot of rock tributes to 70's childhood, and other weird things. My most favorite is View-Master (amazingly not on youtube! All I could find were lyrics) followed by a song about the lack of restrooms on the Starship Enterprise, followed by a song about Aquaman. Yeah, so, like that. Given that their lyrics are so fun and clever, though, I do wish that they were more audible. Oh also... the cover! Genius!

Spike Jones Plays the Charleston for Dancing

I bought this, I don't know, a couple decades ago? I forget where? But I never really sat down and listened to all the songs. Pictured here is the EP version, but what I have is a box set of 3 45's (okay, actually there is a 4th Spike Jones 45 in there, too, but I don't think it is supposed to be) that are all variations on the Charleston and Charleston related songs. So, first, they are great -- crisp, funny, interesting Spike Jones recordings, that are, indeed, good for dancing, and work great on my stack-o-matic. But second... what kind of weird time tunnel did this thing fall through? The RCA Victor 45's sound REALLY good -- crisper and better than a lot of my 45's from the 80's. They seem to have been recorded in 1954... which makes sense technologically, and also is in accordance with what I know about the history of Spike Jones... but... the Charleston was from the 1920s. Why in the world would Spike decide to record a collection of Charleston songs 30 years after the fad was over? Did it have some kind of early 50's comeback? Wikipedia seems to know nothing about that. I'm going to stick with my Time Tunnel hypothesis. I believe this was the last recording of Spike Jones, and he used it, along with some chewing gum, to travel back in time to the 1920's, so he could start his career over. I continue to believe that he and his band now(?) travel in a 30 year time loop, achieving a strange immortality. Go on, prove me wrong. Hey, what happens if I chew gum when I listen to this...?

Rushmore Soundtrack

A soundtrack album I can get behind. Various instrumental pieces by Mark Mothersbaugh, and awesome classic tracks from the 70's. I like this movie too much, I think. I always wonder... if Charles Schulz's father hadn't been a barber, would Max Fischer's? Also, Jason Schwartzman's first film. I mean, it's a great film, and everything, but seriously, Jason, you can stop making it now. Complete track listing here.

Feelin' Groovy

For a single day, the Heinz History Center turned into more of a "Hipster-y Center" as they had a Vintage Fair. I found a bunch of cool LPs, and also an amazing 8-Track player that I'll probably talk about another day, as soon as I can find some 8-Tracks that still work. I was very excited to have found an LP of Feelin' Groovy by Harper's Bizarre. This band fascinates me with their weird 30's / 60's sound. Randy Newman helped write the songs, and plays some piano on here too, and it really shows, especially in songs like Debutante's Ball. I also love the simple innocence of Raspberry Rug. But in my opinion, this album saves the best for last, with Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear, which more or less sums up my life... though I can never tell if I'm Simon or the bear. Jim Henson felt the same way, I think.

Glean

A new TMBG album is always cause for celebration! And this one is really solid and fun. My three favorite tracks, I think, are Erase, Answer, and Aaa. For reasons I can't explain, I'm excited for the vinyl version to come out. Leading up to the release, they were emailing out links to the songs every couple days. I thought it would spoil things, but I think it really built up an appetite for the album. The future is weird and complicated. But it has lots of good music, nonetheless.

Weasels Ripped My Flesh

I've been a Zappa fan for about 25 years now, and though I've had this album since college, I never really listened to it. Partly the creepy cover keeps me away from it, and then the first track is just a painful cacophony. There are definitely some solid songs on here, but there is no unity to this album -- things don't feel connected in any way, and compared to other Zappa albums, it's not much fun to listen to. Better, probably, to just pull the good tracks out and stir them into your MP3 player.

Flat as a Pancake

I mainly bought this album for the cover. I mean, the front of the jacket is cool, but the back of the jacket is awesome. I wasn't too into the music, though. There wasn't too much that was special or unique about it -- just kind of 70's straight ahead Mellotron rock. The best song was probably "Brother Jacob."

But it did make me want to eat pancakes.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

I was excited when I first found this Rick Wakeman album, and realized that the title wasn't arbitrary -- it actually contained six tracks, each one dedicated to one of Henry's wives! But, upon playing it, I learned it was all instrumental prog rock with no lyrics, and the connections to the wives, well, it wasn't obvious to me. So, if you like the sound of a Mellotron, well, maybe this is for you.

Starcastle

This album is amazing. It sounds just like the cover. And it has a song on it called "Stargate." I think I'm going to listen to Stargate by Starcastle while I play Stargate and Star Castle at Babycastles.

Hi-Fi Harmonica

This album is pretty much sounds like the cover. Was it really so long ago when grown-ups ran the world? There are still people alive who remember what that was like. The world today must look pretty ridiculous to them.

My Girlfriend's Dead

Ah, the sounds of 1980. I really liked this -- how did I only find it now? It is a genre I will refer to as "Emo Devo." The song "Interview with a Vampire" is worth its weight in gold.

The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society

How have I gone my whole life without getting deeply immersed in the Kinks? I mean, I'd heard songs here and there, sure. But how did I miss this? The lyrics from the title track alone...

We are the Village Green Preservation Society
God save Donald Duck, Vaudeville and Variety
We are the Desperate Dan Appreciation Society
God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties
Preserving the old ways from being abused
Protecting the new ways for me and for you
What more can we do?
We are the Draught Beer Preservation Society
God save Mrs. Mopp and good Old Mother Riley
We are the Custard Pie Appreciation Consortium
God save the George Cross and all those who were awarded them
We are the Sherlock Holmes English Speaking Vernacular
Help save Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dracula
We are the Office Block Persecution Affinity
God save little shops, china cups and virginity
We are the Skyscraper Condemnation Affiliate
God save tudor houses, antique tables and billiards
Preserving the old ways from being abused
Protecting the new ways for me and for you
What more can we do?
God save the Village Green.

Keep It Hid

I was kind of hoping I wouldn't like this Dan Auerbach album, so I could ask for my Dam Auerbach. Anyway, I kind of liked it -- it's sort of a white man's blues kind of thing, that varies from Jimi Hendrix style electric numbers to quiet folky stuff.

R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders

I finally found the first album! It was not easy to find. It has some fun songs on it, but Number 2 is still my favorite. Hey... I never put number 3 on here! That's strange... and it was the first album I got, some twenty years ago.

It's nice having all three of these together... they sound so nice and warm on vinyl. And I love that Blue Goose Label.

Little Creatures

It might seem strange, but this was the first Talking Heads album I bought. They were somewhat in decline at this point, but it was 1985, when I was fifteen. When they were all cool and new in 1977, I was only seven years old. It was a big deal to me, this was some of the first "serious" music I ever bought. I remember being incredibly disappointed when I first listened to the album, in the attic of the house on Perkins Street. The songs just didn't grab me, or move me the way I hoped they would. (Not too surprising -- these are apparently the songs that didn't make it into their True Stories movie soundtrack.) However, I was quite surprised when I found them growing on me, and by the fourth time I listened to the album, I was really into it. It's funny the effect remembering music has on us. Every time I listen to this, I'm back in that cozy warm attic with the yellow wallpaper, hacking away on my Atari 800XL. I've never again had so serene a retreat. I know I feel a pull to start coding again... I wonder if that's why I pulled out this old album?

Weezer (Blue Album)

All that thinking about rock made me bring out this CD, which I hadn't listened to in ten years. I tried listening to their later albums, but none of them captured the same vibe that this one does. My new thinking about rock gave me new understanding for this album -- it isn't important if songs make sense. It's just important that they feel right when you make them. It's appropriate that they had such a hit with "Buddy Holly" on this album -- there is clearly a connection on this album to his music -- and I think it is because they rock the same way he does. Simply, clearly, with songs that have strong hooks, but don't really make much sense.

They Got Lost

I hadn't listened to this TMBG album in a long time -- Not sure what made me bring it out. It has lots of great songs -- weirdly, though, the "slow version" of the title song is what's on here, not the fast version, which I prefer. It's not so much an issue of the rhythm, but rather of a key lyric. In the original fast song, it goes:

John said to John
I think we make a left at the light
There should be a big crinkle
Assuming this map is right
John leaned over and said
Hey no, it's not
That's just a crumpled up wrapper
From the fast food that we got

In the slow version, somehow the "big crinkle" becomes a "big B", which doesn't seem nearly as clever to me, a la Korzybski, the map is not the territory, etc. I just love the multiple layers of error: Lost from a misread map... the misreading is a confusion of the fabric of the map and the content of the map... and further, it's not a map at all.

One of my other faves on here is Certain People I Could Name ... here's an excerpt:

The few surviving samurai survey the battlefield
Count the arms, the legs, the heads, and then divide by five
Drenched in blood, they move across the scene
Do I have to point or do you see the one I mean? 
The one in back, the way he acts
is he reminding you of anyone we know?
Isn't he so like certain people I could name?

Anyway, it's a fun album.

Born Not To Run

And the sequel to the Car Tunes album. The songs on here made me laugh more, but somehow I don't remember them as well.

PS -- I'm so happy that Doctor Demento is still alive and kicking! Life was hard for nerds before the Internet. We had to earn our weirdness.

Car Talk: Car Tunes

I'm a long time fan of novelty records. You can tell it's been a long time, because who says "novelty records" any more? Hey, don't believe me? Search for my name in this issue of the Demento Society News from 1986. Anyway, I have been hearing snatches of car novelty songs on Car Talk for years, and thought I should pick up this collection. It was fun -- I can't say I laughed out loud very much, but it was still a fun album. My favorite line: "The sun will rise again... on the HORIZON!" Man, that was a rotten car.