An opportunistic “Salute”?

The album I pulled from my big record bin today was released in 1980 and is called A Salute to John Lennon and the Beatles Greatest Hits. It is performed by the Now Sound Orchestra.

The back cover has John Lennon (1940 – 1980) with pictures of the man at various stages of his career. (Actually I’m not even sure they are all Lennon. There is a young boy that looks more like George Harrison or even Elvis). I’m wondering if this is less a salute than an attempt to cash in on Lennon’s tragic death.

Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980. To record and release an album in less than three weeks seems unusual. I’m speculating that the album was already recorded and released as a Beatles Greatest Hits album with different cover art and was just updated and rushed to market as a “Salute to John Lennon”.

The performances on the album are basically dreadful. I’m sampling Yesterday for you. Partially because it is an instrumental and I don’t feel right about subjecting you to any of the vocals. You can play a game of “name the instrument.” There is either a harpsichord or perhaps a synthesizer or syn-clavier. I also detect a vibraphone. I can’t tell if the horn is a muted trumpet or a flugelhorn. Your guesses are welcome in the comments.

Phantom 3rd Channel!

Yes, I do like to pick up odd albums at the thrift store. And even though digitizing them is a bigger hassle than the software promised it would be, I was able to get a few more tracks captured this evening.

For your listening enjoyment and edification we’ve selected a couple of tracks from an unusual various artist album. This is not just an odd collection of hits. No, this is a demonstration record produced to accompany Admiral stereophonic devices. It is on the Decca label and consists of music by artists released by Decca.

First the announcer man will explain to you that there is a right channel, a left channel, and a PHANTOM 3rd Channel!!!!!

Sorry to cut you off, announcer man. I had no idea you were about to present several more aural examples of how you can hear things from your left channel, right channel and PHANTOM 3rd CHANNEL!!!!

Soon enough the tunes begin…a sampling of what I presume were popular artists and music of the day.

The featured selection tonight is Trumpet Cha Cha Cha by Warren Covington and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Amazon says this track was from an album released in 1958. It was re-issued in 2010 as a CD. But is it in PHANTOM 3rd CHANNEL SOUND?

Bonus Track –  It is an instrumental from Bill Haley And His Comets called Joey’s Song.

Time for school pictures

Well. Autumn is now officially here, I really don’t care what the calendar says or if it is meteorological autumn. I know that Fall has arrived because tomorrow is school picture day.

James (our kindergartner) decided today that he would like to wear a bow tie for his picture. I loved the idea. However, we have no bow ties in the house, particularly in his size that would match his shirt. Also, we’d run the risk that he would come home crying tomorrow because the other kids might be unaccustomed to a handsome young man wearing a bow tie.

If faced with a five-year-old coming home from school in tears, I promise you I will not tell him “It’s only because they are jealous.” You see, that was my mother’s usual reply after I had  a rough day in grade school. She may have actually felt that this was the root cause of kids being mean. I’ve always tended to notice that some kids just tend to be mean. One could argue that they are simply enjoying some popularity among their peers at a young age and that by the time they reach adulthood the world will be wise to them. But then we all know adults that really aren’t “over themselves” just yet.

So my hope for James is that he smiles that handsome huge grin of his and enjoys a good day. The photo above is your author in second grade. It would have been better with a bow tie.

I am not a warlock

Given the furor over the recently revealed video of Christine O’Donnell saying she dabbled in the occult, I’d like to publicly denounce my private claim that I was a warlock.

I understand how things can be misunderstood when taken out of context. I did indeed say, in my younger days, “I am a warlock.” By younger days, I do mean last week.  However, it was only because I was asked how I conjured up a butterfly from the ether.

Let me be perfectly clear. I did not conjure the butterfly. They are known to flit about quickly and the butterfly in question only appeared to have arrived magically. Therefore, my pronouncement that I was a warlock was in jest.

And speaking of things in jest.  Check out this bizarre twitter hashtag meme.

The rarity of silence

I’ve watched some of the coverage of Benedict XVI as he visited the UK these last few days. Is has been pleasant and uplifting to see the enthusiastic crowds. It seems the dire predictions of an ambivalent England were proved to be unfounded.

I was surprised not by the enthusiastic crowds, but by the absolute silence that was observed in several occasions after homilies and also Holy Communion.

It seems as though we cannot get through a moment of silence without a ‘Whoooo!” or other interruption at most public events these days. On several occasions during the Supreme Pontiff’s visit there were extended periods of still silence among 80,000 or more.

Benedict encouraged the youth assembled at Westminster to find quiet moment of reflection in their lives.

“Even amid the “busy-ness” and the stress of our daily lives, we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self.”

We all would benefit from finding both in a few moments of true still silence.

Dusting off the vinyl – Electric Moog Orchestra

I’ve owned a USB audio interface for several months now and just finally hooked it up to the laptop. Through way too many fits and starts I was able to convert some vinyl record tracks to digital files. It still isn’t interfacing 100% correctly, but we have enough to start my series of posts sharing my eclectic music collection.

Disclaimer: I’m a strong supporter of intellectual property protection. I’m thinking most of the music I’m sharing is out of print. If the copyright holders drop me a note I’ll take it down in a heartbeat.

OK – I actually remember buying the album Music From Star Wars by The Electric Moog Orchestra with my allowance money. I’m almost certain I bought it at Lawson’s in Eastlake.

It is hard to say what I like most about this album. The big note on the front cover that says “not the original soundtrack” or the back cover notes that proclaim “We think you will find this album a stunning breakthrough in electronic music.”

Here we have cut number 3 on the A side – Imperial Attack. I actually thing the bass riff sounds a little like Billie Jean.  I can’t even begin to describe the guitar part other than to say I think it sounds like a guy playing a Moog and trying to make it sound like a guitar. In space. While under attack.

My boys are Browns fans

If you are from Cleveland nobody needs to tell you that of all the major sports teams, the Browns have the most loyal fan base. For some reason every fall brown and orange apparel, flags, etc reappear as sure as the crocus in the Spring.

The boys root for the Browns with varied degrees or enthusiasm

Why? I’m not sure. The less sentimental among us might point out that the team here now is really a shadow of the glory of 1964 (or 1980 even). The original team is in…I can’t even say it. The wound is still too fresh.

In spite of that, we still care enough to root for them and carve out time every Sunday they play to turn our attention to them. And mutter under our breath when the inevitably disappoint us. It builds resiliency, being a Browns fan. You learn that you can’t abandon all hope even when there hasn’t been much good news. That may be why we are raising our boys to be Browns fans.

Thirty Dollar Thursday

As I warned you, I’m going to share some of the hidden gems in my  music collection. I’m starting you off with a tune that I could relate to much more directly in my single days when I still smoked, still went out on Thursdays and still scavenged around my pockets only to find crumpled up singles.

It is by Monkey Biscuit, the former band of the talented Rob Ervin. Check out more here >> http://www.myspace.com/highstrunglifters (High Strung Lifters was the band Rob Ervin formed after Monkey Biscuit)

Questions from a five year old

It is easy to forget that things adults “just know” are clouded in mystery to children. Today my five year old was in the bedroom containing the bed that Joyce and I share. We have four kids, it’s safe to assume we share a bed.

He asked “why do you sleep here and Mommy sleep here?” Uh-oh! Think quick. I’m not having THAT talk with a five year old. (Even this five year old. He also said recently “I don’t like girls. Well, I like some of their faces. But I don’t like their toys.”)

I gave a true answer – I thought it was crafty because it answered his specific question. I told him I used to sleep on the side by the alarm clock, but Mommy and Daddy had to switch because Daddy hits “Snooze” too much.

He wasn’t satisfied “No, why don’t you have your OWN bed?” I just told him that I wanted to be near Mommy because she is nice.  I’m afraid he thinks I’m not all together too smart.

I still call them albums

Today I mentioned on Facebook that my boys and I were listening to Christmas music on an 8 track. The reaction was more than I would have expected. Not so much that we were listening to Christmas music, which only happened because James asked nicely, but the medium on which the music was re-produced.

I guess it is a bit rare that an 8 track player is fired up, even here where we have an old stereo in our basement. I swear that somewhere we have several 8 track tapes boxed up. For now we must content ourselves with a nice mixed tape my mother-in-law has entrusted to our care. Perhaps I really should spend sometime at garage sales to acquire a more complete collection.

I think the quintessential album for the 8 track is Meatloaf  Bat out of Hell. Or possibly Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon. If you happen to have either, let’s talk.

The general topic of recorded music media that have fallen out of vogue is one that fascinates me. In vinyl I posses 45  RPM singles,  33 1/3 RPM albums, 12″ EPs and Singles, as well as 78 RPM mini albums and singles of the Victrola era. I also have the 8 track and “Mini” cassettes. Joyce brought to our music collection cassette singles, something I never had. We have two turntables and after the boys are older I’d like to pick up a Gramophone or Victrola.

Of course there are CDs – and lots of them, thanks to my stint at both record stores and radio. I still remember writing a report in my first college English class about the new Compact Disc technology. At that time there were still those who called them Compact Disk. One of my favorite scenes in The Wedding Singer is when Julia’s fiancee buys a new CD player for multi-hundreds of dollars.

I never owned an MP3 player, leapfrogging right to my Droid. But I buy most of my new music in the digital form and then burn to CD.

So thanks for joining me on this little inventory of my odd music collection. Perhaps I’ll add a “music” category so I can share some of the unique music on these diverse media. Music from Star Wars by the Electric Moog Orchestra might be a good place to start.