January, 2009
Smokestack lighting
“Music for the Night” “Une Heure de Slow” Ducretet – Thomson A nice French record of jazz with players including Lucky Thomson, Zoot Sims, Guy Lafitte, etc.
“When I say hey, you say hooo!”
Edmund Hockridge Sings For You (Thanks to Lp cover lover Lemoncat for sending in)
Jenny never ate the last wing again
“Panic The Son of Shock” The Creed Taylor Orchestra (1959) The follow up to “Shock” (1958) also by big screen composer Kenyon Hopkins. A series of short stories with weird music, scarey sound effects and a jazzy beat including “Out of this World”, “The Prison Break,” “Rain,” “The Operation.”
According to an interview with record collector Mickey McGowan for Re/Search Magazine’s Incredibly Strange Music issue, Volume 1, “The Creed Taylor Orchestra made SHOCK Music in Hi-Fi, which bore a warning, “Don’t dare listen to his music alone!†It’s a masterpiece from the beginning, starting with loud heartbeats. “The Crank†effectively conveys the fear which a crank phone call can inspire. “The Secret†features a man and a woman laughing conspiratorily, and raises the question: “Is a secret still a secret once it’s told.†Creed Taylor’s follow-up album was Panic: the Son of Shock. Both of these LPs should also be credited to the film composer KENYON HOPKINS….You hear heavy breathing, whispering, clapping, heartbeats, shudders, screams – a whole gamut of effects. – From a neat site called Movie Morlocks.
Electro-ro Rosie
“Electronia” Luis Enriquez and his Electronic Men (RCA Italiana) After the Jetsons went off the air, Rosie hung up her apron to dabble in electronic music.
Family feud
“Karate for the Family” An instructional record for the family that wants to learn to defend itself … from each other. (Strangely on the great Latin Boogaloo label Cotique.)
Off the strip
“The World of Las Vegas” “Night Club Music” Las Vegas & Country Western Words and Music by Ken (Nevada) Maines. Smile Records A DIY effort that has gotten some recognition in outsider and incredibly strange music circles. Includes the frightening “Shooting of Govenor Wallace”.
Side One is the Vegas side with song titles like “Freemont Street” and “$$$ Signs.” Side Two is the Country side with “Shooting…” “You Made a Fool Outa Me” and the unexplainable “Oy Vey, What a Dream”.