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Arthur Mullard of London. “Arthur was a fifties and sixties British actor (he usually played the heavy) and sort of comedian…well known for his gravelly, cockney voice and boyish good looks. His album, a collection of strange cockney monologues and painfully rendered songs (he sings the Beatles “Yesterday” as “Yus-today”) is a masterwork of dreadfulness. The cover says it all.” (Contributed by LP cover lover, Jay Strange)
(40 votes, average: 2.90 out of 5)
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Vincent Price Presents Great Paintings in Musical Impressions by Ned Freeman and Performed by the Orchestra dei Concerti di Roma, Paul Baron Conducting. Dot Records.
In 1951, Price donated some 90 pieces from his own collection to East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, California, thus establishing the first “teaching art collection” owned by a community college in the U.S. Today, the Vincent Price Art Gallery continues to present world-class exhibitions, and remains one of the actor’s most enduring legacies. The collection contains over 2,000 pieces and has been valued in excess of five million dollars. – Wikipedia
(31 votes, average: 3.48 out of 5) Loading ...
Jack Kerouac with jazz greats Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. (1958). His second album on Hanover after “Poems for a Beat Generation” on which he was accompanied by TV talk show host Steve Allen. Produced by Bob Thiele. Click on the back cover here and hopefully you can read the liner notes by Gilbert Millstein. Kerouac calls Zoot and Al “Holy Blakean babies” and says “Zoot and Al blow thoughtful, sweet metaphysical sorrows.” Kerouac actually sings on one cut with Zoot playing piano for the first time on record. Here’s one of the haikus: “In my winter cabinet/the fly has/died of old age” Beat that.
Track listing: American Haikus; Hard Hearted Old Farmer; The Last Hotel & Some Of The Dharma; Poems from the Unpublished Book of The Blues; Old Western Movies; Conclusion Of The Railroad Earth.
Hear some of this record HERE.
(55 votes, average: 4.44 out of 5) Loading ...
“With love, Fernado Lamas” Roulette Records. (And remember it’s better to look good than to feel good!) Known to many only from Billy Crystal’s SNL impression, Lamas was a film star in Buenos Aires before coming to Hollywood in 1950. After playing the latin lover at MGM throughout the decade, he spent the next twenty years directing TV shows like Mannix and Falcon Crest (which starred his son Lorenzo Lamas from his marriage to actress Arlene Dahl). He was also married to Esther Williams, his fourth wife.
(15 votes, average: 2.07 out of 5) Loading ...
FAT DADDY presents greatest oldies from the kingdom.
Baltimore. The 1960’s. 6:00 AM. Anywhere near a radio and WINN. Paul “Fat Daddy” Johnson, the “300-pound King of Soul” speaks soul jive, his outrageous monologues roll forth with gospel-like fervor.” “Hear me now,” he hisses into the mike. “Up from the very soul of breathing. Up from the orange crates. From the ghetto through the suburban areas comes your leader of rhythm and blues, the expected one – Fat Daddy, the soul boss with the hot sauce. Built for comfort, not for speed. Everyone loves a fat man! The Fat Daddy show is guaranteed to satisfy momma. I’m gonna go way out on a limb on this one, Baltimore. Fat poppa, show stoppa.”
Ringing bells give way to several pulses of the organ followed by the recorded voice of a young girl saying, “lay it on me, Fat Daddy, lay it on me.”
“Fat Daddy, your king, and I’ve got soul for you. This is for all the foxes wakin’ up this morning. Here’s a soul kiss for ya, mmmmmmmmh! From the lips of the high priest, from the depth of a fat man’s soul…”
Fat Daddy was only 40 when he died in Los Angeles in 1978. Esquire, Cashbox, and Billboard have acclaimed him as one of the top five R&B disc jockeys in America, while Record World magazine called him simply the No. 1 soul man in the nation.
Here some sound clips of Fat Daddy at www.artweb.org
(28 votes, average: 3.29 out of 5) Loading ...
What a stellar line-up of talent Mike Curb and MGM Records was able to pull together for this early “just say no” type PSA record. Both Arte Johnson and Alan Sues! (Those guys were always wasted!)
(38 votes, average: 3.74 out of 5) Loading ...
Artist and underground comic legend Robert Crumb created some great lp covers beginning with the classic cover illustration for Big Brother and the Holding Company’s “Cheap Thrills” album and including many for his own jazz band the “Cheapsuit Serenaders. Crumb amassed a world-class collection of rare 78 records and the Serenaders play classic jazz from that era. Here’s one on Blue Goose Records courtesy of frequent contributor and cover afficianado Kerstan Reineke.
(21 votes, average: 3.62 out of 5) Loading ...
“Wild Christmas” Mae West from 1966. Includes “Santa Come Up and See Me Sometime” On “My New Year’s Resolution”, Mae purrs over a “Hang On Sloopy” rip-off riff, “I’m gonna have goodwill towards men…and the more men, the more I will.” West recorded three albums; “The Fabulous Mae West,” “Way Out West,” and “Wild Christmas.”
(22 votes, average: 2.23 out of 5) Loading ...
