the sphinx

"Ghost Rider's In The Sky" (Leaping Fox)

2012-01-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

This is a good one!

About four years ago, on the old, original version of Dr. Forrest's Cheeze Factory (which is now defunct...well, it's still there, but it's a pale husk of what it used to be), somebody posted a huge collection of versions of this amazing, classic song. You may have seen it, or you may have run into it on torrent sites; it's still going around.

Problem is, I discovered later, it is riddled with errors. Wrong years, wrong artists connected to the wrong songs, duplication, etc. Well! What I did originally was whittle down the two hundred or so into a disc's worth--and keeping the most interesting versions while doing so. Then I forgot about it, until recently.

Upon returning to the project, I did tons of research, and a little legwork. I discovered the very first recording was in fact Burl Ives in 1949, and not the Sons of the Pioneers as stated in the collection that had been posted. Besides giving it the usual Leaping Fox touch of tracking down even more new versions, as well as an interview with the actual songwriter (which is very interesting to hear!), I also gave it the Leaping Fox treatment, restoring and remastering any tracks that needed work.

So, what you have here is a fascinating disc, and what's amazing is how listenable it is--it's not like just listening to the same song 20 times, but you get to hear all sorts of interpretations (and in the case of Spike Jones and His City Slickers, a scathing parody) ranging from the sultry sounds of Peggy Lee, to the great Scatman Crothers, to techno! After the history of the song is presented, we stay in chronological order, but end with the second Burl Ives version. This may be my very favorite, recorded at the end of his life for one of those "various artists" albums that's impossible to find now.

Enjoy! Remember this link is good for 30 days. And yes, I'll repost it upon request!

LINK: Horses Snorting Fire

Tom Lehrer Rarities Volume 5 (Leaping Fox)

2012-01-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

The wait is over. The bad news is, this looks like the final volume in this series, unless I can track down the handful of elusive bits that are out there, somewhere on the planet. (Discussed below.)

As I mentioned before, Sphinx patron Arthur Castro's help was invaluable in pointing me in the direction of the full Bob Claster tapes (which have been cleaned to remove the tape hiss, and boosted a bit), as well as the two parodies that Mr. Lehrer prepared for Garrison Keillor's "American Radio Company" show, both for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Not only that, but he also was kind enough to point out that there were TWO performances of the "Hey Mr. Producer" show (sounds like a volume of HEY, MR. SPACEMAN, now that I notice it). The one recorded for album release was the NIGHT BEFORE the one released on video. Therefore, we now have an additional "Poisoning Pigeons" to enjoy.

I need to point out, as we shed a tear for Megaupload, that this new site's links are only good for 30 days. Not that I'm not able to re-post, but I'm just saying.

LINK: Tom Lehrer Rarities Volume 5

While we are on the subject, and as I prepare a package to mail to Mr. Lehrer, let's briefly discuss what's left "out there" that would make a splendid Volume 6:

1) THE REMAINDER OF "THE PHYSICAL REVUE" This exists, and I would hope the owner of the very old wire recorder-made tape would be interested in me improving it, as I did the rest of the songs (see Volume One).

2) "THE SAC SONG" The Tom Lehrer Discography website says there's a soldier who claims to have a recording of Mr. Lehrer performing the whole song, perhaps as a guide for the film-makers working on "A Gathering of Eagles." Who knows if this is even true.

3) WTBS INTERVIEW (October 20, 1965) The rest of the tape that gave us "The Subway Song" contains at least one further in-studio performance.

4) VOICES OF VISTA #33 Part of a series of records produced for the Volunteers In Service To America, and there were quite a few of these, all numbered (65 is the highest I've seen thus far). Mr. Lehrer is interviewed on Side One of #33, with Side Two containing performances by The Brandywines, Clark Terry, and The Lovin' Spoonful. Don't get excited if you find one with The Lovin' Spoonful and think you've found it; they are on several of these records.

5) "WITHOUT AN S" Ah, the "lost" Electric Company song. I can't tell you how many VHS tapes of old episodes I have dug through trying to get lucky here, how many fruitless trades, and how many Internet Search Hours I have wasted. I have researched this quite a bit, and I can tell you it was sung by the great Rita Moreno, it was a parody of a song entitled "Without a Song" (which may be the reason for its elusiveness: rights), and that it was aired in one of the early seasons. The hunt continues.

6) "TREES" This was a song that was newly-recorded for the REMAINS OF TOM LEHRER boxed set, and then not used. It WAS, however, issued on "promo cassette" versions of the set. I seem to recall reading it was a cover, but I can't find my source at the moment.

There you have it. Worry not; I'm on the case. Enjoy Volume 5, and let's hope this new Upload Station thingy pans out, because there's much more goodness (and badness) to come!

GODZILLA Board Game (Ideal, 1963)

2012-01-22T19:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, now that I've calmed down a bit, and the world is still here, and while I search for a NEW file-hosting site, let's look at my latest acquisition! I have added one of the Holy Grails to my collection, the GODZILLA BOARD GAME made by Ideal in 1963. Not only does is this game rare as hen's teeth, and not only does this game boast gorgeously beautiful artwork, BUT I read on one website that it was the second Godzilla item ever produced, barring one tin toy in Japan.

Now, common sense tells us that this might be a bit of an exaggeration...you mean by the third Godzilla movie, Japan, toy geniuses of planet Earth, had only made one Godzilla toy between the years of 1954 and 1963? Yeah, I didn't think so either. More likely, maybe the site meant to say that it's the second Godzilla item made IN AMERICA. But I digress, let's talk about the game!

I have to be careful not to drool on it. It's just that lovely to behold. It's wonderfully complete--I have seen some on Ebay that came with an instruction sheet, but mine has the instructions printed on the inside of the box lid. The game was made during the excitement surrounding KING KONG vs. GODZILLA, which, as I've said below, was a big hit on both sides of the ocean.

I'd be remiss if I didn't plug the great Vintage Board Game Guru I bought it from--if you are looking for a vintage board game, you absolutely must check out GAMES GONE BY and talk with Desi. Not only does he have a huge and amazing collection, and literally wrote the book (two, in fact) on the subject, but he also has an entire page of classics for sale. You'll be glad you did!

You might notice there is NO content on this blog any longer....

2012-01-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

Welllllllllllllllllll, I get up this morning and read that the government shut down Megaupload last night. I'm sure that there is lots of nefarious activity going on....but REALLY? This all comes in the middle of all the hoopla surrounding the PIPA and SOPA acts. I'm sure you couldn't go anywhere on the Internets the other day without running into petitions trying to stop these bills....after all, even Wikipedia and other large sites were blacked out in protest the other day.

I could really launch into a rant here about "what has happened to free speech" and all that, but for our purposes here, let's examine the immediate impact: THERE ARE NO LONGER ANY FILES ON THIS BLOG. I used Megaupload because they were reliable, and didn't spam your system with malware or annoying pop-ups like Rapidshare or some of the others, which are even worse. I've never sold a file in my life, some of them I owned copyrights to (for goodness sake) and I even had the ENDORSEMENT of certain artists to place them here!!!

But all that doesn't matter. I worry about the future of this country, and the Internets as well, as our freedoms are stripped away one by one.

Currently, I was staying up nights working on new discs to share with you. They include the following:
TOM LEHRER RARITIES volume 5
SYNTHISTORY volume 2: HOOKED ON RADIOPHONICS
"GHOST RIDER's IN THE SKY"
HEY, MR. TIMELORD
THE COMPLETE-AS-POSSIBLE END-ALL BE-ALL BONZO DOG BAND

And there's even more than that! But you may never see these. My friends, I can honestly tell you this may just be the end of a very enjoyable and rewarding ride. We may tell our grandchildren about "the Internets" just like our grandparents tell us about 5-cent hamburgers and penny candy.

I am going to sleep on all of this, and see what transpires in the next few days. Otherwise, it's going to be a very tearful goodbye.

STAR WORN volume 6: THE SPECIAL EDITIONS (Leaping Fox)

2012-01-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

This is, more than likely, the final volume in the STAR WORN series (unless new discoveries are made), and I've taken great pains to make it a good one.

No doubt you remember the hysteria surrounding the return of the Star Wars saga to movie theatres in 1997. If you were there, you remember the excitement, as the first film turned 20 years old, to see it on a big screen once again.

I was at opening nights of all three. Now, little did we understand at the time that it was merely the first of many rehashes, and it seems almost rote by today's standards: we had no idea that we would not only get the Special Editions, but in 2004, the "Revised Special Editions," followed by what we can only now call the "Blu-Ray Editions," and who knows if Lucas is anywhere near done making changes at this point.

However, it took the Prequels to soften me on the Special Editions, even though I much prefer the unchanged originals. Who of us wasn't excited to hear the Jabba scene was being used, at last, despite it's cartoonish and lackluster CGI? Who wasn't at least somewhat satisfied to see the sunset hues outside the windows of Cloud City? It's another thing that seems almost rote by today's standards--that of overly-CGIed backgrounds in our movies...and, come to think of it, overly-CGIed foregrounds.

Of course, the Special Editions as we saw them on screens in 1997 are no longer available--I had to buy Chinese pirate DVD's, sourced from laserdiscs, back in the day, just to have them on DVD, and I've held onto them, luckily.

But on to the dying art of the Read-Along Adventure, which in 1997 was beginning to dwindle. Walt D*sn*y Records released three, much lengthier and fancier ones, to coincide with the marketing onslaught that accompanied the films. All three are contained on this disc, and, like the vintage Read-Alongs, I've also included book scans, so you can re-live the "Read-Along" part of the story. Previously, elsewhere on the Internets, these books have only been available in an automatic, Flash-based format, and I've done some work to re-tool each book in the much-loved CBR format, even doing some of my own scanning, so you can enjoy them like comic scans, and advance them with the good old space bar.

One bizarre thing I noticed about these books is the complete lack of anything that made the Special Editions "special"....remember back in 1997, you couldn't read magazines, watch television, or see anything Star Wars-related without them showing off the CGI Jabba, the additions to Mos Eisley, the Cloud City backgrounds, or the new wampa? Oddly, they are all completely ABSENT in these books! Either this was some sort of elaborate plan of secrecy, or abject laziness on the part of the makers. It baffles me!

At any rate, I've also worked to remove tape hiss and balance each recording. Enjoy!

LINK: Special Editions

KING KONG vs. GODZILLA (1963) Vintage Poster!

2012-01-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to add the eleventh vintage American Godzilla movie poster to my collection--this is a spectacular poster that I recently picked up (it was a Christmas present, in a roundabout way), and it's in excellent condition. Not only was this iconic film the first Godzilla film in color, and the most successful of the series in the United States, but it, more than any other, cemented Godzilla into American culture permanently.

HEY, MOOSE & SQUIRREL disc three: An Update to An Update

2012-01-09T07:22:00.000-08:00

There are so many good things in the works here at The Sphinx, we will need a "Coming Soon" box just to mention them all!

Here's the short version for today's update: thanks to Sphinx patron Arthur Castro pointing out the download page for radio host Bob Claster, there will be a Tom Lehrer disc 5, as well as enough of an update to make the "SALUTE TO MOOSYLVANIA!!" disc an official third disc to the "HEY, MOOSE & SQUIRREL!" set. The item in question will be a huge treat for Rocky & Bullwinkle fans. It's a full 30 minute interview with Bill Scott and June Foray, done with Claster in 1985, a few months before Scott's untimely death, and THE VERY DAY that they went and recorded their parts for Joe Piscopo's album (see "HEY, MOOSE & SQUIRREL" for that material). It's not only extremely entertaining, but very educational, as they share their memories of making the show, as well as many hilarious anecdotes. Also, I have completely removed annoying tape hiss, and leveled out the volumes meticulously by hand, to make it an excellent listening experience.

Therefore, new artwork was called for, which further confuses the issue, of course. I figure the easiest way to do this is just only upload what's NEW. In other words, the link below will give you Track 12 (the 30-minute interview), and the two pieces of artwork that have changed. Add that to your original SALUTE TO MOOSYLVANIA material, and you will be good. I will also include the Update link in the original post. That way, we can file this item as "done," and I will never have to change it again.

What's more, this disc makes--officially--Volume XVII of HEY, MR. SPACEMAN.
Make sense? Good. I'm tired.

1-27-12 ADDENDUM:
The following is a link for the complete disc, good for 30 days:
LINK: SALUTE TO MOOSYLVANIA

SYNTHISTORY (Leaping Fox, 2011)

2011-12-26T07:38:00.000-08:00

It's about time to start saying "Happy New Year," so here is the last new Leaping Fox "release" of 2011. I've been researching the history of the synthesizer, and it's a very complicated subject. There are lots of good articles and sites out there, and my observations are just a slice of that history--the origins of electronica are also melded in, what with the development of the theremin, modulators, and many, many innovations. I tried to hold fast to the synthesizer, which began, believe it or not, before World War II, but was delayed because of the need for materials, and resumed post-War. You have probably seen the first models, which were mazes of wires and knobs...it was a while before piano-style keyboards were utilized as input controllers, even.

Of course, this leads us to the Moog, being the first real commercial endeavor, and most of this disc focuses on the Moog, and especially the commercial acceptance of the invention. Did you know, for example, that the first band to use one on an album was The Monkees? Admittedly, the first applications of the technology were used more for sound effects than music, and I think that explains why the Beatles waited so long to use it on an album. Not that they didn't experiment with Melotrons and many other innovations, but that is another story than we are telling here.

What that means is that we will need a future volume to explore other electronic developments done by other innovators, so we'll revisit the subject in the New Year. I'm not an expert on this subject, just a student as you are, but the more I've researched, the more fascinated I've become. For now, enjoy this history lesson, as we follow this Moog thread toward its widespread presence throughout popular culture.

As always, I've done a fair amount of de-clicking, de-noising, and clean-up to the tracks. You don't absolutely have to burn with no gaps, at 78 minutes, but it helps!

LINK: Synthistory

STAR WORN 3: THE REVENGE OF RETURN OF THE JEDI (Leaping Fox) plus bonus!

2011-12-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

The circle is now complete. At last, I have finally finished my trilogy of celebratory discs of the original (and only) Star Wars trilogy. Each disc has been different, just as the era each film was released in was also different--compare 1977 with 1983, and you will see what I mean.

Of course, if you were there, you understand--but one thing all three time periods have in common was an excitement for the newest Star Wars film. I intend for these discs to be historical documents, and most of all, to show what the experience was like. By 1983, the campiness was gone, but it was still a great time to be a kid.

And that's exactly what the focus is here. This particular disc is divided into segments (which there wasn't room to show in the artwork, or else the font would've been microscopic). After the original "Revenge of the Jedi" trailer, there's a section of "Missing Movie Music," or songs that were removed from the film when the 1997 Special Editions were developed. Then comes our old, dear friend Meco, with all of his 1983 ROTJ-themed tracks, including an update of his original 1977 Star Wars recording. Then comes a section of Television News spots and vintage movie reviews--my favorite moment is when Joel Siegel, interviewing a panel of elementary-school-age film critics, gets a bit more than he bargains for, when the children divulge key plot points! And, did you know that, when the film opened in one New York theater, an entire reel was missing?

Next is a section on the Video Games inspired by the film, followed by a sampling of Television Commercials, including Kenner toys and the infamous, flavorless C-3PO's Cereal. Lastly, a section I've called "The Dark Times: Post-1983" chronicles the various attempts to keep Star Wars going, including animated series, TV movies, and amusement-park attractions.

But wait, there's more!

As I was assembling this disc, it became clear to me that I had two choices: interrupt the flow with multiple versions of "Lapti Nek," or branch off into a second disc!

What happened was, as I began to look over the evolution of the "Lapti Nek" song, I realized it would be a nice "bonus disc" to pay tribute to The Max Rebo Band, the colorful and intriguing combo that struck a chord (oooh, sorry about that) with audiences in 1983, only to be replaced--well, enhanced, let's say--with CGI and silliness in the Special Edition.

Not only does it give us an excellent opportunity to see the development of their big number in Jabba's Palace--from its inception as a song in English called "Fancy Man"--but it also allows for a good place to include some very rare Star Wars recordings, including long-lost 12-inch mixes of the song, as well as an uber-rare single by a band called Urth that came out that year.

I almost forgot that the band appeared, very briefly, in an episode of the "Droids" animated series. I had purposefully forgotten that when the episode was released on DVD, the entire soundtrack was replaced with a lesser, and strangely inferior, synthesizer score. It's here too, just for the sake of completeness.

Anyway, enjoy this trip back to 1983, as well as the bonus disc!

LINK: Star Worn 3
Max Rebo Band

Tom Lehrer Rarities Revisited - Volume 4 (Leaping Fox)

2011-12-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

It's a funny thing. I started this blog to upload strange or interesting records that I find at flea markets and thrift stores, and occasionally talk about collecting. But mostly it's been a way to feature my own compilations, and in doing so, I get to correspond with lots of interesting people.

Last Christmas, when I unleashed my remastered collection of TOM LEHRER RARITIES upon the world, little did I know that it would end up putting me in touch with Mr. Lehrer, the man, himself! (By the way, he was very happy with the discs, and I was privilleged to send him a copy personally, and exchange letters with him!) My one goal was to celebrate his work, and point more people in the direction of buying it, of course.

It's been one of the most popular downloads here, and even appeared on some torrent sites for download. And then, I got a very nice comment from a Sphinx patron, Grammarian, who shared with me an hour-long BBC special that Tom Lehrer narrated, called "Self Biopic." It was then I knew that there would be a Volume Four. Add to that a couple of other items that have surfaced over the last year, and you have a finished disc.

The other "new" items in question are an additional performance from "The Frost Report," and the soundtrack to the "Pollution" environmental short, made by Astrafilms, and viewable on YouTube. There are actually two versions--the first (1966) uses the original live performance of the song that was released on LP, and the second (1967) is of even more interest, since Mr. Lehrer recorded a new studio version of the song especially for the film.

So, therefore, I think this is this year's "Christmas present to the world." I hope it is enjoyed. And, I'll have to be sure and send Mr. Lehrer a copy! Let's hope that some more "holy grails" surface for 2012.

LINK: More Evenings Wasted!

STAR WORN: THE VINTAGE READ-ALONGS (Leaping Fox)

2011-12-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on a ROTJ-themed disc for Volume 3 of the "Star Worn" series (among about a hundred other things). While that is being done, it suddenly hit me that I've had the final two volumes done for quite a while, and there's no reason not to go ahead and post them now.

Since there is a finite amount of vintage Star Wars goodness available, I thought it would be a good idea to gather all of the read-along, book-and-record adventures together in one set. Today's children don't really have a concept to compare book-and-record sets to. Sure, there are still some examples around, in some bookstores, but nothing can really explain the joy of following along in a storybook with old vinyl (or for that matter, a GASP cassette tape).

Altogether, there were eight vintage book-and-record sets released, all by Buena Vista Records, between the years of 1979 and 1984. It's hard to imagine a film adaptation taking two full years to materialize, in today's marketing world, but it did--to say nothing of the action figures, which were also much-delayed! In today's world, toys would have already been available at fast food restaurants long before the film opened. By the two year mark, they would have LONG been thrift store fodder.

All eight are featured here, on two volumes, and each volume includes a folder of the appropriate scans, so the listener can relive the "read-along" portion. As an added bonus, the album "Rebel Mission To Ord Mantel" is included. While it's technically not a read-along (especially obvious since no book came with it), it is a very unique Star Wars audio drama, is highly entertaining, was also put out by the same record company, AND fills in a backstory on an almost throwaway line from The Empire Strikes Back!

While many of these are my rips, I've done quite a bit of work to all of them, and they have never sounded better. You and/or the young fan in your family are sure to enjoy them.

STAR WORN - VOL. 4: THE VINTAGE READ-ALONGS (part one)

Star Wars (with scans)

The Empire Strikes Back (with scans)

Return of the Jedi (with scans)

The Ewoks Join the Fight (with scans)

Droid World (with scans, as well as scan of Marvel Star Wars #47)

LINK: VOLUME 4

STAR WORN - VOL. 5: THE VINTAGE READ-ALONGS (part two)

Planet of the Hoojibs (with scans, as well as scan of Marvel Star Wars #55)

Adventures in ABC (with scans)

Adventures in Colors and Shapes (with scans)

Rebel Mission To Ord Mantel (with artwork)

LINK: VOLUME 5

the studio - "it is (what it is)"

2011-11-28T08:57:00.001-08:00

Here's a very entertaining distraction from your work day: original song + two guys playing all parts + pawn shop instruments = coolness!

REUNITED and it feels SO GOOOOOD!

2011-11-26T11:31:00.000-08:00

As of today, I am thrilled to say, I am the proud owner of a gorgeous Mattel "World's Greatest Monsters" Rodan, made in 1979. Shogun Warriors Godzilla is thrilled to see him! Everything you have ever read about this toy is true--it is excellent in every way, and the details are fantastic. I am also happy to check off one of the bigger items on my want list of Godzilla collectibles! To paraphrase Percy Shelley: "If Rodan comes, can the original Ideal Godzilla board game be far behind?"

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (Media Blasters, 2011 Blu-Ray) FINALLY REARS ITS BEAUTIFUL HEAD!!!

2011-11-15T07:37:00.000-08:00

I am thrilled to say that the best release of the year finally made it to my mailbox yesterday. Not only is DESTROY ALL MONSTERS my favorite film of all time, and not only has it been given the Blu-Ray treatment, but Media Blasters has knocked it out of the park, and far out into the universe with this one!

However you prefer to watch this epic film, it's available here! Do you prefer the International Dub (the one first released to DVD)? Well, if you do, I don't really know why, but it's here! Do you prefer the classic AIP dub, that most Americans are used to seeing--including the vocal talents of the great Paul Frees, Hal Linden, and others?? Well, it IS here, at last, available on legitimate DVD! And finally, if you prefer watching the film in original Japanese with English subititles, to get the full experience, well, my friends, that is here too.

Oh wait, there is yet another possibility in the "surprises" that Media Blasters hinted at! You can also watch the original 8 MM version of the film! This was a real surprise to me, because I could swear that my version is silent, as many kaiju reels were, (and black-and-white) but this one is in color, with sound. I need to do some Googling on that topic, because others (like Rodan and Mothra) are silent, and usually have superimposed subtitles for any dialogue. Either way, this was a real treat from Media Blasters, and just the tip of the iceberg--there is plenty more to enjoy.

I didn't even get to the experience of watching the climactic kaiju slug-fest in Blu-Ray quality....if I go on, I will need to take another shower. Yes, there were delays, as reported by Scifijapan.com, and for some reason, even Amazon couldn't get this to me very quickly, but THANK YOU, Media Blasters, for your attention to quality on this one!

As a footnote, by the end of the month, MB should have GODZILLA vs. MEGALON released, which will leave us with only TWO Godzilla films that haven't yet made it to DVD (which are GODZILLA 1985 and GODZILLA vs. BIOLLANTE for those keeping score). These two have been plagued with "rights" issues, but is it possible that MB can get it worked out?

I know this wasn't so much of a "review" as an exclamation of joy, but as most retailers are NOT carrying DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (don't waste your time searching, either)---order it today!!! You will NOT be disappointed!

16 Kickin' Bantha Tracks (Uncle Jeff, 2011)

2011-10-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

And now, the third and final installment in Uncle Jeff's trilogy of Star Wars song discs. We present here 16 KICKIN' BANTHA TRACKS, for your enjoyment.

Yes, yes, I know "Bantha Tracks" was the title of the official Fan Club newsletter, but I like the way he uses it here.

Lots of variety here! Also, a couple of tracks from one of my very favorite Star Wars discs, STAR WARS BREAKBEATS.

Enjoy!

LINK: 16 Tracks of the Bantha, Yea, Verily, to Kick!

1956 Theater Flyer for KING OF THE MONSTERS!

2011-10-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

Before we move on to the third featured disc of Star Wars-themed songs, here is a really cool item I bought last week on Ebay. This is a small, folded flyer for an independent movie theater that was given out for advertising purposes--it had information about upcoming movies with dates. I'm sure these were printed by the hundreds. It measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", and is double sided. Here's the front side:

Nothing too interesting so far, but look what the entire inside is devoted to!

Oh yes, yes indeed--for four glorious days, you could see KING OF THE MONSTERS! So far, this is the only 1956 item I own for the first Godzilla film, but here's hoping I live long enough to score the poster one of these days!

DEF STAR JAMZ (Uncle Jeff, 2011)

2011-10-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

Part two of Uncle Jeff's brand-new Star Wars Trilogy (I just realized it's better than the last Star Wars Trilogy that fans got). Get ready for some old favorites, as well as some items that will probably be as new to you as they were to me.

Part three coming in a day or two; I have to do a bit of work to it first. Enjoy!

LINK: Def Stars & Stripes Forever

Smells Like Star Wars (Uncle Jeff, 2011)

2011-10-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

Many visitors to this blog have already enjoyed Uncle Jeff's compiling skills--his initial effort was HEY, MR. SPACEMAN volume 2, after all. Now he is back with a trilogy of Star Wars-themed discs, all of which will be featured here.

Another reason is, I received the priviliege of putting together the artwork for his compilations, so they have become honarary Leaping Fox "releases."

Of course, all Star Wars fans with Internet connections have seen the great painting above, but I couldn't help using it for the inlay. With a clear jewel case, it really works perfectly for the material.

Enjoy the disc, as the other two will be appearing here shortly!

LINK: Not Teen Spirit?

HEY, MR. MEGAMAN! (Leaping Fox)

2011-10-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week at The Sphinx--there are lots of items in the works that will be shared here soon, but we are going to start with this one!

I have had the plan to do a Mega Man tribute disc for a while, and as it turns out, there is tons of great music out there! So, with some guidance from good old J-Unit 1 at The Deuce Project, who pointed me in many right directions, here it is!

I'm sure you could do a whole disc of just music based on Mega Man II or III, but I tried to make this collection as well-rounded as possible. Not only are the classic themes present, but lots of excellent interpretations as well, ranging from orchestral to techno to drum-and-bass to speed metal!

Rather than blather on, I'm going to leave it right there--enjoy, and remember the BW0 rule--burn with zero (no gaps between tracks) for maximum enjoyment.

Footnotes:

*Special thanks to The Deuce Project, the greatest science-fiction radio show in the world!

*This disc is dedicated to my 14-year-old, Joshua, who is the biggest Mega Man fan that I know of!

*This disc is Volume 16 in the HEY, MR. SPACEMAN series, that will apparently never die!

LINK: SELECT YOUR STAGE

STAR WORN 2 - Striking the Empire Back (Leaping Fox)

2011-10-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

1980 Strikes Back!

This is the second installment of my celebrating the vintage era of Star Wars...and I've noticed something funny. The farther away you get from 1977, the fewer cheesy television appearances/variety-show satires/kids' show tie-ins/rip-off radio singles there were...almost as if, after EMPIRE, everything suddenly got serious. Does this show a changing entertainment culture, perhaps? I don't know, but compare it to now, when Star Wars is just about a parody of itself....did I just type that? Oh dear, oh dear. We'd better just move on.

Anyway, this is almost one big sound-collage, because this time around, I interspersed the musical tracks with excerpts from the ESB read-along, as well as the "Story of ESB" album. This way, it tells the story, albeit in sort of a fever-dream fashion...but, if you didn't know what the second film was about, would you be coming to this disc anyway to find out? Nah.

Basically, this disc is as if 1980 called and left you a voice mail. It's all here: the Muppet Show, the Great Space Coaster, Atari, some great vintage ads, our old friend Meco, and some other rarities as well.

As always, I've boosted sound, done my usual round of de-clicking and de-noising, and tried to make everything sound as good as possible. I leave just about nothing in the way of gaps, because my intention is to burn the disc with nothing (zero seconds) between tracks. That gives it the non-stop, sound collage feel.

Let me illustrate with a story:

Imagine going back in time, and walking into your old living room. There, in front of you, is your 7-year-old self, drinking in Mark Hamill's visit to The Great Space Coaster. You tap this child on the shoulder, who is startled to see you, but angrier to be interrupted.

"I am you from the future!" you announce. "Tell me, did you ever want the ability to record this bit of Star Wars history, to archive, and enjoy it again?"

"I wanted to see it now," says the child, "but you showed up."

"No, seriously!" you say.

The small you points to a behemoth Betamax unit, which is the size of a midget's coffin, atop your large, walnut-stained Zenith television.

"Oh! You tried to use that, didn't you?"

The child nods.

"Didn't work, did it? Let me guess, by the time it warmed up, and you loaded the tape, which spun and whirled for 45 seconds, the part you wanted to record was over?"

The child nods again, tears forming in his eyes.

"Don't worry," you say. "You will have the Internets! You will have the ability to digitally capture anything, store it in a tiny device, manipulate it, put it on YouTube, and beam it to your smart phone!"

The child frowns, unimpressed.

You can't resist reaching out and patting your 7-year-old self on the head. However, as this blows a hole in the space-time-continuum, everything is wiped out of existence.

Um, I forget exactly what I was trying to illustrate there; it went off the rails. At any rate, enjoy the disc!

LINK: Empirical!

Bonzo Dog Band: MEET THE BONZOS and NORMAL HAWAIIANS

2011-10-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was uploading some lossless (FLAC) copies of these two boots for a friend, and I figured, why not share them here?

Anyway, here's the links:
MEET THE BONZOS: clicky
NORMAL HAWAIIANS: clicky

Bonzo Dog Band - The Adventures of the Son of Exploding Sausage (1969) plus extra bonuses

2011-10-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

German magazine photo taken at the time of SAUSAGE filming.

Personally, I think the Bonzo Dog Band is at the top of any list of Greatest All-Time Bands that one could come up with. I do realize this is ironic, considering much of what they did was satirical, often lampooning the very genres (if you will forgive the word) they explored. But they were bloody geniuses.

I got to thinking, wouldn't it be nice to have an "ultimate" set of boots--much like what has been done for The Beatles--that puts every known bit in order? Yes, it WOULD be nice. Perhaps that will be a future project, but for now, here's a quickie of some tracks I haven't found on disc up to this point, so I just prepared them myself. And why not, as I've had lots of requests for more Bonzos!

1) THE ADVENTURES OF THE SON OF EXPLODING SAUSAGE (1969) Every band, once they are together long enough, experiments with film, and for the Bonzos, it was a natural experiment. I read about this film for years before getting to see it recently, and I was surprised that it is only about 14 minutes long. The good news is that while the film is almost entirely without any dialogue, the Bonzos provided the entire soundtrack, including instrumentals of several songs! I cleaned the soundtrack up, and completely removed the hiss, EQ-ing it a little.

2) Jazz Bilsen Festival 1969 - Neil Innes Interview. This post-concert interview, while on the TV program of the concert, was omitted from the audio discs of the concert that I have found. Vivian and Roger (holding a huge bottle of something stout) chime in at the very end.

3) I'm the Urban Spaceman - Innes Book of Records. This amazing "Dixieland" version of the song was recorded for Innes' series, and should be heard.

4) biG GRunt - Cyborg Signal / 11 Mustachioed Daughters (Marty Amok, March 30, 1970). A very rare television appearance by the short-lived biG GRunt. Here's a glimpse of what you will be getting:

5) Vivian Stanshall's Crank (1991). This was an autobiograph-ical "playlet" (as John Peel calls it) recorded in 1991, and first broadcast in 1993. Upon Vivian's death in 1995, it was re-shown, with the John Peel introduction and tribute. The tracks are numbered 1-14, interspersed with Vivian's narration, and I did my best to de-hiss and clean them up. As all of these tracks come from various Orange Cow productions (look them up if you haven't already!), I know that Garrett uses various sources to result in the best end product possible, which explains minor changes in sound from time to time. I did my best to normalize them, and I can assure you it won't hamper your enjoyment of this glimpse into an almost frighteningly brilliant mind.

LINK: Exploding Sausage plus more!

A Salute to MOOSYLVANIA!! (1962, Jay Ward Records) + bonus [Leaping Fox]

2011-09-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

A MYSTERY SOLVED!

There's a guy called OldSkoolFan who is a fellow member of a couple of forums I frequent. He is a scholar of all things cool, and you may have seen comments from him on this very blog. The other day he pointed out an Ebay auction to me for this album, and in doing so, he solved the mystery of some of the tracks contained in the "Jay Ward Television Production Music Museum" collection that is featured in HEY, MOOSE AND SQUIRREL (see that post if curious).

It seems that those live tracks I wondered about were released in 1962 as a mini-album called A SALUTE TO MOOSYLVANIA!!, which was a uniquely-designed 7"--though 33 & 1/3 speed--with a gatefold cover, on Jay Ward Records, no less. The liner notes--reproduced here--are especially entertaining.

So, in light of that recent discovery, I thought we should re-visit these tracks, and put them in their original running order, with their original artwork. As a bonus, two awesome extra tracks are included--also courtesy of a torrent, hosted by OldSkoolFan--that weren't included on the aforementioned MOOSE AND SQUIRREL discs. First up is another voice-over outtake session, this one coming from the pilot episode itself, the very first chapter of the very first story, "Jet Fuel Formula." Next comes a special demo done in 1998, and featuring the great June Foray, for a set of sound effects discs offered by Sound Ideas.

Finally, as this is now HEY, MOOSE & SQUIRREL disc three, the UPDATE link includes the newest material: re-made artwork, as well as a 30-minute interview from 1985 by radio host Bob Claster, with the great Bill Scott and June Foray. And if you see OSF somewhere around The Sphinx (maybe between the bar and the large fern in the corner), shout to him a hearty thanks!

LINK: We Salute You, Moosylvania!
UPDATE LINK: MOOSYLVANIA UPDATES

The Movie Monster Game (Epyx, 1986)

2011-09-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

I actually thought I owned, and knew about, every video game featuring Godzilla that was released in America....I was wrong! Aside from the ultra-rare TurboGrafix game (that I recently lost on Ebay, so I don't want to discuss it) I do own them all, now!

Enter Epyx's THE MOVIE MONSTER GAME, made for the Commodore 64 back in 1986. This game was actually licensed, and even though the title broadens the plot a bit, you can tell by the glorious painting on the cover that Godzilla is the star.

Although the King of the Monsters is the headliner here, you could also choose from parodies of other monster-archetypes that Epyx included, such as "The Glog," which is basically a big blob, but with a face. There's even a giant wasp, decades before Megaguirus, and a joke of the Ghostbusters marshmallow man...or maybe the Michelin tires man, now that I think about it.

I remember Commodore 64 as something I would play at a friend's house--he had the set-up where you would have to upload games from a cassette tape before you could play anything. As a child, I remember thinking my Atari was much more convenient!

Still though, I'm going to track down an emulator so I can play this game. Ah, floppy disks...I remember you well, but I don't miss you that much!

...Just PLEASE Stop Singing! (Leaping Fox)

2011-09-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

We've all seen the "bad songs" compilations, they are all over the place. In fact, when you think about it, we are surrounded by bad songs, all day long...you would never run out of compilations to make (and without bad songs, Radio Disney would be out of business...well, all of commercial radio I guess). But as the old song reminds us, "It's the singer, not the song." This got me exploring the realms of "bad" singing, and there are different kinds, of course.

Some people were convinced they were major talents. Take the case of Florence Foster Jenkins, the hideously untalented opera singer who was convinced that all of her bad reviews stemmed from jealousy. Later in her life, she got the chance to record some 78's of her "work," and one of those begins our collection here. Mrs. Miller falls into that category as well.

Some people were simply nuts, well, had real mental problems (Wild Man Fischer, Wesley Willis, and various others on this disc), and felt the need to sing, as well. Luckily for the rest of us, somebody realized their entertainment value, and recorded them.

And some, of course, tried to sing badly on purpose, which of course we call novelty records. There are some of those here as well.

You could look at this disc as a test of endurance, to put yourselves, co-workers, friends, and family through. I tried it, and the results are worthy of a Journal of Psychology article somewhere. Or you could also look at it as a celebration of dissonance, either way. I know opinions will be divided on some of my choices here.....I will definitely take some flack (flaack) for including Bruce Haack, as his fans are legion, but the sound of his voice makes my head vibrate in a bad way. The poor Shaggs were forced into their predicament by their power-mad father, and John Lennon's father thought he could simply croon a bit (or speak through it, actually) and, in doing so, siphon a bit of milk from the udder of Beatlemania. Both failed.

By the way, a few of these are "vanity" records, where you would pay a studio to record your work, or pay them to let you record it. In these cases, the songs never really made it to the public, originally, but have been preserved digitally for their "badness" that simply must be heard to be believed.

Even if you've run into some of these before, I did work on all of them to declick and improve the sound in some way. Look at it as "remastered badness," and marvel at the fact I use my free time in such a pointless way.

I think the painting of Ulysses, bound to the mast of his ship, enduring the singing of the sirens, is a perfect cover for this disc.

"Enjoy"!

LINK: PLEASE Make It STOP!

Presenting: THE CANTINA COMPENDIUM (2011)

2011-09-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

There is a certain site that is about to launch a "Star Wars" category, and I was saving this for them...however, I just can't wait anymore. Recently, I put the finishing touches on a 200-page book that focuses on one thing: the Mos Eisley Cantina, and everything about it...in its classic, original sense, that is!

As one of the most memorable and enduring scenes of one of the most successful films of all time, I wanted to collect all the information available, and I couldn't find where it had ever been done before.

The project actually began as more of a synthesis of information--my plan was to track down articles and other things that had been written, try to find every available photo, etc., and just collect them together. I started with a couple of articles, but I soon decided that I had to write the rest myself. The result was a much bigger project than I had imagined, and includes hundreds of photos. I also supplied many of my own screen shots and photos, and scanned the eight vintage Topps trading cards. [...why are there only eight, you ask? See Chapter 10!]

Chapters include the following: Designing the Cantina (exploring all versions of the script, as well as the actual filming), Mapping the Cantina (which is pretty much impossible, as you will see), Complete "Roll Call" of the Cantina (identifying all the aliens), The Cantina in Comics (including every portrayal of the scene), The History of Cantina Playsets, The Star Wars Holiday Special (an in-depth look at the one relevant scene, painful as it is), Appearances of the Cantina on Television (comedy shows and commercials), The Cantina Conspiracy (why the scene wasn't referred to in the first YEAR of Star Wars marketing), and Cantina Dioramas.
As you can imagine, copious research was required, and I included a Bibliography of most of the sources I used.

Let me just say here that many people would have banner ads, promoting a book like this, if they'd written it. Some would even go so far as to sell copies on Amazon or other sites. Me, I don't care. This is a completely unofficial work, and a good chunk of it are other people's words (three chapters, in fact!). I am not one to blow my own horn. I just wanted a project like this to exist, since I couldn't find anything remotely like it. I really planned for it to be an ongoing work---for example, the new Star Wars Insider (#128) includes a couple of new photos, as well as an excerpt from the new Blueprints book showing Mos Eisley! If Star Wars is really forever, then I guess this project will be as well. I hope it is enjoyed!

It's in PDF format, which should make for easy reading. Some sample pages are below (screen shots are a bit blurry for some reason):

LINK: THE CANTINA COMPENDIUM (2011)

All My FAILs continued...

2011-08-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

They simply don't make toys like they used to. We have fancier, better sculpted action figures, but made of cheaper materials. These three FAILs are my personal ones, and are items I have seen in stores just over the last several weeks! There is a huge headless problem going on!

I especially like the Star Wars one--it looks like Dooku cut his own head off with his lightsaber!

They've Done It To Me AGAIN!

2011-08-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

One of the most anticipated items of the year in my house was this upcoming Hasbro "Classic Avengers" three-pack. We had seen the pictures from previous Toy Fair, and were waiting until it finally hit stores. I knew I would have to buy at least two to placate everyone.
When I saw them begin to hit Ebay, I knew it was time...imagine the thrill to find ONE left at the local Wal-Mart. Well, the thrill didn't last long!

If you will reference my recent FAIL post, you'll see the Captain America fiasco...the one with two identical hands. Well, YOU explain the above photo to a very disappointed 7-year old Hulk Maniac!
Great Caesar's Ghost, Hasbro, is there no Quality Control anymore???? I remember a time when things were made in America!
Ironically, in both cases of same-handedness, it was impossible to see this until the product was opened! Captain America's shield was covering his wrong hand, and as you can see here, Hulk's left arm is covered up in the packaging:

Maybe this is how somebody at the factory gets their jollies....I don't know. Now I'm just waiting to find another one. Sigh.

a warning to us all...

2011-07-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

I was perusing some classic Kirby work on THOR when I ran across this. It's little moments; partial panels like this --a dystopian future poster--that really show how uncontained his genius really was, galloping like a thousand mad horses all over the page. It's no wonder he's my favorite.

HEY, MR. ULTRAMAN! (disc three: Ultra Themes 2004-2011) [Leaping Fox]

2011-07-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

Never let it be said that, here at The Sphinx, we don't finish what we start (we won't discuss my laundry, though...). As a citizen of the Internets, I too get frustrated to find cool downloads or projects that don't ever get completed! Course, life happens, so what are you gonna do?

Download this, that's what! Here's the conclusion of our featured series, which will take you from 2004's ULTRA Q: DARK FANTASY all the way up to this present minute, which, luckily, includes the brand-new series just launched in Japan, ULTRAMAN RETSUDEN (Ultraman Biographies).

And, to fill space--er, to nicely round out this last volume, that is--a couple of bonus tracks. Firstly, the Ultraman Zero theme. (But wait, you say, he doesn't have his own show! Well, neither did Seven21, but it's just not fair to leave either of them out.) Also, the theme to the animated short that preceded the 1999 Tiga movie. Yes, Ultra discs are brimming over with this sort of thing, congas and cha-chas sung by children, but blast it, this one is so infectious, I can't resist it...plus, I can't find it on any official discs, so I had to do it. But, why?! Because I can, that's why! Please enjoy!

LINK: Hey, Mr. Ultraman (disc three)

HEY, MR. ULTRAMAN! (disc two: Ultra Themes 1997-2001) [Leaping Fox]

2011-07-20T06:59:00.000-07:00

Here is disc two, compiling themes from Ultraman Dyna to Ultraman Cosmos, with an interesting bonus track I found on the Internets. The description said this was a producer who was working with the band V6. It gives the impression that he (or somebody) worked up this song, and then they transformed it into the theme for Ultraman Tiga. You can tell these are mostly dummy lyrics, (because goodness, I hope nobody would claim they were complete, or that this was a literal translation) but what strikes me is how cheesy the song becomes when it's not about Ultraman Tiga!

LINK: Hey, Mr. Ultraman! (disc two)

The 1969 TRUE Report on Flying Saucers!

2011-07-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

I found this cool Flying Saucer magazine from 1969 (by Fawcett) on a recent thrift store trip. Check out this interesting diagram, which I scanned below. It is supposedly an Air Force chart for different shapes and styles of reportedly-viewed flying saucers! Cool.

HEY, MR. ULTRAMAN! (disc one: Ultra Themes 1966-1996) [Leaping Fox]

2011-07-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Another Leaping Fox masterpiece, if I do say so myself! You can tell I'm proud of this one! It started like this: recently, I was thinking about the fact that of all the Ultraman CD's out there, you can't find one that really, truly showcases all of the fantastic theme music. Sure, you can find discs that give you too little or too much (waaaaaay too much), and the best examples I've found stop around 2003 or 2004. (Apparently the thing to do now is to crank out volumes of music for each show, so that individual soundtrack albums can be released!).

And then, as it dawned on me that 2011 is the 45th anniversary of the original Ultraman show, it just seemed like the time was right.

So basically, this is the first volume of an attempt to compile ALL of the themes from ALL of the many Ultraman shows, up to the present, in chronological order, which took a LOT more time and work than I thought it would! (By the way, I learned that Ultraman 80 was the first live-action series to use an ending theme, just thought I'd point that out!) Also included are their American incarnations, if any, including some very rare ones! Everything I did myself is ripped from DVD sources, too.

This first disc covers all the way to Ultraman Tiga. This period, to me, is the golden age of Ultraman Music. For a while there, recently, things got kind of nutty--Ultraman Nexus had TWO opening themes, and THREE different ending themes! But I love the orchestral, sprawling marches and spacey creativity of the 1960's and 1970's stuff. And it strikes me that I no idea, in most cases, what they are saying!

So enjoy--I always burn these without gaps between tracks, but either way you are looking at 77 minutes of Ultra-enjoyment. And yes, we end on a bit of a sour note (pun intended), as we remember the failed, mismanaged attempt to bring Ultraman Tiga to American airwaves in 2002. I keep hoping that one of these days, somebody will do it right, and the U.S. will again welcome Ultraman with open arms! After all, isn't it better than pretty much ANYTHING on television now???

LINK: HEY, MR. ULTRAMAN! (disc one)

Rocky & Bullwinkle Card Game (Ed-U Cards, 1962)

2011-07-09T14:50:00.000-07:00

Random Godzilla Goodness

2011-06-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

A few random items today. Finishing up the lobby cards (for now), we have a Mexican lobby card for GHIDRA THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER:

Below is a photo, horrible as it is, of a poster from Turkey. This is one of my favorites, and it's for INVASION OF ASTRO MONSTER (which is the only English on the poster). The King Ghidorah is truly stunning.

Below, the pressbook for YOG, MONSTER FROM SPACE (known internationally as SPACE AMOEBA). Pressbooks were sent to movie theaters to supply them with newspaper ads for reproduction, articles to run in their local papers, ideas for publicity campaigns, and also to show lobby cards and posters that were available for ordering. Often, they were cut to pieces, but luckily this one is intact! "SPEWED FROM INTERGALACTIC SPACE.....!"

Finally, another of my favorite pieces, a Godzilla (and building!) salt and pepper set. Believe it or not, it's an officially licensed Toho product! Those crazy Japanese; I love them dearly!

Crusader Rabbit (flea-market find)

2011-06-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Now here's something you don't see every day...check out this awesome 1950's frame-tray puzzle that I found last weekend. It's Crusader Rabbit, which, in case you don't know, was not only the first (arguably) animated series on television, but also the first Jay Ward series, and a precursor to Rocky and Bullwinkle! I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to buy it.

The Kenner 100 Club

2011-06-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I was re-organizing the top shelf of a display case I have, which contains a full set of vintage Kenner Star Wars action figures. I was putting them on risers made of clear acrylic (which are actually spice racks/cabinet organizers, and are sold at Container Stores and other such places), and I was amazed how dust can get around the tiny crevices at the doors on both sides of the case. I stopped to take this picture before replacing them, and it got me thinking--I think there should be a list somewhere for folks who own complete sets. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are thousands of folks who do, all over the world. After all, they made zillions of Star Wars figures, but how many ended up lost, stolen, or sold? I'm proud of my set, and very blessed to say I haven't ever had to sell them, although I had a couple of near-disasters where I thought I'd have to! Anyway, if you are with me, and want to join the "Kenner 100 Club*," drop me a line. I would think some photographic proof would be appropriate, so don't forget to send a picture.

*There's a bit of argument sometimes as to exactly how many there were, because of some variables, but I always get exactly 100 every time I've counted (and I'm not counting paint variations here). Some people don't count Blue Snaggletooth, some don't count Yak Face (because he wasn't technically sold in the USA), and I've even seen some disregard the Max Rebo Band 3-pack, but good grief, they are all Kenner Star Wars Action Figures.

Godzilla Lobby Cards, part xxViXCiii

2011-06-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

At this point, I have no idea what part I'm on, and I never should've tried to number them.
Anyway, here are a couple more American lobby cards from the greatest film ever made.

Mr. T and the Hang Glider Adventure (CBS Toys, 1984)

2011-06-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

And then, there's this.
Yes, Mr. T had an animated series about this time, and yes, apparently that's what they were trying to capitalize on here...I can't decide if it's laughable or commendable that Mr. T actually doesn't speak in this "adventure," and the narrator just talks for him. It's probably for the best, seeing as how their only option would've been to try to hire a sound-alike, and it would've been even more hilarious.
The moral here goes like this: "Kids, remember that stunt men who fly hang gliders in movies are specially trained to do this. Never, never simply grab a random hang glider you see and leap off of a cliff."
I don't remember a problem in the 80's with children wandering onto movie sets, but hey, there you go. Public service performed, and I pity the fool who tries it.
The real cringe-worthy item here is the B-side, where instead of an adventure, we are treated to a song. Not just any song, mind you, but a sappy, over-dramatized, downright maudlin ode to imaginary friends. I think. Sounding like the theme to a late-70's ABC "After-School Special," or perhaps elevator music you might have heard in Liberace's house, this one is sure to be heard once by you--just because you have to--and never played again.

LINK: Hang Glider Adventure

Superman in The Flying Firefighter (CBS Toys, 1983)

2011-06-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of oddities I recently found. In the late 70's and early 80's, when kids had record players, there was a device combining a turntable with a filmstrip projector (which you can see in the photo above) called a SHOW'N TELL. We had a mess of these things, and in fact, I think my sister still has the player at her house...which reminds me, I gotta ask her about that.
Anyhow, the A-side of these records included a filmstrip that was automatically advanced as the record played. I recently found two of these bizarro gems in my travels, and I've converted them for your listening pleasure, as well as scanned the covers, the discs themselves, and even the filmstrip (which, if you blow up the photo enough, makes it almost possible to follow along...almost).
First up is SUPERMAN IN THE FLYING FIREFIGHTER, reminding all children in burning buildings that firemen aren't scary aliens. No, really, that's the entire point of this story. You'll see.
The B-sides of these things were often filler, and unrelated to the A-side. Often, they were sort of clever activity "adventure" stories designed for kids to play along with as they listened, as is the case here. Of course, like many things, I'm sure this worked better on paper than in reality...if you remember (like me) trying to stomp around your room with the turntable going, it usually sent the needle skipping all over the place!

LINK: The Flying Firefighter

Godzilla Lobby Cards, continued

2011-06-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

More lobby cards for your viewing pleasure today:

Poor Angilas gets ambushed in this one from GIGANTIS, THE FIRE MONSTER (1959, U.S. version of GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN).

Here's an American lobby card from the either maligned-or-praised GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER (Me, I LOVE it! In fact, this one is very high on my list, and in my top five favorite Godzilla movies!)

An exciting Spanish lobby card for PLANETARY TITANS, er, excuse me, GODZILLA VS. MEGALON. By the way, that's another film that's both loved and hated (and also in the "love" category for me)! Spanish lobby cards seem to very often have the picture-within-a-picture format.

And finally today, we have another American card, for KING KONG ESCAPES (1968). Nope, it's not a Godzilla movie, but it IS a Toho Classic, directed by Ishiro Honda, and includes a Gorosaurus death scene at Kong's hairy hands, as well as a Sea Serpent sometimes mistaken for Manda!

NEW: Godzilla Chronology of Comics in the U.S.

2011-06-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

I have added a tab to this page (accessible above) called GODZILLA - CHRONOLOGY OF AMERICAN COMICS. I've been finishing my personal collection, and I haven't found one single source on all of the Internets that has 100% of the information. In fact, if I'm missing anything that you know of, please drop me a line, and I'll add it. I hope everyone's enjoying the new IDW series, which has just kicked into high gear. The first two issues have just had a second printing, so sales are obviously good.
Some comics have minimal Godzilla material. For example, there's a comic called SAN DIEGO COMIC CON COMICS #1, and you could only get it at that particular convention in 1992. Anyway, it includes many pages of things I'm not interested in, and then suddenly, one lone pin-up, done by Art Adams. If you don't want to track it down, here's the page in question:

Anyhow, I hope this list is a good resource for those searching for information (and I hope somebody updates the Wikipedia article as well. It's an excellent article, but not quite complete).

Empire Strikes Back Lobby Card (1980)

2011-05-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

The Sphinx re-opens once again, this time I have an oddball entry for you. This is a lobby card for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and it's a really cool semi-off-screen shot of the Rebel base hangar on Hoth. I love this picture--there are lots of neat details to see. It almost quallifies as a behind-the-scenes shot: is the person tending to the astromech droid, or setting up a prop for filming? There's a Treadwell droid and lots of other cool details to see as well. Also, there's an interesting bit in the fine print that says something along the lines of "This lobby card must be destroyed"! Indeed!

HEY, MOOSE & SQUIRREL! (Leaping Fox)

2011-05-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well, The Sphinx is about to be closed again for a short time, as I undertake and embark on another vacation, but to tide you over until she re-opens, here's yet another in the unending series of HEY, MR. SPACEMAN discs. A year ago, I posted some tracks I'd gleaned, namely some Jay Ward Production Music. This batch included some random Rocky & Bullwinkle tracks, as well as a lovely reel of voice-over outtakes. I decided it was time to organize this material, enhance it, add tracks from my own collection, and make a definitive soundtrack/tribute to this greatest of all animated series.

Firstly, I organized what I had. There were some real gems in the Production Music, but some real glaring omissions as well. The first disc begins with the original season of the show, then named ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS. What you have essentially is a soundtrack to what would become a much-repeated format: Rocky and Bullwinkle segments, interspersed with Peabody's Improbable History and Fractured Fairy Tales. I should point out that the DVD releases--and thank goodness we have them--altered these openings. Both are included. And don't forget the original sponsor, General Mills cereals! (Makers of better breakfases.) They are back to stay, as well...not to mention one of the early ads for Trix cereal, which our boys presented, and sang, themselves!

Then came other iterations, and other networks! Season 2's opening is also included, and the Big "G" returns as well. Compare and contrast! Of course, many people (myself included) are familiar with television viewings of the show as it's last incarnation--THE BULLWINKLE SHOW--and that's covered here as well.

The tracks on the before were in no particular order--and upon later listenings, I noticed many "live tracks," introduced by Bill Scott no less. Was this a celebration held at Jay Ward HQ? Was it a proposed live album that never materialized? Who knows, but I've organized them here where they are all together. The crowd sounds small--perhaps wives and families, who knows--but still jubilant. Then again, maybe it was a rally for Moosylvania Statehood!UPDATE: This mystery has been solved; see post entitled "A SALUTE TO MOOSYLVANIA"!

Moving on, a few years ago I discovered Joe Piscopo's 1985 album called NEW JERSEY, where he showcased Bill Scott and June Foray in several clever cameos. They are included here, as well as an audio history of Rocky & Bullwinkle in video games and pinball....and what of random songs celebrating our heroes? We need a good spot to include these....this will do nicely.

Disc two opens with 1961's classic album by Golden Records, called ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS. I de-noised and EQed this anonymous vinyl rip. It may have seemed a bit cheesy to include some audio from the show's soundtrack, but remember, this was way before home video, and it was a way to relive great segments in the comfort of your own home! Add to that stunning voicework by Scott, Foray, Paul Frees, and Walter Tetley, and you have a winner that certainly deserves inclusion here.So what about that stunning, nearly 15-minute reel of candid voiceover outtake moments between Bill Scott, June Foray, William Conrad, and Paul Frees? It's here too, new and improved, as well as the just-released, altogether different, reel of "Goof Gas" outtakes from the last volume of the DVD. That Paul Frees sure knew how to get the proverbial goat of his co-workers!

And finally, no space would be filled quite so well without the inclusion of some of the "other" music to the "other" Jay Ward shows. Which ones, you ask? Why, none "other" than FRACTURED FLICKERS, HOPPITY HOOPER (release this on DVD! release this on DVD!), GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, and DUDLEY DO-RIGHT (what? I thought this was originally part of Rocky & Bullwinkle! Nay, nay, stout viewer!)And thus brings to a close our tribute---but wait, there's more! Intrepid downloaders will notice a folder with some bonus material, which includes artwork, scans of a 1962 Little Golden book about Bullwinkle, AND papercraft models of our heroes and villains, which you can print and assemble! Truly, it's a great day to be alive!

LINK: HEY, MOOSE & SQUIRREL (2 discs)

Re-post Alert: HEY, MR. SPACEMAN II (Uncle Jeff)

2011-05-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Just a footnote to say that HEY, MR. SPACEMAN, volume II has been reposted. No rhyme or reason as to when Megaupload links go belly-up, but if you don't want to dig up the original post (where I've corrected the link), here's a shortcut:
Hey, Mr. Spaceman volume II (Uncle Jeff)

Godzilla Lobby Cards, part 1

2011-05-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

And now we come to the Lobby Card area of the Collectibles Storage-Unit that I call a house. On this part of our tour, we will look at a few vintage Godzilla lobby cards. All of these are framed, which explains the matte around them. This first one is from my favorite film, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. It's a non-movie paste-up that Toho was good at doing, and they got seven monsters AND a UFO in one scene!

Here's a Mexican lobby card for GHIDRA THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER. Mexican lobby cards are prized for their unique artwork and vibrant colors, as well as being primers in Spanish for the uninitiated. You can keep your Mona Lisas and your one-eared Van Goghs...this is one of the most beautiful works of art I've ever seen.

You may know it as MONSTER ZERO, but it's INVASION OF THE ASTRO MONSTER in some parts of the world. This Mexican lobby card is not only gorgeous, and not only includes the scene of kaiju being transported in UFO bubbles, but it contains the word "vomitando" which, in my childishness, cracks me up endlessly.

BRONZE-AGE GAMESHOWS (Leaping Fox)

2011-04-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

Classic game show themes are hard to place within a single, musical style--they could be loungey, funky, big-band swing, electronic, or some combination of all of these. I have menioned before the wonderful website repository called The Museum of Television Production Music, and you can find these tracks--and many more--at that very site, but not ripped, accessible, and enhanced as you see them before you now. I culled this disc from over two hours of music I got from the site, added one track that was absent, did a little minor audio work, and here is the result.
Of course, "Bronze Age" is a descriptive term used for comic-book eras, but I found lots of similarities in that method of dating, as many shows represented here are from the 1970's anyway. Another interesting thing is how, on certain shows, you may hear 30 seconds or a minute of a theme, and as this collection will show you, quite often, they go on much longer than that (usually in a very interesting way, with the exception of the "Starcade" theme, which is five...minutes...of...the...same...thing.
I won't make a hard sell here. Either this interests you or not, but if you are a fan of early synthesizers, classic television, or catchy tunes, it's for you.
LINK: <REMOVED TO COMPLY WITH REQUEST FROM OWNER>

Godzilla Collection part 2

2011-04-25T12:04:00.001-07:00

Before we get to another original compilation disc (yes, another), time now for part 2 of my gallery of original American Godzilla movie posters!

Pardon the string bass, but here is the stunning artwork for what I daily refer to as my favorite film of all time, 1968's monster slug-fest, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. Where else can you see eleven, count them, ELEVEN of Toho's finest in one place? One interesting thing about this poster is how some of the monsters are spot-on, and some are sort of improvised--namely Godzilla and Minya! Squint, and you will notice blood dripping from Angilas' claws!

I always knew this film as GODZILLA vs. GIGAN (1972), but here in the U.S. it was released as GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND, which is actually now the rarer title card. I like the comic-book-paradigm of making one character huge and grabbing others, but as the movie features an amusement park with a giant observation tower in the shape of Godzilla, this art works both ways!

And here we have the much-maligned GODZILLA vs. MEGALON from 1973. Here each monster is perched atop one of the Twin Towers, which is a complete misleading of anyone heading into the movie theater. Helicopters swarm around the foes like flies, and the air is filled with explosions. I am not ashamed to say it, I love this film, and I love this poster.
Yes, there are better Godzilla films, but it's fun! And that's what's missing from many of the later films.

Skipping all the way up to GODZILLA 2000, we find the last Godzilla film to play in American theaters, and the first poster in my collection that is double-sided (with a reverse image on the other side, since posters are intended to be displayed in light boxes.)

Next time around, we'll look at some various lobby cards from all over the place.

Godzilla Collection part 1

2011-04-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

It was time for a face-lift, I figured.

And now for another article on the various Godzilla collectibles I have found over the years. I have seven original, theatrical Godzilla movie posters framed throughout my house. Not only are they historical, very cool, and full of great art and graphics, but I love the thought that these actually were used in movie theaters across the US when these films were released.

This 1959 poster for GIGANTIS, THE FIRE MONSTER is the oldest one I own. Sure, it's a far cry (and four years) from GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN, but it's the only way we got the film in the United States. I love the red-on-black, almost woodcut imagery. Sure, they would be the best of friends later, but when they first met, Godzilla and Angilas went to the mat!

Another stark image, this time black-on-yellow, is this poster for 1964's GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER. Ah, the first appearance of my very favorite Toho monster. At least, my favorite of Godzilla's foes. This is one of the all-time great Toho films, the best part being where Mothra convinces Godzilla and Rodan that they should work together to defeat Ghidrah. The defeat was so humiliating that Ghidrah had to change his name from the shame of it, although all he did was add a letter "O," as if no one would notice.

And then there was the summer of love in 1967, and the psychedellic, pop-art feel of the times was perfectly expressed in the poster for SON OF GODZILLA. ("Roar!") This one is really a conversation piece, and everyone that sees it can't help but really like it. Godzilla's hands are huge, and the jungle girl swinging on the vine is almost invisible because of the interesting layout--as you are looking at the poster, she just emerges all of the sudden. Movie posters as a rule are 27"x41", but this one was an inch or so bigger all the way around and had to be custom-framed.

More sloppy photographs of great posters to come!

All My Personal FAILs

2011-03-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

FAIL as a meme of the Internets makes me laugh. In fact, I guess I will never get tired of it. Probably because we are all surrounded by so much FAIL in everyday life, and it just serves as some sort of philosophical reminder that we will never attain perfection.

As for my own self, I have submitted a few of my real-life encounters with FAIL to the official source, and I thought I would share them here (in no particular order of FAILness):

1) Vending Machine Card Game FAIL

This is one that I found in a deck of cards I bought out of a vending machine in a pizza parlor several years ago. What I don't know is whether I still have the game or not, someplace. This one always cracked me up, and actually predates the FAIL phenomenon.

2) Disgusting Moldy Cheese FAIL

So they open a brand-new store in my town, and I rush in to see the newness: the shiny aisles, the clean floors...and this cheese on the very front of the peg. Bleah.

3) Toy Tag FAIL

And in that SAME store, many months later, I found this in the dollar section. I noticed the other day that it has since been corrected.

4) Website Calendar FAIL

And the other day, while trying to get into a website I use at work, I was greeted with the revelation that it was indeed the year 1 B.C.

5) Action Figure FAIL

This is my particular favorite. Packaged with his mighty shield covering his other arm, we know now what Captain America has been trying to hide all these years by carrying it! The painful scorn of being born with two left hands. Word is, the new Hollywood movie is going to use CGI to portray this, as they had no luck with casting calls.

But seriously, I have heard of quality control, but this is ridiculous. Imagine your seven-year-old opening this in the backseat while you are trying to drive:

"Dad, something's wrong with his hand!"

"I'm driving; let your brother fix it!"

"Yeah, let me...uh....um..."

STAR WORN (Leaping Fox) Celebrating 1977-79

2011-03-07T12:03:00.000-08:00

MAN, do I hate to eclipse my new Godzilla compilation, and bump it off the top of this blog....but I couldn't contain myself any longer. I am coming to the end of my new compilation discs, but here's one of the best I have ever done.

First off, this isn't really about the Prequels--whether anybody likes them or not. Nor is it about Mr. Lucas' current mental state, management style, or creative ideas for better or worse--no matter what the opinion may be. Nor is it really about the fact that the longer Star Wars lasts, the more convoluted it becomes...

Heck, I may agree with you on these topics, and I may not. But either way, I'll admit that I'm something of a Star Wars purist, and it was all these areas of contention I just mentioned that led me to this project. The whole point of this thing is to remember and celebrate a much simpler time. A much cheesier, more innocent, simpler time, namely 1977 and the couple of years that followed it, as Star Wars spread into popular consciousness. In short, it was a much more fun time. (For the younger readers, it was a time that, if you wanted to re-live a movie you had seen in the theater, you couldn't. You couldn't rent it, record it, buy it, or stream it to your smart phone. Your choices were a Super-8 film reel of excerpts, or a "Story of Star Wars" read-along LP. Record. As in vinyl.)

I really wanted to bring back some of that sense of wonderment, so I took some items I had, researched a few more and dug them up. What started as just a Star Wars compilation disc quickly turned into a fever dream of a slice of what childhood was like in those halcyon days.

At first, I couldn't cram it all in. Then, a second incarnation of the project was to form an alternate Star Wars soundtrack from various cover albums, but that didn't really tell the whole story. It was only after I began adding tributes and crazy cash-in songs from that time period that the disc really began to flow, and the late 70's began to make its presence known.

So, interspersed with a cadre of original radio ads (the likes of which are no longer seen in our modern era) are both types of music: reworkings of the famous John Williams soundtrack from the likes of The Electric Moog Orchestra, Patrick Gleeson, Meco (more on him later) and others, as well as funky, disco-y insanity that my childhood was full of--some in loving tribute, and some trying desperately to siphon a little milk off of the cash cow that was Star Wars. Mixed in with THAT you get some amazing Star Wars appearances in the unlikliest of places, including television shows of all sorts, advertisements, and even Sesame Street.

My point was to stay away from 1980 as much as possible. Not to preclude what may be the best film in the original trilogy, but to stay on target (sorry) and dwell only upon the first (hence no Muppet Show). In fact, everything here is from those first couple of years, with the exception of a track from a 1980 vanity-pressed family band LP called The Bordens (which must have been their name...you know, like Van Halen), performing my favorite cover of the Star Wars theme. Sure, you can laugh at their cheesy family portrait on the cover, but inside you secretly wish that, growing up, you and your family would have rocked out that bloody hard together, instead of watching Family Feud reruns at night after sharing some Swanson's Salisbury Steak TV dinners, and hoping for another game of Sorry before bedtime.

Oh, and now a postscript about Meco. Why didn't I include his entire classic "Star Wars" side, opting instead for only an excerpt? Once you get to Track 14, you will understand. I have no idea if something called "Galaxy 42" (which sounds like a misplaced Douglas Adams reference) simply bought his backing track, rented, leased, or just stole it, but I'm pretty sure they are using it. Exactly. So in the end, including Meco's would have caused too much redundancy, and left out this rare and confusing little gem.

Enjoy! Everything's been improved in some way. Be sure to burn with ZERO seconds between tracks.

LINK: STAR WORN

DIE, KAIJU! volume 2: BIG G CEREAL (Leaping Fox)

2011-03-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

They keep on coming, as fast as I can upload them! Another collection I've been dying to assemble, this my second volume of giant monster songs, focusing here on Godzilla, one of my favorite subjects!

All tracks are trimmed (for burning with zero seconds between tracks, by the way, making the compilation flow better) and enhanced in some way (such as declicked/denoised, you name it). Heck, I even did a painting for the cover! It's a package deal.

Interestingly, I could have made an entire disc out of songs simply titled "Godzilla." I could have nearly made an entire disc of Blue Oyster Cult covers--but most of them are rotten. I have, however, included my favorite one here, by Fu Manchu, at the beginning, which is pretty much awesome.

And, in the "random trivia" category, there's an awful track on here by Attila, which is pretty much four minutes of noodling between an organ and a drum set. As it turns out, Attila was a failed two-man "band" that happened to include a young Billy Joel, who would later go on to become a hugely successful drunk.

Also of note herein is the great Neil Innes, a dance version of "Save the Earth" from GODZILLA vs. THE SMOG MONSTER, a little disco, the obligatory MST3K bit, lots of techno, and as a bonus, the extremely rare title track to GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE, by The Moons. This is the entire record, and not simply the snippet lifted from the film's credits.

Enjoy, because this may be the best one yet!

Track Listing:

1) Godzilla Original 1954 Roars
2) Fu Manchu - Godzilla (1999)
3) The Creatures - Godzilla! (2003)
4) Vaski - Godzilla (2009)
5) The Tailgators - Godzilla (1990)
6) Jad & David Fair - Godzilla (1998)
7) Neil Innes & The World - Godzilla's Return (1970)
8) Atom Troy - Save the Earth (1996)
9) Attila - Amplifier Fire (Part 1 - Godzilla) 1970
10) Argentenmusik - Godzilla Twist
11) Jimmy Castor - Godzilla (1985)
12) MST3K - Godzilla Genealogy Bop (1991)
13) Atom Troy - Nuklear Blast (1996)
14) Neil Norman's Cosmic Orchestra - Theme From Godzilla (1994)
15) Kraddy - Godzilla (2005)
16) Godzilla's Coming To Town Monster Mix (1992)
17) The Barbarellatones - The Return of Mothra (2006)
18) Daikaiju - The Trouble With Those Mothra Girls (2005)
19) The Peanuts - Mothra (1961)
20) Feederz - Mothra (2002)
21) Jad & David Fair - Rodan (1998)
22) The Moons - Gammera (1966)

LINK: BIG G CEREAL

My Excitement Can Hardly Be Contained...

2011-02-28T13:39:00.000-08:00

In case you've been living under the proverbial rock--or possibly you don't care--either way, you may not know that the comics company IDW (famous for their line of Transformers & Doctor Who comics, just to name two) are launching the third-ever American Godzilla comic.

Changing the title from the not-bad MONSTER WORLD to the even cooler KINGDOM OF MONSTERS, the title is set to be launched in March. Let's hope that the third time is a charm for the Big G. One HUGE (pun intended) thing this comic has in its favor is the permission to use OTHER TOHO MONSTERS. Yep, no need to invent one! Kudos to both Marvel and Dark Horse, as both of their Godzilla comics were good in their own way, but I think this one is poised to blow them out of the water. Just check out the first three covers and try not to get extremely excited. The Angilas cover to the third issue is stunning!

Boba Fettucini - Godzilla, King of the Breakbeats (2006, Mon Mothma)

2011-02-28T10:53:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered this one, and I had to dig deep to find a store that still had a vinyl copy for sale (which is how DJ "battle records" are released, which is what this is, so no CD's apparently). This is a newly opened vinyl copy, ripped on the first play, enhanced, and ready for your enjoyment.

This is a short (both sides are 16 minutes each) but entertaining foray into Godzilladom--which is a land I sort of live in--with ample quotes from KING OF THE MONSTERS, GODZILLA'S REVENGE, with a little MONSTER ZERO and TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA thrown in, as well as a few other surprises. I also scanned the back cover and the record label, which is really cool.

Nothing makes my day more than a knowledgable Godzilla fan's audio creation, and I hope you will enjoy it too! If you do, you are my kind of people.

LINK: Up From the Depths!

HEY, MR. SUPERHEROMAN: the sequel (Leaping Fox)

2011-02-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well! Calling all True-Believers: After a couple more years of collecting, as well as scouring the four (million) corners of the Internets, I found I had ample material for a follow-up to the kindly-complimented HEY, MR. SUPERHEROMAN discs. This is a disc overflowing with rarity and sharity, and I hope it's also widely enjoyed!

There's not much else I can say, except dig in. As usual, everything here has been declicked, denoised, trimmed, and enhanced in some way (by the way, I should point out that I intend for these things to be burned with zero seconds between tracks, it works better that way!). And look for more great compilations here shortly!

LINK: Nobody Loves the Hulk!

Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia (1960) and Songs By Tom Lehrer (1966 remake)

2011-02-22T12:08:00.001-08:00

POST #100: So, you have the REMAINS OF TOM LEHRER boxed set, and you also have my 3-disc remastered version of TOM LEHRER RARITIES (available below)...what else are you missing to "have it all"?
Just this. This is a 2-for-1 package made by Neilytones, which Mr. Neilytone himself was kind enough to send to me, and I indicated to him I would be sharing it with the Lehrer fans who trapse through here! If you have any of their other releases, you know that they are always excellent, and this one continues the tradition.
These are the two rarest Tom Lehrer albums out there. You can find an LP of his 1966 remake of his first album, SONGS BY TOM LEHRER, but it's never been officially released on CD, and it never will, since Mr. Lehrer considers them inferior versions of these songs, what with little lyric changes and updates he made here and there.
However, one album you will NOT find in used shops, online auctions, or bit-torrent download sites is the second part of this disc. TOM LEHRER DISCOVERS AUSTRALIA was a live album recorded just for that country, from his tour there. While the songs are pretty much the same--and half of them were included on the AMERICAN version of TOM LEHRER REVISITED*--the introductions and monologues he did especially for the very responsive Australian audiences are purely delightful, making this essential to own.
Indeed, I was going to incorporate these albums into my RARITIES set, but as they stand on their own so well, and as this is such a high-caliber release, there really was no need!
*Not to muddy the water, but the official CD release of TOM LEHRER REVISITED was the Decca one, recorded entirely at MIT. If this makes your head hurt, don't worry. With DISCOVERS AUSTRALIA, you have it all.

LINK: Neilytone Goodness

VOICES OF THE DEAD - The Evolution of Recorded Sound (Leaping Fox)

2011-02-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, I get interested in something audio-related, and begin researching it...then, I start collecting, converting, and piling up files...then, I find myself cleaning up, declicking/denoising, and remastering these files...then, before I even know it, I'm making artwork, and I have another Leaping Fox compilation to share on this blog!
A recent interest was the history of recorded sound: did it begin with Edision? A long while back, I posted a couple of "oldest recording ever" files on this blog, and it was pointed out to me in the Comments that there were more to consider. Mark my words: what follows is the worst sound quality of any disc you will ever download here--but also the most historically important. I've done my best to improve each track (and some are just beyond help), and many are dramatically improved.
What follows are some unofficial liner-notes for this disc. Interested parties are encouraged to mine the Internets for further information. Oh, and before we get started, the rather morbid title actually comes from a quote from the Scientific American in 1877, when Edison provided them with a live demonstration of his new invention. This quote is included in the artwork, too.

1-5) PHONAUTOGRAMS: 1859-60
In the 1850's, a Frenchman with about seven names invented a device whose sole purpose was to make a physical picture of sound. The Phonautogram had some sort of diaphragm that moved when you spoke into it, and vibrated a bristle, which in turn made marks on a piece of smoked paper (or later wax, I believe). Anyhow, the whole point was to illustrate that sound had a shape, but it's important to point out that these recordings (a loose term here) were not meant to be played back...indeed, it wasn't possible, until a few years ago, when some clever scientists figured out a way. The result is less than stellar, but how many sounds from BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR have you heard today?
6) ENTER EDISON
Meanwhile, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, and sort of forgot about it for a while during the development of the incandescent lightbulb. This clip is from a speech he gave in the 1920's, retelling the famous first words he recited, about Mary's lamb. Strangely, I read on two sites that his first recordings--done on tinfoil by the way--did not survive, and could not be played very many times anyhow, yet I was surprised to find the snippet I put at the end of this track. The owner claimed it was the real 1877 recording, but I am prone to believe it could easily be a re-enactment from a childrens' record or something. At any rate, it helps us imagine that breakthrough day in 1877.
7) CHARLES BACHELOR PHONAUTOGRAPH (1878)
Here's a strange track. Edison sent this guy to record the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad in New York City, because of local noise complaints, and use the Phonautograph (maybe Edison's version?) to chart the noise level. Why is this important? Because technically, it's the first "recorded" American sound in existence. You have to use your imagination to really hear a train here...sounds like crap to me.
8) FRANK LAMBERT'S TALKING CLOCK EXPERIMENTS (1878)
1878 was a busy year in sound development. Meanwhile, this guy was trying to develop a talking clock (which supposedly used a disc instead of an Edisonian cylinder), as if a clock wasn't complicated enough on its own. Right in the middle of this recording, you can hear him listing off the times ("four o'clock, five o'clock, six...") and then the recording returns to what sounds like avante garde Yoko Ono sound collage.
9-25) VARIOUS EDISON WAX CYLINDERS
So, from the late 1870's until the late 1920's ( ! ), Edison cylinders were the primary method of recorded entertainment. After that--well, there was the Great Depression--but after THAT, an explosion of technology began, resulting in the insane abilities we have today. What still amazes me was this factoid I read: the wax cylinders were difficult to reproduce beyond 20-30 times, and singers and comedians would often hang around, recording numerous takes of the same material over and over!
There were thousands of cylinders produced, and this last chunk of material shows you what some of the popular recordings of the day were like. It includes a 4,000-voice choir with the first music ever recorded (Track 9), military band songs (Track 17), vaudeville routines (Track 18), Big Band songs (Tracks 19, 21, 24), and lots of speeches from famous figures. Some were commercially available, such as Florence Nightingale, and Teddy Roosevelt's dull but squeaky ramblings, and some were personal messages to Edison--who thought his phonograph would revise the art of letter-writing--such as the one from Sir Arthur Sullivan. Other famous figures you will hear from include P.T. Barnum, Robert Browning (who can't remember his own poem), and the first U.S. President ever recorded (that survives today), Benjamin Harrison. There's a fascinating store demo cylinder called "I Am the Edison Phonograph," as well as a rare personal message recorded by Edison himself about our boys that came home from World War I.
Anyhow, enough prattling, here's the most historically-relevant disc you will download today, guaranteed. Artwork included!

LINK: Mary Had A Little Lamb

TOM LEHRER RARITIES revisited (Leaping Fox)

2010-12-22T06:47:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS, world!
I was really, really underwhelmed with the "Tom Lehrer Rarities" disc I did a while back, and I badly wanted to re-do it. It was a quickie project...and then over the next couple of years, as new stuff was unearthed, and other, unknown stuff appeared from various sources, it became a desperate, singular mission of utmost importance!
So then, here's what happened. I have assembled every scrap of TL goodness that's "out there" and remastered it...every track has been boosted, run through filters of various kinds, and overhauled in some way. In short, the one disc of rare goodness is now THREE discs of unbelievable happiness!
Does this mean everything sounds excellent? Of course not! Given what shape many of these recordings were in (I mean, somebody set up a reel-to-reel recorder in a corner of an auditorium in 1951 to capture "The Physical Revue," after all!), miracles can't be worked on some of these...but in the case of "Revue," I can now understand the words more clearly, so it's a huge improvement! (And the first 25 seconds or so still has tape damage of the magnetic kind, so nothing could be done about that!) Everything has been re-sourced and cleaned up, and even speed-corrected where needed. (There was one Frost track that was waaaay too fast, for example). Anyhow, there's nothing else like this on the entirity of the Internets, and thanks to everyone who made this possible! Therefore, if anything, let this be three things:
1) A not-for-sale tribute to the man himself,
2) A way to have every TL recording possible, [if you own the 2000 "Remains" boxed set AND the two out-of-print LPs "Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia" and the 1966 stereo remake LP "Songs by Tom Lehrer" you have it "all"] and, finally,
3) A Christmas gift to the world!
So is there more out there? Of course! (A future post will discuss this.) But rest assured that if it ever surfaces, it will be added in the future!
Not-Too-Shabby Artwork (made for clear jewel-cases with snazzy inlays!) is included in each archive!
Stay demented, folks.

Tom Lehrer Rarities Disc 1

Tom Lehrer Rarities Disc 2

Tom Lehrer Rarities Disc 3

Original Rocky and Bullwinkle Outtakes Discovered!

2010-06-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

There's an incredible website called [name deleted], and on it are 50+ tracks of music from Rocky & Bullwinkle, Hoppity Hooper, and other Jay Ward shows.

But best of all is the 15-minute tape of outtakes from voice-over sessions! You will hear Paul Frees, June Foray, Bill Scott, and William Conrad having a reallly swell time!

Here's the whole bundle, enjoy!

NOTE: This material has been organized, cleaned up, and enhanced with other tracks. See post entitled "HEY MOOSE & SQUIRREL"!

LINK: Now here's something we hope you'll REALLY like!

MOVIE-WHEELS: Huckleberry Hound & Yogi Bear (1960)

2010-05-23T20:19:00.001-07:00

Here's a really interesting thrift-store find I shelled out seven bucks for this week, and it's something I never knew existed. This is a product called "Movie-Wheels" that is a book-and-record set with the book built in. Actually, there's a wheel built into the cover that the user is cued to turn during the story, and a window allows for a slide-show of about 16 or so pictures to be viewed as you listen! The process is then repeated on side two, for both the record as well as the illustrations! This was a very clever item, and apparently there were others: a Felix the Cat one was recently spotted on Ebay.
Another thing that fascinated me about this item were the credits. Who would you expect to see listed doing the voices? Daws Butler, maybe? Try Jack Mercer of Popeye fame...yep, you heard me right. Mercer does his best here with what he's given, but to my ear just doesn't pull it off. But then again, could Butler voice Popeye, really? Well, maybe he could've, come to think of it...
Yet another interesting part of this are the 1960-style superlatives that the cover is littered with: "PLAY! HEAR! SEE! FUN! AMAZING NEW HI-FI THEATRE! THRILLING ACTION ENTERTAINMENT IN FULL HI-FI SOUND!" I don't know how thrilling hi-fi sound should have been at the time, but Ben-Hur this isn't. In fact, I found the recording to be tinny and filtery, and this was long before I de-clicked it, in case you're wondering. Also, it's a bit sloppy around the edges. Lest you think I was a bit abrupt at the controls, the ending music really does cut off like that on the actual record!
Not only does the cover boast "AS SEEN AND HEARD ON TV" (Imagine Billy Mays hawking this one circa 1960), but also--and this is important for Junior's educational upbringing--"AUTHENTIC SOUNDS of Count-Down, Missle [sic] Launching Satellite in Outer Space, Courtesy of UNITED STATES AIR FORCE"...Don't worry, that phrase makes no more sense to me, either, and it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment to be sure...but it still warranted a plug on the cover!
Lastly, the detailed instructions (for dull, Cold War-era, unsophisticated kids) state that "This MOVIE-WHEEL contains a non-toxic, unbreakable Hi-Fi miniature LP record!" In layman's terms, sans hyperbole, we call this a "flexi-disc," and that's all it is. This is something like referring to an ice cube as a "scientifically modified refrigerated hydroxide cuboid," but you can't fool kids so easily today, now can you?
As always, I took great care to convert, de-click, de-noise, and trim this one, so enjoy!

LINK: Popeye Does Huck & Yogi!

1968 Destroy All Monsters Ad Slick

2009-10-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

Another great collecting find came in today's mail. A while back, I posted some ad slicks from the 1970's from a series of summer matinees, among them my all-time favorite film, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. I was lucky enough to score an original ad slick for the film's 1968 U.S. release, scanned below for your enjoyment. My two favorite parts are the top left ad's tagline of a nonsensical 'The MONSTERS are in REVOLT DESTRUCTION!" (whatever that is supposed to mean), and the bottom right, where poor Gorosaurus is identified as "Godzilla" for those not in the know. Oh well, since Godzilla's art for the film's U.S. poster bears little resemblance to his actual features, I guess I should just let it go. Kind of reminds me of a Mexican lobby card I had once (see below), where Godzilla's image was borrowed from a Gamera lobby card, with plates added on his back!

Hilarious Hyundai Label

2009-10-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the short version. My buddy has a hatchback-type Hyundai with no backseat to speak of. Herve Villachez couldn't fit in there. Anyway, there's a small label behind the driver's seat reminding you that if you are tall enough to see the driver's headrest, you will be instantly decapitated should the raised trunk be, well, closed...on your head. Oh, and don't let your Spanish-speaking friends crawl back there, either, because unlike everything else in this country, Spanish is notoriously absent. But then again, I suppose it's not a problem in Korea. Or French, for that matter. Or Russian. Or German. Or..............

Jackie Gleason Meets Salvador Dali

2009-10-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I knew about Dali's team-up with Alfred Hitchcock, and I even was lucky enough to see his aborted (and recently finished) collaboration with Disney, but I had no idea about this one. File under "Recent Thrift Store Finds," I recognized the trademark Dali artistry right away. In 1953, Dali painted the cover for Jackie Gleason's "Lonesome Echo" album. He even bothered to explain his concept on the back of the jacket, comments which are pretty interesting at that. Give it a clicky to read them for yourself.

Recent Random Collecting Additions

2009-10-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

A few recent additions to my personal archives: a vintage Beany and Cecil Ring Toss game (in excellent condition, and complete, I might add!), something I've always wanted, a Cecil Disguise Kit, also appears to be complete, and very cool too. Finally, and weirdest of all, a 1960's Batman watergun from the time of the 1966 series. You gotta love an oversized Adam West head shooting water from his mouth like a schoolkid!

Rare Godzilla Vs. Megalon Comic Scans!

2009-10-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

Another cool item I recently acquired is perhaps the rarest of all American Godzilla comics. This was a theater give-away in 1976 when Godzilla vs. Megalon was released in the U.S. It is newsprint, and magazine-sized. I got an incredibly crisp, dead-mint copy, and I have scanned it here for anyone that's interested, as I've never seen scans of it anywhere on the Internets. A couple of weird points about it...the artwork is a bit schitzophrenic, it goes from really good (page 2's Megalon, for example) to really cheap. The other thing is, a couple of the names are really off. Jet Jaguar is referred to as "Robotman," which I can understand might have been a "placeholder" until they got it confirmed what the character's name was, but Gigan is strangely called BORODAN. I mean, BORODAN? That just makes no sense. Anyway, enjoy! I made a zip file for download, since sometimes Blogger is buggy about displaying full-sized pictures. The link is below.
DOWNLOAD LINK: Godzilla vs.....Baradon?

Space Needle: Seattle, WA

2009-10-04T11:59:00.001-07:00

Got to go up in the Space Needle on a visit to Seattle a couple of weeks ago. Very cool, and very nice view of Seattle from 520 feet.

Random Collectible Additions

2009-10-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

Some new acquisitions. For the Beany and Cecil fans, complete scans of the character cards from the 1962 "Jumping DJ Game" from Mattel. Also a nifty Spider-Man puzzle from 1980 I found at a thrift shop...amazingly complete! Lastly, an original lobby card from Star Wars that I WISH I had won. I do have an Empire one, though.

New Episode IV Lego Diorama!

2009-08-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest Lego P.O.W. (piece of work). I watched the cut scenes to the Lego Star Wars game, as well as the opening scenes of the film, and did my best to recreate it in Lego form, something I've been wanting to do since they made the army-builder set of Rebel Troopers. Anyway, I wanted to add an extra something to it, and I was contemplating buying several red lightsaber blades to use as lasers, when lo and behold, I found something that worked out even better. You know those toys that hold hundreds of plastic nails, allowing kids to make a print of their hand or face? I was in my local Wal-Mart, when my eyes landed on one of those, complete with a couple of hundred tiny reddish-pink translucent cylindrical pieces! Problem solved. And I think the Stormtrooper getting shot makes the diorama. Also, I always like to add an extra something when viewed from the other side, so I figured (pun intended), what better scene than Vader choking Captain Antilles? Anyway, here it is...

Boomerang Promotional Disc (Kaleidoscope, 2000)

2009-08-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a neat little item I haven't seen posted anywhere else. In 2000, when Cartoon Network launched Boomerang, I stumbled upon an offer for a free CD on their website, and received one in the mail. It contains 19 tracks of original Hanna-Barbera themes and "sub-themes," and the CD was also enhanced with Web Toons, Icons, and a few games. I have extracted the added material as an added bonus, and all 19 tracks are here for your enjoyment (scans included).

LINK: Boomerang Promotional Disc

Lego Episode 1 Diorama

2009-08-06T19:28:00.001-07:00

Here's the very first Lego diorama I ever made. I made this for Uncle Jeff as a present in late 2003, and I even put it in a fancy display case. He was kind enough to bring it over the other night, as I neglected to ever get any decent, finished photos of the thing! I like to do two-sided dioramas, in this case a "before and after" using the same door. I also was happy with the lightsaber digging into the door, and the flourescent orange paint. It's funny how Lego sets that are common-as-cornflakes at the time you make a diorama can end up years later being quite expensive...it's also funny how I have made most of my dioramas so far from my least favorite Star Wars film...

HEY, MR. MARIO, MAN! (Leaping Fox)

2009-08-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I really didn't think there would be a HEY, MR. SPACEMAN volume 9, but this was too good a compilation to leave uncompiled. Not only is this an early history of everyone's favorite iconic plubmer, but also a collection of fascinating versions of arguably the most famous theme music in video game history. Over several years, I have searched far and wide for unique interpretations in a variety of styles and feels, and if you look at this idea as listening to the same song dozens of times, you are missing the boat. I was amazed to see how many ways the Super Mario Bros. theme could be interpreted (and interpolated), and I hope you'll agree it's a very entertaining disc. As a bonus, I also made a medley of various YouTube performances of the song on unusual instruments, including a steel drum band, a theremin, an ocarina, a beat-boxing flute, a marimba, a giant set of sparking electric Tesla coils, a manualist (look it up), a remote-control car striking hundreds of glass bottles, and, believe it or not, a laser cutting machine! Oh, and there's a second disc this time, the soundtrack to the classic game, including a sound-effects section. Enjoy! Artwork is included in the RAR, but it's here for your perusal.

LINK: It's A-Me, Mario!

Original Godzilla Ad Slicks (1976)

2009-07-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a cool item I recently bought from a nice Ebay seller. These are ad slicks, which are/were glossy pages used to reproduce art for newspaper ads, and in some places are still used today. All of these are dated 1976, and are for a children's matinee series from American International Pictures. Full-size, the sheets are 11 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches, and have four ads to a page. They were a bit tricky to scan, but I got the job done. The films I bought ad slicks for are GODZILLA VS. THE THING, GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER, YOG: MONSTER FROM SPACE (not Godzilla, but another Toho classic), and my personal favorite film of all time, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. I think it's interesting how they changed the art around for the different sizes, and even changed the text to keep it interesting. If you want to download full-size scans of all 16 ads, a link is provided below.

LINK: 1976 Ad Slicks

The Timelords - Doctorin' the TARDIS (1988/1991, TVT Records)

2009-06-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

If you know what this is, then you know what this is. I should just say that as an adolescent in the Southern part of America, this still found its way to me way back then. Anyhow, all I will point out here is that there were two releases, a 3" mini-CD single (remember those? Me neither) dated 1988, and a 5" version (remember those?) with more mixes than you need, although the instrumental is cool. Important part is, the 3" contained one mix not on the 5" version, so EVERYTHING is present here for your enjoyment, because I had them both! Oh, I should point out that Gary Glitter exposes himself here...although that's not the best choice of words.(Note: this post is dedicated to the XYZ Cosmonaut of Cosmobells--even though these rips are mine--because I know he shall return!)

LINK: WE OBEY NO ONE!

Lego Jedi Council Diorama

2009-06-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

Years ago, Uncle Jeff made me a custom Jedi Council, (and this was long before there was even a Yoda made by Lego) and I had always planned to complete a Jedi Council diorama. I finally got around to it a couple of months ago, and I spent about a week painting, gluing, and struggling with Super Sculpey. Anyhow, I was pleased with the result, and surprised at how I had to put $100 into materials and a case! It's always more expensive than you think it's going to be.

Wacky Westerns (K-Tel, 1975)

2009-06-05T17:30:00.001-07:00

Here's yet another offering from K-Tel records, whose commercials used to be practically omnipresent on television of long ago. What's bizarre is that this album is almost identical to an album they released the following year called "Kooky Toones," all they did was substitute two tracks, and voila, whole new album. Instead of "10 Little Bottles" and "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" on this collection, they swapped them for Charlie Walker's "Don't Squeeze My Sharmon" and Bill Carlisle's "What Kinda Deal Is This." That's the only difference between the two albums. Otherwise, they even have the same running order.

1) Little Jimmy Dickens - May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose
2) Johnny Bond - Hot Rod Lincoln
3) Roger Miller - Chug-A-Lug
4) Blanchard & Morgan - Tennessee Bird Walk
5) Homer & Jethro - Battle of Kookamonga
6) Little Jimmy Dickens - How To Catch An African Skeeter Alive
7) Fendermen - Mule Skinner Blues
8) Johnny Bond - 10 Little Bottles
9) Murry Kellum - Long Tall Texan
10) Roger Miller - My Uncle Used To Love Me But She Died
11) Ray Stevens - Sgt. Preston of the Yukon
12) Junior Samples - World's Biggest Whopper
13) Leapy Lee - Little Arrows
14) Lonnie Donegan - Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On the Bedpost Overnight)
15) Homer & Jethro - (How Much Is) That Hound Dog In the Window
16) Roger Miller - You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd
17) Johnny Preston - Running Bear
18) Johnny Bond - Three Sheets In The Wind
19) Tom T. Hall - Monkey That Became President
20) Roger Miller - (And You Had A) Doo-Wacka-Doo
21) Olympics - Western Movies
22) Mel Tillis & Webb Pierce - How Come Your Dog Don't Bite Nobody But Me
23) Johnny Bond - Here Come the Elephants

24) Larry Verne - Mr. Custer

LINK: As Advertised on T.V.!

The Hit Heard 'Round the World (US Army, 2-17-69)

2009-06-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

Here we have a (I believe) short-lived radio series, presented by the US Army. The description on the cuesheet says "Top disc jockeys from all over the world playing and talking about the leading records on their local charts," and that in itself is a pretty neat idea, and from this little sample, we can see that it wasn't all a commercially-minded enterprise, as it would be today in this ever-shrinking world, where everybody buys and listens to the same thing (sarcasm here). Anyhow, I bought two of these at my local thrift store, and when I got home I discovered they were the same week of broadcasts, one being the "10 Minute Version" and the other being the "5 Minute Version," which is nothing but an edit of the longer version, playing only the "Hit of the Day," the third song from each show. Anyhow, the cuesheet above will give you all the info you need on each program. I thought it was a pretty neat find.

LINK: It's the Hit Heard 'Round the World!

Orson Welles - The Begatting of the President (Mediarts, 1969)

2009-06-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

This is an oddity, but an amusing one. The great Orson Welles dramatically reading this slightly sacreligious yet scathing pseudo-Scriptural account of the rise of Richard Nixon and the LBJ years. From the jacket, I gather that the book form of this project was written by three people, and probably the entire rest of the budget went to getting Welles, keeping him placated, and feeding him.
I wasn't sure about this one, but the farther I got, the more entertaining it became.

SIDE ONE: L.B. Jenesis / The Defoliation of Eden / Burn, Pharaoh, Burn / The Coming of Richard
SIDE TWO: The Pacification of Goliath / Paradise Bossed / The Raising of Richard / The Book of Hubert / The Ascension

LINK: Begatting of the President

The Early Duke Ellington (Everest Records)

2009-06-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

Great stuff, even though there's very little information to be found on the jacket. Just that it includes guest artists Jimmy Dorsey and a couple of tracks well-sung by Una Mae Carlisle. I did a "light" cleaning to the sound, since anything more took away from the upright bass and the piano, and apparently what surface noise there is was on the originals this record was made from. Anyhow, it's primo stuff.

1) Harlem Speaks
2) Tiger Rag
3) I Would Do Anything For You
4) Ain't Misbehavin'
5) I'm Just Wild About Harry
6) Hyde Park
7) I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby
8) St. Louis Blues
9) Chicago
10) Don't Try Your Jive On Me

LINK: Take The A Train!

He-Man & Battle Cat (Kid-Stuff, 1983)

2009-06-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

I love read-alongs from my youth, and there are lots of good sites, groups, and blogs full of them. I apologize if one of those fine institutions has already presented this item, but I haven't run across it anywhere, so I snagged it at a flea market a couple of weeks ago, de-noised it, scanned the book, and now present it for your...enjoyment. Read by the great and instantly-recognizable Peter Fernandez. [Note, the book is meant to be read in .CBR format--if you prefer not to, just rename the file extension to .ZIP and it will magically become a ZIP file!]

LINK: I HAVE THE POWER!!!!

Main Street Electrical Parade (1977)

2009-06-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

Many apologies for the complete lack of posts, but many, many migraines since then. Anyhow, as we arise from the ashes, here's a thrift-store find that delighted me recently. It's the D*sneyworld MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE, a 45-sized (yet 33 1/3) picture disc from 1977. If you were lucky enough to actually see the parade (I did, a few times) before the powers that be axed it (gimme back my 20,000 leagues, but that's another story), then you remember what it was like. Also, if you enjoy the Moog goodness of the CLOCKWORK ORANGE soundtrack, then you'll certainly enjoy this. Scans of the inlay card included. Enjoy!

LINK: It's Not Such A Small World, After All

A Helpful Message From Batman

2009-01-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from Snake and Boris! (By the way, this came off of a Reach Toothbrush...)

The Smothers Brothers - Tour De Farce: American History and Other Unrelated Subjects (Mercury, 1964)

2008-12-30T16:58:00.000-08:00

Pleased to get one more new find in here before the year ends--is it just me, or are flea market finds getting rarer and rarer? I must have dug through 500 stinky old LP's this past weekend. Anyhow, over at Dr. Forrest's Cheeze Factory recently, some hilarious Smothers Brothers LP's were shared, but this one wasn't one of them! From 1964, here's an LP with a really long name, in stereo no less, featuring the following tracks (I noted Pat Paulsen's name as co-writer on a couple, makes sense!). As always, album declicked and denoised for your listening pleasure!

Siblings
That's My Song
American History IIA
Mediocre Fred
The Measles Song
Since My Canary Died
American History IIB
Eskimo Dog
She's Gone Forever
Life and the Song of Life
Time and the Song of Time

LINK: Mom always liked you best!

Star Wars Music, Both Vintage and Rare

2008-11-12T16:01:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm in a Star Wars mood lately, what with the new Clone Wars series and all (which, you probably don't need me to tell you, is quite good). I thought I'd share a few lesser-known Star Wars musical items, all from the vintage era.
Remember the period from 1977 to around 1980, when everybody was dying to cash in on the Star Wars craze? Sure you do, but you may not remember these:
The Electric Moog Orchestra - Theme from Star Wars (1977)

Patrick Gleeson's Star Wars (1977, complete album)

MECO Plays Music from The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
I started to include Meco's runaway debut, "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk " but I figured it was pretty common. This second SW disc of his, however, is harder to find.

The Bordens - Theme from Star Wars (1980)
Remember "family bands" on private record labels? You don't? Oh. Well, thrift stores are filled with them. Dig this family, jamming on John Williams. Extra points for the little organ middle bit..."there's a place in France, where the naked Jawas dance!"

LINK: Star Wars Hodge-Podge

Star Wars Breakbeats (Suckadelic)

2008-11-12T14:16:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting item I found a couple of years ago. Home-made mashups and techno experiments are a dime a dozen, but few are handled with the skill and attention to detail as this one, where some intrepid soul obviously cared about what he was doing, using isolated music, dialogue, and sound effects from the classic Star Wars trilogy, (no doubt derived from the official DVD's) and even the Holiday Special, to make a thoroughly entertaining, and often quite clever, listen. One of my favorites combines various droid sounds from the films that is sure to turn into a game of "name that droid." Even casual SW fans will enjoy this one, and it thrills the kids when on a long car ride. Enjoy! Complete scans are included in the archive.

LINK: May the Beat Be With You

Mercury Theatre (featuring Orson Welles) - The Immortal Sherlock Holmes (Radiola, 1974)

2008-10-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

The Mercury Theatre On the Air is widely known as early examples of the prowess of Orson Welles and John Houseman, among others, and are also known for their famous "War of the Worlds" broadcast, but they did a variety of other projects, and here's one, broadcast September 25, 1938. Complete CBS broadcast, even including bulletins from the European War "situation."

LINK: Elementary!

Hank Snow - The Southern Cannonball (RCA/Camden, 1961)

2008-10-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

Another of the greats, enjoy this monaural masterpiece, where Hank sequels himself, answering his previous classic "I'm Movin' On" with "I'm Movin' In."

1) I'm Movin' In
2) Tangled Mind
3) Panamama
4) My Blue Eyed Jane
5) Under the Double Eagle
6) Paving the Highway With Tears
7) The Southern Cannonball
8) Let Me Go, Lover!
9) When Mexican Joe Met Jole Blon
10) Trouble, Trouble, Trouble
11) There Wasn't An Organ At Our Wedding
12) The Boogie Woogie Flying Cloud

LINK: Southern Cannonball

The Return of Roger Miller (Smash Records, 1964)

2008-10-26T09:19:00.001-07:00

Second album by the late, great King of the Road, who could do more in a minute-thirty than what most songs today could do in five, or even ten. Punchy mono mix from a nice copy I found, that still had the shrink wrap with a sticker that said "Our Price, $2.98!"....what a deal!

1) (And You Had a) Do-Wacka-Do
2) Atta Boy Girl
3) Reincarnation
4) That's the Way It's Always Been
5) As Long As There's A Shadow
6) Hard Headed Me
7) Ain't That Fine
8) King of the Road
9) You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd
10) Our Hearts Will Play the Music
11) Love Is Not For Me
12) In the Summertime (You Don't Want My Love)
13) There I Go Dreamin'

LINK: But You Can Be Happy If You've a Mind To!

The Amos 'n' Andy Show (Radiola, 1977)

2008-10-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

The drought is over, at least for now. Thrift store rarity discoveries have been few and far between lately, but it seems to strangely reflect the rest of the world. Anyhow, here is a gem from the Radiola label, which I suspect was a mail-order club-type operation, that issued classic uncut OTR in vinyl format. If you are keeping score, this is their 74th release, and the 36th in their "Comedy" category. Here are two complete episodes of the classic AMOS 'n' ANDY for your enjoyment. I grew up listening to cassettes of this and other classic shows from the "Radio Reruns" label (apparently similar to Radiola), and they are part of my psyche as if I were there "back in the day," gathered around the radio at night with the family, waiting for war updates.

SIDE ONE: "The Secret Melody" (October 31, 1948)
SIDE TWO: "The Deputy Dirt Commissioner" (April 3, 1949)

This is about as Halloween-themed as it's going to get, I'm afraid, but hey, the first episode was broadcast on Hallow's Eve! Makes me glad it's on a Friday this year.

As a postscript, the two talents behind the show, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, later tried to re-invent the show as a de-racialized animated series called "Calvin and the Colonel," which ran in 1961, and not much farther, unfortunately lost to the sands of the desert of television history. Let me put in my plug for the series here--about a Southern pair of animals who are always getting into major trouble--and, for those devoted seekers, let me also point out that the EIGHT episodes that circulate are at your local Wal-Mart--right this minute--in a set of 600 "public domain" cartoons that will set you back no more than $10! What a country!

LINK: Sponsored by Rinso!

Lunchables Clone Wars Card Game

2008-09-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

With the new Clone Wars series beginning this Friday night, here are all four "Clone Wars Conquest" card sheets, currently found on Lunchables, so you can cut, print, and play.

"How To Play: Cut & fold cards, then line 'em up so your characters are hidden. To battle, each player picks a new card, showing them at the same time. Compare colors to see who wins and give cards to the winner (tied battles are discarded). Game is over when all the cards are played--winner is whoever has the most collected cards!"

More of Chris' Art!

2008-08-23T20:05:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to post the rest of the photos I took of Chris' art (see Steampunk Fish Sculpture below), including Snake and Boris' favorite super hero, Spazoman!

One Last Bonzo Blast!

2008-08-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

I regret to say I've reached the end of my Bonzo boots, BUT the good news is, you're getting two here, NORMAL HAWAIIANS and MEET THE BONZOS. The two discs have quite a bit of overlap, and one was definitely higher quality than the other, so I've deleted all the duplication, and included a few bonus tracks for your perusal. Oh, artwork is included as well. Enjoy! And, if anybody has any further stuff, I'll be glad to share it here, just drop me a line.

VIVIAN STANSHALL:
BIG GRUNT BBC SESSION - 11 Mustachioed Daughters / Blind Date / The Strain / Cyborg Signal
SOLO SINGLES:
Suspicion (Vivian Stanshall's Gargantuan Chums)
Blind Date (with Big Grunt)
The Young Ones (with Kilgaroon)
Drop Out!
Paper Round (with the Sean Head Band and Eric Clapton)
Are Ya Havin' Any Fun? (with Kilgaroon)

NEIL INNES:
from WORLD - LUCKY PLANET - Come Out Into the Open / 9 to 5 Pollution Blues / Sail Away / Lead Us
Oo-Chuck-A-Mao-Mao
What Noise Annoys A Noisy Oyster

ROGER RUSKIN SPEAR:
Mattress Man / Dr. Rock / Please Release Me / Trouser Press

LEGS LARRY SMITH:
I've Got A Braun New Girl
George Harrison - His Name Is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)
Elton John - I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself (features Legs tap dancing)

BONZO DOG BAND
(Peel Session 7-29-69)
We're Going To Bring It On Home / Monster Mash / Sofa Head / Tent
(Apparent further BBC radio tracks)
Ready Mades / The Brain Opera / The Bride Stripped Bare By Bachelors
(1992 reunion single)
No Matter Who You Vote For, The Government Always Gets In / Them

THE RUTLES (bonus tracks from Japanese version of ARCHAEOLOGY)

Angelina / Lullaby / My Little Ukulele / Baby, S'il Vous Plait

LINK: Bonzo Blast!

ZEP CLASSICS (unknown)

2008-08-21T15:37:00.001-07:00

Well, as I've already typed this a couple of times and lost it, here goes....One detour before our last blast of Bonzos. This is a disc I received about 8 years ago, no art, no idea who made it, but luckily I saved the track listing. It chronicles songs that Led Zeppelin covered/borrowed/stole/appropriated, depending on your point of view. Zep scholars will probably understand the inclusion of some of the stranger tracks (I'll admit some of these elude me), while amateur musicologists (of which I am one) will delight in the rare and historical gems presented here. The level of thievery/allusion/homage (again depending on your point of view) is surprising on some of these tracks. The maker also included two fun bonuses (or "bonii" as one of my highschool teachers used to say), the latter of which I upgraded with a less-crackly one from my own collection. Enjoy!

1) Johnny Burnette and the Rock'n'Roll Trio - The Train Kept A-Rollin'
2) Jake Holmes - Dazed and Confused
3) Garnet Mimms - As Long As I Have You
4) Joan Baez - Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You
5) Muddy Waters - You Shook Me
6) Robert Johnson - Stones In My Passway
7) Bert Jansch - Black Water Side
8) Otis Rush - I Can't Quit You Baby
9) Howlin' Wolf - How Many More Years
10) Albert King - The Hunter
11) Muddy Waters - You Need Love
12) Howlin' Wolf - Killing Floor
13) Robert Johnson - Traveling Riverside Blues
14) Sonny Boy Williamson II - Bring It On Home
15) John Lee Hooker - Boogie Chillun
16) Elvis Presley - That's Alright, Mama
17) Eddie Cochran - Something Else
18) Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth
19) Leadbelly - Gallows Pole (The Gallis Pole)
20) Little Richard - Keep A-Knockin'
21) Memphis Minnie - When the Levee Breaks
22) Bukka White - Shake 'Em On Down
23) Blind Willie Johnson - In My Time of Dying (Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed)
24) The Meters - Cissy Strut
25) Blind Willie Johnson - Nobody's Fault But Mine
26) Rolf Harris - Stairway to Heaven
27) Little Roger and the Goosebumps - Stairway to Gilligan's Island

LINK:
"Immature poets borrow; mature poets steal." --T.S. Eliot

Signed By The King!

2008-08-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

Went to a comic convention Saturday, and on the second time passing a large, hardcover book in a slipcover box, I asked the extremely nice guys at the table exactly what it was. When they told me, my jaw dropped, and so did $100. This is an extremely amazing book from 1992 called THE ART OF JACK KIRBY, limited to an edition of 1,000 and published by The Blue Rose Press. Not only did Kirby do special artwork for the box (just look, Orion and Captain America together! Darkseid and Doom! Gasp!), but on the endpages is a lithograph hand-numbered....followed by a rice paper page....wait for it.....SIGNED BY JACK KIRBY! Words cannot express my joy.

Bonzo Dog Band - Colour Me Pop (speed-corrected) 12-21-68

2008-08-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

And here is the remainder of the URBAN SPACEMEN DO EXIST! boot, the Bonzos on UK TV's "Colour Me Pop." This recording always bugged me, and it comes from an off-line source (like a reel-to-reel recorder), but although I can't fix that, I did discover it ran pretty slow, with a 7% lag (no wonder!). Anyhow, I fixed all that now, and God bless the fellow who preserved it for us, because it supposedly no longer exists. However, a pristine "Canyons of Your Mind" popped up on the COMPLETE BBC SESSIONS disc, which I have substituted here. I went ahead and included full artwork for the USDE boot, since between this and the Amsterdam show I posted earlier, you'll have the whole thing.

1) We Are Normal
2) My Pink Half of the Drainpipe
3) Humanoid Boogie
4) Rhinocratic Oaths
5) Vivian Shnorbarstein Speaks
6) Rhinocratic Oaths - continued
7) A Lost Cause
8) Hello Mabel
9) Look At Me, I'm Wonderful
10) Canyons of Your Mind
11) I'm the Urban Spaceman
12) "Yarn to a Human Carpet" [Actually pretty close to the spoken parts from the released version of "Rhinocratic Oaths," but with backing music similar to "Boiled Ham Rhumba"...confused yet?]
13) Mr. Apollo
14) The Intro and the Outro

"...Corking fun to follow"

Unauthorized And Yet Quite Funny

2008-08-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

File under: B**tleg items of Jamaica. I picked this up on my aforementioned Caribbean Cruise, because it cracked me up.

Bonzo Dog Band - Live In Amsterdam, 8-25-69

2008-08-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

And here is the first installment of the much-promised Bonzo Dog Band material. This is a live performance from Amsterdam, recorded apparently for radio broadcast. There are Dutch DJ introductions between tracks, but it doesn't interfere with the cacaphonous, disjointed, and yes, beautiful sounds!

1) Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?
2) Look At Me, I'm Wonderful / Ready-Mades / I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
3) Hello Mabel
4) Vivian Stanshall interview
5) I'm the Urban Spaceman
6) Tent
7) Vivian Stanshall interview / Rockaliser Baby
8) Outro

"I mean, it's all working in reverse."

This was taken from a boot called URBAN SPACEMEN DO EXIST!, which also contains the 1968 COLOUR ME POP, which I'll post soon, but it needs a little work done.

Marshall McLuhan - The Medium Is the Massage (Columbia, 1968)

2008-08-05T18:00:00.001-07:00

This is another of those items that if you don't know what it is, it really can't be explained (check Wikipedia, though). What I will say is that it's an extremely entertaining record to listen to. Based on McLuhan's book of the same name, the author reads passages, interspersed with noise, various speech, and all types of music, sometimes all at once. What it is is a commentary on the development of media, and how it has influenced society and technology. Even more shocking is to consider it in light of the modern age, the Internet, etc. If you often skip "Revolution 9," this might not be for you, BUT, I gotta say I enjoy this more, and repeated listenings still haven't made this one boring in the least. And, it's made me want to track down the book. Enjoy!

File Under: Not stolen - This rip isn't mine, but I did clean and equalize it, resulting in excellent sound quality.

"It is the business of the future to be dangerous."

Living Noodles

2008-08-04T20:51:00.001-07:00

Anybody see the news story over the weekend about the discovery of the world's smallest species of snake? It was found on Barbados, and is literally the size of a piece of spaghetti. Just check out the picture! Amazing.

I Saw "Destino" In the Middle of the Ocean!

2008-08-03T16:56:00.001-07:00

So there I was, on a cruise ship going 'round the Caribbean, when suddenly, quite out of the blue, I got the chance to attend a screening of the unreleased-and-abandoned-but-later-finished collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali, "Destino"! You just never know.

I talked to one of the Art guys, and here's the lowdown on the film. The auctioneers on the cruise line have a relationship with Disney, as well as the Dali estate, and, as they were going to be auctioning a set of 7 lithographs of Dali's storyboard artwork, they arranged a screening of the film. I asked the guy what the release plans were, since I had read different things, and he told me that Disney now plans to add it to their next feature release as a short, thus getting it into theaters...as well as a home video release. So, you may have to pay to attend a (possibly) middleweight Disney CGI feature in order to see it on the big screen, but I can tell you it's worth it. I enjoyed it immensely, and could've watched a whole feature's worth. It was funny, but it was definitely more "Dali" than "Disney," and that was a great thing. The story goes that Disney met Dali at a cocktail party at Jack Warner's house, and approached him about collaborating. an ecstatic Dali actually punched a clock at Disney for SEVEN MONTHS, working 9 to 5 on the project...only for it to be abandoned incomplete. By the way, if you are interested in obtaining a set of the 7 storyboard lithos, they are only $11,000. And, my attempt at photographing them failed miserably.

There were a few neat collectible cels at the auction (but they didn't come up for auction, or else I would have bid!), including some signed by both William Hanna and Joe Barbera, and two neat Fleischer cels, both signed by animator Myron Waldman (which would've looked GREAT on my wall!)

The Sphinx is Closed until 8/3/08

2008-07-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

Very sorry, I should have left a sign in the window, but I'm currently in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, on vacation. I left the front door unlocked, so feel free to come in an help yourselves until I return this weekend, and they'll be some new stuff, as well as an interesting tidbit for you Monkees fans out there. Thanks!
P.S. - Worry not, I hear your cry, some primo Bonzo Dog Band boots as well! Stay tuned!