Where Attrition Is Tradition

See this?

This is a pile of records that's about on its way out of here. It's the third one this size I've assembeld this year, and it's in no small thanks in part to the huge amount of records I've found over the past couple of weeks. After this goes I think I'm just about even.

So what exactly is in here?

Not much of a lot of real dollar-and-cent value. I guess the most would be all the Melanie and Rod McKuen albums. Most of those are the original albums I started my modern collection with almost 20 years ago. Most of them are gone now and I forget more of them than I remember. That in itself tells you how much excess there's been. Some things I'm just not into, others I'd like to keep but their condition doesn't allow it. Quality over quantity.

Just like in the workplace, attrition is a necessary evil. Good people are let go, their positions aren't filled and life goes on for everyone else. Many large collections need to be filtered like this once in a while to keep things fresh and high-quality...and to keep a home from being overrun like this one.

Please, Lord, let me never love music that much.

Just in case I didn't warn you...

Some of the posts may change over time. I just edited one because I found out someone else blogged about the same album I did, but his has a different cover from mine. I linked to that post so you can compare them.

I might also replace pictures I feel I can take better. Sure, the ones you see serve their purpose, but some don't capture the albums in all their colorful glory.

And I'm still deciding about the right way to do sound. Some blogs have it, some don't. I'd like for this one to. There's a very fine line between presenting for demonstrative purposes and outright piracy, and it's easy to mistake one for the other - especially if you're someone like the RIAA. Suffice it to say, if it's out there and available to buy somewhere, I'll link to it. If not, I'll put it up on my own. This stuff deserves to be heard. If the record companies who released it don't remember it, who will?

So check back soon...not just for new musical finds and surprises, but new additions to old posts. We can both be surprised at what we learn.

We Did It Our W-Eh

Here's one I bet Ripplin over at Another Crazy Vinyl Blog will appreciate seeing- if he doesn't already have it in his collection. Given where it comes from, odds are he does. What this is is a Canadian group called The Town Pumpers. The town in question is none other than Vancouver, BC, and the Town Pump in question seems to equate to something like a CBGB - the late '80s and early '90s seemed to be its time, from what teh Googlez shows me.

This album is from 1971 and spotlights the talents of Irish "ex-gold miner" Marty Gillan and then-drummer's wife and mother-of-five Karen O'Bray. They do a typical melange of what the liners describe as "comfortable 'now' sounds" that "hang out and come together." And it sure's brought some unusual songs together to hang out: only on albums like these can you hear Neil Diamond and Frank Sinatra songs together with originals.

The Salvation Army Grand Finale

The two or three human regulars among you know that it's been quite an exciting couple weeks of finds at my Salvation Army. But as all good things do, this stretch has seemingly come to an end. But it's going out on a sweet note.

 

I don't need to say too much about this, do I? Ron Howard, George Lucas, Val Kilmer. There y'go. Oh, and this copy has the booklet!

 

Ah, Fievel Mousekewitz. Little immigrant rodent with big dreams. Lots of people remember that Linda Ronstadt/James Ingram song Somewhere Out There...well, next night you're out for bar trivia (oh hey, that's tonight!), remember that this is the movie it came from.

I must not get out much. I had no idea there was ever a Raggedy Ann & Andy movie in 1977. Even after looking at the cover I still didn't know much about it...besides Joe Raposo, that symphonist of Sesame Street, being the mind behind the music. That makes this a great find right there. A quick look at IMDB reveals that while there weren't the biggest of stars on this movie's roster, they were still good solid names: Mason Adams, Arnold Stang, and game show favorites Alan Sues and Charie Brill. One of my personal game show favorites, Didi Conn, was Raggedy Ann. Andy was played by Mark Baker (not to be confused with Mark Linn-Baker of Perfect Strangers, but easily confusable nonetheless - he's #9 with that name on IMDB).

1 7/8 Revelations Per Second

This may look like a record blog, but occasionally it turns into other things. I warned you that it would do that in the first post. Right now, this is a record blog about cassettes. Maybe you still have some. I know I do. I'm on some of them. For some wacky reason I saved some of the tapes I made back in my radio days. And for some other reason I now have my choice of three players to play them on.

This is the newest: it's an Akai GXC-570D II. Like most Akai units of the '70s, this one's got quite a reputation for quality. It also has quite the list of features. I'll translate its virtues to English as I go.

3 GX heads: one head to record, one to play, and one to erase. "GX" means the heads are covered in glass to make them virtually impervious to wear. Akai is the only company I know that did this.

Motorized door: this one's kinda simple. See all those controls on top? There's a door that covers them and opens when you push a button. There's a pitch control to adjust speed, recording bias adjustments to tailor EQ to the type of tape, a test tone, and controls for Dolby and tape type.

Sensi-Touch Controls: those buttons don't work like regular buttons. No clunking, no pressing. Just a quick, light tap and the tape does what you want it to.

Direct Drive: no belts to stretch (like on my Pioneer), no idler tires to go brittle (like my Nakamichi). The ultimate in low maintenance.

A flea market find from the weekend, sold to me by a music lover who was stationed in Sicily back in the day. Like most servicemen, he stocked up on gear like this. There's an issue or two, but with a little exercise and TLC this should shape up to be a fine deck.

Sunday Pt. 2: Hustle And Whoa

Lately, anytime I have to spend $1 on a record I have to think about it. But not too hard. This is one of the albums I got for $1:

I bet you never knew that Valerie Harper had at least one thing in common with Garfireld.

Take a second to think back:

Got it? Need a hint? Rhoda.

OK, how about now?

The answer: Lorenzo Music. To Valerie Harper, he was the voice of Carlton The Doorman on Rhoda. And he was the voice of Garfield himself on the cartoon special CBS aired in the '80s. You'll hear a little bit of Lorenzo/Carlton/Garfield between the musical tracks, but the spotlight here soul legend Lou Rawls and debuting artist Desiree Goyette, who's now a religious singer/songwriter.

Deep in a shadowy world, there are strange parallels to the lives we lead. In our world, Ray Charles was the blind genius who brought us hits like Hit The Road Jack, You Don't Know Me and Georgia On My Mind. But there was another Ray Charles - a white one - who'd make a business of covering songs by the likes of the "real" Ray Charles with a chorus and strings. Cheesy listening by the Ray Charles Singers. He'd actually gone so far as to call himself "The 'other' Ray Charles" on some albums.

Also in our world, Betty White is a 91-year-old TV star who's gotten around more in the past 5 years than Sue Ann Nivens ever did. But deep in the shadows lurks another, less famous Betty White:

 

And this one's a hustler. Yes, this Betty White, not only eclipsed by her TV namesake, but also by more famous dance instructors like Arthur Murray and Fred Astaire, became a hustler later in her life to make ends meet. She hustled - and waltzed, cha-cha'd and shucked and jived her way into the lives of the unsuspecting who'd apparently mistaken her for the "real" Betty White. Maybe that's a reason why I bought this album still sealed. And the reason so few people own albums by "the other Ray Charles."

I can't imagine how many people own this album:

But I guess it can't be very many. I think that phallic-looking thermometer and his offspring scared off more than a few. But I wasn't scared. I was more intrigued. This is a European album (you can tell by the thermomter marked in Celcius) of disco instrumentals. We have TWO versions of El Bimbo (which was a big hit in 1975) and a song called Diabolic Man. Turns out I already have a couple of the songs on this album on 45s I got in a multipart, monster thrift haul I need to tell you about one day...but this album is still worth having for the cover.

EDIT: I know one other person who owns this album...but I like my cover better.

Sunday: When It's All Over

I'm as passionate about flea markets as I am about the music I find there. Both go way back with me - I think I was 5 the first time I went to a flea market - or more correctly, a farmer's market, which has meat and produce in addition to the aisles of vendors. The rule to live by in either case: come early for the parking, stay late for the deals. If you stay late enough, you may end up getting things free! Just don't go too far overboard.

A vendor left all this - just about half his space - because he didn't feel like hauling any of this back home. But who could blame him? Those 78s get HEAVY! And there were plenty of 'em, now free for the picking along with a whole lot of LPs. I didn't go for much:

Who can resist these two? Not the rarest, and not really the most playable, but it'll do - for someone. I don't think this one's gonna stay here long.

Nobody's gonna be twistin' the night away to this album. Instead, Sam Cooke sings the virtues of Mona Lisa, The Great Pretender and Venus. Produced by the prolific Hugo & Luigi In RCA Living Stereo.

Then, off to the garbage pile. Yes, even in this day and age, people throw out perectly good, playable records...just like these:

A friend of mine was shocked when I showed her this one. She remembers it pretty fondly. Google, on the other hand, barely even mentions it. Facts:

Album released in 1985
Lead singer is Ran Ballard
Face In The Mirror is the hit form this EP.

I have a thing for educational albums like this one. Ever since I found a few incredible ones from the '70s by Hy Glaser, I've been paying more attention to albums like these. This one deserves some attention: each of the tracks on here is based on a TV theme or commercial, with the lyrics rewritten for use with Lummi Sticks. You can sing and tap along! And you can still get this album direct from Kimbo Educational.

Sometimes it's no mystery why an album's been tossed. The cover says it all about this one. More specifically: Care Bears Break Dance Rap.

I'm proud of this little cover collage. I literally picked these records out of the garbage. OK, maybe one of them should've stayed in there. But that's the price of "shoot first, ask questions later." I didn't realize until I got home that I grabbed a handul of 46 late '80s/early '90s hits. Most of them are in their original covers. In addition to these, there's Guns 'N' Roses, Whitesnake, Foreigner, Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Mellencamp, Cyndi Lauper...mostly real good stuff to make up for the Milli Vanill.

And just so you think I'm not a total cheapskate...I did buy some things. I'll show you some of those next.