Ain't We Got Fun?

Here's a good choice for the end of the year....it's a really upbeat and quite entertaining party singalong album that can really swing. Too late for your New Year's party, but early enough to help nurse you through your hangover. I bought it because I thought the name of the band was delightfully stupid, and saw there was a version of Mississippi Mud, and had to know if they sing "the people beat their feet in the Mississippi Mud", or the original "the darkies beat their feet...." (answer: the former).

The combo really gets into it on some of the cuts, and I would say there are several keepers here--By the Waters of the Minnetonka, Casey Jones, and Keepin out of Mischief, and Silver Dollar, for starters. Not a bad return for an investment of a buck. Hope you like it too....and THANKS for all the support many of you have shown this blog.  We all know Google shartity blogs are hanging on by a thread.....if you're not already part of my Facebook group, it's a good idea if you want to find out what happens next after this blog disappears. My passion for odd music will undoubtedly continue, and the satisfaction I get when I hear one (or more) of you say you like the music is considerable.

Hope your New Year is full of charmingly cringeworthy tunes.  XXXOOO

Redheads

 By the Waters of the Minnetonka:

Here's a cut not on this album:

Here We Go Again

"If you believe the blossoms on a peach tree, the gentle warmth of the sun and the marvel of a new-born baby emanate from some source more lofty than the test-tubes of welfare state chemists......." 

....then this one's for you. Today's album is from the Key Record label out of L.A., and reveals the lighter side of 1960s right wing nutjobs. Maybe you'll be surprised to learn that this label that featured the greatest hits of the John Birch Society also offered an album by future president Ronald Reagan, released in  1964, the same as this album.  

 One hee-larious story Mr. Anderson tells is of an Arkansas couple who move to Detroit, and seek out a school with the smallest number of black children attending, seven in all. They ask their young daughter about her first day, and she says that she ate her lunch with the seven black kids. When quizzed about her choice, she replies, "You didn't want me to sit with the YANKEES, did you?" Kids say the darndest things.

This might sound like a quaint period piece, but sadly it helps to explain a lot going on in US politics even today. Just replace "Communist" with "liberal", and here we go again.

Here We Go Again (1964)

Tippy music

Just found out this is still in print, so you only get Tippy jr., a collection of 5 tunes from the album. In glorious mono.
Includes the title track, the maudlin Vietnam weeper Dear Brother, and the really stupid story of Pinocchio that really isn't a story at all. It ends abruptly when he falls in love, which I guess is a lot like real life.

Tippy jr.

The Freshness of Much Music

This album gets awfully close to barbershoppery for my tastes, there's way too much in the pizazz column. On the plus side, there are several numbers that rate high for dorkitude, particularly the "Big Bad John" takeoff, "Big Bad Jane".

 

 I'm not sure I understand the significance of the above phrase from the back of the album cover. Any ideas? It sounds awfully engrish.com to me.

 ...a quartet of modern young men who consistently break it up!

(note: "A La Mode Al" is totally ruined, I have no idea why I included it, other than to annoy you.)

Considerably-Less-Than-Happy Sing-a-Long

 Music from Kirby Stone Four (yayyy!)! But it's sing-a-longs like Oh Susannah and East Side West Side (booooo!). And Hinky Dinky Parlez Vous! (yayyy!) But all in all, the album sucks! (booooo!) So I didn't bother doing the whole album (yayy-boo!)

Kirby, what Were You Thinking?

StereoSonic Jubilee

A mixed-bag vocal compilation featuring the kitschy-sultry Gretchen Wyler (a sexpot named Gretchen??), a succulent though nearly overripe Della Reese, the pitch-challenged Bobby Freeman, and the wrongfully obscure Accents (not the Indianapolis Ac'cents posted here previously) -- who has a copy of their Cha-Cha Jubilee for me?

It's StereoSonic, so it's GOT to be good!

Calypso Jazz

This album is a sampler from the Cook records Caribbean series featuring Lord Melody, The Mighty Sparrow, the Brute Force Steel Band (great name!), as well as some other odds and ends of various quality (and interest to me). The live version of Lord Melody's "Mama Looka Booboo" is a complete musical mess, but is still an interesting peek into how Calypsonians performed live for one another, rather than in the more polished studio recordings made for the European and US markets. I didn't have a copy of Lord Melody's "Creature From the Black Lagoon" before this album, and it's a welcome addition to my calypso library.

Calypso Jazz