Ernie Kovacs: The Ernie Kovacs Album

From 1976 comes this Columbia album compiled by Ted Joyce with notes by Mort Goode. You diggers have no doubt seen it in a million used record bins but never bought it – because every copy had terrible ring-wear! Well, maybe it wasn’t THAT terrible, but ring-wear sure stands out when your artwork has a black background (vinyl revival art directors, that’s a tip). It hit store shelves 14 years after the man’s untimely death and 16 years after he recorded the LP Percy Dovetonsils…thpeaks (which was never released in his lifetime, and which finally debuted on the Omnivore imprint in 2012). Except for the Dovetonsils tracks (which were recorded for the 1960 LP), none of this material was made with the intent of putting it on a record album; that said, the selections hold up pretty well, and if this is your primer into the world of the most workaholic, maddest creative spirit from the Golden Age of Television it will no doubt spark you to check out Shout! Factory’s indispensible 2011 multi-DVD box set of the great man’s work. 

DO NOT miss listening to cut 14, “Uncle Buddy”, a genius skit where the beleaguered host of a travelogue show has to take two precocious, insufferable children on ferry ride to Staten Island.

Tom Swift

J. Walter Puppybreath

Albert Gridley

World’s Strongest Man

Man’s Best Friend

Droongo

John

Percy Dovetonsils: Stanley’s Pussycat / Ode to an Emotional Italian Knight

Mack the Knife

Percy Dovetonsils: Ode to Mona Lisa / Happy Birthday to a Bookworm / Cowboy

Strangely Believe It

Pierre Ragout

Question Man

Uncle Buddy

Oddities in the News

Closing: I’ve Had It / Arrivederci

Album audio / artwork

DISCLAIMER: To the best of my knowledge, this work is out of print and not available for purchase in any format. If you are the artist and are planning a reissue, please let me know and I’ll remove it from the blog. Also please get in touch if you’ve lost your art &/or sound masters and would like to talk with me about my restoration work.

Peter Cook: Here Comes the Judge

Peter Cook (with help from Not the Nine O’Clock News writer and BritComedy kingpin John Lloyd) produced this album in 1979, a look into the astoundingly lurid trial of Liberal party leader Jeremy Thorpe. For non-UK readers, here’s a primer. A powerful politician! An old gay lover! Threats! Recrimination! Blackmail! An antique gun dealer! A disused mine shaft! A dead dog! And possibly the most egregiously biased summing-up from a judge in the history of funny wigs. It’s very topical, but the standout bits, “Entirely a Matter for You” and “Rad Job”, will stay timely forever. (Note: the last track on the album, “Rad Job”, which takes the form of a taped phone call, ends with a fast tape-wind. I slowed down that tape-wind to regular speed, and include it here as a bonus track.)

Album audio & artwork

DISCLAIMER: To the best of my knowledge, this work is out of print and not available for purchase in any format. If you are the artist and are planning a reissue, please let me know and I’ll remove it from the blog. Also please get in touch if you’ve lost your art &/or sound masters and would like to talk with me about my restoration work.