Like some tiny distortion

So maybe the best song on Beck’s last album was “Wave”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2DLZkv4Yvg

I was totally stymied when I first heard it today because I couldn’t feel the time signature. It turns out that if you play it at 4x speed you can hear the answer pretty quickly – it’s in 5/4, at a nitro-burning 40BPM. If you quadruple that tempo, you get 160BPM. Guess what we call music at 160BPM. Yes, that’s right, I’ve decided to ruin “Wave” with my own drum & bass remix. My software toys aren’t that great, so please consider this a challenge to make your own better version:

"Wave", ruined

George Leroy Tirebiter on "Neptune All Night", 8/25/1989

George Leroy Tirebiter talks to host Sedge Thomson in this brief excerpt from “Neptune All Night”, a live all-night broadcast on PBS from WHYY Philadelphia on the occasion of Voyager 2’s fly-by of Neptune on 8/25/1989. George discusses his career in cheapie sci-fi pictures, his serial “Nomads from Neptune”, and the tragic fate of the Monarch Pictures film archive. From the collection of David Ossman.

Neptune All Night - George Leroy Tirebiter

Rainbow Cafe, 4/29/1973: David Ossman interviews Ward Kimball

From the collection of David Ossman, here's an awesome lost interview with Ward Kimball, hosted by Ossman on his Rainbow Cafe show on KCSB-FM Santa Barbara, broadcast on 4/29/1973. It's a free-ranging interview with some great details about Ward's friendship with Robert Crumb and their seldom-heard musical collaborations! The interview segments are interspersed with a DJ set comprised of classic Disney tunes and really scarce vinyl. Don't miss the rare Decca 78 "In the Valley of the Moon", Ward's self-professed favorite record of all time.

Complete aircheck

Show rundown:

0:00        “Mickey Mouse March” from The Mouse Factory Presents Mickey and his Friends: Disneyland 1342, 1972

1:38        Ward Kimball interview part 1

10:03     Carmen Miranda “When I Love, I Love” from Various Artists Those Glorious MGM Musicals - Nancy Goes To Rio, Royal Wedding & Rich, Young And Pretty: MGM Records SES-53-ST, 1973

12:23     “Happy Mouse” from The Mouse Factory Presents Mickey and his Friends: Disneyland 1342, 1972

14:15     [Mickey Mouse interview] from Mickey Mouse: This Is My Life: Disneyland ST-3805, 1972

14:58     “Turkey In The Straw (Steamboat Willie)” from Mickey Mouse: This Is My Life: Disneyland ST-3805, 1972

15:21     [Mickey Mouse interview] from Mickey Mouse: This Is My Life: Disneyland ST-3805, 1972

15:43     “Minnie’s Yoo Hoo (Mickey’s Follies)” from Mickey Mouse: This Is My Life: Disneyland ST-3805, 1972

17:44     [Mickey Mouse interview] from Mickey Mouse: This Is My Life: Disneyland ST-3805, 1972

18:15     “Mary Had A Little Lamb, Operatic Aria” from Mickey Mouse: This Is My Life: Disneyland ST-3805, 1972

20:23     [Mickey Mouse interview] from Mickey Mouse: This Is My Life: Disneyland ST-3805, 1972

20:53     “William Tell Overture (Mickey’s Band Concert)” from Mickey Mouse: This Is My Life: Disneyland ST-3805, 1972

24:36     “Goofy Commercials” from The Mouse Factory Presents Mickey and his Friends: Disneyland 1342, 1972

26:11     Sun Kiss “Minnie Mouse” [Hong Kong???]

28:21     Ward Kimball interview part 2

37:11     “Donald Duck Song” from The Mouse Factory Presents Mickey and his Friends: Disneyland 1342, 1972

38:49     Mr. Animated Cartoon with Donald Duck and Uncle Milty [or possibly Mr. Television with Uncle Milty and Donald Duck]: RCA Victor, part number??? year???

42:51     Ward Kimball interview part 3

51:12     “Overture” from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs: Disneyland 1201, 1968

53:22     “I’m Wishing” from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs: Disneyland 1201, 1968

54:41     “One Song” from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs: Disneyland 1201, 1968

56:12     “Give a Little Whistle” from Walt Disney’s Pinocchio: Disneyland DL 3512, 1971

57:44     “Whistle While You Work” from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs: Disneyland 1201, 1968

58:49     “Heigh Ho” from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs: Disneyland 1201, 1968

1:01:33  “Hi-Diddle-De-Dee (An Actor’s Life For Me)” from Walt Disney’s Pinocchio: Disneyland DL 3512, 1971

1:03:10  “Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum (The Washing Song)” from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs: Disneyland 1201, 1968

1:06:03  Ward Kimball interview part 4

1:14:13  Spike Jones and His City Slickers “Der Fuehrer’s Face” Bluebird B-11586, 1942

1:16:49  Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters “Three Caballeros” Decca 23364, 1944

1:19:31  Roy Rogers & Sons of the Pioneers “(There’ll Never Be Another) Pecos Bill” RCA Victor 20-2780-B, 1948

1:22:33  Ward Kimball interview part 5

1:26:22  Good Tone Banjo Boys “Ducks Yas Yas”: Good Tone Records 001, 1972

1:29:43  Frank Luther Trio “In the Valley of the Moon”, Decca 5038, 1934 [??? Ward says artist = Henry Solieul, but this is the only release of this song I can find on Decca]

1:32:36  Ward Kimball interview part 6 [reel break at 1:33:12]

1:37:33  “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Walt Disney’s Dumbo: Disneyland DQ 1204, 1963

1:40:06  “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” from Walt Disney’s Song of the South: Disneyland DEP 4001-A, 1956

1:42:11  “When I See an Elephant Fly” from Walt Disney’s Dumbo: Disneyland DQ 1204, 1963

1:43:56  Shirelles “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” from Best of the Shirelles: Scepter Records CTN 18003, 1972

1:46:37  Ward Kimball interview part 7

1:51:05  “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Walt Disney’s Pinocchio: Disneyland DL 3512, 1971

1:54:05  [???]

1:54:16  end

Michael McKean: KNAC-FM Long Beach guest DJ set, August 1974

From the collection of Firesign Theatre fan Glen Banks come these MP3s from a guest DJ set on KNAC-FM Long Beach performed by Michael McKean, probably in August 1974. These cuts came from a rescued work tape, only some of which was broadcast. “Her Own Sandwich” is a Righteous Brothers parody about the death of Mama Cass. “Long Beach Suite” and the KNAC-FM legal ID are two short folk ballads about the refinery emission-drenched wonderfulness that is Long Beach. “MPX Cassettes” is an ad for a consumer brand of cassette tapes with a celebrity endorsement by Patti Hearst. “Grey Toupee” pays tribute to disgraced President Richard Nixon. The National Association of Progressive Radio Announcers PSA “Vote Til It Hurts” is a real PSA, featuring McKean as Tony LaMone urging listeners to vote. And the various Spots are tributes to Fred May and his wife, long-time staples of Channel 13 in Los Angeles, who together produced endless identical-sounding ads with the wife’s voice drenched in echo. “Massage-A-Rama” and the “Sid’s Wood City” ad sequence are pretty goofy, but then the Gap took the gag to its logical extreme and cooked up four incredibly offensive variants, three of which were included on their 1977 album The Bronze Age of Radio. Trust me, the only time in this planet’s history when these spots have been allowed to air was when a radio station had the actual members of the Gap handy to take all the blame if necessary. (NOTE: the Freddie Herbie spot and the last set of Fred May ads come not from Glen Banks but from my archive, and have a different, forgotten source, probably Alan Olsen and Michael Pearce. Thanks everybody!)

KNAC-FM legal ID

Her Own Kind of Sandwich

MPX Cassettes

NAPRA PSA: Vote 'Til It Hurts

Grey Toupee

Spots (A Tribute to Fred May): Massage-A-Rama

Spots (A Tribute to Fred May): Sid’s Wood City / Bill’s Hovercraft School / Broxon Formula 19 / Arnold’s Rubberama

Spots (A Tribute to Fred May): Dago Menswear / Jigaboo’s Car Wash / Kike National Bank / Mr. Spic Taco Tavern

Public Service Announcement: Freddie Herbie for the National Necrophilia Foundation (radio version)

Long Beach Suite

Aircheck audio

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.

Victor Banana: Split

Tim Hensley (aka Neil Smythe, aka Vic Hazelnut) is kind of a genius. Now best known as a cartoonist, Tim recorded two albums with his band Victor Banana; this was the first, released on DJ Splat Winger’s San Pedro imprint SplatCo in 1989, and featuring cover art by Dan Clowes. The band’s second and last album was the record/CD Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron in 1993. There’s lots of great bloggage elsewhere about Tim’s musical adventures as himself and other personae (see links below). I’ve asked Tim several times over the years whether he’s got any more music in him and he’s always said no, so until such time as the muse Euterpe picks up her flute and whacks Tim with it, we’ve just got these tunes to hum along to.

Convoke
Strange Things Are Happening
Surfin' Is the Most Easy Sport
Here Comes Santa
Shiver Me Timbers
Vitrified
Do the Jalopy
The Cash Cow
The World's Most Gruesome Monster
Planet Xylak
Teen Anthem
Aggravation
If I Was Elected President
Partly Cloudy
Let's Go for a Ride on a Dinosaur
Paul Bunyan
Iamatology Walking Through Lineal Theanthropism
What I Did Last Summer
Dr. Goodbeard
Parker
How Far Away Are the Stars?

LP audio & artwork

mrowster’s “Pig State Recon” blog
Steve Zdanio’s “Domino Rally” blog
Tim Hensley’s “Blog Flume” blog
The Jenkins-Peabody home page (not sure whether this has been updated in the last eight years)

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.

Various Artists: Beatlesongs! The Best of the Beatles Novelty Records

Rhino Records flexed their novelty muscles with this 1982 collection of songs inspired by The Beatles, including tunes by the Neil Innes / Eric Idle collaboration The Rutles and Peter Cook & Dudley Moore’s uptempo psychedelic ditty “L.S. Bumble Bee”. Meanwhile the packaging is basically very cute, very innocuous, move along, nothing to see here. (The infamous cover art includes a caricature of Mark David Chapman, the first Beatles superfan who, as illustrator William Stout points out, collected a Beatle.) Please note: "Beatle Rap" is a stone classic.

Buchanan and Greenfield: The Invasion
The Rutles: Hold My Hand
The Carefrees: We Love You Beatles
Donna Lynn: My Boyfriend Got a Beatle Haircut
Casey Kasem: Letter from Elaina
Jack Nitzsche: Beatlemania
The Qworymen: Beatle Rap
Peter Cook & Dudley Moore: L.S. Bumble Bee
Wild Man Fischer: I’m the Meany
Allan Sherman: Pop Hates the Beatles
The Four Preps: Letter to the Beatles
Gary Usher: The Beetle

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.

Irving Taylor: The Whimsical World of Irving Taylor

I bought this while looking for a version of “Pachalafaka” that Firesign Theatre played on one of their old radio shows. It turns out that Irving Taylor plays demolition derby with a dozen deathless pop trends on this LP, smashing together sing-along folk songs and hillbilly teenybopper tunes, crooners and car salesmen. The roster of guest vocalists is pretty impressive, including Mel Blanc, Key Howard, Robie Lester, and Bea Benaderet, and the record has production values so fine you might just mistake the songs for rejects from an Eisenhower-era hit parade. Almost rises to the level of Tom Lehrer, but without Tom's penchant for the sick-sick-sick. Hightlights for me are “Zeekie, Zeekie, Lend Me Your Comb” and the simply breathtaking “Domestic Wine”.

Hawaiian Worm Raiser
In a Cafeteria With You
Honest John Henry
Domestic Wine
Pachalafaka
Garbage Collector in Beverly Hills
Prison Interior Decorator
Make It a Chocolate Soda
When the Crab Grass Blooms Again
Zeekie, Zeekie, Lend Me Your Comb
Separate Bar Stools
I'll Never Forget Those Unforgettable Never To Be Forgotten Memories

LP 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.