Peter Cook & Dudley Moore: Magnolia Opus 1

From kings of 1960s swinging London comedy to moulding hucksters... Ad man to Magnolia Mouldings: You've been in the business thirty years. You consider yourself number one in the field of picture framing. So release a record! A number one! Get it? But at least one side has to have some sounds on it! So get someone to be on it and do something! Magnolia Mouldings to Ad man: Hm - you know the son of the cousin of my charwoman's poltergeist's pet vole knows Dudley Moore! Ad man: Perfect! Peter Cook and Dudley Moore extolling the virtues of the Magnolia Group and all their various locations! And they could unironically address our controversial move to Stoke Newington, reading from some prepared copy we'll give them! Magnolia Mouldings man: And there's a bit of the hallway just between reception and the loading docks where there are acoustic ceiling tiles! We can record them there performing to a small group of gathered employees!

And so beget this 1977 record, with an unmodulated groove on the B-side and Cook and Moore extolling Magnolia on the A. The session was carefully engineered to the point where you almost can't hear trucks going by, and there almost isn't 50hz and 150hz hum from the AC, and you almost can't hear a plane go over at one point. So anyway, it's a promotional record. It's a thing. But why. Why why why. Also, Dudley Moore performs his always-brilliant Bogey-meets-Beethoven mashup "And the Same to You".

Magnolia Opus One
And the Same to You

Record audio & art

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.

Doonesbury's Jimmy Thudpucker: Greatest Hits

From superstar Jimmy Thudpucker (a.k.a. James "Jimmy" Brewer) comes this album on John Denver's Windsong label which existed entirely to support the proposition that the character Jimmy Thudpucker, featured in Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic in the 1970s, was a real person. Of course it was a put-on, but the songwriting and production values were not. For more background on this trompe l'oreille slab of soft rock, see Martin Schneider's great post on the Dangerous Minds blog. Meanwhile here's a fresh scan of the LP, the inner sleeve, and the 8-page comics booklet included inside each copy.

You Can't Fight It
Take Your Life
I Don't Know My Love
Stop
Indian Brown
Where Can I Go
I Do Believe
Fretman Sam
Ginny's Song
So Long / Overture '73

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 & Dudley Moore: Decca singles 1965-1967

Here are four of the five singles that Peter Cook & Dudley Moore released on Decca between 1965 and 1967 (I've omitted the Bedazzled-era single featuring "Bedazzled" and "Love Me", since those songs are available on the 2010 Dudley Moore CD Bedazzled Revisited on the 101 Distribution label, which is a thing you should get because it is awesome).

Not Only But Also
Goodbyeee
The Ballad of Spotty Muldoon
Lovely Lady of the Roses
Isn't She a Sweetie
Bo Dudley
The L.S. Bumble Bee
The Bee Side

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 & Dudley Moore: Not Only...But Also

File under "That's Not Confusing At All": Cook and Moore's first album for Decca was Not Only Peter Cook...But Also Dudley Moore (1965). This, their last album of original material for Decca, was called simply Not Only...But Also (1971). This one's awfully scarce on the used merch internets, so I was particularly glad when I finally scored a copy, and the contents did not disappoint.

Dud Dreams
In the Club
Lengths
This Is Ludwig Van Beethoven
The Making of a Movie
0 0 Dud

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 & Dudley Moore: Once Moore with Cook

Cook & Moore's second LP for Decca, released in 1966. This one's gold from start to finish.

Dud and Pete on Sex
Father and Son
The Frog and Peach
Six of the Best
The Music Teacher
A Bit of a Chat
Dud and Pete at the Zoo
The Psychiatrist

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 & Dudley Moore: Not Only Peter Cook...But Also Dudley Moore

Cook & Moore's first LP on Decca, compiled from their television show. "The Ravens", in which Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling explains how he's spent the last forty years trying to teach ravens to fly underwater, is pretty much the closest peek straight into Peter Cook's gray matter this world ever got.

The Ravens
Superstitions
Tramponuns
Art Gallery
Initials
Religions

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.

David Carroll: Percussion in Hi-Fi (stereo version)

And here's "Percussion in Hi-Fi" once more, in stereo this time. This brings to the fore how, aside from the content of the music, this record exemplifies its era: The mono and stereo LP releases don't just feature different artwork, the records contain completely different performances. There was no "fixing it in the mix" in 1957: the mono version was recorded in one location with one set of mikes in a single-speaker mix captured to one track, while the stereo version was performed in a different place with different mikes and captured on two tracks (even the arrangements changed between sessions: "Controversy" features a full extra minute of material). I have no idea in what order the sides were cut or which performances the producers found preferable; this stereo version seems to have a fuller bass response, though.

Hell's Bells
Bali Ha'i
The Chimes of Swing
Malagueña
Discussion in Percussion Part I: Quiet Talk
Discussion in Percussion Part II: Chatter
Discussion in Percussion Part III: Controversy
The Cricket
Jungle Drums
Spanish Symphonique No. I: The Pyrenees
Spanish Symphonique No. II: Madrid
Spanish Symphonique No. III: Bullfight
Spanish Symphonique No. IV: Finale - Flamenco

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.