WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Thurl Ravenscroft - Volume 6 - And That's No Bull! (MP3's)

On five previous occasions, I've brought you items from my collection featuring the great Thurl Ravenscroft. 

This began during the 2007 "365 Days" project, when I shared many of my favorite Thurl items all at once, and was most recently updated just over two years ago, in a post you can find here (and which links back to the previous post, which itself links to the earlier posts...)

Today, three songs from two vintage 45's. The first is a record by Jerry Gray and his Orchestra, who I previously featured with Thurl on a song called "Pale Moon" a few years ago. This record is more of a novelty, and it's one that really allows Thurl to go to town, with a fake Spanish accent and some truly deep notes at the end. 

Jerry Gray and his Orchestra, Vocal Chorus by Thurl Ravenscroft - And the Bull Walked Around "Olay" (MP3)

Record Label (JPG)

The other two songs are from both sides of a 78 recorded by Thurl's quartet The Mellomen, a name which was sometimes spelled (as it is here) The Mello-Men. 

Thurl is front and center on the first song, "My Love, the Blues and Me", giving him a rare chance to sing lead on a slow, sad romantic song. 

The Mello-Men - My Love, the Blues and Me (MP3)

Record Label (JPG)

On the flip side, "I'd Give a Million Yesterdays", you'll hear, for the most part, Thurl's more typical role in the Mello-Men - singing as part of an ensemble. I have dozens of records by the group - typically backing up other singers - where the bass could be anyone, because he never steps up and sings anything by himself, or in his lower register. This one is different, though, in that Thurl gets a brief solo spot near the end of the song, which is worth the price of admission. 

The Mello-Men – I’d Give a Million Yesterdays (MP3)

Record Label (JPG)

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'Listener' Mindwrecker Mines Some Audio Motherlode

Greetings, Audiofiends!  I'm stepping away from my usual WFMU Comic Supplement posts today to point to a few audio-centric websites that I still regularly use. Naturally, many fine pages disappear or go dormant, but these are some that have remained robust for many years (and one interesting newbie).

Many pages feature rarities that are so long out of print and obscure that they are one of the only sources of the material, while others are more of a 'listening room' where you can stream or download material to judge whether to buy it from a vendor legitimately.

Here are my top five current favorites:

 Allen's Archive of Early and Old Country Music, whose title pretty much sums up the contents. Terrific old vinyl in various genres, and occasional lovely collections of 78rpm records. Cover artwork, occasional label art, good information when he knows it. This has been a wonderful resource over the years, and is great for experimental downloads - surprise yourself with some unfamiliar stuff.

Willard, here, used to run a fantastic Harry Nilsson page that is much missed since it's untimely departure last year. His Wormhole page is a currently awesome resource for listening to some hard-to-find oddities and bonus tracks by a very wide variety of artists and styles (as well as videos). Plus he really knows his material and does his homework.

Lonesome Lefty is another site specializing in old-timey folk and country material. They seem to be based out of Canada or somewhere way up North as a lot of the records come from up there. Lots of liner notes from Lefty accompany all posts so that you are always well-informed about the album in question.

Our pal Uncle Gil spins loads of different types of records, with a decided slant towards vintage R&B and early rock and roll, but you never know what will turn up in here. Many surprises. Worth a good dredge every so often. Another site that puts up a steady stream of new material all the time. This one is perhaps based in Europe somewhere, as the pressings seem to almost all originate overseas, which makes for some nice unusual versions of records.

And lastly, our newcomer to the daily-posting-of-vinyl-records scene:

This one just started up on January first, and threatens to put up a different record every day. So far, the selection is thrift-stor-ey and cool, and the downloads are high-quality for the most part and include well-scanned and edited cover artwork.  No information given - just slabs of wax served up hot.  I'm enjoying this page a lot so far, they have showcased several favorite records of mine in the short time they have been online. And I thought that WFMU people would appreciate the "365 Days" aspect of this site (is there a connection with us-? Your guess is as good as mine).

Basic Hip Oddio 365

Enjoy, peoples! And I'll see you next time at the WFMU Comics Supplement.

Comments:  [email protected]

"Barbie the Nightclub Singer" and Other Dabblings in High Art

"It was OUR SONG Roger's and mine ... the love song that formed the background of our romance ... THE THEME THAT BROKE MY HEART.

It's all over and done ... and I NEVER think of Roger anymore ... never, except when I hear THE SONG they're playing ... it was 'OUR SONG' then ... the theme they were playing that first night right here when Mark introduced me to ROGER MELTON."

Thus begins the heaviest of our four light tales today. And in the others we will visit The Archies as they try to rehearse, take in Barbie and Ken at their hit nightclub act, and learn about how taking up accordion can change your life forever!

A frothy mix of comics madness featuring humor, romance, adventure and accordions - all to be savored right here at the WFMU Comic Supplement - right after the jump!

A Birthday Conference Call: August, 1966 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 61) (MP3's)

Here's a tape that I found fascinating. It's not an easy listen - the sound quality is abysmal, even after I worked on it quite a bit to eliminate a lot of humming and buzzing - but if you can get past that, and are the type to like things like audio letters, you may also find something to enjoy here, even if once is probably going to be enough.

I've certainly been on my share of conference calls, but here's something I didn't know until I played this tape: you could arrange a conference call via the telephone company way back in the dial phone era, at least back to the date on this tape, which is nearly 50 years ago. I'm not talking about party lines, which were common back then, and in some cases were the only phone lines people had, but actual, prearranged conference calls. This tape not only demonstrates what those primitive conference calls sounded like, it also captures the clunky, time consuming way one had to set the call up in the first place. 

What's captured here in the last 25 minutes of this 30 minute tape is a group of friends all calling yet another friend to wish him a happy birthday.

But as mentioned, it starts with a recording of the long-winded process of setting up the call. The person whose idea it was calls the operator, gets transferred wrong and starts over again, before finally ending up with the conference call operator. He then has to spend three minutes giving the names and phone numbers of all of the people who will be on the call - to be made later in the day - and setting up the parameters of that call, which includes making sure the operator calls everyone NOW to make sure they know there will be the conference call later in the day, and at what time. I can only imagine how much this must have cost...

Then it's on to the actual call, which - aside from some terrible phone connections - sounds much like any other recording of a group of people all coming together to say Happy Birthday to someone they all know. That it's all over some fairly shaky phone connections adds a touch of weirdness to the proceedings - one participant is thought to have missed the call, only to show up as if there all along near the end - and it is, as mentioned, hard to listen to. But I thought I'd pass it along to others who might enjoy this moment in time. 

I note about the date: the person who set up the call quite clearly gives a date of August 9, 1966, at the start of the tape. A different date is written on the tape box, and I'm not quite sure what to make of that, but I'm going with the date heard on the tape. 

A Birthday Conference Call, August 9th, 1966 (MP3)

Tape Box (JPG)

Comments can be sent to [email protected]