Ten Inches of Pleasure

Format wars - they've been going on as long as there has been audio and video recording. Remember VHS vs. Beta? Three different laserdisc systems? 8-track vs. cassette? Windows Media vs. Real Audio? 45/45 vs. hill and dale stereo? Edison cylinder vs. Berliner disc?

The early hi-fi era managed to standardize everything (disc speed, stereo format, equalization curve) except the actual disc size. Today's selection comes in the 10" LP format, which quickly lost out to the 12" LP format (though it had a brief attempted resurrection in the early 80's).

Today's record (Background Music Volume 6: Music Blended To Mix Graciously With Social Gatherings) is directed at those of you who will be entertaining during the upcoming holidays.

Praise The Lord And Pass The Mp3 Player

A little something in honor of Veterans Day - "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition: Songs of World Wars I and II." I apologize for the horrible condition of this transfer - this was a last-minute decision for a post, and I'm not sure that there is much I can do about this beat up former-library LP anyway.

(at left, PFC My Pops)

Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition

Herbert Stuart - When The Lusitania Went Down 3:00

Morton Harvey - I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier 2:58

American Quartet - Let's All Be Americans Now 2:58

Nora Bayes - Over There 2:54

Al Jolson - Hello, Central! Give Me No Man's Land 3:18

Shannon Four, The - There's A Vacant Chair In Every Home Tonight 2:52

Al Jolson - I've Got My Captain Working For Me Now 2:41

Peerless Quartet - My Dream Of The Big Parade 3:25

Spike Jones And His City Slickers - Der Fuehrer's Face 2:37

Betty Bonney - He's 1-A In The Army And He's A-1 In My Heart 3:04

Golden Gate Quartet - Stalin Wasn't Stallin' (A Modern Spiritual) 3:07

Dick Robertson - We Did It Before And We Can Do It Again 2:24

Kenny Baker - I Left My Heart At The Stage Door Canteen 2:38

Dick Robertson - Goodbye, Mama (I'm Off To Yokohama) 2:36

John Long And His Orchestra - No Love, No Nothin' 2:57

Kay Kyser And His Orchestra - Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition 2:31

Helen Forrest - My Guy's Come Back 3:00

"Forty Five Minutes of Hilarity" *

OK, so there are stretches where I have no idea what Myron Cohen is talking about - a combination of accent and idiom - but there are also some bits where, had I been drinking milk, it would have come out of my nose.








Myron Cohen - Everybody Gotta Be Someplace (at the Royal Box Americana of New York)








*that's what she said!

Quoth the Ravenscroft, nevermore

I could listen to Thurl Ravenscroft talk 24 hours a day. If you don't know the name, you surely know the voice - "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," "Frosted Flakes - They're Greeeeaaat!"


Ravenscroft has an impressive discography.


Today's selection from 1963 is Thurl giving a lesson in the basics of music and the instruments of the orchestra.


As far as I can determine, this LP hasn't been reissued on CD, which is a shame.


A Child's Introduction to Melody and the Instruments of the Orchestra 01
A Child's Introduction to Melody and the Instruments of the Orchestra 02

And God looked, and saw that it was g...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS WEARING??!!

Barren Cross, Jesus metal from 1986. The sound is pretty good (I especially like some of the drum stuff) but I can't be in the same room as the cover without having to cover my eyes.

Apparently they're still around (if having a myspace page fits your definition of still around) and still wearing somewhat-matching clothing (acid-washed jeans thankfully replacing the spandex).

This is a promo 45rpm 12" single that I suppose proclaims their raison d'être.

Barren Cross - Rock For The King

Go ahead, click on the picture: view it full size. I double dog dare you.

Where The Wild Things Were

In light of the excitement over the new Spike Jonze film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are I thought that I'd dredge up a musical memory out of the 1980's - 1986 to be exact.

Sea 7 States - Where The Wild Things Are


Technical note: this is one of the few Sea 7 States recordings that I did not do. This studio time was part of the prize package from winning the Service Merchandise Battle of the Bands. I would not have chosen on my own to put chorus on my bass for this song, nor would I have made cymbal a lead instrument.

Cossacks and Violence or, Casting a Wide Nyet

Russia - "[I]t is pertinent to remark that if it were not for the traditional music of this sprawling country, there would not have been the wonderful richness in the music of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and all the other Russian composers whose works are now staples of our modern concert and operatic reertoire." (from the liner notes)

The Cossacks

Side One - Folk Songs

Stenka Razin

Song of the Volga Boatmen

Evening Bells

Legend of the 12 Robbers

Monotonously Rings the Bell

Along The Volga

Side Two - Liturgical Songs

Te Deum

May My Prayer Please Thee

Pater Noster

Blessed Be the Man

Credo