Drop and give me 10 (songs), jarheads

Chuck Zangus and Howie Snider are "The Captains", apparently a couple of Marine aviators who got bitten by the folk-singing bug. Though there is no indication on the album of specific military support of the recording (other than in the liner notes: "they are sometimes accused of being 'singing recruiters'") some basic Googling indicates that Howie was an Information Officer in the Marine Corps (as well as, later, a Shakey's restaurant owner, subject of a film about Muncie, IN, and a Ball State teacher) so my suspicion is that this LP might have had some clandestine armed forces support.

The Captains In Pensacola

Marine Corps Aviator Folk Song
Icarus
Astronaut Jarhead
Marine Green
Look Her In The Eyeballs
Teen-Age Marine
CNABATRA (pronounced sin-a-ba-tra)*
Ballad Of Papa Don
Give Me Back That Rib**
The Captain's Song


* Chief Of Naval Air Basic Training (Rear Admiral Daniel F. Smith, Jr., in this specific case)

**DO NOT play this for any woman with whom you wish to remain on good terms

A portion of the liner notes:

Here are 'The Captains' at last on record with some of their most popular songs.
This pair of comical lyricists, Chuck Zangas and Howie Snider, are known throughout the country for their ability to create songs and tailor parodies to suite their many varied audiences. They have now brought their accordian (sic) and guitar into the studio to give posterity and shut-ins an opportunity to laugh with them (or at them) as they gaily exercise with some of the less esoteric selections from their repertoire.

Some of The Captains' repertoire is oriented toward the military audience. As a result, they are sometimes accused of being "Singing Recruiters." Whether or not you are, have been or will be in some way affiliated with the armed forces, we think you will get a kick out of The Captains' original and spirited examination of the lighter side of military life. And certainly everyone will enjoy their commentaries on such universal subjects as topless bathing suits and disc jockeys.

Forget Big Ears...

here's something for little ears:

Tubby The Tuba

A classic children's favorite narrated by Mouseketeer Annette. John Thomas Johnson plays the tuba.

Tubby has his own web site now: tubbythetuba.com

Go there to buy it on CD.

Side One
The Musical Story of Tubby The Tuba

Side Two
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom
Old MacDonald Had A Band
Things We Sing About
Smile And Face The Music
Fun With Music

'King Great

OK, this is incredibly smaltzy and string-laden - I doubt I'll ever listen to it again. Never-the-less, I'm posting it - simply because of the magnificent cover. I mean, just look at that!


Wayne King - In Hi-Fi

SIDE 1:
1) Sweet And Lovely
2) L'Amour, Toujours L'Amour
3) I'm A Dreamer, Aren't We All
4) To Each His Own
5) Silver Moon
6) Sleepy Lagoon

SIDE 2:
1) They Say It's Wonderful
2) Harbor Lights
3) Laugh! Clown! Laugh!
4) Ah! Sweet Mystery Of Life
5) Prisoner Of Love
6) The One Rose (That's Left In My Heart)

So he loaded up the truck and he moved to...

When I moved from Tennessee to North Carolina (Charlotte) in 1993 I knew that I wouldn't be able to take along my extensive vinyl collection, since I was moving into a small apartment. I put together a series of somewhere between six and ten themed cassette tapes to take with me instead. The most numerous of the series were the "Guitar Bands" tapes, of which there are at least five.

I had just started gathering these together yesterday, with this tape being the only one located so far. In some sort of cosmic coincidence, this one kicks off with a track from Alex Chilton's "No Sex" EP, so I'm assuming that I'm supposed to post it.

Artists include:
Alex Chilton
Guadalcanal Diary
The Truth
John Waite
Yo La Tengo
Tracy Chapman
Plasticland
The Woodentops
The Pandoras
Katrina and the Waves


Guitar Bands 05

RIP Alex Chilton

I was in a band during the 90's for which almost every album or show review name-checked Big Star. It got to the point that I suggested that we name our second album "Big Stir" just to mess with reviewers. [It worked, in the sense that 50% of the press mentions of the album called it "Major Nelson's Big Star"].

The interesting part was that none of us were in any sense serious listeners to that particular band. It was only later that I got around to picking up the Big Star discography. I was familiar with Alex Chilton's work with the Box Tops, and I had actually seen him backing Tav Falco/Panther Burns opening for The Clash [not the real Clash, the fake "Cut The Crap" Clash] at UT's Alumni Gym sometime in the 80's. Mostly, I knew his name from The Replacements and from various covers of his songs. In fact, I still believe that the best versions of many of his songs are covers.

So, in that spirit, my RIP tribute is a cover from one of my favorites, Tommy Keene.

Tommy Keene - Hey Little Child