Say Goodbye to Sudetenland

From 1982, here's Germany's Hoffman performing 10 classic rock (or pop) tracks in that inimitable "non-native-English-speakers-interpreting-rock style" that we Americans tend to find so amusing.
Most of these end up Wagnerian in scope. Who knew that MacArthur Park could be even more overblown?

Well, I wrote all of that above before I bothered to google Peter Hoffmann. Turns out he was, in fact, a well-known Wagnerian operatic tenor. Also, I feel bad for mocking him, as his life didn't end well.



Peter Hofmann - Rock Classics (CBS 38451 1982)

The House Of The Rising Sun	4:04
Scarborough Fair	4:17
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore	3:39
The Long And Winding Road	4:11
Mac Arthur Park (sic)	4:59
Sailing	4:57
Yesterday	3:45
Say Goodbye To Hollywood	4:05
Nights In White Satin	5:14
Bridge Over Troubled Water	4:02

I Sure Wouldn't Pick It...

Here's another of those knock-off albums (like last weeks Tubby Chess). This one is perhaps even worse than that one. How hard is it to pull off a convincing Monster Mash Cover, really? Apparently too hard for the Peter Pan crew, who even manage to mess up the lyrics (though they get the sound effects intro correct by lifting it directly from the original recording).


Peter Pan - Monster Mash (Peter Pan Records 8126) 1977

 

A1	Monster Mash
A2	Purple People Eater
A3	Feet Up, Pat'Em On The Po-Po
A4	Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
A5	Little Blue Man
B1	Witch Doctor
B2	Dinner With Drac
B3	Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor On The Bedpost Over Night ?
B4	Mama Look A Boo-boo
B5	Big Bad John

Portly Tiddlywinks

 This album is an example of one of my favorite music sub-genres - the knock off album. Most (this one included) seem specifically designed to fool the less-well-informed and/or the parents of kids too young to make their own purchases. Most of the items in my collection are Beatles-related, with a smattering of other artists (The Monkees, for example). This is my first Chubby Checker fake, which is pretty funny (or ironic, or meta, or whatever the kids these days say) as the stage name Chubby Checker was itself based off of a more well-known performer (Fats Domino).

OTOH, these songs/recordings are pretty bad - the vocals, especially. Eeee-aaah, indeed.
There are also a few sax solos that indicate that someone forgot to pass the chart to the player, perhaps.

Grand Prix Series Records was Pickwick reissue label, and existed from the early to mid-1960s. Initially, Grand Prix was used to reissue most or all of the albums that had previously been released on the Bravo and International Award labels. You can get a fairly complete discography here: pickwick/grandprix.

For several years in the early '60's Pickwick employed Lou Reed as a staff songwriter for these type of albums. Sadly, this album predates his employment.

Tubby Chess and his Candy Stripe Twisters Do the Twist (1962) K-187

A1	The Twist
A2	Oh, This Is Love
A3	Swinging Papa
A4	Yes, She Knows
A5	My Baby Couldn't Dance
B1	I Need Your Love
B2	I Just Couldn't Take It
B3	Hey, Little Girl
B4	Take A Chance
B5	Loving You

shameless shilling

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The VHS-Roys

 

Here's a V-Roys show from the summer of '99 taped with my old VHS-C camera. It gets off to a slow start with Motion Pictures, but ratchets up the energy quickly. I consider the 'Roys one of the best live bands ever. Too bad that they only had a few more months to exist.

Pomp and (37.7") Circumference

Show business, old-school style.

This is a posthumous 1979 release that combines two 1955 and 1956 albums.

Noel Coward - The Noel Coward Album 
Columbia Masterworks ‎– MG 30088

Disc One: In New York
I Like America
Louisa    
Half-Caste Woman    
I Went To A Marvelous Party    
Time And Again    
Why Must The Show Go On
   
New York Medley: Let's Say Goodbye/Teach Me To Dance Like Grandma/We Were Dancing/Sigh No More/Zigeuner/You Were There/Nevermore/I'll See You Again/Mad Dogs And Englishmen    
What's Going To Happen To The Tots    
Sail Away    
Wait A Bit, Joe    
20th Century Blues    
I Wonder What Happened To Him    
The Party's Over Now
   
   
Disc Two: In Las Vegas
Medley: I'll See You Again/Dance, Little Lady/Poor Little Rich Girl/A Room With A View/Someday I'll Find You/I'll Follow My Secret Heart/If Love Were All/Play, Orchestra Play    
Uncle Harry    
Loch Lomond    
A Bar On The Piccola Marina    
World Weary    
Nina

Mad Dogs And Gentlemen    
Matelot    
Alice Is At It Again    
A Room With A View    
Let's Do it    
The Party's Over