From the liner notes of Drag Explosive:
"To call this a new sound would be telling a half-truth, for while it is new in a certain sense, it most definitely is the Swing and Sway sound brought up-to-date with all the taste and articulateness that can come from the marriage of these talents.
But no amount of descriptive verbiage, no matter how accurately attuned it may be to the subject matter, can clearly define anything as well as simply playing and listening and almost unavoidably dancing to this long-play album yourself."
--Cars Get Crushed
1995
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Cars Get Crushed.
Drag Explosive (Deluxe)
1. The Thunderbolt
2. A Slight Sting
3. Deluxe
4. Weather Conditions
5. 18th Nervous Breakdown
6. Drag Explosive
7. Oranjeboom
8. Fabulous
Blue And West (Goldenrod)
1. The Stranger
2. California
3. Optimator
4. Infra Red
5. The Bends
6. Hero City
7. Modern Apollo
8. Blue And West
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Gregorian Chants
May this help you on your path to enlightenment.
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Gregorian Chants.
Festival of Gregorian Chants (Madacy)
1. Cantores Chorales Capellae Sancti Casimiri - Vilnius (Litouwen)
2. The Gloriae Dei Cantores - Massachusetts (USA)
3. I Cantori Gregoriani di Milano
4. The Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge
5. The Choristers of Westminster Cathedral, London
6. Het Gregoriaans Koor van Pusan (Zuid-Korea)
7. Schola Cantorum Amsterdam
8. Choeur Gregorien de Paris
9. Liturgischer Singkreis Jena
10. Gregoriaans Koor "Cum Jublio" - Watou
11. Schola Cantorum Achel
12. Laudate Dominum - Kortrijk
13. Cantando - Roeselare
14. Gregoriaans Koor van Leuven
15. Gregoriaans Abdijkoor van Grimbergen
16. "Sabbato Ad Vesperas"
17. "Liturgisch Drama"
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Gregorian Chants.
Festival of Gregorian Chants (Madacy)
1. Cantores Chorales Capellae Sancti Casimiri - Vilnius (Litouwen)
2. The Gloriae Dei Cantores - Massachusetts (USA)
3. I Cantori Gregoriani di Milano
4. The Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge
5. The Choristers of Westminster Cathedral, London
6. Het Gregoriaans Koor van Pusan (Zuid-Korea)
7. Schola Cantorum Amsterdam
8. Choeur Gregorien de Paris
9. Liturgischer Singkreis Jena
10. Gregoriaans Koor "Cum Jublio" - Watou
11. Schola Cantorum Achel
12. Laudate Dominum - Kortrijk
13. Cantando - Roeselare
14. Gregoriaans Koor van Leuven
15. Gregoriaans Abdijkoor van Grimbergen
16. "Sabbato Ad Vesperas"
17. "Liturgisch Drama"
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
The Jerky Boys
"To all our fans, old and new. You guys and gals are truly the best!! Since the mid-'80s when it started to take off on a large scale, you were there. These creations are for you. Everyone of you can relate to these characters in one way or another. Everyone knows a Sol Rosenberg, Frank Rizzo, Kissel and so on. We certainly do and more characters are on the way. In fact, for this CD, we thought we'd share some of them with you and bring you a new twist on the actual calls themselves - eight of the calls are incoming, in response to ads that were placed in several publications by The Jerky Boys. So enjoy there ya sillyass bastards!!!"
--The Jerky Boys
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, The Jerky Boys.
The Jerky Boys (Select/Detonator)
1. Irate Tile Man
2. Unemployed Painter
3. Laser Surgery
4. Insulator Job
5. Egyptian Magician
6. Sol's Glasses
7. Car Salesman
8. Sushi Chef
9. Super Across the Way
10. The Gay Model
11. The Home Wrecker
12. Auto Mechanic
13. Dental Malpractice
14. Started Motor Repair
15. Hurt at Work
16. Hot Rod Mover
17. Firecracker Mishap
18. Punitive Damages
19. Piano Tuner
20. Gay Hard Hat
21. Uncle Freddie
The Jerky Boys 2 (Select/Detonator)
1. Pablo Honey
2. Drinking Problem
3. Pet Cobra
4. Sol's Warts
5. Breast Enlargement
6. Roofing
7. Gay Hairdresser
8. Volunteer
9. Terrorist Pizza
10. Pico's Mexican Hairpiece
11. A Little Emergency
12. Sparky The Clown
13. Security Service
14. Sol's Nude Beach
15 Diamond Dealer
16. Sol's Naked Photo
17. The Mattress King
18. Ball Game Beating
19. Sporting Goods
20. Scaffolding
21. Sex Therapy
22. Sol's Phobia
23. Cremation Services
24. Pizza Lawyer
25. Fava Beans
26. Husband Beating
The Jerky Boys 3 (Ratchet/Mercury)
1. Santa's Delivery
2. Lawn Equipment Debate
3. Balloon Rides
4. The Dresser
5. Silly Food
6. Sol's Chainsaw Shock
7. Stop That
8. Chainsaw Shock (Part 2)
9. Tandem Bicycle
10. Safety Gates
11. Bamm!
12. Facelift Without Surgery
13. Lawnmower Sale
14. Tarbash's New Shoes
15. Signin'
16. No!
17. Sol's Civil War Memoribilia
18. Civil War Memoribilia (Part 2)
19. Bad Tomatoes
20. Florida, The Tropical State
21. TV Repair
22. 1-800-How's My Driving?
23. Bad Ass Massage
24. Paradise
25. Body Building
26. Kissel Crooner
27. Angry Camper's Dad
28. Bird Feed
29. New Awnings
--The Jerky Boys
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, The Jerky Boys.
The Jerky Boys (Select/Detonator)
1. Irate Tile Man
2. Unemployed Painter
3. Laser Surgery
4. Insulator Job
5. Egyptian Magician
6. Sol's Glasses
7. Car Salesman
8. Sushi Chef
9. Super Across the Way
10. The Gay Model
11. The Home Wrecker
12. Auto Mechanic
13. Dental Malpractice
14. Started Motor Repair
15. Hurt at Work
16. Hot Rod Mover
17. Firecracker Mishap
18. Punitive Damages
19. Piano Tuner
20. Gay Hard Hat
21. Uncle Freddie
The Jerky Boys 2 (Select/Detonator)
1. Pablo Honey
2. Drinking Problem
3. Pet Cobra
4. Sol's Warts
5. Breast Enlargement
6. Roofing
7. Gay Hairdresser
8. Volunteer
9. Terrorist Pizza
10. Pico's Mexican Hairpiece
11. A Little Emergency
12. Sparky The Clown
13. Security Service
14. Sol's Nude Beach
15 Diamond Dealer
16. Sol's Naked Photo
17. The Mattress King
18. Ball Game Beating
19. Sporting Goods
20. Scaffolding
21. Sex Therapy
22. Sol's Phobia
23. Cremation Services
24. Pizza Lawyer
25. Fava Beans
26. Husband Beating
The Jerky Boys 3 (Ratchet/Mercury)
1. Santa's Delivery
2. Lawn Equipment Debate
3. Balloon Rides
4. The Dresser
5. Silly Food
6. Sol's Chainsaw Shock
7. Stop That
8. Chainsaw Shock (Part 2)
9. Tandem Bicycle
10. Safety Gates
11. Bamm!
12. Facelift Without Surgery
13. Lawnmower Sale
14. Tarbash's New Shoes
15. Signin'
16. No!
17. Sol's Civil War Memoribilia
18. Civil War Memoribilia (Part 2)
19. Bad Tomatoes
20. Florida, The Tropical State
21. TV Repair
22. 1-800-How's My Driving?
23. Bad Ass Massage
24. Paradise
25. Body Building
26. Kissel Crooner
27. Angry Camper's Dad
28. Bird Feed
29. New Awnings
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Silver Apples
"Silver Apples began in 1967 as a 5-piece band working at New York's Cafe Wha?, calling ourselves 'The Overland Stage Electric Band.' We had 3 guitars, Danny Taylor on drums and me as lead singer. Being that we worked 4 sets a night and only knew so many songs, we took a lot of extended guitar breaks, during which I had nothing to do. One night I plugged in an old oscillator that a friend had loaned me, and started swooping the room with electronic sounds. The band hated it, but I thought it was kind of cool. One by one the guitar players quit, and that left Danny and me! We decided to change our name to Silver Apples after a poem by W.B. Yeats that we liked, get more oscillators, and do all original material. Poet friends gave us poems. The first poem we set to music was 'Oscillations' by Stanley Waren. Every time we wrote another song, it seemed we needed more oscillators, until, by the 6th song or so, we had quite a cumbersome collection. People started calling it the 'simeon' machine, and the name stuck. It consisted of more than a dozen oscillators, 6 of them tuned to bass notes and wired through switches on a piece of plywood that I played with my feet. Our bass lines were always very simple and repetitive, because we only had six notes for any song. The rest of the oscillators (except one) were routed through telegraph keys and used to make rhythmic beeps and boops, and the 'lead' oscillator made all the swoops. So this was Silver Apples. I sang, played bass, beeps, boops and swoops, and Danny held it all together as best as he could with inventive drumming.
The first job we got was in front of 30,000 people! Our manager had a friend who worked in the same office as this big promoter who was booking an all-day concert in Central Park's Sheeps Meadow. Even though nobody had ever heard of Silver Apples, he connived to get us on the bull with The Steve Miller Band, The Chambers Brothers, The Children of God, Sha-Na-Na, The Mothers of Invention, The Fugs, and others. I nearly peed in my pants when I saw the crowd. The promoter guy told us we could only play 5 or 6 songs, then '...get the hell off!' That was fine with us because we only knew 5 or 6 songs, so we played, and got the hell off and felt like we had managed to survive 'the big one.' Then, the next day, when the newspapers came out, we were all over them. They all talked about 'the unique sound of Silver Apples' and we were launched.
On the strength of that one concert we were courted by several record labels but KAPP was the only one that actually propsed marriage so we signed. We recorded the entire first album on a 4 track deck provided by KAPP. We would lay down 3 tracks, then premix down to one, then lay down 2 more, premixing again, and so forth till we ran out of tracks, and that was the end of the song. Simple. With Contact, the second album, we had the luxury of a 24 track board at Universal City. We recorded most of the basic tracks there while on tour in LA, then finished it up at Apostolic Studios in New York. These were the sessions that produced 'A Pox on You,' 'You and I,' 'I Have Known Love' and others that we still do in concert today, along with new music.
It is tremendously rewarding to me as an artist to have my past work recognized, not only through this re-release, but by the numerous tributes and covers that abound now worldwide. If I may be allowed to say so here, it is the new Silver Apples music that turns me on today."
--Simeon
Silver Apples
New York, August 25, 1997
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Silver Apples.
Silver Apples (KAPP)
1. Oscillations
2. Seagreen Serenades
3. Lovefingers
4. Program
5. Velvet Cave
6. Whirly-Bird
7. Dust
8. Dancing Gods
9. Misty Mountain
Contact (KAPP)
1. You And I
2. Water
3. Ruby
4. Gypsy Love
5. You're Not Foolin' Me
6. I Have Known Love
7. A Pox On You
8. Confusion
9. Fantasies
The first job we got was in front of 30,000 people! Our manager had a friend who worked in the same office as this big promoter who was booking an all-day concert in Central Park's Sheeps Meadow. Even though nobody had ever heard of Silver Apples, he connived to get us on the bull with The Steve Miller Band, The Chambers Brothers, The Children of God, Sha-Na-Na, The Mothers of Invention, The Fugs, and others. I nearly peed in my pants when I saw the crowd. The promoter guy told us we could only play 5 or 6 songs, then '...get the hell off!' That was fine with us because we only knew 5 or 6 songs, so we played, and got the hell off and felt like we had managed to survive 'the big one.' Then, the next day, when the newspapers came out, we were all over them. They all talked about 'the unique sound of Silver Apples' and we were launched.
On the strength of that one concert we were courted by several record labels but KAPP was the only one that actually propsed marriage so we signed. We recorded the entire first album on a 4 track deck provided by KAPP. We would lay down 3 tracks, then premix down to one, then lay down 2 more, premixing again, and so forth till we ran out of tracks, and that was the end of the song. Simple. With Contact, the second album, we had the luxury of a 24 track board at Universal City. We recorded most of the basic tracks there while on tour in LA, then finished it up at Apostolic Studios in New York. These were the sessions that produced 'A Pox on You,' 'You and I,' 'I Have Known Love' and others that we still do in concert today, along with new music.
It is tremendously rewarding to me as an artist to have my past work recognized, not only through this re-release, but by the numerous tributes and covers that abound now worldwide. If I may be allowed to say so here, it is the new Silver Apples music that turns me on today."
--Simeon
Silver Apples
New York, August 25, 1997
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Silver Apples.
Silver Apples (KAPP)
1. Oscillations
2. Seagreen Serenades
3. Lovefingers
4. Program
5. Velvet Cave
6. Whirly-Bird
7. Dust
8. Dancing Gods
9. Misty Mountain
Contact (KAPP)
1. You And I
2. Water
3. Ruby
4. Gypsy Love
5. You're Not Foolin' Me
6. I Have Known Love
7. A Pox On You
8. Confusion
9. Fantasies
Monday, July 25, 2011
Brian Eno
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Brian Eno.
The Drop (Thirsty Ear)
1. Slip, Dip
2. But If
3. Belgian Drop
4. Cornered
5. Block Drop
6. Out/Out
7. Swanky
8. Coasters
9. Blissed
10. M.C. Organ
11. Boomcubist
12. Hazard
13. Rayonism
14. Dutch Blur
15. Back Clack
16. Dear World
17. Iced World
Friday, July 22, 2011
The Velvet Underground
"In the summer of 1970, the Velvet Underground played an extended engagement at the renowned New York restaurant-club-focal point, Max's Kansas City. One night during that summer, Brigid Polk, a long-time friend and fan of the Velvets, brought a cassette recorder to Max's to preserve a typical performance for herself. This record is a distillation of the cassette Brigid made that night. (In some ways, this record may be looked at as the first legitimate bootleg album.) The sound of the record is surprisingly good, and, of course, is mono. The low price of this album reflects the low recording costs, and is not a reflection on the Velvet Underground performance -- far from it. Given the fact that the Velvets have gone through personnel changes in the last couple of years, this album stands as the exciting and valuable record of a special group at a special moment in time and space."
--Mark Meyerson
Coordinator of A & R
Atlantic Records
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, The Velvet Underground.
Live at Max's Kansas City (Atlantic)
1. I'm Waiting For The Man
2. Sweet Jane
3. Lonesome Cowboy Bill
4. Beginning To See The Light
5. I'll Be Your Mirror
6. Pale Blue Eyes
7. Sunday Morning
8. New Age
9. Femme Fatale
10. After Hours
--Mark Meyerson
Coordinator of A & R
Atlantic Records
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, The Velvet Underground.
Live at Max's Kansas City (Atlantic)
1. I'm Waiting For The Man
2. Sweet Jane
3. Lonesome Cowboy Bill
4. Beginning To See The Light
5. I'll Be Your Mirror
6. Pale Blue Eyes
7. Sunday Morning
8. New Age
9. Femme Fatale
10. After Hours
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Black Sabbath
"Formed in Birmingham, England in 1968, the four man powerhouse known as Black Sabbath pioneered a bone-crunching rock & roll assault that laid the foundations for the heavy metal revolution that swept popular music in the '70s and '80s. While the band's blistering ensemble playing and evocative lyric blend of machismo and mysticism set a standard for countless groups to follow, their 1970 self-titled debut album remains one of the most innovative and influential long players in rock history.
Comprised of Ozzy Osbourne (vocalist), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums), the quartet was intially known by the name Earth and took their hometown pub-and-club circuit by storm with a high energy blend of blues and rock. Schoolmates from a working class Birmingham neighborhood, the group earned a fervent following throughout the English Midlands and in 1968 changed their name to Black Sabbath. The new moniker reflected the band's penchant for moody, dark-hued music that matched supernatural themes with supercharged ensemble playing. In 1969 they entered the recording studio to cut their first album.
The result is the landmark Black Sabbath. Produced by Rodger Bain, Black Sabbath highlights five original compositions from the band. In addition to such classic cuts as 'The Wizard,' 'Wicked World' and their signature song, 'Black Sabbath,' the album contains two other outstanding tracks, blending road-tested material into eerie, extended song suites. The medley 'A Bit Of Finger,' 'Sleeping Village' and 'Warning' clocks in at over fourteen minutes, while a ten minutes-plus mix of 'Wasp,' 'Behind The Wall Of Sleep,' 'Bassically' and 'N.I.B.' remains one of the most powerful and propulsive cuts in the group's recording history.
Black Sabbath eventually reached the Top Ten on British charts where it remained for three months and earned the band a devoted cult following on both sides of the Atlantic."
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Black Sabbath.
Black Sabbath (Warner Bros.) 1. Black Sabbath
2. The Wizard
3. Wasp/Behind The Wall Of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.
4. Wicked World
5. A Bit Of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning
Comprised of Ozzy Osbourne (vocalist), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums), the quartet was intially known by the name Earth and took their hometown pub-and-club circuit by storm with a high energy blend of blues and rock. Schoolmates from a working class Birmingham neighborhood, the group earned a fervent following throughout the English Midlands and in 1968 changed their name to Black Sabbath. The new moniker reflected the band's penchant for moody, dark-hued music that matched supernatural themes with supercharged ensemble playing. In 1969 they entered the recording studio to cut their first album.
The result is the landmark Black Sabbath. Produced by Rodger Bain, Black Sabbath highlights five original compositions from the band. In addition to such classic cuts as 'The Wizard,' 'Wicked World' and their signature song, 'Black Sabbath,' the album contains two other outstanding tracks, blending road-tested material into eerie, extended song suites. The medley 'A Bit Of Finger,' 'Sleeping Village' and 'Warning' clocks in at over fourteen minutes, while a ten minutes-plus mix of 'Wasp,' 'Behind The Wall Of Sleep,' 'Bassically' and 'N.I.B.' remains one of the most powerful and propulsive cuts in the group's recording history.
Black Sabbath eventually reached the Top Ten on British charts where it remained for three months and earned the band a devoted cult following on both sides of the Atlantic."
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Black Sabbath.
Black Sabbath (Warner Bros.) 1. Black Sabbath
2. The Wizard
3. Wasp/Behind The Wall Of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.
4. Wicked World
5. A Bit Of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Simpsons
"On Christmas morning, 1964, I was the happiest boy on Evergreen Terrace. I'd asked for, and receive, my dream Christmas present: a reel-to-reel tape recorder!
Over the next several months I hid out in my bedroom and played with the tape recorder constantly. Inspired by my dad's Stan Freberg records, I made my own Matt Groening Show -- 'starring Maaaaaaaatt Groening, and featuring the Matt Groening Orchestra and the Matt Groening Singers and Dancers!' (Simpsons fanatics will note the almost word-for-word homage in the 1988 catoonlet 'The Bart Simpson Show' on The Tracey Ullman Show.) I sang my own theme song ('Matt Groening, Cool Guy'), acted out jungle adventures, and performed stand-up comedy routines, complete with canned laughter and applause. I forced my sisters, Lisa and Maggie, to listen to my tapes all the time, rewinding and replaying the good parts while they sat there patiently, barely rolling their eyes. I was about as insufferable as a ten-year-old can be.
My other tape project was a compilation of my favorite TV-show themes on one reel. Over the next couple of years, sitting on the floor in the rumpus room with a hand-held mike next to the big Zenith, I built up quite a collection, featuring themes to such shows as The Flintstones, The Beverly Hillbillies, Branded, Green Acres, Astro Boy, Rocky And His Friends, My Mother The Car, and Milton The Monster. I also recorded my favorite TV-commercial jingles, including those for Pepsodent, Salem cigarettes, and Brylcreem. I'd like to think I was fascinated by the well-crafted arrangements, peculiar lyrics, and general absurdity of this TV music, but the truth is I thought these little ditties were catchy as hell.
When I was a teenager, I discovered soundtrack music. I fell in love with the Spaghetti-Western scores of Ennio Morricone, the Alfred Hitchcock soundtracks of Bernard Herrmann, and the Federico Fellini film music of Nino Rota. This was music that messed with my head, altered my mood, and dragged me out of my teenage disgruntlement. The stuff still works on me to this day.
It turned out all this taping and listening wasn't just time-wasting distraction -- it was preliminary research. In 1989, with The Simpsons as a full-fledged TV series in the works, I was able to utilize all those years of musical foolishness. From Rocky And His Friends I learned that you can make a great cartoon show even with lousy animation. (You just need top-notch writing, voices, and music.) From an interview with Mel Brooks, I learned from his observation that soundtrack music in comedies should play the underlying emotion, not the joke. An inspired by that old tapes of TV themes I recorded in the '60s, I knew I wanted to get that feeling of bubbling-over-optimism-tinged-with-frantic-desperation.
The trend in TV themes for the previous 15 years had been this namby-pamby synthesizer schlock, modest in both ambition and execution. These noodly, ersatz-sentimental themes all seemed to whimper, 'We can't offer much, but please like our pathetic little show!' I wanted a big, fully orchestrated, obnoxious, arrogant theme that promised you the best time of your life.
We approached Danny Elfman, whose career I'd been following since I saw him perform as the leader of The Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo (best described as an avant-garde Cab Calloway-on-Mars vaudeville ensemble) at the Whisky-a-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip in the late '70s. Elfman had recently composed the soundtrack to Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and I knew he'd be perfect.
I gave Elfman what I called a 'flavors' tape, featuring the kind of sound I wanted for The Simpsons theme. The tape included The Jetsons theme, selections from Nino Rota's Juliet Of The Spirits, a Remington electric shaver jungle by Frank Zappa, some easy-listening music by Esquivel, and a teach-your-parrot-to-talk-record.
Elfman gave it a listen and said, 'I know exactly what you're looking for.'
A month later we were recording the now-famous Simpsons theme on the 20th Century-Fox lot with a huge orchestra. I think all the producers were a little nervous and fidgety about the untrendy audacity of the music. But then-executive producer James L. Brooks came in, listened a bit, then said, 'My God! This is great! This is lemmings-marching-to-their-death music!'
In the ensuing eight-and-counting seasons of The Simpsons, Alf Clausen has handled almost all of the music you hear on the show. He's done a phenomenal job with the writers' odd musical requests, particularly when you realize how fast Alf has to churn this stuff out. This album is a showcase for Alf, featuring some of his finest and funniest work. I think of his music as the secret strength of The Simpsons, delivering the jokes, for sure, but also the real emotion underlying the comedy.
And all for a TV cartoon!"
--Matt Groening
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, The Simpsons.
Songs in the Key of Springfield (Rhino)
1. The Simpsons Main Title Theme (Extended Version)
2. We Do (The Stonecutters' Song)
3. Dancin' Homer (Medley)
4. Homer & Apu (Medley)
5. 'Round Springfield (Medley)
6. "Oh, Streetcar!" (The Musical)
7. Jingle Bells
8. Springfield (Medley)
9. "Itchy And Scratchy" Main Title Theme
10. "Itchy And Scratchy" End Credits Theme
11. The Day The Violence Died (Medley)
12. Señor Burns
13. The Simpsons End Credits Theme (Afro-Cuban Version)
14. Your Wife Don't Understand You
15. Kamp Krusty (Medley)
16. The Simpsons End Credits Theme (Australian Version)
17. The Simpsons End Credits Theme ("Hill Street Blues" Homage)
18. The Simpsons End Credits Theme ("It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" Homage)
19. Treehouse Of Horror V (Medley)
20. Honey Roasted Peanuts ("Boy Scoutz N The Hood" Episode)
21. Boy Scoutz In The Hood (Medley)
22. Two Dozen And One Greyhounds (Medley)
23. "Eye On Springfield" Theme
24. Flaming Moe's
25. Homer's Barbershop Quartet (Medley)
26. TV Sucks! ("A Fish Called Selma" Episode)
27. A Fish Called Selma (Medley)
28. Send In The Clown
29. The Monorail Song
30. In Search Of An Out Of Body Vibe
31. Cool
32. Bagged Me A Homer
33. It Was A Very Good Beer
34. Bart Sells His Soul (Medley)
35. Happy Birthday, Lisa ("Stark Raving Dad" Episode)
36. The Simpsons Halloween Special End Credits Theme ("The Addams Family" Homage)
37. Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One) (Medley)
38. Lisa's Wedding (Medley)
39. The Simpsons End Credits Theme ("Dragnet" Homage)
Over the next several months I hid out in my bedroom and played with the tape recorder constantly. Inspired by my dad's Stan Freberg records, I made my own Matt Groening Show -- 'starring Maaaaaaaatt Groening, and featuring the Matt Groening Orchestra and the Matt Groening Singers and Dancers!' (Simpsons fanatics will note the almost word-for-word homage in the 1988 catoonlet 'The Bart Simpson Show' on The Tracey Ullman Show.) I sang my own theme song ('Matt Groening, Cool Guy'), acted out jungle adventures, and performed stand-up comedy routines, complete with canned laughter and applause. I forced my sisters, Lisa and Maggie, to listen to my tapes all the time, rewinding and replaying the good parts while they sat there patiently, barely rolling their eyes. I was about as insufferable as a ten-year-old can be.
My other tape project was a compilation of my favorite TV-show themes on one reel. Over the next couple of years, sitting on the floor in the rumpus room with a hand-held mike next to the big Zenith, I built up quite a collection, featuring themes to such shows as The Flintstones, The Beverly Hillbillies, Branded, Green Acres, Astro Boy, Rocky And His Friends, My Mother The Car, and Milton The Monster. I also recorded my favorite TV-commercial jingles, including those for Pepsodent, Salem cigarettes, and Brylcreem. I'd like to think I was fascinated by the well-crafted arrangements, peculiar lyrics, and general absurdity of this TV music, but the truth is I thought these little ditties were catchy as hell.
When I was a teenager, I discovered soundtrack music. I fell in love with the Spaghetti-Western scores of Ennio Morricone, the Alfred Hitchcock soundtracks of Bernard Herrmann, and the Federico Fellini film music of Nino Rota. This was music that messed with my head, altered my mood, and dragged me out of my teenage disgruntlement. The stuff still works on me to this day.
It turned out all this taping and listening wasn't just time-wasting distraction -- it was preliminary research. In 1989, with The Simpsons as a full-fledged TV series in the works, I was able to utilize all those years of musical foolishness. From Rocky And His Friends I learned that you can make a great cartoon show even with lousy animation. (You just need top-notch writing, voices, and music.) From an interview with Mel Brooks, I learned from his observation that soundtrack music in comedies should play the underlying emotion, not the joke. An inspired by that old tapes of TV themes I recorded in the '60s, I knew I wanted to get that feeling of bubbling-over-optimism-tinged-with-frantic-desperation.
The trend in TV themes for the previous 15 years had been this namby-pamby synthesizer schlock, modest in both ambition and execution. These noodly, ersatz-sentimental themes all seemed to whimper, 'We can't offer much, but please like our pathetic little show!' I wanted a big, fully orchestrated, obnoxious, arrogant theme that promised you the best time of your life.
We approached Danny Elfman, whose career I'd been following since I saw him perform as the leader of The Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo (best described as an avant-garde Cab Calloway-on-Mars vaudeville ensemble) at the Whisky-a-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip in the late '70s. Elfman had recently composed the soundtrack to Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and I knew he'd be perfect.
I gave Elfman what I called a 'flavors' tape, featuring the kind of sound I wanted for The Simpsons theme. The tape included The Jetsons theme, selections from Nino Rota's Juliet Of The Spirits, a Remington electric shaver jungle by Frank Zappa, some easy-listening music by Esquivel, and a teach-your-parrot-to-talk-record.
Elfman gave it a listen and said, 'I know exactly what you're looking for.'
A month later we were recording the now-famous Simpsons theme on the 20th Century-Fox lot with a huge orchestra. I think all the producers were a little nervous and fidgety about the untrendy audacity of the music. But then-executive producer James L. Brooks came in, listened a bit, then said, 'My God! This is great! This is lemmings-marching-to-their-death music!'
In the ensuing eight-and-counting seasons of The Simpsons, Alf Clausen has handled almost all of the music you hear on the show. He's done a phenomenal job with the writers' odd musical requests, particularly when you realize how fast Alf has to churn this stuff out. This album is a showcase for Alf, featuring some of his finest and funniest work. I think of his music as the secret strength of The Simpsons, delivering the jokes, for sure, but also the real emotion underlying the comedy.
And all for a TV cartoon!"
--Matt Groening
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, The Simpsons.
Songs in the Key of Springfield (Rhino)
1. The Simpsons Main Title Theme (Extended Version)
2. We Do (The Stonecutters' Song)
3. Dancin' Homer (Medley)
4. Homer & Apu (Medley)
5. 'Round Springfield (Medley)
6. "Oh, Streetcar!" (The Musical)
7. Jingle Bells
8. Springfield (Medley)
9. "Itchy And Scratchy" Main Title Theme
10. "Itchy And Scratchy" End Credits Theme
11. The Day The Violence Died (Medley)
12. Señor Burns
13. The Simpsons End Credits Theme (Afro-Cuban Version)
14. Your Wife Don't Understand You
15. Kamp Krusty (Medley)
16. The Simpsons End Credits Theme (Australian Version)
17. The Simpsons End Credits Theme ("Hill Street Blues" Homage)
18. The Simpsons End Credits Theme ("It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" Homage)
19. Treehouse Of Horror V (Medley)
20. Honey Roasted Peanuts ("Boy Scoutz N The Hood" Episode)
21. Boy Scoutz In The Hood (Medley)
22. Two Dozen And One Greyhounds (Medley)
23. "Eye On Springfield" Theme
24. Flaming Moe's
25. Homer's Barbershop Quartet (Medley)
26. TV Sucks! ("A Fish Called Selma" Episode)
27. A Fish Called Selma (Medley)
28. Send In The Clown
29. The Monorail Song
30. In Search Of An Out Of Body Vibe
31. Cool
32. Bagged Me A Homer
33. It Was A Very Good Beer
34. Bart Sells His Soul (Medley)
35. Happy Birthday, Lisa ("Stark Raving Dad" Episode)
36. The Simpsons Halloween Special End Credits Theme ("The Addams Family" Homage)
37. Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One) (Medley)
38. Lisa's Wedding (Medley)
39. The Simpsons End Credits Theme ("Dragnet" Homage)
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Tubeway Army
"I moved to L.A. from England when I was 7 years old, at the end of 1979. I was becoming cognizant of pop culture and music, just barely. Two songs which instantly teleport me back (still!) to queueing at Gatwick are ELO's 'Don't Bring Me Down' and Gary Numan's 'Cars'... funny how the mind works. For Christmas that year I received a cassette copy of the K-TEL compilation Rock 80, the lead track on which was 'Cars'. That cassette was in heavy rotation for what now seems like years. I don't remember actually seeing a picture of Numan until a couple of years later, by the time I was about 10 or so. I'd ride my bike to MusicPlus in Sherman Oaks to fondle, and occasionally buy, Journey cassettes and those miniature Beatles 'albums' that came with a pink record-shaped disc of Pepto Bismol-tasting chewing gum. While I was there, I'd flip through the racks and racks of fantastic-looking LPs by bands I'd never heard of: the Plasmatics, the Clash, Blue Oyster Cult. MusicPlus was one of those '70s relics I really miss now, all knotted wood-panel interiors, display cases full of badges, racks and racks and racks of vinyl. I remember it was there that I fixated on the cover of Numan's The Pleasure Principle, easily one of the most inexplicable things my 10-year-old mind had encountered: a pasty-looky guy in eyeliner and a tailored suit staring intently at a glowing pyramid on the table beside him. The pleasure principal? This didn't look like that much fun, but I was intrigued. Back then, there was a cheesy Top 40 station in L.A. called KIQQ. I'd waste away the endless hours of summertime boredom calling their request line, feigning my now-faded English accent in hopes of charming whoever answered enough into actually getting my request played on the air. As I recall, I was successful once and once only - getting them to play 'Cars' at something like 2:00 pm on a Sunday. Why I didn't just listen to the cassette, I don't know. I suppose influencing radio airplay is a pretty major deal when you're 10.
I 'rediscovered' Numan, and his truly inspiring Tubeway Army, in the mid-'90s. The fact that the band had started out as, essentially, a hard-rock trio and then almost instantly morphed into flagbearers for the burgeoning synth-pop movement in the UK had obvious parallels to what we in The VSS felt we were doing within the confines of DIY hardcore. That Numan did it with such obvious and undeniable style was awe-inspiring. He made it seem effortless, and he never seemed to break a sweat or show any emotion whatsoever. I was - and still am - fascinated by his asexual, almost android-like image, as if he'd arrived on this planet fully-formed with a Beggars Banquet contract under his arm. His voice is so bizarre, and yet so perfect - monotonous and yet hauntingly complex. His performance in Urgh! A Music War - driving a miniature 'space car' around a stage full of revolving pyramids - is nothing less than mindblowing. Here was a dude who just didn't give a shit about what a pop star is supposed to look like, sound like, or do. Then there's the added paradox of the peripheral details -- find me another celebrity of this magnitude (and yes, he was genuinely mega in the UK) who readily admits to his mother designing and sewing his stage clothes! That he eventually 'retired' from pop to pilot small planes simply affirms his greatness (though not before committing some serious musical blunders starting with album #5 and continuing for... well, far too long. But I digress). Though I care little for what came after 1980's Telekon, I can say without any doubt that he was, and shall always be, one of the great icons of pop culture to me, and a very serious influence on my own artistic expression."
--Sonny Kay
Replicas (Beggars Banquet)
1. Me! I Disconnect from You
2. Are 'Friends' Electric?
3. The Machman
4. Praying to the Aliens
5. Down in the Park
6. You Are in My Vision
7. Replicas
8. It Must Have Been Years
9. When the Machines Rock
10. I Nearly Married a Human
Monday, July 18, 2011
No Age
"Open your eyes by gripping the upper lid with two toothpicks and try pouring some apple cider vinegar over them. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes you will see miraculous visions of a web like mother that may or may not leave you speechless."
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, No Age.
DVD+R #1 (Pukekos)
1. Get Hurt
2. Dead Plane
3. Chip Off The Bone
4. Vacation Pay
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, No Age.
DVD+R #1 (Pukekos)
1. Get Hurt
2. Dead Plane
3. Chip Off The Bone
4. Vacation Pay
Thursday, July 7, 2011
The BJ Rubin Show
The BJ Rubin Show
Episode #105
"In Space"
Original Airdate - 7/7/2011 on BCAT2 in Brooklyn
Starring David Earl Buddin, Lauren Martin, BJ Rubin, Kevin Shea and Weasel Walter
Music by Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa, Sexy Thoughts, Ron Stabinsky and American Liberty League
Produced through the facilities of BCAT Media Center, a community media facility of BRIC Arts|Media|Bklyn.
©2011 Megaton Media
Monday, July 4, 2011
The BJ Rubin Show
The BJ Rubin Show
Episode #104
"4th of July Spectacular"
Original Airdate - 7/4/2011 on BCAT2 in Brooklyn
Music by Starring, Vaz and American Liberty League
Produced through the facilities of BCAT Media Center, a community media facility of BRIC Arts|Media|Bklyn.
©2011 Megaton Media
Friday, July 1, 2011
Modern Man Manual
Megaton Media is COMING TO GET YOU!!!
Get ready to be amazed by the FORCE OF NATURE that is Modern Man Manual III.
Get ready to be FLOORED by the onslaught of images and words that are about to ASSAULT you.
Get ready to be KNOCKED OUT by the juggernaut of a journal about to ROLL ALL OVER YOU!
Get ready TO NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, for your reading pleasure, Modern Man Manual III.
Modern Man Manual 3 (Megaton Media)
1. Money (Lauren Martin)
2. Letter from the Editor (BJ Rubin)
3. The Rent is Always Due (David Buddin)
4. Smokestack Lightning (Lauren Martin)
5. Vacated (BJ Rubin)
6. Tiny Sculpture of Viking Man (Kevin Shea)
7. Clayton (T.S. Dahl)
8. Florida (BJ Rubin)
9. Holiday Quick-Step (David Buddin)
10. Julius Martin (BJ Rubin)
11. Psychonautical Journal (Nondor Nevai)
12. Portraits (BJ Rubin)
Get ready to be amazed by the FORCE OF NATURE that is Modern Man Manual III.
Get ready to be FLOORED by the onslaught of images and words that are about to ASSAULT you.
Get ready to be KNOCKED OUT by the juggernaut of a journal about to ROLL ALL OVER YOU!
Get ready TO NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, for your reading pleasure, Modern Man Manual III.
Modern Man Manual 3 (Megaton Media)
1. Money (Lauren Martin)
2. Letter from the Editor (BJ Rubin)
3. The Rent is Always Due (David Buddin)
4. Smokestack Lightning (Lauren Martin)
5. Vacated (BJ Rubin)
6. Tiny Sculpture of Viking Man (Kevin Shea)
7. Clayton (T.S. Dahl)
8. Florida (BJ Rubin)
9. Holiday Quick-Step (David Buddin)
10. Julius Martin (BJ Rubin)
11. Psychonautical Journal (Nondor Nevai)
12. Portraits (BJ Rubin)