Monthly Archive for March 2006
Lalo Schifrin: Mannix OSTWhen I heard Lalo’s soundtrack to the movie “Bullit” I became so smitten that I spent about a year searching for his other soundtracks. About the time I had roughly 75% of them, I realized that none were really quite as good. This one, the soundtrack to the 60’s detective show “Mannix”, is one of […]
PITCH - Our HouseP.I.T.C.H. (People In The Crowd Harmonists) and S.P.I.C.E. (Spreading Peace In Crowds Everywhere) were a group of about 256 Christians from St. Albert, Alberta. From what I know, this group put out three albums, two with the same cover (Spice - Choice Selections has the same cover, pictured above) and one simply called The Magic […]
Joseph Geczy - BananasJoseph Geczy is a pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor who moved from Hungary to Canada in 1969. Apparently already accomplished in Hungary, he continued his work in Edmonton, Alberta releasing a number of singles and even opening some Commonwealth Games. Bananas was his first album (1979), and as the back states consists of “all Geczy […]
Lorq Damon - Journey To The Land Of Forgotten DreamsAn obscure concept LP of analog synthesizer pieces, apparently recorded in 1972 and released in 1974 by the mysterious Lorq Damon of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Sapphire Thinkers - From WithinVery nice west coast sunshine psych out of LA with all the right ingredients — organ, fuzz, flute, male/female vocals, cool harmonies, etc. Recorded by Sandy Lehmann-Haupt, an original Merry Prankster and sound man on the Pranksters’ bus. Quality from start to finish. And yes, those are mushrooms on the cover.
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Charles Moffett Family - Vol. 1 (Codaryl)Charles Moffett got his chops in the 60s and 70s playing percussion on such ridiculously good and ambitious albums as “Four for Trane”, Coleman’s “Town Hall 1962”, and Prince Lawsha “Firebirds vol. 1”. Yet, for all his work as a sideman, he didn’t lead much: during these decades his only credits were one LP for […]
When I Met YouWhen I Met You is a live recording of an original musical written by students at Avalon Juniour High (Edmonton, Alberta). I bought it because I know some people who went to this school and knew they would get a kick out of it. The majority of the album is exactly what I expected; a […]
Musiques De L’O.N.F. - Music of the N.F.B.What makes this double-LP from 1977 special is it perhaps the earliest appearance of backing tracks to many of the avant-garde films in Canada. They were composed and sequenced (if you can call it that)using the earliest synthesizers and/or tape manipulation techniques. The compositions date from 1951 (!) – 1972, early in the game indeed.
Mike Selesia - FlavorThis is cool jazz album all the way around. From the black and white hand drawn cover (with its apparent nod to Van Gogh’s self portraits and house paintings) to the fact that it came out of Fresno, CA (not exactly a hotbed for jazz) to the handful of styles present (straight ahead, funky, free, […]
Claude Vasori - Cocktail d’ImagesMusique Pour l’Image was a small library label based out of Paris founded by pianist Robert Vigier in 1968. The label is popular with library fiends due to the fantanstic cover art and, more importantly, the high quality music.
The Crazy People - BedlamWhere to begin with this one? I think the idea here was to create a psych-sploitation novelty album for the “current campus scene (Freaks)” to ponder over after they smoked some weak grass. Instead, the result is unintended brilliance. What we have here is uninterrupted musique concrete-psych-madness — snippets of psych, folk, poetry, garage, soul, […]
John Keating: Space ExperienceJohnny Keating was yet another victim of the whole “a Moog will make me appear younger & hipper” syndrome. But overall this is really a pretty decent cheesey listening Moog funk lp. Of the mostly contemporary (at the time) pop covers that the album is comprised of, his version of “I Feel the Earth Move” […]
Jack Walker: Rise Up SpiritsAnother cool hippy kids who love jesus type affair. I’ve had a few other Jack Walker lp’s, but aside from them all having funny (in a deranged sort of way) skits inbetween tracks, they were not as musically interesting as this one. Not to say this is an end-to-end amazing record, but there are a […]
Louise Forestier - La Douce EmmaLouise Forestier strikes me as the edgy French Canadian counterpart to the more wholesome Nancy Priddy. Both recorded really cool psych tinged “pop” albums in the late 60s and had acting careers (Forestier chose the stage while Priddy pursued TV.) But unlike Priddy, I suspect that Forestier listened to a lot more Nico which is […]
Bernard Fevre - The Strange World of Bernard FevreFile under: late 70’s science-fiction-themed after school special background music. This is one of the last releases on the great L’Illustration Musicale label; an “all electronic” album, as the back cover states. A top late 70’s electronic library (well, to me at least) — spacy moogs, clavinet, and analog drum machines. Fevre […]
David Wilkerson: The Coming PersecutionDefinitely one of the best Christian covers I’ve ever seen. I, however, was hoping the sermon would be a bit more crazed based on the liner notes. But, while Mr. Wilkerson’s prophecies seem pretty radical in print, the way he explains them leaves one wondering just how much divine help was actually needed to come […]
Dave Pell Singers: Mah-Na-Mah-NaI grew up in southern California. So, I have often been asked by unfortunate souls doomed to live in places like Wisconsin what it’s like - “Is it really sunny on Xmas day?” “Do bikini-clad girls really frolic 365 days a year?” “Does everyone dress like Don Johnson circa Miami Vice?” In way of answer […]
Pesnyary - Belarussian Pop MusicAccording to my math professor (who acted as translator), Pesnyary were a popular Belarussian pop/folk group. Upon further researching, this album, released in 1978, was an attempt to blend Belarussian folk music with the 10-years-too-late emerging pop/psych/garage scene in the USSR. While many will find it difficult to get over the singing, I think there […]
Tutti Frutti MelodicoThe social life of fruit revealed. This answers a lot of questions for me.
Rev. Dr. O. L. Jaggers: LifeOne more guy to look forward to meeting in heaven.
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