The Atrocious Music Collection: #29 in a series
Artists: Various
Album Title: Incredibly Strange Music – Volume II
Category: CompilationYear: 1995
Cover art style: "This compilation is scientific"
Audio samples: see below
Acquisition: Uncertain. Like Vol. I, I seem to recall this was purchased while traveling, but I don’t think it was at the same place/time as I purchased Vol. I. Memory is a fickle thing.
Click on any picture for full-sized image
See Incredibly Strange Music Volume I for a bit about where this all comes from. Like ISM I, Volume II is a companion project, this time alongside Re/Search’s #15: Incredible Strange Music, Volume II book. The book “examines such overlooked works of music as Hawaiian music, sound-effects recordings, electronically synthesized music, and offbeat titles such as 'How to Strip for Your Husband,'and 'Muhammad Ali Fights Tooth Decay.'" I would like to point out that, although not part of the Collection, I have heard some of the Ali/Tooth Decay material in college courtesy of David R.
The main collector seems to again be Jeilo Biafra, who is quoted saying, “I got so fed up with radio that I began buying records just on the basis of which covers looked the most interesting.” This kind of shopping is hardly possible anymore, I fear. First came the CD, with 130 fewer square inches than an LP for cover art to occupy, and now we’ve lost it completely with the supremacy of the coverless stream. One of the beauties of the collection, maybe its primary value in these days of the internet, is all of those album covers with their unlikely photos and art.
I do want to give an appreciation to the Re/Search team for presenting this material in the best light possible, with high production value (while preserving the LP quality audio, including analog noise) and a seriousness that suits the semi-scientific implications of their name. Like Dr. Demento, the project is musicological in nature, which I fully support. This music teaches us about our cultural, our values, our art, and ourselves, even if by negative example sometimes.
Again, the CD booklet is generous, so I’ll list my favorite tracks first and then the rest of the CD with sparse comments.
The Nirvana Sitar & String Group - The Letter
The Letter was a 1967 Box Tops hit, made most famous by the 1968 Joe Cocker version. This take on it is the antithesis of that version, and I challenge you to get all the way through it, especially if you have Cocker cued up. But at one time. sitars were “in” and "happening" and "cool," and as a result, this kind of thing was inevitable.
Del Close & John Brent – Introduction to the album “How to Speak Hip”
Not music, but music to my ears. Wonderfully dated and corny. You know what I mean, or something?
This disc must have been known to the writers of Airplane when they introduced us to the idea of speaking jive. Happily, How to Speak Hip is somewhat less offensive.
Eden Ahbez - Full Moon
The music of Eden’s isle, this 1960 pre-hippie number was weird enough to be used in the first season of Fargo. “I am the wind, the sea, the evening star. I am everyone, anyone, no one.”
Marcy - Join The Gospel Express
Anytime you mix religious music and ventriloquism, you cannot lose. I mean that – listen to any of the one example that exists, and you’ll agree.
Les Baxter – Terror
Stay with it – yes, the musical representation of Terror really does start with Bah, Bah, Black Sheep. Please get to at least 2:40 – you might even end up with nightmares. This cut is from the album The Passions. The record jacket states, “Here is the challenge to the listener…a powerful conception that plumbs the depths of human emotion.”
The rest of ISM II:
Hot Butter – Skokian
1973 synthesizers explored. We can call this kitschy, but it might actually be groundbreaking and kitschy.
Jean Jacques Perrey - Gossipo Perpetuo
In the same category as Hot Butter, this cut is from Perrey's album Moog Indigo - more Moog synths-gone-wild, and similarly both terrible and groundbreaking.
Bob McFadden & Dor - The Mummy
Corny, with one gag, but it’s a good one for 1959. Right?
Lucia Pamela - Walking on the Moon
There is a Police song called Walking on the Moon. This is not that song. (Note the album jacket presents us with Lucia Pamela's resume, never a good sign.)
Ken Nordine – Flesh, Green, and Yellow
These come from Nordin’s Colors album, which was covered in another chapter.
Billy Mure - Chopsticks Guitar is about 15:55 into this video of the entire Super Sonic Guitars in Hi-Fi record.
The 1950’s were an age of experimentation with guitars and studio techniques, with an emphasis on speed. But, no matter how you dress it up, it’s still Chopsticks, the song exactly no one wants to listen to.
Myrtle K. Hilo - Lover's Prayer
I think the main attraction is the album title, The Singing Cab Driver. And that it's all in Hawaiian.
Russ Garcia & His Orchestra - Delicado
Like Myrtle, not sure if there’s much to discuss here. Not really atrocious at all.
Harry Breuer - Bumble Bee Bolero
Harry appears on Vol I with a xylophone version of Chopin’s minute waltz. This is just another example of the abuse visited on Flight of the Bumble Bee – Vol I has a guitar version by Buddy Merrill and Walter Murphy did a disco version. And for good measure, Perrey & Kingsley (who's Swan’s Splashdown is on Vol I) have a synth version that is also part of the Collection. What is it about this piece?
Rusty Warren - 1st Song / Opening Monologue
Rusty was a comedienne when that term was appropriate to use. Her bawdy humor was groundbreaking. She was the subject of a documentary, The Lady Behind the Laughs; this cut is from 1961’s Rusty Warren Bounces Back, and it’s clear she was ahead of her time. Unfortunately, time has continued to move on, for all of us.