Kurt Edelhagen - Olympia Parade (1972)

Kurt Edelhagen - Olympia Parade 2 (1972)

Nun ja, die Fußball-EM ist vorbei, Deutschland ist Vizemeister und du bist Deutschland. War doch so, oder? Egal. Wenden wir uns also dem nächsten Großereignis zu, das uns bevorsteht: Die Olympischen Spiele in Peking. Oder Beijing, wie es ja auch bei uns neuerdings heißt. Dazu habe ich zwei Schmuckstücke ausgegraben, die es in sich haben: Kurt Edelhagen hat mit seiner Bigband 1972 in München den Einzug der Nationen musikalisch untermalt und dafür auch die erste Goldmedaille bekommen, wenn man dem Aufkleber auf dem Plattencover Glauben schenken darf. Einige Länder gibt es zwar nicht mehr, aber als Einstimmung auf DAS Sportereignis 2008 dürfen Sie sich hier schon einmal musikalisch vorfreuen...

Kurt Edelhagen - Olympia-Parade

Kurt Edelhagen - Olympia-Parade 2

James Last - In Scandinavia (1971)

Für unsere schwedischen Freunde habe ich hier eine echte Rarität gefunden. Jedenfalls hierzulande. Lediglich in Schweden sind noch ein paar Scheiben zu finden. Vollgepackt mit den schönsten Liedern aus Skandinavien, alles Medleys übrigens, kommt sie daher, und ich konnte mich nicht entscheiden, ob ich das Stück mit "Ljuva Sextital" von den Abba-Spezies Ulvaeus/Andersson hier vorstelle oder lieber das Stück mit Pippi Langstrumpf. Nach langem Zögern habe ich mich dann für das jugendfreie Stück entschieden. Viel Spaß!

James Last - Teddy Björnen Fredriksson, Här kommer Pippi Långstrump, Jag har bott vid en
landsväg

The Clebanoff Orchestra - Country Music for People Who Don´t Like Country Music (1956)

Herman Clebanoff hat mit seinem Orchester und seinen Sängern im Jahre 1956 diese schöne Platte aufgenommen, die da den Titel trägt: "Country Musik für Leute, die keine Country Musik mögen". Nun, ich selbst mag Country Musik nur sehr bedingt, daher habe ich gedacht, diese Platte sei wohl ganz interessant für mich. Und siehe da, ich lag mal wieder richtig. Aber hören Sie selbst, hier präsentiere ich Ihnen Hank Williams´ "Jambalaya" in der Version vom Clebanoff Orchestra. Viel Vergnügen...

The Clebanoff Orchestra - Jambalaya

Heino - Liebe Mutter... (1971)

Liebe Gäste!
Sonntag ist Muttertag, mehr brauche ich wohl nicht zu sagen.
Falls Sie noch nichts zum Verschenken gefunden haben, dann aber los! Ansonsten biete ich Ihnen diese wundervolle LP unseres Lieblingsbarden Heino an, ein Konzeptalbum zum Thema Mutter, auf dem aber auch Beethovens Neunte nicht fehlen darf. Am besten, Sie hören diese Platte zusammen mit Ihrer Mutter. Viel Vergnügen! :o)

Lew Davies - The Kissin' Cousins Sing (1966)

Lew Davies wurde 1911 in Kentucky geboren. Er hat beispielsweise die "Persuasive Percussion"-Serie arrangiert, aber auch sehr viele andere Produktionen des Command-Labels. Obwohl er hauptsächlich mit Enoch Light zusammenarbeitete, hat er aber auch für Lawrence Welk, Perry Como und Lena Horne Alben arrangiert. Auch auf dieser Platte treten die Stereo-Effekte in den Vordergrund, so wie wir das von fast allen Command-Platten kennen. Diese Platte gehört zu seinen letzten Produktionen, denn Lew Davies starb 1968 in New York. Hier haben Sie die Chance, in eines dieser Stücke hineinzuhören, nämlich in den Klassiker "Hold Me", arrangiert gaz im Stil von Enoch Light, der dieses Album damals präsentierte, heute bin ich an der Reihe. Viel Vergnügen...

Hubert Wolf - Zither Pops 1 (1973)

Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie möchten auch so erfolgreich sein wie Klaus Wunderlich und Ihre eigenen Platten mit ebenso hübschen Mädchen auf dem Cover produzieren. Allerdings haben Ihre Eltern Ihnen keine Hammond-Orgel gekauft, sondern ein eher unpopuläres Instrument, nämlich eine Zither. Was tun Sie? Ganz einfach: Sie ziehen Ihr Ding durch...
So hat es nämlich Hubert Wolf getan. Er ist allerdings mehr aus der Blasmusik bekannt. 1934 in Labant im Egerland geboren und dort aufgewachsen gründete er bereits als 19-jähriger eine Tanzkapelle, in Kassel besuchte Wolf das Konservatorium und studierte Trompete, Geige und Komposition. Nebenbei hatte er noch Privatunterricht im Fach Zither. In den 50er und 60er-Jahren war er beim Hessischen Rundfunk als Musiker tätig und 1965 veröffentlichte er die erste Blasmusik-LP "Böhmische Blasmusik". Hubert Wolf war sehr erfolgreich mit seinen Original Böhmerländern, einem Blasorchester der Extraklasse, wenn man auf Volksmusik steht. Hubert Wolf starb bereits 1981, aber hier haben Sie die Gelegenheit, in eine seltene LP von ihm hineinzuhören. Sie können sich sicherlich vorstellen, wie "Der dritte Mann" auf einer Elektrozither klingt, aber wenn es Sie interessiert, wie "Popcorn" wohl klingen mag, dann sollten Sie sich diese Scheibe zulegen. Meines Wissens gab es nur noch einen Nachfolger, ganz so erfolgreich wie Klaus Wunderlichs Serie war sie dann doch nicht...

Danny & Dena Guglielmi - Adventure in Sound (1957)

Well, it´s time to present some classic Space Age stuff on my "lame" blog. This is a legendary album, because it´s probably the only album those two musicians will remembered for. Danny recorded track by track and finally he got the effect of a big orchestra. He himself played the violin. His wife Dena provided the vocals on this great record. If you like Julie London, which I have seen on other blogs recently, and if you like violins, this one will surely suit you. Here you can get a strange track called "Mosquito Festival", the sound quality is not that good, because my copy is very old and almost worn out. But maybe you´ll give it a try...

Mats Olsson - Swedish Brass (1966)

A great album from Sweden´s favorite brass player from the year 1966. I don´t know why he calles this song "Lappland", it sounds more like being from the south. Way down south, but not that far south... I can´t help but feeling like I´ve heard this one before, but with a different title... ;o)

Fischer-Chöre - Das große Spiel (1974)

Yes! Those were the days, my friends, we thought they´d never end... But they ended four years later in Cordoba, Argentina. Hmm... So, you don´t know what I´m talking about? WHAT??? Allright, I´ll explain. But wait: Maybe you can figure it out by youself, you´re living on this planet, aren´t you? Here are some hints: 1974, grass-green record, "the big game"? Got it? Good! Well done! :o)

The Fischer-Choirs were founded in 1946 by Gotthilf Fischer. They mostly sing german traditionals, but they also have classics in their repertoire. THE milestone for the choirs, which constists of far more than 1000 people, were to sing the opening song of the FIFA-World-Cup-Final in 1974, which was called... yes, "Das große Spiel". They performed it together with Freddy (Quinn), THE sailor-icon of Germany. To honor the defeated team at the World-Cup-Final ´74, here you can get an all-time classic, sung by the world´s biggest choir of all time. And to honor the people of Amsterdam, whose soccer-team "Ajax Amsterdam" got defeated by Germany´s Club "Werder Bremen" by 3:0 in the European Cup yesterday, here´s a little tear dryer for you called "Nulpen aus Amsterdam"... Ooops, not "Nulpen", but "Tulpen" ;o)

Bobby (Boris) Pickett - The Original Monster Mash (1962)

Yep, why not join other people´s traditions? Especially when they´re fun... There´s been no such thing as Halloween in Germany, but lately you can buy Halloween-equipment to stuff your house. I cought myself scooping a pumpkin and preparing pumpkin-soup yesterday, that´s when I thought I could post a Halloween-album. Even if it´s not instrumental. Well, you can´t say "singing", that´s going a bit too far, but let´s call it "vocal"...

Anyway, this is my contribution to this years Halloween-craze, it´s a long play record, but it features only one smash-hit (for further details see title). Now fetch your costume and listen to Bobby Pickett and his Crypt-Kickers. If you don´t have a costume, you can disguise yourself as a mummy with a few rolls of toiletpaper. Or even cheaper, but not necessarily healthier (depending on where you live) the classical "Adam" disguise. All you need is a leaf, the size depends on... well, you know what...

Neil Hefti - Hefti in Gotham City (1966)

This is like a soundtrack to the '60s television series Batman, since all of the tracks were written and performed by Neal Hefti for use on the TV show. There's the familiar "Batman Theme", of course, as well as a number of rousing adventure and comical villainous themes. Here comes this little gem directly from Gotham City. Batman à Gogo! Here we gooooooooo!

Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman & Les Baxter - Perfume Set to Music (1948)

Hi there, to you all good music lovers!

Thanks a lot for the comments, I suppose there´s a problem with rapidshare again. Since I don´t have a premium account, up- and downloads are sometimes problematic. Because I´m moving (in real life), this site will not be updated as often as it used to be.

Sorry for the broken link to the moon-music, I´ll upload it again someday soon. But here you go with another one of those series. You may know the Perfume "Jet", here´s the sound to that. Please enjoy another Doc Hoffman with Les Baxter.

Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman & Billy May - Music for Peace of Mind (1950)

The Theremin. One of the eeriest instruments ever invented. Hoffman, the foot doctor whose nervous theremin style defined the sound of ghosts, goblins and space invaders, started his musical career as a violin player in New York. Starting at the age of 14, Hoffman became the youngest musician to play at Loew's New York Roof Garden, and later formed his own orchestra. He studied podiatry at Long Island University and became a foot doctor by day and band leader by night. He obtained his theremin in a barter with another musician and integrated it into his act as a novelty. Hoffman played theremin in dozens of Hollywood films in the 1940's and 1950's, usually for scenes of fear, madness, drunkenness and emotional distress. He performed on three successful record albums for composer Harry Revel, one of them you can see here. Hoffman's theremin career ended in 1959 when trombonist Paul Tanner invented the mechanical Electro-Theremin which replaced the space-controlled theremin in movies, TV shows, and recordings.

Emil Richards - New Sound Element: Stones (1966)

Emil Richards, or Emilio Radocchia, started playing xylophone at age six. Later he joined the Hartford Symphony Orchestra while in tenth grade, working under Arthur Fiedler and Fritz Mahler. He began to work around New England with Bobby Hackett, Flip Phillips, and Chris Connor. In 1959 he moved to Los Angeles where he worked with the Paul Horn Quintet, Jimmy Witherspoon, the Shorty Rogers Big Band, Lennie Bruce, and Lord Buckly. He started recording for Frank Sinatra, Nelson Riddle, Judy Garland, Sarah Vaughan, and Doris Day. This record is sort of a concept record in different ways: 1) playing around with sound elements within jazz forms 2) naming each tune after a) a different month b) a different gemstone, and 3) then playing this funny music with jazz but adding-in the incredible sounds of Dr. Irv Wilson's 22 tone-to-the-octave electronic instruments. Believe me, this is one of those great records you don´t want to miss. Please sit back and enjoy some psychedelic percussion.

Mel Henke - Dynamic Adventures in Sound (1962)

This is the predecessor to "La Dolce Henke" from the same year. Not so ambiguous, but more cartoonish I think this is almost as weird as its follow-up: Cray-see stuff! Sold through the stores as a regular title, this disc nevertheless plays heavily on the description of the technical tricks and studio wizardry used to create the ground breaking effects on this record. Tracks like "Exotic Adventure (Adventure In the Steaming Tropics)" and "See The USA in Your Chevrolet" were designed to push stereo effects to the max. But now hear for yourself...

Gil Trythall - Nashville Gold (1973)

This is the follow-up to his "Country Moog" album. You might wonder how anyone could possibly want to listen to weird stuff like this, and I must confess: I have no idea. Maybe country-hipsters, maybe hardcore-countryboys, I just don´t know. I guess these songs would sell pretty good as ringtones, but I´m not sure. But the more you listen to this, the more you can stand the pain. After a while, you may like this kind of music, it´s pretty dangerous. But now it´s your turn to decide: Should I? Am I a real countryboy? Well, make up your mind with Mr. Trythall...

Elsa Popping - Delirium In Hi-Fi (1957)

Elsa Popping is actually Andre Popp from France. Why he posed as "Elsa", I don´t know. It´s nearly impossible to desribe this album, you´ve got to hear it for yourself to believe it: half speed recording of trombone, vocals, vibraphone, three flutes recorded at double speed, vocals with time delay, piano and guitars recorded at half speed with tremolo effect, backwards vocals, bassoon solo with tape echo, hiccup-like sounds played backwards, and on, and on, and on. Very experimental stuff, you see. And now put yourself in a delirium and listen to Elsa...

Mel Henke - La Dolce Henke (1962)

Mel Henke was a jingle producer, who recorded six albums during his career. I can't see how any could have been more odd than this one: A hodge-podge of brassy advertising music, weirdo sound effects, sexy moans and 50s Playboy Magazine humor, Mel Henke's demented masterpiece is almost without comparison. The album is filled to the brim with ambiguous lines, either you like it, or you hate it. I also have no idea what the market was for this when it was released in 1962, "Sex sells!" he possibly thought, but I don´t think many of you have this in their vinyl-rack, am I correct? Now, let´s go "slippery-when-wet" with Mel Henke, who died in 1979...