01.Tall Dwarfs - Sunday Song(1:54) From the compilation album "Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox", 2009 02.Tall Dwarfs - Nothing's Going to Happen(3:37) From the album "In the Dying Days of Helen Young", recorded 16/8/04 03.Toy Love - Swimming Pool(2:35) From the album "Toy Love", 1980 04.Chris Knox - Meat(3:58) From the album "Croaker", 1990 05.Tall Dwarfs - Thought Disorder(4:08) From the album "Fork Songs", 1991 06.Chris Knox and The Nothing - Doughnut(4:14) From the album "Chris Knox and The Nothing", 2005 07.Chris Knox - The Joy of Sex(3:54) From the album "Yes!!", 1997 08.Chris Knox - Justification Song(1:44) From the album "Song For Cleaning Guppies", 1983 09.Tall Dwarfs - Crush(5:55) From the EP "Slugbuckethairybreathmonster", 1984 10.International Tall Dwarfs - Swan Song(1:30) From the album "Stumpy", 1996 11.Chris Knox - Osmosis(3:34) From the album "Polyfoto, Duck Shaped Pain & "Gum"", 1993 12.Tall Dwarfs - Round These Walls(2:06) From the album "Fifty Flavours of Glue", 1998 13. Tall Dwarfs - Song of the Silents(3:55) From the EP "Louis Likes His Daily Dip", 1982 14.Chris Knox - Baby You're a Rich Man(2:49) From the compilation album "Monk III - AD 1987", 1987 15.The Nothing - Then She Exploded (2:56) From the album "A Warm Gun", 2008 16.Tall Dwarfs - Pirouette(4:12) From the album "Weeville", 1990 17.Toy Love - Squeeze(3:29) From the album "Toy Love", 1980 18. Tall Dwarfs - This Room Is Wrong(3:21) From the EP "Canned Music", 1983 19.Chris Knox - Instant Mashed Potato II(2:33) From the album "Songs of You and Me", 1995 20.Tall Dwarfs - Get Outta the Garage(3:03) From the album "That's the Short and Long of It", 1985 21.International Tall Dwarfs - Carsick(2:55) From the album "The Sky Above The Mud Below", 2002 22.Tall Dwarfs - What Goes Up(2:47) From the album "3 EPs", 1994 23. Chris Knox - Laughter(3:27) From the album "Beat", 2000 24.Chris Knox - Not Given Lightly(5:09) From the album "Seizure", 1989
Once more, what the title says.... A few odd tunes from the 1950s to the 1980s. Some are peculiar/insane cover versions, some are songs you wouldn't expect from a certain artist, and the rest are just... rather odd!
Just a few words about some of the artists on this mix: With the onset of psychedelia in the mid 60s, a few well known acts jumped on the bandwagon with usually peculiar results, or in the case of The Four Seasons (mostly known for songs such as Big Girls Don't Cry) releasing an unheralded masterpiece of an album, called "The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette". I thought it fitting to end this volume with one of the finest tracks from that album. The Everly Brothers made a couple of attempts at psychedelia, and the track featured here, if you removed the brass and bongos (insane bongos!) could easily be mistaken for a mid 60s lost classic from The Byrds. Howlin' Wolf was another unlikely artist to take on psychedelia, but you just need to hear the acid drenched revisions of some of his blues classics on the album he recorded in 1969 with Rotary Connection backing him. Also featured is probably one of the earliest "psych" recordings, a track from the Alan Watts album "This is It", from 1962.
Away from the psych phenomenon I've featured a track from the actor Robert Mitchum's calypso album from the late 50s, and keeping with the actors recording albums theme a song from Peter Wyngarde's solo release in 1970, a quite bizarre album where he daren't sing on, so just spoke to us in his most "seductive" voice. I purposely avoided putting on the track "Rape" from this album, which it's probably most infamous for and why a reissue of it was cancelled quite recently.
A peculiarity is the song by Dib Cochran & The Earwigs, who released the one single back in 1970. In reality this was Marc Bolan and Tony Visconti (on lead vocals) in disguise, and the song could easily have been a big hit if released in the mid 70s as disco took off. Now we come to Jon Wayne, and no it isn't the actor. I remember coming across, and buying, this album in the mid 80s, and it remains one of the most hilarious albums I've ever heard. The best way I could describe the sound is "country slop". One reviewer remarked on it as "a hideous, drunken, sloppy mess that grafts the musicality of Merle Haggard etc onto a very loose/chaotic California punk sound. If that sounds like a bad combination...you're right. It is."
I may write some more about the acts featured on this latest volume, but for now I hope you enjoy! 1.Lieutenant Pigeon - Opus 300(2:08) 2.The Everly Brothers - Mary Jane(2:57) 3.Jon Wayne - Texas Jailcell(3:12) 4. Chubby Checker - Autobahn Baby(1:56) 5.Peter Wyngarde - The Way I Cry Over You(3:28) 6.Kevin Ayers and The Whole World - Hat(5:27) 7.Sroeng Santi - Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng(3:32) 8.The Kaplan Brothers - Happy (4:31) 9.Robert Mitchum - Mama Looka Boo Boo (Shut You Mouth-Go Away) (2:53) 10.Rajput & The Sepoy Mutiny - Up, Up & Away(2:11) 11.Bruce Haack - Cherubic Hymn(2:16) 12.Armand Schaubroeck Steals - Ratfucker(3:47) 13.Dib Cochran & The Earwigs - Oh Baby(2:46) 14.Mystery Artist - Mystery Track(0:59) 15. Rita Lee - Frique Comigo (3:23) 16. Ivor Cutler - Go and Sit Upon the Grass (2:06) 17.Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning(3:54) 18.Stud Cole - The Devil's Comin'(2:18) 19.R. Stevie Moore - Ditch Me(1:39) 20.Oho - Pale Hippo(1:48) 21.Moondog - Wine, Woman and Song(2:22) 22.Alan Watts - Love You (3:05) 23.Eden Ahbez- Eden's Cove (2:39) 24.David Hemmings - Talkin' L.A.(7:16) 25.The Four Seasons - Genuine Imitation Life(6:16)
1.US 69 - I'm on My Way (A Patch of Blue)(6:12) 2.Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies - The Elephant at the Door(5:11) 3.Earth Island - This Island Earth(2:28) 4.Ro-d-Ys - Isn't It a Good Time(2:09) 5.Simon Dupree and the Big Sound - Castle in the Sky(2:44) 6.Majic Ship - Night Mare(2:37) 7.Gale Garnett and The Gentle Reign - Water Your Mind(5:12) 8.The Lollipop Shoppe - Don't Close the Door on Me(4:23) 9.Amber - Sea Shell Rock Me(3:09) 10.Os Brazões - Modulo Lunar(4:49) 11.Helpful Soul - Peace for Fools(10:29) 12.Puff - Changes(3:36) 13.Burnin Red Ivanhoe - Purple Hearts(5:44) 14.Impala Syndrome - Let Them Try(3:00) 15.The Superfine Dandelion - Ferris Wheel(2:39) 16.Foxx - Opus Epyllion (The Age of Light)(3:51) 17.Peacepipe - The Day the War Has Ended (10:06)
1.Quatrain - Try to Live Again(2:58) 2.The Mystery Trend - Johnny Was a Good Boy(2:40) 3.The Rugbys - Leaves of Grass(2:32) 4. O.P.M.C. - The Head(4:47) 5.Lily & Maria - Everybody Knows(4:32) 6.Dickens - Genese(4:05) 7.Wichita Fall - Poor Mr. Drake's Afternoon Show(2:16) 8. Snow - Caterpillar(3:39) 9.La Barra de Chocolate - Viste? (7:51) 10.Oxfords - Sung at Harvest Time(3:46) 11. Le Orme - Ad Gloriam (5:33) 12.Fresh Air - December(4:53) 13.Crystal Syphon - Marcy, Your Eyes(3:37) 14.The Liberty Bell - Reality Is the Only Answer(2:09) 15.The Seeds - Bad Part of Town(3:25) 16.The Group Image - Voices Calling Me(3:14) 17.Sagittarius - The Truth Is Not Real (2:45) 18.The Insect Trust - Miss Fun City(5:05) 19.The Peppermint Trolley Company - Fatal Fallacy(7:44)