Alienating the Audience Again

I'm making pot roast. It's good weather for it.

It's also a good day for some novelty 45s

I like novelty 45s

The Mummy (1959)

Ok, there's a lot to unpack here.

This single has a lot of threads and various things going for it.

First off it was penned by poet, composer, singer with a voice reminiscent of a cut rate Kermit the Frog impersonator and all around sensitive guy Rod McKuen.
(He's a bit of a running gag among several of my oldest friends.) He made a name and bank on writing the English lyrics to the miserable tearjerking dreck "Seasons in the Sun" originally by Frenchman Jacques Brel. Even worse it somehow became a big one hit wonder for Terry Jacks in 1974. AM radio was fucking awful back then.

However back in the late 50s before his dreadful sappy poetry caught the hippie peace and love zeitgeist he tried to carve a place with novelty songs. For this one he teamed up with voice actor extraordinaire Bob McFadden as "Bob McFadden & Dor" (It's Rod backwards. How clever.) Rod lends his comedic touch as foil and commentator throughout.

The A side is "The Mummy" which is rife with contemporary references including another novelty hit "Kookie Lend Me Your Comb". What really makes this special though is that our heroes the Fall found this obscure novelty number worthy of being covered as "I'm a Mummy"
That's all the recommendation I might otherwise need.

But wait there's more!

The flip side is also a wonderful bit of wonderful bits, "The Beat Generation".
(At some point I have to relocate and digitize the wonder that is Rod's spoken word "Hippie" record "Rod McKuen Takes a San Francisco Hippie Trip" which is actually a repackaging of his square's eye view of beatniks. Fucking hilarious.)

But the real gold is that how familiar the song might sound to a certain 1977 NYC punk classic "Blank Generation" by Richard Hell & the Voidoids... hmmm..

Shake, Rattle and Roll (1959)

Hoping to capitalize on the something that the previous record did or didn't generate , their shenanigans continued with a follow up version of the classic rhythm and blues number "Shake Rattle and Roll" in the voice of the Mummy.
Flip is a song called "Bingo" as penned by Rod.

Perfect fodder for annoying those you love.



As an added bonus I'll give you a Rod McKuen original novelty single.

Oliver Twist (1962)

Here in 1962 our boy Rod is trying his best to cash in on the Twist Fad with a double dose of Twist novelty numbers.
Enjoy?

One More Before I Eat Something

Low blood sugar.
No typing.

Apt. 621 (1982)

Synthpop from NYC in the early 80's.

Need I say more?

September Baseball and the Season's Drawing to a Close

It's a long time ago.

Last October from your reference point to be precise. The Nationals just won Game One of the 2019 World Series against the Astros.

I have no idea how the 2020 season will go.

I only hope that my future baseball enjoying self is pleased and made it to a few games in different parks this year.

Maybe we'll get up to an even dozen different parks this year..

Which is a good lead in to this band

Draft Day Jitters (1996)

The Mendoza Line is the culturally accepted point where being kind of bad at the plate in baseball turns into total shit. Generally when you're hitting below the .200 mark.

The Mendoza Line were a long running band that originated in Athens, GA before schlepping it up to Brooklyn, NY to seek out their fame and fortune.

It didn't quite happen, but 12 years was a good run.

Here's an interview about the dissolution of the band and marriage within the band.

This single is without such drama though. It's their first release on Kindercore (they also contributed to the Kindercore Singles of the Month deal that can be found elsewhere on this blog.)

Listen and remember the good times

See You Again (1997)

The only thing I could find was that My Friend the Atom were based in Fort Worth, Texas.
This is their only recording. A lovely pop jangle with female vocals.

If someone were to task me with organizing a series of reissue compilations of long forgotten but fucking wonderful indiepop, jangle, garage, shoegaze etc... singles of the 90s (ala the Pebbles, Homework and Killed by Death series) "See You Again" would undoubtedly appear on Volume One. It's a pitch perfect example of a time and a genre.

(I simple await the call from Numero Group. I have plenty of good ideas...)

This is Me Procrastinating

I should be making a chocolate ice cream base, but I'm putting it off for no other reason than I just don't feel like doing it right now.

Engine ep (1996)

I like nonpareils as candy.
Chocolate with the little round sugar crunchy things on top.

I also like the Nonpareils as a band.
From the same Providence, Rhode Island scene that gave us the overly earnest sounds of Small Factory (Alex Kemp of which assisted in the recording of the latter two songs here.) and the ever wonderful pop sounds of Honeybunch.

Banana (1992)

The Nelories were from Japan.

An accordion and guitar duo just like They Might Be Giants,  I learned everything I needed to know (except their hometown) from the TMBG Wiki

 This is extraordinarily pleasant listening depending on your personal tolerance for the accordion and lyrics written by someone who doesn't speak English.

(My personal tolerance is high enough that someone really ought to consider an intervention.)

Testing One Two

I suppose my laziness is your bonus since something just posted yesterday.

But a consistent pattern is a consistent pattern

And today is a 13th of the month.

This is a test.

Perhaps even...

Test Patterns (1981)

A compilation of various independent and punk-ish, Nu Wave-ish bands in and around the St. Louis, MO area. Not exactly the first location that comes to mind when considering such things, but here we are.

I clipped a jpg of the tracklist for you because I'm too fucking lazy to type that shit out.

This fine archival recording of a scene that, unless you were there, you probably didn't even know existed until you clicked on this page (and I will admit that I was unaware of it until I purchased this record) was reissued in 2010 by the fine folks at Rerun Records.

If you're not a cheapskate you can purchase your very own pristine digital compact disc version of it on their website. It's only $3 brand spanking new direct from the label!

Consider this post a lo-fi preview.

Buy it already!