Category: Music

It Was 40 Years Ago That Day

Sgt. Pepper's

Back on June 2, before The Bad Thing happened to my database, I had noted the 40th anniversary of the American release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and compared the audio quality of an American LP on the Apple label, and a pressing from the glory days of British vinyl, using “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” Hmm. Y’know, I’m not sure myself now, which is which. I’ll have to click back-and-forth to figure it out. Just did it. Oh, it’s obvious, which is better.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/JUN07/LucyInTheSkyWithDiamonds.mp3]
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/JUN07/lucyskydiamonds.mp3]

Folk Festival at Newport 1959

Pete Seeger, 1959The posts from the missing month of May that represented the most work were the transcriptions from the 3-LP set of the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. I’m not going to try to redo all of the text and HTML tables that I did, but here is all of the audio:

Volume 1, Side 1: Pete Seeger, Martha Schlamme
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAY07/Newport59_1A.mp3]
Volume 1, Side 2: Leon Bibb, Tom Makem, Pat Clancy, Pete Seeger
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAY07/Newport59_1B.mp3]

Volume 2, Side 1: Odetta, Joan Baez and Bob Gibson
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAY07/Newport59_2A.mp3]
Volume 2, Side 2: New Lost City Ramblers, Barbara Dane, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAY07/Newport59_2B.mp3]

Volume 3, Side 1: Earl Scruggs, Jean Ritchie, Oscar Brand, John Jacob Niles, Frank Hamilton, Frank Warner,
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAY07/Newport59_3A.mp3]
Volume 3, Side 2: Earl Scruggs, Oscar Brand, Cynthia Gooding, Ed McCurdy, Earl Scruggs
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAY07/Newport59_3B.mp3]

Swooning-Crooning Again

A fairly recent, now lost, post was the Warner Brothers cartoon Swooner Crooner…
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/MAY07/SwoonerCrooner.flv 400 300]

Oh, right! Don’t want to forget that I highlighted Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse” that’s featured in the cartoon.

Raymond Scott

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAY07/Powerhouse.mp3]

Give Pet A Chance

If you’ve been reading the interviews with Petula Clark I’ve linked to, you may have caught a comment about her being in a certain place at a certain time. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss her in this video clip.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/APR07/GivePeaceAChance.flv 400 300]

Why was Pet there?

“I’d been staying in French-speaking Canada but was starting to have hits with records in English as well. So when I was booked to perform at the Place des Arts in Montreal, I thought I’d do a bi-lingual show. Wrong. It was open war.

“After the show, I was upset and I went to John’s hotel to ask his advice. I didn’t really know him that well, but I do remember he was very rude about the audience.

“There was a very strange atmosphere in the suite and I remember the cameras being there but I really didn’t realise [sic] they were making Give Peace A Chance at the time.”

Al “Capp” Caplin was a full-time jerk. I never did much like Li’l Abner. But in fairness, John Lennon was a part-time jerk. It would have been much more interesting seeing Pet, instead of Capp, talking to John. Recognize any other faces in the crowd?

Synthetic Sir George

Time BeatWaltz in Orbit

I’ve been trying to find a copy of a 1962 single of partially electronic music, Time Beat b/w Waltz in Time, by Ray Cathode. I’ve placed bids, and lost, for the single on eBay, but fortunately I found these MP3’s on WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. [Link] Here are the tracks.

Ray Cathode – Beat Time
[audio:http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/time_beat.mp3]

Ray Cathode – Waltz in Orbit
[audio:http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/waltz_in_orbit.mp3]

Ray Cathode was a pseudonym for a collaboration between BBC technician-producer Maddalena Fagandini and George Martin, who would sign the Beatles to Parlophone Records just a couple of months later. The recording was made for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which was set up to create atmospheric music and effects for radio and TV. The 1963 production by Delia Derbyshire of Ron Grainer’s theme for Doctor Who is undoubtedly the workshop’s most familiar work.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/APR07/DoctorWho.mp3]