Old Skull-CIA Drug Fest

At the request of a few folks here, I decided to share the 2nd and final album by Old Skull. By the time of this album Jesse Collins-Davies had left the group as well as Graham Lindsey, and Chris and Josh Scott became lead vocals and guitarist. This is the album where father/manager Vern Toulon wrote some of the lyrics. The album was released in 1992, after which they embarked on a Japanese tour but broke up shortly thereafter. The biggest difference in this album from Get Outta School is that there is more polish in the playing and actual chord progressions. The vocals are scratchy and angry enough to impress even Al Jourgensen of Ministry and possibly scare Freddy Krueger. What I miss is the reckless abandon and virtual anarchy of the first LP. Most of these guys have re-appeared in adult musical acts in recent years, although nothing is reported about this LPs lead vocalist and guitarist, if anyone knows what became of Chris and Josh Scott, please leave a comment here. Old Skull's most thorough bio can be found at wikipedia. The cover scan was supplied to Amazon.com by Escapist. If you'd like to hear or read about their first LP (My Favorite) click HERE.

CIA Drug Fest (VBR LAME)

Exotic Moods Of Les Baxter (Review)

The Exotic Moods Of Les Baxter was released by Capitol in 1996, and is my opinion the finest Les Baxter collection of all time. It is superior sound quality to some of Capitol's previous Baxter releases, and the song selections are terrific. This is 40 of Baxter's finest soundscapes from his years at Capitol records spanning from the 1940s - 1960s. This is over 2 hours of rich, vibrant exotica and a few lounge tracks. The only the thing I wish had been added are the songs "Tropicana" and "Atlantis", otherwise it is an impeccable sampler. The unbelievable thing is that this album is not in print, and it costs a pretty penny to buy it used. Prices seem to fluctuate between $55 to $90. I am in complete hopes that Capitol will reissue this gem of a collection as well as their similar Martin Denny collection. Until that happens there will be a link located in the comments section to hear this wonderful collection in Hi-VBR LAME MP3s. I do not know the original source of this copy, it was acquired on Daemonoid back in the day. There is on CD2 an additional bonus track of "Atlantis" which I added. The cover pictured here is from the great exotica blogpage Xtabays World. This finishes my posts about exotica for the time being, I will return back to my eclectic offerings.

The Deviants-Metamorphosis Exploration (Synthetic Mix)

This is the final song on the final album by the original line-up of The Deviants. Most of these musicians would soon become known as The Pink Fairies. This is not a very popular album amongst Deviants fans mainly because it is a radical departure from their Fugs inspired classics. I like this song quite well because it does capture the feeling of progressive rock which these musicians would soon be doing full time. I only remixed the song slightly, speeding it up without changing the pitch. I feel it captures the energy these guys were capable of, and soon would become better known for. I also tweaked the cover a bit so that it is seamless now. I recommend this LP to anyone who loves progressive rock and The Pink Fairies.

Download remix (256 kbps wma)

Les Baxter-Bora Bora OST (VBR)

Bora Bora was a romantic film directed by Ugo Liberatore filmed in 1968 and released in 1970. This is an excellent soundtrack by the renowned Les Baxter, and exceptional in that it is a real return to his exotica sound. There is a 1960's vibe that makes his lush sound more modern, but it is classic Baxter magic otherwise. There is a good copy of this on Xtabay's World, it is a 128 kbps rip direct from vinyl and it is best for vinyl purists. I remastered his copy so that the eq brings out the highs a bit more, adjusted volumes and stereo seperation and added fades to the end of tracks. LAME assigned a higher bitrate to these remasters, but it is audibly the same as the 128kpbs version. No disrespect is intended to the amazing Xtabay blog, and I will remove this if the original ripper or author wishes.

Download Bora Bora

The End Of Violence (OST and Score)

Wim Wender's films are such a treasure, not only are they cinematic masterpieces, but the soundtracks are always exquisite. I was sickened to discover that both the Songs and Score to this film are both out of print in the US. There is music by U2, Tom Waits, Eels, DJ Shadow, Los Lobos and a Brian Eno remix of a previously unreleased Roy Orbison tune just to name a few of the gems on the Soundtrack. Also there is another CD of the original score written and performed by Ry Cooder and his son Jachim, with the help of Jon Hassel, Howie B, and Jim Keltner to name a few. Both Soundtrack and score are out of print which is inconceivable to me. So here is a link to download both. I also recommend the film to anyone who hasn't seen it, it may not be one of Wender's finest films, but it offers plenty.

Download Soundtrack and Score

Homer And Jethro Collection

This is everything I could find by Homer & Jethro, I own their best of collection on vinyl and a couple of songs on CD collections, everything else was found on the internet. 33 songs spanning almost their entire career including 2 instrumental numbers that showcase their talents as musicians. The quality of the sources varies drastically, but I have attempted to smooth out the scratches, eq and volume differences. I would love to find a copy of them doing I Want To Hold Your Hand so if anyone has that, please let me know. These fellas were funny, talented and deserving of more CD releases than they currently have. For more information on these two go to their wiki link, or their page at the Country Music Hall Of Fame.

Download Link (VBR LAME)

Les Baxter-Kaleidoscope (1955)

This was an LP that my parents bought to play at parties, and I loved it since I was very young. Instead of being a concept album it is mostly a very mixed bag with a wide range of styles. The biggest treats on this album are Tropicana, Blue Tango, Julie and Atlantis. Tropicana was the song that really turned me on to this album and Les Baxter as an artist. It displays most of Baxter's best talents in a very quick and concise number. Plus the percussion and arrangement show more reckless abandon than most other songs from around 1955. Not to say that the song is sloppy though, it is very tight and precise. But the tom toms and timbales duke it out now and then as if in a boxing match against each other. The dynamics also make the piece seem ferocious at times, sometimes getting louder to really punctuate the ending of a phrase. I can't say enough good things about the song, so I'll leave any further observations up to the listener. Blue Tango is one of his better known pieces and it speaks for itself. Atlantis features really strong lively hand percussion that contrasts beautifully with an exotic flute passage. I didn't expect to share lounge music on my blog, but I noticed that this LP and the song Tropicana are very difficult to find on the internet, so here's my copy. Unfortunately this is the same exact copy that I have been playing since around age 7, so some of the quieter songs suffer from scratches and static. If someone out there has a cleaner copy let me know, I would love to have a copy, until then enjoy this one. I just noticed another vinyl version at a lower bit-rate is available from Thrift Shop DJ .

Download vinyl album (VBR LAME)

UPDATE- I just realized that I owned 5 of these songs on CD so I now made a Hybrid version incorporating my old vinyl with the CD masters, so 5 songs are now from a digital master. If someone has Tropicana from a digital master, I'd love to get a copy.

Download digital/vinyl hybrid (VBR LAME)

URDATE - I made one final version that adds a bit of reverb to the tracks to compensate for noise reduction that was used.

Download Reverb Version

Can-Out Of Reach (1978)

This is the second to final Can album before the musicians took about a decade off for side and solo projects, it is also the only album to have no involvement from Holger Czukay. I assume it is the last fact that makes this album the only one of their original releases to not be in print. It is very unfortunate that Czukay is not on this album, but it is still a fine piece of work. there are 4 songs that I feel still capture that audio magic that these fine musicians were so capable of conjuring. Michael Karoli's guitar solos on the songs Serpentine, November and Seven Days Awake stack up along with some of his finest recorded moments. The rhythm section delivers exceptional playing as well as keyboardist Irmin Scmidt. Rumor has it that Jaki Liebzeit had a very limited role on this album, but he is credited on 5 of the 7 songs, so I tend to feel that rumor is false. This version originally comes from the old TKO magnum CD release which unfortunately was taken from a so-so vinyl copy. I went and remixed these tracks so that the high end is brought out more, and I increased the stereo separation as well. The cover art here was also taken from that CD but was retouched to look more like the original 1978 release. I Hope you will enjoy it like I do.

Download Can-Out Of Reach

Album Art

I restored some classic record covers to print up for CD size. I don't have my own scanner, so I had to use the best versions I could find. So none of it is high Resolution. Hopefully it may prove useful or entertaining regardless. These are all great LPs and highly recommended for purchase. Two covers here are collages that I made to be used for whatever. Click on the 2 panel covers to see them in CD size. I hope to get better at this when I have a scanner and a program more sophisticated than Window's Paint. If you use these scans on your website, please give me a mention, thanks! the top picture is courtesy of a great blogspot called Xtabay's World.

Side Show

This is an album I owned as a boy, I believe it was the first group I ever bought a record by without my older brother's prior recommendation. Since it was my own "discovery", I earnestly tried to enjoy the album, but I must admit, it isn't the kind of music most kids would like, and I soon traded the album away. I found the record again on Ebay a few years ago, I snagged it to bring back forgotten memories, and now I appreciate the music much better. The album came out on Atlantic records I believe around 1969, and I'm guessing didn't do very well. The album pictured a group on the front, but didn't say anywhere who the members were and what they did. I determined from the individual song credits that the band consists partly of: Paul Giovanni, Gregg Kreutz and Ken Zeserson. Paul Giovanni appears to be the lead vocalists, and he went on to create the score for the original "Wicker Man" film with a group called Magnet. The vocals on that soundtrack are remarkably similar to those on this album, leading me to the conclusion he was the lead vocalist with Side Show. Giovanni went on to become a writer, and has since passed away. Gregg Kreutz (Bass) went on to become a Master painter and playwright he has a website here. Ken Zeserson is still a musician and has played with The Purple Valley and Radio London. The music on this album is hard to categorize, it reminds me of mellow progressive rock and also the folk/rock songs of the late 1960s. I think what I like best is the tasteful arrangements and the instrumental touches which were recorded very clearly. The album was produced and conducted by Arif Mardin, so there are a few nice string arrangements occasionally. The overall feeling of the album is mellow and restrained which may have been a factor in the group not becoming famous, but it does make this a worthwhile album nonetheless. If you love the soundtrack to "Wicker Man" you will enjoy this album since it has a similar maturity and the same lead vocalist. If you know any more about this group, or if you also owned this LP let me know, I have never met anyone else who had even heard of them.

Side Show LP

Bruce Haack-Moog Medicine Man

If you are not aware of Bruce Haack read up on him a bit at Wikipedia. He was a very talented and inventive composer and his album Electric Lucifer is for my tastes the highpoint of his career. The LP is now available on CD so I am only going to offer one song to help promote and showcase the album. All downloads I found taken from the vinyl release have a skip on track 4 making it less than enjoyable. The new CD release was taken from the original source tapes recently found in the Columbia record's vaults. It is stunning audio quality and I recommend it highly.

Program Me

SMILE 1966-2004 HybridVersion

In spring of 1966 after riding high on the artistic triumph of Pet Sounds and the commercial triumph of Good Vibrations, Brian Wilson set out to make a Beach Boys album that would surpass The Beatles' Revolver album in sonic artistry. The album ended up not getting completed for over 3 decades due to a wide array of problems that overtook it's author Brian Wilson. Finally in 2004 he released a completely reworked version with all new musicians, and none of the other original Beach Boys assistance. Also it was made with a different style of production than the original Smile recordings had and sounds quite different for that reason as well. I became obsessed with the unfinished album when I purchased Smiley Smile on CD about 6 years ago, I wanted to have every original recording from the 1966 sessions that I could find. I possibly even started praying that Wilson would find the motivation to finally complete his unfinished masterpiece, but I'd always hope he would use as much of the original recordings as was possible. I suspect that for legal reasons he chose to redo the whole project with his new musicians and vocalists. So I of course bought the new Smile album as quick as it was released and really like it a lot, but still miss the Beach Boys versions of songs like Heroes and Villains, Good Vibrations, Cabinessence and Surf''s Up. What I did was marry the completed 1966 Beach Boy recordings with the 2004 recordings so that they still flow seamlessly wherever the 2004 album did. I also adjusted the eq and reverb somewhat to make the 2004 recordings sound a bit more like the 1966 recordings. I made a whole new version of Heroes and Villains that is longer than any currently available versions, and I gave a choice of 2 true stereo versions of Good Vibrations. So here is a link to a sampler of what both eras of recordings sound like, and it just happens to be a complete Smile album in it's own right. I highly recommend that you purchase the Capitol reissue of Smiley Smile, the Beach Boy's box set called Good Vibrations and Brian Wilson's album Smile. I don't expect to offer this link for very long so get it while it's here. The VBR LAME mp3s may not play seamlessly unless transferred to wave or flac files first.

Track Listing:

Section One
1. Our Prayer (Beach Boys)
2. Gee (Brian Wilson)
3. Heroes And Villains (Beach Boys & Brian Wilson)
4. Roll Plymouth Rock (Brian Wilson)
5. Barnyard (Brian Wilson)
6. Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine (Brian Wilson)
7. Cabin Essence (Beach Boys)

Section Two
8. Wonderful (Beach Boys & Brian Wilson)
9. Song For Children (Brian Wilson)
10. Child Is Father Of The Man (Brian Wilson)
11. Surf's Up (Beach Boys)

Section Three
12. I'm In Great Shape (Beach Boys & Brian Wilson)
13. Vega-Tables (Beach Boys & Paul McCartney)
14. On A Holiday (Brian Wilson)
15. Wind Chimes (Brian Wilson)
16. Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Brian Wilson)
17. Fire (Brian Wilson)
18. In Blue Hawaii (Brian Wilson)
19. Good Vibrations [45 Single Stereo Mix (Beach Boys)]

Bonus Tracks
20. Good Vibrations [2004 Album Version (Brian Wilson)]
21. Heroes And Villains [45 Single Stereo Mix (Beach Boys)]


SMILE Revisited

Wall Of Voodoo - There's Nothing On This Side / Mexican Radio (Dub)

In the early 1980s Wall Of Voodoo released their hit single "Mexican Radio" on 12" vinyl. The B-side of the album contained 2 very interesting tracks that captured my imagination for many years. Track 1 is called "There's Nothing On This Side" and Track 2 is "Mexican Radio (Dub)". TNOTS is a track that incorporates strange synthesized noises, a simple electronic rhythm and snippets of conversation mostly taken from Telephone recordings. I had a friend play the track for me several years ago, and I never stopped thinking about how different it was. I believe that track paved the way for me embracing Industrial music a few years later. The second song is a simple remix of "Mexican Radio" that is just experimental enough to go really well with track 1. Since the A side is easy to find and still in print, I did not include that, but Side 2 is somewhat hard to find so I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do. I just realized that the A-side is a different edit than what appears on their "Call Of The West" LP so a link is listed in the comments for that version.

get it here

Chrome-Raining Milk (Revisited)

Chrome was a very dynamic group that formed in San Francisco in the late 70s. Their sound incorporated Progressive Rock, Heavy Metal, Psychedelic, Post Punk, Gothic, Kraut Rock and Industrial. I discovered this group through Ralph Records, although they are not actually on that label. This is the last music the classic line-up of Chrome made before a long split up. It was recorded at San Francisco's famous Hyde Street Studios. This is the first album I bought by the group back in the early 80's. It took around 25 years for me to really appreciate the group, but I am a huge fan now. This album is generally considered to be their worst LP, but I have a soft spot for it since it is the first one I heard by them, plus the music is still top notch. The album was issued with incorrect track listing, a deceptively titled song and abridged mixes of songs that previously appeared on the albums "Chronicles 1" and "Chronicles 2". That is the main reason it is not a highly regarded album, however the music is still first rate. I seem to have lost my original vinyl copy of this album, so I downloaded a version on Demonoid (RIP). It was created using the original unedited Chronicles versions of the songs and was taken off pristine vinyl. So, although this isn't actually what the album sounded like exactly, it is the same songs, just properly titled and not edited for time. I added "Future Ghosts" as a bonus track. For those that want an abridged version taken from CD sources, I am offering that as well, it is nearly identical to the original LP. I can't remember the name of the man who shared the long version at Demonoid, but thank you again whoever you are. The top cover shown is from the original 1983 release the lower cover was assembled by me to accompany the revisited 75+ minute version.

Download 75+ Minute Version (From Vinyl)

Download 40+ Minute Version (From CD)

Blind Willie Johnson -Dark Was The Night Remix

Blind Willie Johnson-Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground) remixed by Synthetic. I stumbled onto this fine recording artist from the late 1920's after hearing Wim Wender's commentary on his masterpiece film, Paris Texas. This song really moves me on several different levels, and I never tire of hearing it, so I hope this remix will do it some justice. Buy the album "Dark Was The Night" from CBS/Legacy, it is a fine collection. This song is virtually without lyrics, yet it conveys raw human emotion so powerfully. Also there is an otherworldly quality to Johnson that makes me feel like I am hearing deep testimonies from beyond the grave. I intended for this remix to draw out the raw emotion, and the otherworldly quality as well. The remix is only intended to make people more aware of BWJ and not for self promotion, I will not be offering this song on any profit albums, and will remove link upon request of any person (with the exception of anonymous persons).
Download Remix

Old Skull-Get Outta School (1989)

These 3 Wisconsin tykes with the help of their dads Vernon Toulon and Robin Davies (who had both been punk musicians) got a recording contract with Restless records. The result was an album that some consider to be pure garbage, but I've always liked this one. For me, the main thing I like about old School punk is the raw energy and feeling of sonic nihilism, these kids had that in spades! By their next album the group's personnel would almost completely change and the lyrics would be much more influenced by their fathers. But on this album when the kids were around 9-10 years old, the kids sound almost completely unhindered by adult supervision. Think about it, who is better suited to making a noisy, pure energy music nihilism than untrained punk kids? Because of their lack of any polish, I do admit this sounds much more closely related to No Wave music of late 70's New York than any of the well known old school punk bands. Alternate playing this album with the album "No New York" and I bet you'll find a striking similarity. I once spoke to father and agent Vern Toulon about making a music video for the band, but our distance in miles kept that from being a reality, they did make at least 1 video however called Homeless and it aired occasionally and is now on YouTube. These kids are now young men and almost all of them seem to be continuing in their musical aspirations. Take a look at their page on Wikipedia for more complete information. It is being reported that Vern Toulon ghost wrote most of the material on Get Outta School, which I disagree with. I asked him about that back in 1993 and he suggested the kids wrote most of these songs with some topic suggestions from Vern, and he helped much more on the 2nd album "CIA Drug Fest". The lyrics really are very different on both albums which supports that as well. Here you mostly just hear overly caffeinated kids singing about what's cool to them (hot dogs, pizza, skating, kicking ass) and it makes for some twisted fun. There is already a good post of this album on blogger at Outside My Scene, but I thought I would post a higher bit-rate version and share some of my knowledge and opinions about the group as well. You'll want to go to that page if you want the record cover in it's original layout, I just put this one together for those that like a larger version.
DOWNLOAD Album (VBR LAME mp3s)

Happy Holidays! Synthetic-"Winter" LP

Synthetic-Winter
Hey friends I have a new album available for download at 20kbps rec. at a bit-rate of 32 kbps, and from OUIM.net at 256-320 kbps VBR. It is a selection of mind-numbingly chill music to make you dance or get mellow. 4 dance numbers and 2 very ambient soundscapes for your enjoyment. I cannot easily put the dance numbers into one category, there are elements of IDM, trip hop, ambient, illbient and motorik. 5 of the songs are variations on 2 different themes. The odd track out "Birds Of Doom Winter Dance" is based around a recording of a music software malfunction. "Snow Angels" is a 50+ minute soundscape which I created by stretching a Synthetic tune 5 times in length using Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch software.
32 kbps version
256-320 kbps VBR version

Gene Vincent - Pretty Girls Everywhere

This is my favorite obscure track performed by the late great legend of rock & roll, Gene Vincent. This was recorded in 1965 for a BBC radio program, his backing band is The Puppets, who are probably the least famous backing band Gene ever worked with. Sad, because their playing is in top form here, and the drum beat is one of my favorites of all time, the variety of difficult drum rolls really keeps the song moving. Gene is singing particularly skillfully on this cut, hopping from rich baritone to high falsetto seamlessly. Almost all of gene's music is in print, I would love to share his best works with the world, but alas it's all in print. This song however doesn't appear on any major label box sets so I think it should be kosher to share this. The song can be found on Rebel Heart and Blue 'Gene' Bop CDs offered by indie labels, and hopefully in higher fidelity than my version, but I can't promise that. I've heard 3 different sources for this song, and they all sound as if lifted from an acetate demo copy. I heartily recommend Shakin' Up A Storm though because it gives a full album of Gene with the unfairly forgotten backing band The Shouts. Also Blue 'Gene' Bop has many rare live BBC recordings with many fine British backing bands. Please look around for a collection of this legend's greatest hits, you won't be disappointed.
Dowload Song VBR LAME MP3

Comsat Angels - Chasing Shadows

Sheffield's Comsat Angels were masters of dark, atmospheric alternative music. The drums are almost always very muscular and simple. The guitar work is rich and colorful and very expressive. The keyboard work is modern and mature, on this album there is a lot of beautiful acoustic piano. Finally their vocals/lyrics are sensitive, intelligent and personal. This is their 6th studio album, and the first to show a good compromise between their artful side and the alternative pop market. The album was produced by Comsat Angels and Robert Palmer who sings backing vocals on You'll Never Know. It has been out of print for too long. Mine comes from a British pressing and is mastered to 20bit Sony Pro CD from a Stanton Pro turntable/cartrifdge, then transferred to VBR LAME mp3. There already is a nice version on the blogspot page, The Subversive Sounds, but I found almost all of the songs to have minor vinyl skipping (at least on my download of it). So I decided to offer mine, with a pinch more crackle at times, but no skipping that I could detect. I really hope this album comes out on CD someday, until then... enjoy!
UPDATE I have a CD of this great album, so I am now sharing it from CD at 320 kbps with a bonus track of Cutting Edge Stretched


Download Link

Hairspray (1988) OST Revisited

I am fan of the old original John Water's 1988 film, Hairspray but haven't cared for any of the remakes/spinoffs. They do however, reinforce my liking for the original. What I particularly liked about the film was the eclectic soundtrack. The album that was released featured only 12 of the 29 Songs featured in the film. So I have searched exhaustively for the other songs and give you a collection of 26 songs from the original film. Chubby Checker was featured repeatedly on the soundtrack, which is nice because many of us only knew The Twist and Limbo Rock. The other tracks by Chubby Checker were also minor hits in their time and deserve to be remembered. I strongly recommend you purchase a best of Chubby Checker from the Cameo Parkway years. Some of the other artists appearing here are Gene Chandler, Gene Pitney, Barbara Lynn and Leslie Gore. These songs came from a variety of sources, about 15% came straight from CD, the rest from P2P sources. If anyone knows how to get the missing 3 songs please let me know. They are:
The Bracelettes - Waddle Waddle
The Two Du-Tones - The Bird
The Dovells - Do The New Continental

Download Album

This Is 20kbps!

I mentioned the swiss label 20kbps rec. in my post regarding the Colorsmoke EP. Now I felt it was time to show some of my favorite tracks from that dynamic, underground label. I have made a mega mix consisting of some of my very favorite works that are available for free on this label. Some of the tracks here are at a lower bitrate than the original, so some songs will sound better downloaded directly from the label. There is just something very other worldly about these delicious lo-bit pieces. The label has a wide variety of artists from all over the world. It is the most independent and diverse label I have ever stumbled on to, and constantly surprises me. The cover art shown here is available at Plan 59 for viewing or purchase, it just seemed to go well with the strange mega mix I created.

01 - Olga & Fritz - Track 1 (Mio Star EP)
02 - Agent Orange - Micrology
03 - Copyright Killer - In Misery We End
04 - Deemage - Coriander
05 - Is....Dead - Chemical Scent Imprint
06 - Agent FF6600 - Heizung An
07 - Old Oldman - Noss
08 - Pimuri - Kitchenbeat
09 - JKP - Vivaldi's La Primavera Excerpt
10 - Vivcaro - Erna
11 - Maiden China - How To Be Reflected In A Puddle Full Of Dirt
12 - eVADE - Summer
13 - No Artist - I Retrieve Cereal From High Voltage Systems
14 - Idle Flight - Alaska Beckoned
15 - Death On Glamour - Refresh Yo Mind
16 - Deemage - It Will Never happen
17 - Agent FF6600 - Ninja
18 - Synthetic - Brown Smoke
19 - Mr Dee - Shot #10
20 - Overthruster - Lamers
21 - Vivcaro - Majong's Garden
22 - Pharmacon - Bach's Fugue 02
23 - Agent FF6600 - Cotton Walk On Sparks
24 - Maiden China - That's The End, Thank You

Link to 20kbps MegaMix
Link to Separate Tracks

Magnetophone-Lost In Edit

4AD is an extremely diverse and rich label that doesn't have many electronica artists affiliated with them. But the ones they do have are sensational: Gus Gus vs. T-world, Minotaur Shock and Magnetophone to name a few of the few. Magnetophone's 2006 release, "The Man Who Ate The Man" is a vibrant, eclectic album full of surprises and rewards. JM Lapham (of The Earlies) came across the music and was so impressed that he offered to make a remix collage of the entire album. 4AD is kind enough to offer a link to downoad this collage called "Lost In Edit" for free. The link is getting increasingly hard to find on their website, so I am offering a link to their link. More information can be found on Magnetophone at the 4AD site, they are a diverse and extremely worthwhile group. I strongly recommend buying Their albums.

LINK to Lost In Edit

Magnetophone's MySpace Page

The Great Lost Kinks Album (and Bonus Track)

Those doggone Kinks, before discovering them, I didn't use to care about having every song by an artist. The Kinks are one of those rare bands that make such consistently great music. I find myself needing to own their entire recorded output. The Great Lost Kinks Album is an album I have owned since childhood, and have found it very hard to acquire all of these songs on CD. I own about 50 separate Kinks CDs, yet some of these songs are still proving to be quite elusive to find. There is another blog called Blues Town, that offers a link to the pure vinyl version exactly as it sounded in 1973. I recommend this link to the vinyl purists out there. For those like myself who want to hear how it might sound if Warner or Castle would ever issue it on CD, I am offering a link to a remastered edition. Only 3 songs on this version are taken from vinyl copies, the rest come from various Castle & Rhino CDs of expanded Kinks albums. A few songs are now in true stereo for the first time with this album. A portion of these tracks were intended to be released on an album to be named "Four More Respected Gentlemen" which was never released. Many of the other tracks were probably intended to be on "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society", which Ray Davies Supposedly originally intended to make into a double LP. Many of these songs only appeared officially as b-sides to import singles. As an album it is not exceptionally strong, and differs greatly from the harder rock that The Kinks were usually known for. It does serve as a nice companion piece to The Kink Kronikles collection. Ray Davies was outraged at Warner/Reprise issuing this LP without his consent, and that is probably why it is such a rare album to this day. But for those of us that appreciate even The Kinks weaker songs, this is a must have LP. "Animals In The Zoo" has been offered as a bonus track, to hopefully make the LP stronger as a whole. It is from the same soundtrack as "The Way Love Used To Be", so it fits in conceptually as well. the album art shown here has been retouched by me so that the album title will be visible at jewel case size. To Ray or Dave and license holder, if you disapprove of this link, I will remove it immediately.

1 Till Death Do Us Part
2. There Is No Life Without Love
3. Lavender Hill
4. Groovy Movies
5. Rosemary Rose
6. Misty Water
7. Mister Songbird
8. When I Turn off the Living Room Light
9. The Way Love Used to Be
10. I'm Not Like Everybody Else
11. Plastic Man
12. This Man He Weeps Tonight
13. Pictures in the Sand
14. Where Did My Spring Go?
15. Animals In The Zoo (Bonus Track)

The Great Lost Kinks Album (LAME VBR mp3s)

Captain Groovy & His Bubblegum Army (1969)

There are a few folks around here offering either the a-side of this 45 or the b-side. As far as I can tell, no one is offering the complete 45, so here's a link for it. This was put together by some of the same folks who created Crazy Elephant. It is a Kasenetz-Katz production with the help of Ritchie Cordell and the same session players who graced much of the Crazy Elephant LP. Side a is Captain Groovy And His Bubblegum Army, which was intended to be the theme song for an animated TV series which never happened. Side b is Dark Part Of My Mind (Part 1), part 2 of which was released on a Crazy Elephant single. Dark Part is in my opinion the most psychedelic music produced by The Super K folks, and it really is groovy.

Captain Groovy 45

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontakte (Electronics Only)

A Closet Of Curiosities has posted a link to an exceptional collection of actual Stockhausen recordings. The sound is superb and the selections are exquisite. The only problem is that Kontakte is broken down into several seamless tracks, which lost their seamlessness in the mp3 transfer. So I'm offering a link to a re-patched, seamless version in one track. The tracks were painstakingly re-joined on Acid Pro 5. This is the version of Kontakte that features Stockhausen's Electronic sound with no orchestral accompaniment. I recommend highly that you check out their link to the complete album, and of course, buy it if you can, it was issued on Verlag. The front cover art here is by me - Steve Engler.

Download Link