Picked up some unusual and strange LPs today. I would have put these in the “Music Score” thread, but I’m not sure I’d categorize these as scores. Just unusual. All were a whopping 25 cents, and most appear to be new/never played.

“You Are There – The Signing of the Magna Charta (June 19, 1215) and The Battle of Gettysburg (July 3, 1863)”, produced and directed by Robert Lewis Shayon on Columbia Masterworks long playing microgroove nonbreakable LP (1949)…. As reported by C.B.S. correspondents John Daly, Ken Roberts, Don Hollenbeck, Quincy Howe, Richard Hottelet, and Ned Calmer.

You Are There

This series was created by Goodman Ace. Rights right, Goodman Ace of Easy Aces fame. The format of the program was to give you historical events, like they would be presented in today’s news broadcasts, and these programs were broadcast in the late 1940’s. The event, interviews with the principles involved, digestion of the facts and interpretation of the events. You, the listener, along with great sound effects, are put in the middle of each historic presentation with each broadcast. Ahead of it’s time. The series started out with the title of CBS Is There until 05/02/48, then changed the title to You Are There. Special thanks to Shawn Wells with help in the research of this log. Broadcast History: Network: CBS 07/07/47 to 03/19/50 Creator: Goodman Ace Producer / Director: Robert Lewis Shayon Announcers: Jackson Beck, Ken Roberts, Harry Marble, Guy Sorel Writers: Joseph Liss, Irve Tunick, Michael Sklar Sound Effects: Jim Rogan Reporters: Don Hollenbeck, John Daly, Richard C. Hottelet Cast: Ken Roberts, Jackson Beck, Harry Marble, Guy Sorel and others Also heard: Canada Lee, Martin Gabel

For you Canoodians:

Pipes and Drums of the 48th Higlanders of Canada. Looks like a military band recording – a 10” LP from Columbia Records “360” Sound, Guaranteed High-Fidelity form the House Party Series. It has a sort of history of both Canada and the 48th Highlanders on the back cover.



Leo Kottke – Mudlark.
1971's MUDLARK is one of Leo Kottke's earliest albums, and the first to fully integrate his unique vocal style--he once famously described his froggy baritone as sounding like "geese farts on a foggy day"--with his stunning guitar wizardry. A classic of DIY folk-rock, MUDLARK is simply produced, beautifully arranged and clearly recorded. The performances sound live and intimate, whether on the delicate yet sturdy instrumentals or on vocal exercises like a surprisingly effective reworking of the Byrds' "Eight Miles High." Other highlights include the traditional folk tune "Cripple Creek" and the classical guitar showcase "Bourree." A version of Kim Fowley's bizarre "Monkey Lust" with the pop eccentric himself on vocals is one of Kottke's stranger efforts, but a respectful version of mentor John Fahey's "Poor Boy" is a nice touch.



A couple of New Age LPs from Steven Halpern – Ancient Echoes (1978), and Spectrum Suite (1985). I can’t imagine ever listening to these (not my cuppatea), but who knows. I might spin them just for the sound quality, as both appear as new/never played.

Ancient Echoes:
This collaboration between healing-music artist Steven Halpern and harpist Georgia Kelly is a pleasant exercise in aimless musings that relax the soul and clear the mind. Halpern, long recognized for his educational work with New Age music, brings a starry Rhodes electric piano and synth to Kelly's swirling, gentle harp as the two try to recreate the ancient ritual of spiritual healing through music. While Halpern's electric piano may be a bit too drippy-dreamy, his synth is expansive and forms a soulful background for Kelly's plucking. "The Oracle at Delphi" stands out for its droning effect and hint of Muslim chant while "From Eleusis" attracts with a melodious flute sound. Halpern and Kelly create a relaxed atmosphere that, in the hands of these two experienced New Age artists, is enchanting.

Spectrum Suite:
Steven Halpern is a seminal figure in New Age music, pioneering the market back in the 1970s, long before the major labels got hold of it. His merchandising touts the healing attributes of his music, which he dubbed the "anti-frantic alternative." According to Halpern, his sounds will tune your aura, massage your chakras, and stop you from smoking. His theories have been largely debunked as pseudoscientific, quasi-metaphysical fluff, (see Lisa Summer's book, Music: The New Age Elixir), which brings us to his first album, Spectrum Suite, originally released in 1975. Its 14 compositions float by in major-key improvisations that never resolve. Instead, he sends notes out into the clear air, the vibraphone-like tones of his Fender Rhodes electric piano resonating like bells in space. You don't follow Halpern's music, but float through it. More rhapsodic than Brian Eno's ambient compositions of the same era, Halpern would be a pleasant diversion if he didn't weigh his music down with so much New Age baggage.


Brian Eno – Ambient 4 – On Land (1982).

Another ambient, New Age LP. This one looks interesting in that it was intended to be played on a 3 speaker system long before 3 speaker (or 5.1, 6.1 etc.) systems were around. It even has a wiring diagram on the back as to how to wire the 3rd speaker in your stereo system. The 3rd speaker is supposed to be located behind the listener. Just a guess, but it seems to me as some chemicals might have been involved.

Album description:
Released in 1982, On Land is Eno's most mature, perfect ambient work. Combining low, rumbling synths with eerie banging and clanking and the occasional wild-animal chirp or grumble, this recording places the listener alone, in the midst of a massive piece of sonic landscaping. And Eno has left no detail to chance. In fact, the work is so complete that when Eno suggests a windswept plain, the listener gets a chill. When trumpeter Jon Hassell bays with a softly disturbing imitation of a wounded beast, the first instinct is to scan the horizon for its glinting eyes. So subtle, intuitive, and well paced is this recording that as it slips quietly from the speakers and into every corner of the listening room, it transforms the space into a gently pulsing sound environment that seems strangely out of time and away from everything. It's a place you'll be drawn to time and time again. An ageless masterwork.



Special EFX – Mystique. This is a Chieli Minucci, George Linda, and Dave Grushin jazz LP from 1987.


And that wraps up JD's unusual LP finds for this Wednesday.

JD

Great stuff,Jeff. The Kottke would be a find even if you didn't snag the rest. Nice rusty.

Alan

I second the Kottke comment.....

NICE FIND...... :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

JD-- i am an eno fan. his contribution to modern music is gigantic and in a weird way somewhat invisible. but he was producer to the Talking Heads, U2, Ultravox....and more i can't think of right now.

in the late 70's/early 80's, he began a series of explorations into what he called 'Ambient' music. it was music intended to be either listened to or not; the idea was to create a musical form that became part of the listeners surroundings and required the human presence to 'finish' it i.e. whatever images, emotions, feelings, musings, ramblings of the mind developed as the music interacted with you, the surroundings etc. was the indeterminate goal being aimed at. kind of an offshoot of his idea, developed with robert fripp, of 'oblique strategies'....google it if you're interested.

where i am going is this: eno's ambient music is NOT new age. the unitiated will put this tag on it because of its instrumental, contentless, moodscape sound, but if you pay attention, you will notice a clear lack of obvious emotional content. eno's ambient, and all worthwhile ambient music by other composers, will bear the same mark of deliberately missing something, which the mind is compelled to latch onto and eventually provide for itself. then 'ambient' has done it's job; it is about you and the setting within which you experience it. it is not about the composer, he/she has deliberately left this part blank.

new age is intentionally designed to elicit specific emotional responses having to do with wistfulness, melancholy, bittersweet nostalgia, etc. it is the explicitness of the emotional message that sets it apart from the subversive strategies deployed by eno and some of his better followers. many people find true ambient annoying, because they want the music to provide...a beat, a message, a specific mood.

i hope you'll keep the eno record and give it a good listen, and then let it live in the background for a while. i also hope you 'get it'....

to me, at least, "On Land" is probably the most enigmatic of the Ambient series, and you really should give the Ambient-speaker trick a try - it's easy, and while there isn't any special encoding on the LP (nor on any of the others, AFAIK), it *does* add/recover some of the, uh, ambience - its a neat effect (although I *believe* it's an old one - my 1962 Heath amp has a derived/summed "center" channel that does much the same thing - I use it to drive my passive sub)

Now if I could just *find* some of that Leo Kottke ...

I like a lot Brian Eno since the days of Roxy Music first LP. :thmbsp:

Three speaker systems pre-dated the Brian Eno (1982) album by many years. The Mac C26 (1967) has output for center channel and Paul Klipsh had publicized using the center channel as a sonic enhancement. 'Dope From Hope papers dated July 1974, has Paul talking about the great benefits of using three channels for stereo.' I beleive Klipsch was doing 3-channel as early as 1963 when the first La Scala's were produced, I believe they were intended to be center channel speakers between two K-horns. I am sure those much more knowledgable than I can provide more information on 3-channel.

I'm no expert, but a lot of the earliest stereo pieces of gear had center channel outputs. My 1960 Scott integrated does, as does my early stereo Mc
gear.

Carl