Bizarre Christmas Covers

Mickey Gilley, "Christmas At Gilley's"

Gotta love Santa hoisting a beer. a Gilley's beer, no less.


Harry Secombe, "Christmas Cheer"

Listen as Harry spreads his Cheer on ALL the little boys and girls!


Mirror Image, "Disco Noel"

Yet another Christmas disco record. The disco ball ornaments are pretty cool. Just don't get the fake snow mixed up with the stash of real stuff or the dance party is gonna be REALLY dull.


The Surfers, "Christmas From Hawaii"

The studly Surfers are rowing their way right into your Christmas party with a boatfull of presents and a pretty pink tree. But if you want to buy, you're out of luck; They're not for sale!


The Kingston Trio, "The Last Month of the Year"

Dave, Nick, and Bob... Three ding-dongs bearing gifts and ready to stick their fingers where they don't belong.

For more Bizarre Christmas album covers, see BizarreRecords!

more Houston Press blogs

More of my weekly blogs in the Houston Press. They get buried quickly so here's a link to several of the latest!

Houston Press blog: Ratchell

Check my new blog in the Houston Press!

Halloween album cover sideshow!

I did a Halloween album cover slideshow for te Houston Press. Its a mix of my records and stuff sent to me or scavenged from the net. Check it out!

http://www.houstonpress.com/slideshow/view/175291/25

bizarre video of the day

Funny - Funny Videos

Sushi album covers

Well, Japanese food anyway. Too bad I don't recognize most of the covers. Should I email them Joyce?

http://jakeben.blog111.fc2.com/

Luv!

Luv was the top Dutch disco-pop band in the late 70's. Three hotties is color-coordinated sluttery dance and sing to regional fame and fortune!

Luv deep-throats giant throbbing microphones:


Its all about timing. And legs.


At first I thought they were doing a Dutch flag thing here. But yellow, red, and blue seems to be the flag of Armenia.

Jerry Williams! Swedish rock and/or roll

Just discovered this guy and had to share. Back when Europe loved America, every country seemed to have star rock and roller. These guys kinda rock! In a fake Euro Rock kind of way!





And the WHERE ARE THEY NOW file:

Dolly Roll!

Havent posted in forever, so I'm going to get things rolling with some classic Eurotrash music videos.
Here's Dolly Roll, the most famous band in Hungary:


And a best of anthology:

False Advertising!!!

"Budget Labels" were known to capitalize on any craze, be it a dance, sound, or star. Recently I went through by budget collection to find a certain kind of budget record - those with fake or misleading names.


Check out "Enchanted Strings" by David Rose, legendary bandleader and writer of "The Stripper". Or is it? A closer look reveals the record is actually by The Stradivari Strings ("one of Europe's finest pop string orchestras" , AKA a collection of anonymous, underpaid studio musicians.) The back cover reveals that "Davis Rose, himself, has selected the songs." Probably written on a napkin at a cocktail-bar meetup with the label owner. (Spin-O-Rama #S 103)



"Kentonality" seeks to capitalize on the progressive jazz craze of the 1950s, featuring "compositions" by Stan Kenton, Peter Rugolo, and others. Unfortunately, Stan and Pete were unavailable for the record - you'll have to settle for The Francis Bay orchestra. At least this record gives us some real info about the performers. (Omega # OSL 27)


If the organ stylings of Ken Griffin are more your thing, you'd be tempted to pick up "Cocktail Time". After all, it is in the "Ken Griffin Style". Of course you have to read the fine print to discover that it's actually recorded by one "Ashley Tappen". (Somerset SF-27500)



At least the above artists got a shout-out on the record. "A Tribute to Hank Williams" does not even give us the name of the lonely honky-tonkers performing on the record. (International Artists AK-195)

Likewise with the not-quite-the-Beatles "That English Sound". (Modern Sound MS 552)

BizarreRecords on TV!

I was on TV with my Bad Album Covers at the MSN music expo in Minneapolis:


http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=23276@wcco.dayport.com

Why is The Man keeping Roosevelt Franklin down?

Roosevelt Franklin was screwed from the start.
As the token black muppet on the early days of Sesame Street, he was made to carry to weight of the entire race on his spindly, turtlenecked shoulders. Wee Roosevelt, who said his first name first and his second name second, was always getting into trouble. He hung out with his brother, sister, main man Mobity Mosley, and some Mexican kid.

"Roosevelt Franklin Counts"

This album, a 1974 reissue of 1971's "The Year of Roosevelt Franklin", is voiced by Matt "Gordon" Robinson. Someone saw fit to make a front cover that looked like a mugshot from clown jail. Roosevelt lasted only a few years on the Street. Apparently, complaints were made that Roosevelt was a bad negro stereotype and a poor example for children. I'll let you be the judge.

"The Skin I'm In"


Matt Robinson as Gordon, with an orange Oscar.

Roosevelt music is funky, jiving step up from the usual Sesame Street fare. We can only guess what he might have done with a disco album.

Mobity Mosley meets Surfin' Bird on "Mobity Mosley's Months"

Roosevelt & Abeceto sing about sharing on "Halfies"

Safety is the theme with "Safety Boy Blues". "A city street is like a beehive... where the bees have gone out of their minds"

Back to learnin' with "Roosevelt Frankin's Alphabet"


Wikipedia on Roosevelt Franklin.
Matt Robinson died of Parkinsons disease in 2002.

BizarreRecords videos!

Thanks to Youtube and other streaming video sites, I've now added video clips to bizarrerecords.com! I managed to turn up some pretty cool old footage of some BR favorites.

Here's a few highlights:

• The Little Marcy Show!

• Jose Jimenez in the The Bill Dana Show:

• Great old Johnny Hallyday footage:

• Millie Jackson on Soul Train:

• The TINO story:

• Justin Wilson is wondermous, I garontee:

Check out the complete list here: http://bizarrerecords.com/new.html

I'm also surprised at who I CANNOT find video. Max Bygraves? Tammy Faye? Mrs. Miller? If anybody has video of folks like this, post it on Youtube and lemme know!

Rare Charles Whitman tower shooting video

In honor (?) of the 40th anniversary of Charles Whitman's shooting spree atop the clocktower at the University of Texas (August 1, 1966), I have decided to post this rare video footage and TV coverage of the crime. These videos were found in the trash at a TV station I used to work at.

Please read the extensive Wikipedia article on the man and the shootings... no use in me reposting the same stuff.


What I realized after watching this footage years ago is that I think this the first time such a "breaking news" type of event was carried live on television. Remote TV broadcasts in 1966 were certainly possible, but required a huge truck full of equipment, not to mention a lot of time and manpower to set the thing up. Remotes were dome for sporting events and other planned activities, but not for "breaking news" as is so common now.


The KLRN footage (below) was broadcast live throughout Austin.. the reason being the station was right next door to the tower. They apparently just pointed a studio camera out the window. I believe this would be the same studio used by the now-KLRU for the Austin City Limits program.

Although the live footage is actually rather dull by today's standards, the pieces from the local reporters are great examples of television journalism.


KLRN footage part 1 - first cut-in
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KLRN footage part 2
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KLRN footage part 3
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NBC News - Huntley/Brinkley Report
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KTBC - first part of News Special with Neal Spelce
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Big Bamboo: Dirty Calypso songs

The best Calypso records are local, low-fi productions straight from Jamaica, the Bahamas, Trinidad, or other Caribbean islands.

Talk about home made! Check out Lord Antics: this album cover is made from plain green paper, folded and held together with masking tape. Instead of cover slicks, the cover picture and track list are glued on. Not just the cover, but the vinyl itself is pretty crappy, like most of the original records from the legendary Dynamic Sounds studio in Kingston, JA.



Lord Antics actually plays in the country Mento style. Believe it or not, this record is from 1970... I had always figured if for 1960 or so! Included here are versions of several "dirty Calypso" classics:

Lord Antics & the Lyons Band: "Sixty Nine"
Lord Antics & the Lyons Band: "Big Bamboo"
Lord Antics & the Lyons Band: "Sell The Pussy"

And one of his own:
Lord Antics & the Lyons Band: "Fork She Garden"


Here's another, far more polished version by Lord Creator from Trinidad:
Lord Creator: "Big Bamboo"

...and another standard:
Lord Creator: "Bang Bang Lulu"

And finally, a version of "Sell The Pussy" by Junior Jennings And the Humble And the Meek from the Caymans:
Junior Jennings: "Sell the Pussy"

With the obvious entendre of "big bamboo", I've always thought it quite amusing that the Houston Astros' Minute Maid Park has a faux-tiki bar called "Larry's Big Bamboo". I hadn't realized that this bar was named after a cool-sounding joint in Florida, which burned down recently.