Snoopy and His Friends The Royal Guardsmen - 1967

I've wanted this record for a long time.  I saw it a few years back in a records store, but I didn't have the money to buy it.  I found it again this past record store day.  Side one is great because it has the original Snoopy vs the Red Baron and Snoopy's Christmas, which I already had on record.  It also has The Return of the Red Baron, which I had never heard before, but is just as good as the other two.  Side two has all songs that were new to me.  These are a little more straight forward pop songs, but as you can tell from the titles they can be related to Snoopy.  A song like Behind Enemy Lines works as a song on this Snoopy record, but is also works as a song on its own.  Click the image to read the track listings.  The image should be clear enough.

I'll have a link up for a while.  The password is "sapmusic2013".

If I take the link down, just e-mail me and I'll see if I can hook you up.

Enjoy!

Music City Orchestra & Tom Walls - The Stripper B/W Speedy Gonzales 7-Inch - 1962

This is one of the records I picked up on Record Store Day.  I knew The Stripper by David Rose and I have the David Rose records, so it wasn't like I needed a new version of the striptease classic.  However the B-side Speedy Gonzalez sounded like it might be a little treasure of a track.  I was so happy when I dropped the needle and discovered a really fun song.  I'll be honest the song has become one of the ear worms drilling into my head over the past few weeks.  If you've never heard it before, I recommend giving it a listen.

Enjoy!

 

The Stripper B/W Speedy Gonzales 7-Inch
Password: sapmusic2013

SAP Music Too Much Stress Mix 2011

I finally got around to making some art and breaking up the tracks for this mix. I've been collecting these songs for a long time, throwing them in a folder whenever something grabbed me. There are a few that I threw in last minute, though. The whole thing came together in a Sunday afternoon. What that really means is that it doesn't get too fancy. A few edits here and there, some cross fades and bang its done.

The inspiration for this mix was music to listen to when life or people are driving you up the wall. You want to just scream. Sometimes having some lyrics and a song to scream can be good therapy. Sometimes just playing a few of these songs really loud will help. Maybe your boss is driving you crazy. Maybe you job feels like it is going nowhere. Maybe your love life has everything but love and you just want out. Whatever the case may be I think these songs may speak to you.

A little warning is that unlike most of my mixes, this one isn't family friendly. There are a few spicy sentence enhancers as Spongebob would say. So you may want to refrain from playing in this in the car on a family roadtrip. This is more of a mix to play when you're alone, stuck in traffic, heading to or from work.

As per usual with these mixes, I'm not typing up the playlist. Just click on the image with the track listing to find out what is on the mix.

I'd also like to take a sentence or two to plug my new photo blog Something I Saw Today. I just started it a couple days ago. The quick story is I got a new camera and I'm having a blast taking photos. So I thought I'd challenge myself to shoot at least one photo everyday. So I started a blog which I'm hoping will help me keep up the discipline. I say that, but so far it has been easy because it has been the weekend and I had a day off from work. We'll see if I can keep it up. Anyways, give it a look. Like I said, it is just photos. Hopefully interesting photos on some level.

Something I Saw Today

Enjoy!

SAP Music Too Much Stress Mix 2011

Too Much Stress Mix by SAP Music

SAP Music Anti-Valentine Mix 2011

As promised here is the first annual "Anti-Valentine Mix". I hope to make this a tradition. It's great to be in love on Valentine's Day, but if you aren't it can be a lame holiday. Having a soundtrack to those feelings may be just the thing you need to get you through all those mocking pink hearts.

As implied by the cover artwork, this is the exact opposite of yesterday's "Valentine Mix". These songs are darker. They are full of pain and heart break. Some are full of anger and perhaps even revenge (see tracks 3 and 4). I've thrown in a couple heart wrenching break ups on there. One not listed in the track listing, but is buried in there is the break up of Ross and Rachel on Friends. Now I never watched Friends beyond maybe the first 5 or 6 episodes, so hearing this dialogue was a first for me. I had no real attachment to the characters and I've never been a Jennifer Aniston fan, but this scene really got to me. I could feel both of the characters' pain. Well done. I guess that is why people watched that show.

Anyway, I've got a great scene from "Lost" in there. I'm a huge fan of that show and recommend it to everyone. Even if they've seen it I tell them to watch it all through again. You make all sorts of new connections each time you watch it. The acting is great and the Michael Giacchino score has to be one of the all time greatest scores, not only on TV but in film as well.

You'll see some of my favorite artists from the Valentine mixes showing up here as well. Romance faves like Sam Cooke could also sing about the pains of love as well. She & Him as well as Cee Lo show up on both mixes.

So if you're in a bad relationship, just got out of a relationship, had your heartbroken, tired of trying to find love or if you just don't get what all this fuss over love is, then this is the mix for you for the month of February.

For a better view of the track listing click here.

Enjoy!

SAP_Music_Anti-Valentine_Mix_2011-128K.zip

Printable CD Cover Below.

SAP Music Valentine Mix 2011

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and so I've pulled together another mix this year of songs to get you in the mood for love. At least I hope they do. Love and romance is sort of a subjective thing, so maybe these songs will connect with you and maybe they won't.

This year I've done the mix in garageband, so it isn't just a playlist. Songs flow into each other and make for a nice continuous listen. I've got some fairly recognizable songs as well as some deeper album cuts. I've got bit of soundtrack score and dialogue from TV shows. There's pop, rock, Hawaiian, R&B, reggae. There is old and and new. It really runs the spectrum of musical flavors.

If Valentine's Day isn't your holiday and you hate it, then check back in tomorrow. I'm got an "anti-Valentine mix" all done and ready to go. It's is pull of break up songs, love sucks songs, I hate you because you broke my heart songs and even one song about VD. Don't want to miss that.

For a better view of the tracks click here.

Enjoy!

SAP Music Valentine Mix 2011_128K.zip

Printable Cover is below.

Salt-N-Pepa - Expression 12" - 1989

This past weekend I was further unpacking some boxes of records. I moved this past summer and there were some records that were still in boxes because I didn't have a shelf for them. So I got the additional shelf and began unpacking what I thought was going to be classical, Christmas and Hawaiian records. To my surprise there was a handful of other types of records. 12" dance singles, jazz and blues records, R&B and funk. Some were ones I remembered buying and some I think were given to me. There was about 20-30 records in there that look like they may be great future records for the blog. I still have a lot of work to do to get them on here, so don't get too excited yet. I still have to actually listen to a bunch of them.

One record is Fred Flintstone and Barney rubble and the songs of Mary Poppins. There is a story to go along with it, but the highlight is Fred singing versions of Mary Poppins song with a crumby out of tune guitar. Can't wait to share that.

The other discover was a record by Roger Troutman AKA Roger. It is his first solo record called "The Many Facets Of Roger" and it is amazing. 1981 electro funk. That jam rocked the house hard last night and on into today. So I don't have that record to post yet, but I thought something in the hip hop/funk flavor would be nice.

This was a hit for Salt-N-Pepa back in the day. Another good reason to tie in Salt-N-Pepa to this blog is that they were briefly a mascot to Team SAP. When they had their first hit with "Push It" that song was all over the radio. I remember heading up to Milwaukee to a skate park with a bunch of Team SAP members. We thought the group was called Salt And Pepper, which has the initials S A P. So on that trip that song was like our theme song because of the mistaken interpretation of the name. Anyways, Salt-N-Pepa will always have their place in Team SAP history, which makes them a great addition to this blog. Of course to everyone who has no idea what I'm talking about with regard to Team SAP, this means nothing. So just enjoy the music.

This will probably be the last post before I kick out the Christmas mix later this week after Thanksgiving.
Enjoy!

01 Expression (Half Step).mp3
02 Expression (No Shorts).mp3
03 Expression (acappella).mp3
04 Expression (Instrumental.mp3
05 Expression (Bonus Beats).mp3
06 Clubhouse (Vocal).mp3
07 Clubhouse (Instrumental).mp3

B-Movie - Remembrance Day 12" - 1987

Here is number two from that stack of records my friend recently gave me. I just finished digitizing them this last weekend and doing all the labels and artwork and such so you should be seeing a more steady stream of them. They are mostly all from 1987-1989 and are of the synth pop variety.

Before getting this record I wasn't really familiar with B-Movie. However the songs "Remembrance Day" and "Nowhere Girl" have become instant faves on the ipod. It is one of those cases where I don't know if it is a case of the song being so good that I'm humming and singing along or that I actually have heard these tracks somewhere in the past and so I do have some connection to them. It is almost like I knew these songs from somewhere else, but I don't know where. Well whatever the story, I've been digging on them a lot the past week or so.

Enjoy!

01 Remembrance Day.m4a

02 Marilyn Dreams.m4a

03 Nowhere Girl.m4a

The Motels - Little Robbers - 1983

I wasn't sure if I was going to write about this record. I honestly digitized it almost 2 years ago before I ever got any complaints, but then I held off thinking this would be too mainstream and would attract attention. But as I was reviewing the things I have waiting in the wings I discovered that this record is no longer in print. If you want to buy the CD on Amazon it is going to cost you nearly $90. Ouch. So I figured why not help some people out who can't afford that kind of money. Sure it is only a rip from the vinyl, but that is better than nothing. I apologize also in advance for flaws in the ripping. I think there may be some pops and bumps here and there, but I'm too busy to go back and redo this one at this point.

I was kind of amazed that it was out of print because the record was quite successful and "Suddenly last Summer" was a huge hit, that continues to get spun on the radio. However I guess it makes more sense for people to buy a greatest hits comp of The Motels, than to delve into these other album cuts.

While "Suddenly Last Summer" is definitely the big recognizeble track off this record (went to #1 on the US Rock charts), "Remember The Nights" was also a single from this record. It wasn't as big of a hit and is long forgotten. but you may remember it once you hear it. I know I did once I heard it. It was one of those, "oh yeah I remember this song" moments. I probably hadn't heard the song since 1983.

Martha Davis's voice is of course great on all the tracks, even if they aren't all super remember-able.

Give track one a listen "Where Do We Go From Here", and see if you can hear that they basically lifted a melody right from the song "Money", you know the song that everybody and their mother (including The Beatles) did back in the 60's.

"Footsteps" is a great track in my opinion. It has the reggae sort of vibe to it and it actually reminds me of a sort of precursor to No Doubt. Give it a listen and see if you can hear a little Gwen in Martha's voice or should I reverse that. This too appears to have been a single, but it never even charted. It's a shame really, because it is a good track.

"Little Robbers" was another single that didn't really do much. It never made the hot 100 list, but did chart on the Rock charts. It's a decent song and worth a listen as well.

Well, I hope this brings back fond memories for some of you.

Enjoy!

Side 1
01 Where Do We Go From Here (Nothing Sacred)
02 Suddenly Last Summer
03 Isle Of You
04 Trust Me
05 Monday Shutdown

Side 2
06 Remember The Nights
07 Little Robbers
08 Into The Heartland
09 Tables Turned
10 Footsteps

Little Robbers Side 1.zip
Little Robbers Side 2.zip

She & Him

She & Him released their second album this week. My previous experience with them was with The Smiths cover on the "500 Days Of Summer" soundtrack which was on my Valentine mix this year. The connection I never really made was who She & Him were. It is Zoey Deschanel and M. Ward. Now I knew in the back of my mind that Zoey had some singing project, but I hadn't amde the connection that this was it until this week. I know, lame. M. Ward I've been a casual fan of since I saw him open for The White Stripes some years ago. I think I love his collaboration with Zoey better than anything he has done that I've heard.

So this morning I was listening to their first record "Volume One" and was just blown away by how great just about every track is on the record. So much so that I'm actually going to go pick up the CD so I can have it in my car. I'm a sucker for that retro 60's pop sound. I've written about Lesley Gore. I believe I've talked about my love of the Pippettes and if you've been paying any attention, you know I love Holly Golightly who often dances around that retro world.

Well, I loved what I was hearing so much, that I thought maybe I should share it with the few folks who actually do check in and read this blog. So here are some tracks, thanks to youtube.

Enjoy!

Billy Joel - Tell Her About It/Easy Money 7" - 1983

This may be available only for a short time because it is Billy Joel and a major label. The reason I wanted to post this was to remember the great Rodney Dangerfield movie "Easy Money". I haven't seen that movie forever, but I do remember loving it when I was a kid.


01 Tell Her About It.m4a
02 Easy Money.m4a

Two in one zip.
Billy Joel - Tell Her About It_Easy Money 7 - 320K.zip

Cher - Take Me Home - 1979

What a cover, right? In the spirit of Halloween I thought this cover was a sort of tribute to dressing up in outrageous costumes. In looking at it now, it sort of makes me think that this inspired Princess Leia's outfit in Jedi. Who knows if that is true, but it certainly is a great outfit.

I have a few Cher records from early in her career and I have some Sonny and Cher records I enjoy. This record from 1979 may be the most recent record I have of hers on vinyl. I was a bit skeptical about what to expect of the music at this point in her career. I dreaded hearing some bad disco and was only buying the record for the amazing costume she's wearing.

I was pleased to find that I knew the song "Take Me Home" and I already loved it. My previous experience with the song was with the cover Sophie Ellis Baxter did back in 2001. I thought that was a great dance track. Cher's version is also pretty great.



There are a few other tracks on the record that I also like. Another highlight is another song that I had heard before, but didn't recognize the title. The closing track "My Song (Too Far Gone)" is a beautiful little song. Not at all what I was expecting when I thought I was picking up a formula disco record from Casablanca records.

And the third song I knew, but didn't know I knew was "Let This Be A Lesson To You!", which has a great gospel and soul flavor to it. The chorus is certain to get you singing along and clapping your hands like you were in a revival meeting. A great song.

Track 2 "Wasn't It Good" on the other hand was a new song for me. I hadn't heard it before getting this record, but I love it. In relistening to it while writing this blog I couldn't help but think this would probably be a good candidate for some DJ to mash up or remix with some modern beats. The other thing the song made me think about is that the electronic manipulation on the back up singers were kind of like the precursers to her 1998 hit "Believe" which had the hook "Do you believe in life after love" where her voice was electronically tweaked.

The electronic voice manipulation also reminds me of some of the robotic voice effects in the Bee Gee's movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" which would have come out just a year before she recorded this record. Listen to "Mean Mr. Mustard" for a comparison.

Also check out "Git Down (Guitar Groupie)" and "Love & Pain". I dig on them as well.

Overall this is a great record and one to pick up when you see it. Get it on CD or just keep your eyes open in the thrift stores for the vinyl. It litters the dollar bins everywhere.

Enjoy!

01 Take Me Home.m4a
02 Wasn't It Good.m4a
03 Say The Word.m4a
04 Happy Was The Day We Met.m4a
05 Git Down (Guitar Groupie).m4a
06 Love & Pain (AKA Pain In My Heart).m4a
07 Let This Be A Lesson To You!.m4a
08 It's Too Late To Love Me Now.m4a
09 My Song (Too Far Gone).m4a

Take Me Home Side 1.zip
Take Me Home Side 2.zip

As an extra bonus here is one of Cher's other tasteful outfits from the 80's. Remember this gem?

Donnie Osmond - Disco Train - 1976

I know what you've been thinking, "enough with the photos already". Yeah, yeah I hear you. Let's get some cheeseball music going again. What better way to fill that cheeseball hankering than some later 70's Donny Osmond.

The cover alone is worth the purchase. I love how literal the photo is. You have Donny dressed in full on disco garb and then you have a train, hence Disco Train. Brilliant. Now would someone explain why the piano is being played on the tracks?

The music you say? How does that stack up? Well the album gets off to a great start with a song called "C'mon Marianne" that has an opening lifted right right from "Touch Me" from The Doors. I am surprised there wasn't a lawsuit over this one. I guess the song didn't do well on the charts and didn't warrant the lawsuit. I'm including a youtube clip so you can listen and compare.



Rip off aside, the song is a fun little pop song and is a god album opener.

The songs that follow after that fall into the faux white man funk genre. There is just something weird about them in that they aren't quite authentic and give them a weird feel. It is as if aliens came to this world and tried to mimic the popular music of the time.

Track 2 "Old Man Auctioneer" is a really weird number. It has a twangy hillbilly thing going on while also being heavily funk influenced. There is also another suspicious bit in the song where the melody and lyric phrasing sounds a lot like "Dancing Machine" by The Jackson 5. Think of the part in that song where Michael sings
"Automatic Systematic
Full of color self contained
Tune that channel to your vibes"

Then listen to Donny's singing at around 1 minute 3 seconds in. You can sing those "Dancing Machine" Lyrics right over Donny and it fits right in. The really offensive line is "Nobody could sing his funky song" that sounds exactly and I mean exactly like "tune that channel to your vibes". I mean even the way Michael breaks the word vibes into two syllables is copied by Donny. Teen heart throbs stealing from each other.

If you are interested in any other other lyrics from the song on the record someone who must really love Donny has published them on the web. Good for them. Find them here at osmondheaven.com.

Another cheeseball effect on the record is the faux live recording. This album is so desperate. Let's travel back in time to the late 70's. The Osmonds were growing up. Their luster was fading. They needed hits and so Donny is doing whatever he can to stay relevant. So he does what other pop acts do, he looks around and sees what is selling. So beyond coopting the disco thing he also sees that live records like "Frampton Comes Alive" and Kiss's "Alive II" are selling like hotcakes. Now let's be honest, Donny's not the only one who jumped on this band wagon and more than likely it wasn't Donny's idea to make track 4 seem like a live recording. There are cheering crowds and such, but it is obvious that this was all done in the studio, which is what makes it all the more desperate. The song isn't too bad and the studio trickery makes me giggle a little.

I'll cut short the review of every single song on the record. I think if you check out the first couple I talked about you'll get the idea for the rest of the album.


Enjoy!

01 C'Mon Marianne.m4a
02 Old Man Auctioneer.m4a
03 Swinging City Gal.m4a
04 I Follow The Music (Disco Donny).m4a
05 Don't Need No Money.m4a
06 I Can't Put My Finger On It.m4a
07 Disco Train.m4a
08 Reachin' For The Feeling.m4a
09 I Got Your Lovin'.m4a
10 Disco Dancin'.m4a
11 Never Gonna Let You Go.m4a

Donny Osmond - Disco Train.zip
As an extra bonus here are the other Osmond brothers performing an accapella more country version of "Old Man Auctioneer".

Michael - A Mix

Wow, it's been well over a week since the last post. Most of my music listening time has been spent like many other people, re-listening to Michael Jackson. I committed myself to listening to anything and everything I could get my hands on. As I listened not only to the hits, but to some deeper album cuts and remixes and demos and such I found quite a few hidden gems I thought I'd like to share with people. So as to not attract attention, I'm keeping this track listing a mystery. What I can say is that I think most of these tracks will be ones you either haven't heard or you may not have heard in a while, but they are all great. I pulled from all periods of Michael's recording career so you can hear the wide range of his music. The hard thing was narrowing this down to fit onto one disc. I suspect I may have a follow up coming soon, because there were quite a few tracks that didn't make this mix, that I still would like people to hear.

It had been a while since I had really listened to young Michael. He really had an amazing voice and even though I love his music in the eighties and I think on the whole the songs are his best, hit voice in the 70's was the best. It seems that as he got older his voice which was his major talent got overshadowed by the dancing and the videos and the music production which were always as good if not better than any other pop being produced at the time. So treat yourself to this mystery mix and remember the good times with Michael.

18 tracks of pure talent.

Michelle Lee - Michelle Lee Sings L. David Sloane - 1968

Okay 80's pop culture fans this one is for you. The record isn't an 80's record, but to me Michele Lee is strongly connected to the 80's because of her role on Knotts Landing. I have to admit I was far too young to be watching this show because it was basically a sleazy soap, but for whatever reason I watched Dallas and Knotts Landing and Dynasty with my mother back in the day. A big part of that is because I didn't get cable until the late 80's and so I mostly grew up with just the local networks stations. We didn't have the sort of niche programing that kids have today. Heck I didn't even have MTV until '87 or '88. So at least for the first season I watched Knotts Landing and while my mother continued watching later seasons I didn't, but I was always a little aware of what was going on as I would over hear my mother talk about the show with others. So there is the 80's connection and my connection to posting this record from 1968.

While I'm being honest here I should say, that before seeing this record I wasn't even aware that Miss Lee sang. I knew she had been around long before Knotts. I loved and still love the Herbie movies the first of which she is in (The Love Bug). So when I saw this I was quite surprised and interested. It turns out she can really sing and there are quite a few great performances turned in on this record. If you are a fan of that Bacharach style of song writing and production, then I think you'd like this record. It reminds me a lot of what he was turning out in the late 60's. I know I'm not exactly making a giant leap with that comparison since the record does include several Bacharach cuts like "The Look Of Love" a Bacharach classic made famous the year before by Dusty Springfield and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" made famous by Dionne Warwick that same year of 1968. Highlights on this record for me are tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10 & 11. Oddly enough I don't have L. David Sloane on my list and I'm pretty sure that was the minor hit from the record. It's okay, but the others are better.

Enjoy!

01 I Didn't Come To New York To Meet A Guy From My Home Town.m4a
02 The Look Of Love (From _Casino Royale_).m4a
03 Love Is Blue (L'Amour est blue).m4a
04 Goin' Out Of My Head.m4a
05 I Can't Believe I'm Losing You.m4a
06 Spooky.m4a
07 L, David Sloane.m4a
08 Can't Take My Eyes Off You.m4a
09 Kiss Me Goodbye.m4a
10 Honey (I Miss You).m4a
11 Do You Know The Way To San Jose.m4a

Michelle Lee Sings L. David Sloane.zip

Bananarama - Cruel Summer 12" - 1984

Summer is just around the corner and so I thought this would be appropriate. If you were growing up in he 80's then I'm sure you remember this song flooding the airwaves in 1984. I must admit that at the time I didn't like this song. It was too pop and too mainstream. I had no appreciation for girl pop groups. Oh how times have changed.

So the main song is nothing new, but perhaps the dub is a little gem for some. Use it to make your own mashup. And I think you might have some fun with Cairo as well, which is a lesser known track.

Enjoy!

01 Cruel Summer.m4a
02 Summer Dub.m4a
03 Cairo.m4a

E.G. Daily - Mind Over Matter 12" - 1987

I don't know what it is, but I'm a big fan of E.G. Daily. If you're a child of the 90's or the new millennium you probably don't know her face or who she is. However you would probably know her voice. She does a lot of voice over work and is probably most notably recognized as the voice of Tommy Pickles on Rugrats. E.G. Daily however was in a bunch of films in the 80's and had a little bit of a music career to boot. Now to be fair, she's still recording and even had a dance track playing in clubs just this last year. If you are a child of the 80's and grew up then like me then you may recognize her from Valley Girl or Pee Wee's Big Adventure. She was Dottie. She was also in Loverboy and a long forgotten B horror called One Dark Night. I think it may have also been called something like Night in a Mausoleum or something like that. It was PG or PG 13 and basically was about a bunch of teens in a mausoleum and the dead come to life. It however was done on the cheap and because of the rating is pretty tame. Even as a kid I thought it was cheesy, but I still saw it a couple times in the theater and would watch it on cable. Anyways she's in that too.

But back to her singing. In my opinion the best E.G. Daily songs are in the movie Better Off Dead where she is singing at the dance. The song "One Way Love (Better Off Dead)" is great. I wish I had that soundtrack. If anyone has a copy I'd love to get a copy. In the mean time I just have to enjoy the song when I watch the DVD.

That isn't the case with this song. Not only do I not own the the DVD to Summer School with Mark Harmon, but I don't think I've ever seen it. I do remember the movie, I've just never suffered through it. That movie is of course from whence this track came. I can however put on this twelve inch, which I really enjoy. I found this in a cheap record bin at a local record store this last year. I had never heard of the song or even know she sang in Summer School, but because I just love E.G. Daily I picked up the record. I've never regretted it.

Enjoy!

01 Mind Over Matter (Remix).m4a
02 Mind Over Matter (Edit).m4a

Tripping In Love

This is a collection of songs that explore the ups and downs of love. I put this together a couple years ago and thought it would make a nice companion piece to the Valentine mix. I highly recommend listening to this in order from start to finish. There is a thematic narrative intended following the early stages of love and then all the motions and troubles that follow.

Again I am leaving the track listings a mystery to be unfolded by those who download the mix. Since some of the artists are more well known I am trying to avoid people searching out specific artists and causing me problems. This way this page shouldn't come up on any search engines and only the faithful readers are rewarded with this fine mix.
Enjoy!

Here are all the tracks in one zip file. This isn't a podcast, but is an actual play list of songs.

Tripping In Love.zip

Banana Splits - We're The Banana Splits - 1968

Remember the Banana Splits? I think if you have the cable Channel Boomerang you might be able to still catch episodes. We had Boomerang a few years ago and so my kids were exposed to the fun that was the Banana Splits.

A little piece of trivia for people is that Richard Donner (Superman, Goonies, Lethal Weapon) directed the running live action serial named Danger Island that ran on The Banana Splits. That thing always kind of weirded me out.

When I found this record the only song I knew off the top of my head was the Tra La La song, which was in the opening credits. I don't know if any of these other tracks were on the show or if they were done just for this record. I kind of don't really care, because I'm just so thrilled by the actual quality of the songs, so nostalgia doesn't play much into my appreciation of the record. The songs sound like there were done by a couple different bands or performers. About half the songs are bubble gum pop ala the Archies. But then the other half of the songs are 60's psychedelic and soul goodness. "I'm Gonna Find A Cave" really cooks. This may be a bold statement, but it reminds me of a little Sly and The Family Stone. "Doin' The Banana Split" also is pretty great. I don't know who the lead vocals is on these tracks, but this guy is simply great.

The funny thing is that coming off real jams like tracks 2 and 3 you get this silly "Toy Piano Melody" song, which just sounds like it belongs on a kid's show. It so doesn't jive with the other songs.

The on "Soul" we're back to the great soulful tracks. This song stands on it's own. I would never think of connecting this song with a kid's cartoon show. This may be the best song on the record.

"The Tra La La Song" probably comes in 2nd as far as best songs, but mostly becase of the huge nostalgia factor.

The last of the really good R&B/Soul numbers is track 9 "You're The Lovin' End". Great vocals, and a great band behind it all.

I've been focusing on the songs that have the Soul bent to them, but like I said there are song with totally different vibes. The other one I suggest checking out is track 11 "Two Ton Tessie" which reminds me of something Ray Davies and The Kinks might have been recording at this same time. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

These handful of songs are really great treasures that I never expected to find on this record and I think you might feel the same way.

Enjoy!

01 We're The Banana Splits.m4a
02 I'm Gonna FInd A Cave.m4a
03 This Spot.m4a
04 Doin' The Banana Split.m4a
05 Toy Piano Melody.m4a
06 Soul.m4a
07 The Tra La LA Song (One Banana, Two Banana).m4a
08 Wait Til Tomorrow.m4a
09 You're The Lovin' End.m4a
10 In New Orleans.m4a
11 Two-Ton Tessie.m4a
12 Don't Go Away - Go-Go Girl.m4a

Here's the whole thing Banana Splits - We're The Banana Splits.zip

Jack Wagner - All I Need - 1984

Yesterday was MLK day. I had the day off with my family and so we went out to lunch. While sitting in the Fuddruckers I noticed that on TV was a soap opera and I believe one of the actors on TV was old Frisco Jones (Jack Wagner). I could be wrong, but my wife also thought it was him. We got into a conversation about being a soap actor and playing the same character for a gazillin years and such. Anyways, I thought because of that experience it would be a good time to share Jack's 80's musical effort "All I Need".

This album is a perfect example of filler. The single "All I Need" still is a pretty good song in my book. When I digitized this record over the holidays, I turned that song up pretty loud and both my wife and I were singing our little hearts out. I was going to say we put it up to 11, but that would be a lie. Jack Wagner doesn't go to 11. More like 7 or 8. However most of the other tracks pale by comparison. The production is cheesy. The lyrics are pretty weak. All in all it sounds like they threw the rest of the album together in no time at all knowing that it would sell based on the strength of the single. They were probably right.

So step into the way back machine and remember those days of old when Frisco Jones and Felicia we getting into spy adventures on General hospital and when you were singing along with "All I Need".

01 Premonition.m4a
02 What You Don't Know.m4a
03 Whenever Hearts Collide.m4a
04 Fighting The Nights.m4a
05 All I Need.m4a
06 Make Me Believe It.m4a
07 Sneak Attack.m4a
08 After The Fact.m4a
09 Tell Him.m4a
10 Lady Of My Heart.m4a

Jack Wagner - All I Need.zip

Enjoy!

Flashdance 7" - Irene Cara & Helen St. John - 1983

I feel like I'm really slacking on the blog. Not a great way to start off the year. Work has just been really crazy. The frustrating thing is that I did a bunch of prep work and digitizing over the holidays, and now that I'm back at work I haven't had the time to do the final things like uploading and writing of entries.

So I'm going with a backup that I had set up a long time ago. It's good to have some posts ready to go as back ups for just these circumstances.

So today it is Irene Cara's song for Flashdance. I really liked her song for Fame even more if I'm being honest. The B-Side is a fairly forgettable instrumental. Maybe if you saw the movie it would mean something to you. Myself, I've actually never sat at watched Flashdance through. I've seen bits and pieces on TV, but never the whole thing. I don't know if I ever will either. There are just too many other movies that I know are better than this movie to watch.

So that's it. Short, and maybe not so sweet. But at least it is a little something to tide you over for a few more days.

Enjoy!

01 Flashdance... What A Feeling - Irene Cara.m4a
02 Love Theme From _Flashdance - Helen St. John.m4a