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For this weeks Wacky Wednesday it’s another children’s record. This one is from 1954 and done by the Bureau of Jewish Education of the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center. On it a guy (Robert Nadell) sings short rhyming songs for kids. To quote the back of the cover “Sabbath Eve is the first in a series of records for home and school designed to give the young child and appreciation of the Jewish holidays and festivals.” The record is a 10″ 78rpm and below is side 1. Like the dinosaur record I’m pretty sure this is so old that no one is making money off it anymore. If there is demand I could rip side 2 and make them available for download as mp3s. Just leave a comment below.

The credits for the record are:

Written by Florence Zeldin
Original Music by Florence Helfman
Told and Sung by Robert Nadell
Accompanied by Florence Helfman & Lucille Nadell

For this weeks Wacky Wednesday song I turn to a teaching record. This was made by the American Teaching Aids company which as far as I know is no longer in business. On the back of the record sleeve is the lyrics to all the songs so I included them in this mp3 and since I think no one is making money off this record anymore (besides the thrift store I bought it from for a dollar years ago) you can download this song.

There was demand from enough people I recorded the entire record, you can now get the full album here. Feel free to leave a comment if you or your kids like the record.

Vocals by Pam Johnson, Wayne Parker and Eric Miller.
Produced by Art Barduhn.
Edited by Tana M. Warren

This Wacky Wednesday song comes from Bruce Lee’s younger brother, Robert. The album came out in 1975 and is titled Robert Lee Sings The Ballad Of Bruce Lee. The song “The Ballad of Bruce Lee” is one of the few songs that Robert wrote on the album. Robert sings other songs written by Keith Barbour and Flemming Rasmussen and the album also features him covering The Beattles song “This Boy”.

Merchandise
Enter The Dragon DVD / Blu-ray
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story DVD
Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee Book
Bruce Lee’s Fighting Method: The Complete Edition by Bruce Lee Book

For this Wacky Wednesday I turn to the great Stax label and the very Jackson 5 sounding The Newcomers. The Newcomers released a handful of singles from the late 60s to the mid 70s. “The Martian Hop” came out in 1973 with “Humpty Dumpty” on the flip side. The members of The Newcomers were Terry Bartlett, William Sumlin, and Bertram Brown. Eventually they left Stax and added another member, Vince Williams, and changed their name to Kwick

Another Wacky Wednesday and another 45rpm. This one is from KSL which stands for the first name of the members of the group (Kenneth, Swaing, Lenny). I guess you would throw it in the comedy genre although I wouldn’t say its actually funny. “Basically, He’s the Champ” is a rap from a Mike Tyson like voiced boxer. The record is from 1988 on Southern Tracks Records I wouldnt say it’s good but it does qualify as wacky.

For this Wacky Wednesday it’s another radio station record. This time its a 7″ (but 33rpm) public service announcement record from the National Fire Protection Association. On it they have various baseball players tell the listener to keep their matches out of reach of the children in your house. There are twelve different ball players I picked Cincinnati Reds and Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench but they are all essentially the same just read by different players. Will update this post with the artwork of the record sleeve later.

Merchandise
Catch Every Ball: How to Handle Life’s Pitches by Johnny Bench Book
Reds Memories: The Greatest Moments In Cincinnati Reds History DVD

Another Wacky Wednesday another strange vinyl. This time its a short excerpt from a 7″ record I have called Business Letters. I actually have a few different records and there seems to be quite a few of them as the sample posted is from record 84. The top of the record it says Dictation Disc so maybe these records were made for wanna be secretaries to learn how to do their job. The record features selections from Steps to Success in Shorthand Book II. Record was dictated by Don Lowe

For this Wacky Wednesday its time for Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear to do their thing. The song is called “Movin’ Right Along” this is recorded off a 45rpm I came across at some point. I think I still have it somewhere if so I will update with a pic later. The song was from their 1979 movie The Muppet Movie. I legitimately like this song and it gets a few plays here and there when it turns up on my ipod.

For Wacky Wednesday how about a cover song featuring the Moog. Tomita was a composer before he discovered the Moog but after he did he released a series of records. Most of them were in the vain of Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On Bach taking classical songs and redoing them with the Moog. He did do a version of the “Star Wars Theme” on his Kosmos album that came out in 1978. For more info on Tomita you can visit isaotomita.net

Tomita “Star Wars Theme” MP3
Tomita – Kosmos album CD MP3
Tomita – The Planets album CD / MP3
Tomita – Snowflakes are Dancing album CD / MP3
Tomita – Tomita’s Greatest Hits album CD / MP3

RCA producer Andy Wiswell has for some time been fascinated by the potential of electronic music. He wanted to make an album utilizing “synthetic” sounds-always remembering that all musical sounds, including those of the piano, are “synthetic.” He asked arranger Sid Bass to write this album. The recorded it on eight-track stereo squipment. First they laid down the tracks of the rhythm section (six instruments) and the passages for two tenor and two bass trombones that Sid had written. Then they took the tape to Trumansburg where Bob Moog set up the equipment-that is, arranged the “patch chords” to produce the sounds they wanted. Sid Bass then played the lines he had written.

The result is unique. This is a glimpse into the future-a glimpse in the direction in which much of music, popular and classical alike, may be going.

That was quoted from the back of the record of Moog España which provides us with this weeks Wacky Wednesday song. That’s right a Spanish Moog record, I mean how can you pass that up. In truth it’s not as crazy as I had hoped. Most songs on the album the Moog really plays a backseat to the other instruments. But it has a couple interesting songs like “Malagueña” which you can hear below. Moog España came out in 1972 on RCA with Sid Bass arranging and conducting the album. Will update (and go back and update older posts) with a cover art picture in the near future. I’m still having computer problems but will be getting back to regular posting again.