Chantmania

Did you hear about the two monks who became best friends?

They met by chants.

[RIMSHOT]

I use this (admittedly) corny joke to introduce this (also admittedly) corny concept for an album. Back in 1994 there was an unlikely hit record featuring a group of monks doing Gregorian chants. It was called “Chant” by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silas. Later the same year this album was released by the Benzedrine Monks of Santo Domonica (actually members of the group Big Daddy, featured here in an earlier entry). Unlike Big Daddy, this silly concept couldn’t sustain an entire album. That’s why there’s such a short running time here. It’s still fun though. Hope you like it!

(By the way, when I was trying to get more info about this album I was reminded that there was a VIDEO mockumentary released for Chantmania as well. I just got a copy of it off eBay. I’ll let you guys know how it is when I get it!)

Here’s the track list:

1. (Theme From) The Monkees
2. We Will Rock You
3. Losing My Religion
4. Smells Like Teen Spirit
5. Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?
6. The Monks’ Vow Of Silence

NOTE: This album is now available to purchase in mp3 format from Amazon.com. You can get it here!

The Three Stooges: Madcap Musical Nonsense at Your House

You know how I mentioned that “Howl Along with Huckleberry Hound” was one of the first albums I remember my brothers owning? Well, this was the other one. This one originally came out in 1959 and it features the Three Stooges: Larry, Moe, and (I’m sorry to say) Curly Joe. As opposed to their album “The Nonsense Songbook” where they simply sing songs as written, on this album they actually have adventures wherein they somehow end up singing their own versions of common songs (much like Dennis the Menace did on the album I featured here previously). It’s a cute kids album, especially for people like me that grew up on it. Hope you like it!

Here’s the track list:

1. We’re Coming to Your House
2. The Concert
3. At the Baseball Game
4. Click Dart’s Bandstand
5. Three Chipped Monks
6. Let’s “Cut” a Record
7. Sing Along with Moe
8. At the Circus
9. The Toy Store
10. Goodbye, Auld Lang Syne!

UPDATE: I’m afraid I’ve been forced to remove my link for this, but you can buy the record from Amazon by following the link below!

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=waouju-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B001813BPQ

…and you can find some of the cuts from this album on CD or mp3 by following this link below!

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=waouju-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B004LLIUF6

The Mighty Hercules (with bonus cut!)

Remember this cheesy cartoon from the early 60’s? This is from a record based on it that originally came out in 1963 (and was re-released on CD in 2001). The odd thing is that even though there’s pictures of the characters on the cover and the same people are used on the album itself, they don’t use the same voices as the cartoon. Admittedly for characters like Newton the centaur that’s a bit of an improvement, but it’s still a strange thing to do. The best part about the show itself was the rousing theme song, and they don’t even have the right version of that! However, I did add the real version of the theme song as a bonus track on the end. Hey, never let it be said that I don’t take care of my peeps!

Here’s the track list:

1. The Mighty Hercules Theme Song
2. Newton’s Song
3. You Were Rich the Day You Were Born
4. You’ve Got to Be Strong
5. Tootle a Flute
6. Hercules (reprise)
7. You Can Do Anything You Want
8. The Kind of Man I Know You’ll Be
9. A Bad, Bad Man
10. Newton’s Song (reprise)
11. Hercules (finale)
12. The Mighty Hercules (real theme)

This album is now available to purchase in mp3 format from Amazon.com. You can get it here! (The exception to that is the actual theme song, which is available on this album here!)

The Best of Big Daddy

“While on a USO tour of Southeast Asia in 1959, Big Daddy was captured by Communist forces and held captive until the mid 80’s at which time they were rescued by CIA forces and subsequently returned to the United States. While being held at Camp David for de-briefing, they were given sheet music of contemporary hit songs so that they could re-build their repertoire and get back to the only work they knew…making music. Of course, not having heard the evolution of Rock music during the quarter century they spent imprisoned in the jungles of Laos, they arranged and performed these songs the only way they knew how…in the classic styles of the 1950’s.”

This was the concept behind the group Big Daddy, as quoted from the liner notes of this out of print CD from 2000. These songs are taken from their two previous albums and two CD’s, which I own as well. Unfortunately they’re all out of print now. If you guys like this one, let me know and I’ll see if I can make some of the others available. Give this one a try. I think you guys will really enjoy it.

By the way, you might notice something special about the last four cuts here. They were taken from Big Daddy’s album “Sgt. Pepper’s”, where they re-recorded the entire Beatles album in 50’s style. The song “A Day in the Life” actually takes on a whole new meaning here, and takes on a haunting effect towards the end.

Here’s the track list:

1. Dancing in the Dark
2. Help Me Make It Through the Night
3. Super Freak
4. Little Red Corvette
5. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
6. Once in a Lifetime
7. Whip It
8. My Heart Will Go On
9. Eye of the Tiger
10. Every Breath You Take
11. Sukiyaki
12. Money for Nothing
13. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
14. With a Little Help from My Friends
15. When I’m Sixty-Four
16. A Day in the Life

Click here or here to download!

Micky Dolenz Puts You to Sleep

Hi again, Gang. First I’m bummed out again because Mondo Daddykin has once again decided to call it quits. He plans on starting up again when he’s more confident with the file hosting environment. I hope it’s soon. We miss you already, kimosabe.

However, I’ve decided to do my best to press on. Here’s a neat out of print CD from 1991 featuring former Monkee Micky Dolenz. In it he’s taken some pop and rock songs from the 60’s and 70’s and sings them like lullabies. On the surface you would think this is a parody album, but it’s not. It’s really very sweet and well-done. I think I’m going to put this one on tonight myself. After the hectic week I’ve had, I can use all the relaxation I can get!

Here’s the track list:

1. Pillow Time
2. Dream A Little Dream
3. Beautiful Boy
4. Blackbird
5. Lullaby To Tim
6. Fool On The Hill
7. Good Night
8. St. Judy’s Comet
9. The Moonbeam Song
10. Remember
11. Sugar Mountain
12. The Porpoise Song

This album is now available to purchase in mp3 format from Amazon.com. You can get it here!

Annette: A Musical Reunion with America’s Girl Next Door

I’ve got some more records I want to make available here, but I’m having problems with them skipping. Anybody here have suggestions on how best to clean them? Until then, I’ve been looking through my CDs that are out of print to find things I think you guys might enjoy.

This was a 2 CD set originally released in 1993 and now out of print. This features songs from many a boy’s crush in the 1950’s and 60’s, Annette Funicello. Included is her hits, songs from her movies (including “Back to the Beach”), and other songs from her 15(!) albums. Tragically, Ms. Funicello was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1987 and is still suffering with it today. This CD set is a fitting tribute to the happiness she has given to millions of people. I hope you like it.

Here’s the track list:

Disc 1

1. Tall Paul
2. Don’t Jump to Conclusions
3. It Took Dreams
4. Wild Willie
5. Lonely Guitar
6. First Name Initial
7. Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy
8. My Heart Became of Age
9. Amo Que Paso?
10. Train of Love
11. It’s Really Love
12. Tell Me, Who’s the Girl?
13. Strummin’ Song
14. Hawaiiannette (Hawaiian Love Talk)
15. Pineapple Princess
16. Luau Cha-Cha-Cha
17. Song of the Islands
18. Italiannette
19. Please, Please Signore
20. Dream Boy
21. Mia Cara, Mia Amore
22. Lucky, Lucky, Lucky Me
23. O Dio Mio

Disc 2

1. Danceannette
2. The Rock-a-Cha
3. Rock-a-Polka
4. The Flapper Flip
5. The Rock and Roll Waltz
6. Mister Piano Man
7. I Can’t Do the Sum
8. Just a Toy
9. The Parent Trap
10. Merlin Jones
11. The Monkey’s Uncle (with the Beach Boys)
12. Walkin’ and Talkin’
13. Beach Party Tonight
14. Blame It on the Bossa Nova
15. Jamaica Ska
16. Bikini Beach Party
17. Let’s Twist Again
18. Surfer’s Holiday
19. Stuffed Animal
20. Canzone D’Amore
21. Music! Music! Music!
22. How Will I Know My Love?
23. No Way to Go But Up
24. Annette (Featuring Frankie Avalon, Shelley Fabares, Paul Anka, and Tommy Sands)

Click here or here for Disc 1

and here or here for Disc 2!

Robin Hood Featuring Top Cat (and links to other HB Records)

Here’s another record in the Hanna-Barbera collection. This one’s a bit different than many of the others because Top Cat doesn’t just tell the story of Robin Hood here. The story starts with TC and his gang of alley cats broke and starving as usual. Brain says they ought to do like Robin Hood does and take from the rich and give to the poor. Well, they reason, nobody’s poorer than they are! They learn to shoot bows and arrows (sort of), but before they get much further they run into a couple of escaped bank robbers. It all turns into the old “pretend to rob a bank for the movie we’re shooting only it’s really an actual robbery” plot that it seems like every show did somewhere along the way. I won’t tell you how it ends (as if you can’t figure it out for yourself), but it’s still fun. And these records love to throw some wacky songs in as well, so that’s a bonus!

I admit I cheated on the cover illustration here. I used the HB Records cover when the version I have is actually the Peter Pan Records version. I believe the records themselves are the same, but the HB Records had MUCH better covers!

Since I typed it out for another one of my faithful readers, here’s the track list:

1. Song: Top Cat
2. Story: Robin Hood (pt. 1)
3. Song: M-O-N-E-Y
4. Story: Robin Hood (pt. 2)
5. Song: Robin Hood
6. Story: Robin Hood (pt. 3)
7. Song: Dibble
8. Story: Robin Hood (pt. 4)
9. Story: Robin Hood (pt. 5)
10. Song: Buddies

Click here or here or here to download!

Also I had mentioned before that I was looking for copies of the other albums in this collection, and Dartman at “Dartman’s World of Wonder” just recently put up the “Snagglepuss Tells the Story of the Wizard of Oz” here at

http://dartmansworldofwonder.blogspot.com/2006/07/heavans-to-emerald-city-wizards-and.html

Thanks, Dartman! Great blog you’ve got there. Keep it up!

One of the first ones I remember finding online was the “Monster Shindig with Super Snooper and Blabber Mouse” at

http://monster-shindig.blogspot.com/2006/03/joining-monster-shindig.html .

There’s some great voicework by Paul Frees and June Foray on this one. Don’t miss it!

Dennis the Menace Songs

This album is actually different than the one Mondo Daddykin loaded in a while back on his site. While this came out during the show’s original run in 1960 you won’t find any of the original show’s cast here. Dennis is played here by a boy named Philip Fox who does kind of sound like Jay North. This is taken from a CD re-release from 1998 which is now out of print. In this album “Dennis mixes up his own words to 16 all-time favorite melodies” with these exceptions: Track 1 is the instrumental theme to the TV show, Track 15 is the vocal version of the theme (Betcha didn’t know it had words, did you?), and Track 16 is a CD bonus track of an entirely different Dennis the Menace song sung by “Anne Lloyd and the Sandpipers with Bobby Neck as Dennis”. That leaves 13 all-time favorite melodies which still ain’t bad!

Here’s the track list:

1. Mi Televizhun Song (Dennis the Menace Theme)
2. I’m Home!
3. My Mommy and Daddy
4. Margaret
5. Good Ol’ Mr. Wilson
6. I HATE Liver
7. What Am I Gonna Do Today?
8. Is Someone in Trouble
9. Someday
10. I Hate Spelling
11. I Sure Love the Summertime!
12. Jeepers Dad
13. An Av’rage Day
14. I’m an Important Member of the Family
15. My Theme Song (vocal version)
16. Dennis the Menace Song (bonus track)

This album is now available to purchase in mp3 format from Amazon.com. You can find it here!

Daddy Dewdrop

Here’s a bubblegum one-hit wonder for you. Daddy Dewdrop (Dick Monda) had a hit in 1971 with the song “Chick-A-Boom (Don’t Ya Jes’ Love It)”, a song that was originally featured on the “Groovie Goolies” television show. However, before a Goolies album could be released, Monda put together a group of studio musicians to record his own version, which made it all the way to number 9. There’s some other odd little bubblegum numbers here too. Hope you enjoy it!

Here’s the track list:

1. Chick-A-Boom (Don’t Ya Jes’ Love It)
2. 5-Card Stud
3. March of the White Corpuscles
4. Strike
5. John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith
6. Fox Huntin’ (On the Week End)
7. Diggin’ on Mrs. Jones
8. Abracadabra Alakazam
9. Johnny Do It Faster
10. Migraine Headaches

Click here or here to download!

Howl Along with Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear

Subtitled “The First of a Series of 478 Sing Along Albums”, this is one of the first albums I remember my brothers owning. Since I was the youngest, I got the records they grew tired of. In fact, until I won this copy of it on eBay, I didn’t even know what the cover looked like! As you can see from the picture, it’s a pretty snazzy one. Almost like some sort of Huckleberry Hound cult or something! This originally came out in 1960, the year before I was born. My original copy was pretty well-scuffed, but this one’s in nice shape. The cover says, “All voices by Sascha Burland with the ‘Howlers’ Choral and the ‘Wailers’ Orchestra. Written and directed by Sascha Burland.” If Burland’s doing Huck here, it sounds pretty good to my ears. His Yogi, however, sounds just like Quick Draw McGraw for some reason!

This is a sing along of popular public-domain songs sung more or less straight by a chorus. Huck and Yogi barely sing on it at all. They just talk between the songs (and Yogi doesn’t even arrive until Side 2). There’s also an orchestra leader that sounds a lot like Paw Rugg of Hillbilly Bears fame, and a kid named Orville that just says “Nee no nonny” when he talks. The big running gag here is when the chorus all have to turn the pages of their music at the same time, and they’ll all miss a word while doing it. For example, in “You’re a Grand Old Flag” they’ll sing, “You’re the emblem of the *FLIP* I love.”

There’s really too many songs to list here, but chances are if it didn’t cost anything to use, it’s here! Hope you like it!

Click here or here to download!