Showing posts with label vinyl LP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vinyl LP. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

The Todd Rundgren radio show LP promo & the Putney VCS3

Todd Rundgren radio show LP promo detail
detail photo by Styrous®

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I've started this Vinyl LP series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl record albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. Inquire for information here.   

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The Todd Rundgren Radio Show is a promotional LP that was issued by Bearsville Records in 1972 to promote the double album, Something/Anything?, by Tod Rundgren. It was Rundgren's third solo release, and was recorded the previous year in Los Angeles, New York City and Bearsville Studios, Woodstock. It is a wacky, rambling assemblage of music, sounds, voices and various sound effects, noises and whatever.  Oh, also, it's a hell of a lot of fun. There is a video of the album on YouTube (link below). 


Todd Rundgren radio show LP promo album cover
photo byStyrous®



Rundgren recorded in his studio at home thus, was able to do more lengthy studio experiments, such as using a Putney VCS3 synthesizer. 



The Putney was introduced by the Electronic Music Studios in 1969 and designed by David Cockerell. The studio was formed in 1969 by Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and Cockerell. It was developed in the basement of Zinovieff's house and was nicknamed "The Putney" after the London suburb where he was living.  

The VCS3 consisted of 3 voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), a noise generator, two input amplifiers, ring modulator, voltage-controlled low-pass filter, trapezoid envelope generator, voltage-controlled reverberation, level meter, two output amplifiers thus providing a stereo output, and a joystick providing 'X' and 'Y' modulation control.

There is a terrific video in which you can hear the sound of the Putney in action on the Synthtopia website (link below).      


The album contains a promo letter . . .


Todd Rundgren radio show promo letter
photo by Styrous®


. . . and a promo survey form


Todd Rundgren radio show promo survey
photo by Styrous®








Todd Rundgren radio show vinyl LP 
side 1
photo byStyrous®

Todd Rundgren radio show vinyl LP 
side 2
photo by Styrous®






 
Todd Rundgren radio show vinyl LP 
label detail: side 1
photo by Styrous®

Todd Rundgren radio show vinyl LP 
label detail: side 2
photo by Styrous®




Links on the web: 
   
Todd Rundgren Radio website    
Todd Rundgren radio show on YouTube     
Putney in action on the Synthtopia website.            
Todd Rundgren and The Metropole Orchestra Amsterdam 2012 on YouTube     
  
   



Styrous® ~ Wednesday, June 17, 2015 
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Monday, June 1, 2015

Marilyn Monroe ~ Some Like It Hot soundtrack

vinyl LP album
photo of album by Styrous®



89 years ago today, on June 1, 1926, Norma Jeane Mortenson was born to Gladys Pearl Baker (née Monroe) at the Los Angeles County Hospital. 

 Norma Jeane Mortenson
photographer unknown





On Thursday, February 23rd, 1956, Norma Jeane obtained an order from the City Court of the State of New York to legally change her name from Norma Jeane Mortenson to Marilyn Monroe.  
Marilyn Monroe - circa 1950
photographer unknown 





As Marilyn Monroe, she made many films and I loved them all; but my two favorite movies of hers, one a drama the other a comedy, are Niagara . . .   

Niagara ~ movie poster
 

. . . in which she is, according to the movie poster, " . . . a raging torrent of emotion that even nature can't control!" 

WOW! . . . 










. . . and Some Like It Hot

Double WOW!


Some Like It Hot movie poster


Monroe plays, Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk, a singer who also plays a ukulele (a popular instrument in the '20's) in an all-girl band. Sugar is also a sucker for male sax players, whom she has sworn off because they have stolen her heart in the past and left her with "the fuzzy end of the lollipop". 

Joe (Tony Curtis), a sax player, and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), who plays bass, are running away from a gangster (George Raft) so they hide out in drag as Josephine and Daphne with the girl orchestra. Needless to say, the situations are hysterical!    



Some Like It Hot ~ soundtrack
vinyl LP album back
photo of album by Styrous®


The action of the film takes place in the 1920's during prohibition with all the follies that came with it. Most of the music, of course, is from that era as well. The songs include: Runnin' Wild, Sugar Blues, Down Among the Sheltering Palms, By the Beautiful Sea, La Cumparsita, Sweet Sue, Just You, Sweet Georgia Brown, and, of course, the tune that defined that era, I Wanna Be Loved by You, brilliantly sung by Monroe. 

Loved by You is my favorite cut from the album/film. Her version of the song is exquisite; she has all the sex combined with innocence that only Monroe could have carried across (links below to the song on YouTube). 








Some Like It Hot ~ soundtrack
vinyl LP label, side 1
photo of label by Styrous®








I Wanna Be Loved by You was first performed in the 1928 Broadway musical, Good Boy, by Helen Kane, who became known as the 'Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl' because of her baby-talk, scat-singing tag line to that song. It was recorded right when Kane's popularity started to reach its peak, and became her signature song.


 Helen Kane (August 4, 1904 – September 26, 1966)







However, Kane had swiped the "Boop" scat singing style from an African American performer by the name of "Baby Esther".


Esther Jones ~ photographer unknown              


http://bettyboop.com/files/2013/02/OliveOyl-003.jpg

In 1930, a cartoon character named Betty Boop was introduced in the animated film, Dizzy Dishes.

Betty Boop performs I Wanna Be Loved by You in the 1980s animated film The Romance of Betty Boop.


©King Features Syndicate, Inc./Fleischer Studios, Inc.




There were some pretty hefty lawsuits flying back and forth involving the three characters and they continue even to this day! Who owns Betty Boop?     





Some Like It Hot ~ soundtrack
vinyl LP label, side 2
photo of label by Styrous®




Marilyn Monroe sings I Wanna Be Loved By You from the film on YouTube   
Marilyn Monroe sings I Wanna Be Loved By You (original version) on YouTube     
Betty Boop (Helen Kane) sings, I Wanna Be Loved by You on YouTube       
From the 1928 show Good Boy, as performed by Helen Kane YouTube         
The Romance of Betty Boop on YouTube     



Marilyn . . . 
You'll always be loved by me! 






Styrous® ~ Monday, June 1, 2015
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Friday, May 22, 2015

Icehouse ~ Man of Colours



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I started the Vinyl LPs series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl LP albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. Inquire for information here.   

~ ~ ~

Today is the birthday of Iva Davies. In case you don't know who Iva Davies is, he formed the Australian rock group, Icehouse. The group performed new wave and synthpop music and attained Top 10 single chart success in both Europe and the U.S.  He is a singer-songwriter, record producer, and plays guitar, bass, keyboards and oboe. He utilizes additional musicians as required for each album. 

For the album, Man of Colours, Davies (vocals, guitars, keyboards, Fairlight CMI, Cor Anglais) was joined by Robert Kretschmer (guitars), Andy Qunta (keyboards, piano), Simon Lloyd (reeds, brass, keyboards, programming), Stephen Morgan (bass guitar) and Paul Wheeler (drums, percussion) in recording the album from February 1987. The cover artwork was designed by Davies and Kretschmer.   


vinyl LP 
art work by
 

The name Icehouse, which was adopted in 1981, comes from an old, cold flat Davies lived in and the strange building across the road populated by itinerant people.

Of the many albums Davies produced (discography below), my favorite is, Man of Colours (1987); and, of course, I had a favorite song from it which was the title song, Man of Colours. The minor key melody is exquisite! The peaceful, dreamy song with its determined but moderately slow beat and its soulful oboe played throughout is beautiful.

My second favorite cut is Sunrise which starts with a very quiet and unassuming intro that bursts into a dynamic song with layered synths and great drama punctuated by intervals of quiet; it is stunning, startling at times and brilliant.  

My next favorite is the pop hit, Electric Blue. The tune was co-written by Davies and John Oates of the U.S. band Hall & Oates. There is nothing deep or significant about the lyrics but it is a good tune with a great melody that you can dance to, fast or slowly. The song is a throw-back to the synth/pop, new wave, dance music of the early '80's. In it, Lloyd plays a smooth sax (like Marilyn, I have a soft spot for the sax). The song reached number one on the Australian singles chart on 16 November 1987, #7 on the American Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on 21 May 1988, #10 on the Canadian Singles Chart and #53 on the UK singles charts.



photographer unknown




Icehouse has produced eight Top Ten albums and twenty Top Forty singles in Australia, multiple top ten hits in Europe and North America and album sales of over 28 times Platinum in Australasia. As of 2006, Man of Colours was still the highest selling album in Australia by an Australian band.

Icehouse was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame on 16 August 2006.



Song list: 
  1. "Crazy" (4:48)
  2. "Electric Blue" (4:38)
  3. "My Obsession" (4:07)
  4. "Man Of Colours" (5:09)
  5. "Heartbreak Kid" (5:18)
  6. "The Kingdom" (4:51)
  7. "Nothing Too Serious" (3:25)
  8. "Girl In The Moon" (4:00)
  9. "Anybody's War" (4:05)
  10. "Sunrise" (5:44)

Net links:     
    
Man of Colours on YouTube  
   
Electric Blue on YouTube
  
Icehouse Discography
  
The Icehouse Story   
    

 Happy birthday, Iva!

Styrous® ~ Friday, May 22, 2015
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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The War of the Worlds ~ Orson Welles @ 100

The War of the Worlds vinyl LP recording
the 1938 radio broadcast of 
Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre actors
front cover 
photo of album cover by Styrous®


Orson Welles was born one hundred years ago today on May 6, 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He began his career in the theater and his stage manner of acting in his films gave him a hammy style by today's standards but I consider him a brilliant director; his filmography is astounding (link below).    


Orson Welles on March 1, 1937 (age 21)
photo by Carl Van Vechten
(click on any image to enlarge)



His most famous (notorious) oeuvre was on October 30, 1938, when Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre actors terrified the nation with their broadcast on CBS of a dramatization of the H. G. Wells 1898 novel, The War of the Worlds.

Orson Welles, October 30, 1938
CBS radio broadcast 
Associated Press photo

Orson Welles & cast, October 30, 1938
CBS radio broadcast 
Associated Press photo


It was the most infamous radio broadcasts of all time; delivered as a news bulletin, it sent thousands of people into a panic. By today's standard of lightning-fast communication and multiple sources of information it may seem impossible such a thing can happen but it was a simpler time and such an event really did take place (link below to the broadcast on YouTube).

The first two thirds of the one-hour broadcast were presented as a series of simulated news bulletins, which suggested an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a sustaining show without commercial interruptions, adding to the program's realism. Much of the radio audience was listening to Edgar Bergen and only tuned in to "The War of the Worlds" during a musical interlude, thereby missing the introduction that proved the show was a drama.  

After the broadcast, Welles met with reporters in an effort to explain that no one connected with the War of the Worlds radio broadcast had any idea the show would cause panic. 

Welles with reporters
13 December 1938
Acme News Photos 
Prints & Photographs Division, 
[reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-123456]



Headline for The New York Times, Oct 31, 1938

Editorial cartoon by Les Callan (1905–1986), 
reprinted from The Toronto Star in Radio Digest (February 1939)



Orson Welles actually met H.G. Wells in San Antonio, Texas, on October 28, 1940, two years after his notorious radio broadcast. Local radio station KTSA recorded the conversation. That conversation can be heard on YouTube (link below).

Orson Welles, left, and H.G. Wells, right, Nov. 30, 1940 
San Antonio, Texas
Associated Press




The Grover's Mill, New Jersey, landing site is marked by a monument at the current day Van Nest Park in West Windsor Township, New Jersey.

Grover's Mill landing site monument
Van Nest Park 
photo by ZeWrestler



Title page of the original typescript for The War of the Worlds, used in the actual broadcast and featured on the front cover of the catalog for Sotheby's auction of Fine Books, Manuscripts and Original Drawings, dated December 14, 1988.
front cover, Sotheby's catalog
Wednesday, December 14, 1988



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About Orson Welles 
Welles first film was Citizen Kane (1941), which he co-wrote, produced, directed, and starred in as Charles Foster Kane; now, that's impressive. He was an outsider to the studio system and directed only 13 full-length films in his career. Because of this, he struggled for creative control from the major film studios, and his films were either heavily edited or remained unreleased. His distinctive directorial style featured layered and nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unusual camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. 
On September 15, 1926, he entered the Todd Seminary for Boys in Woodstock, Illinois. At Todd School, Welles came under the influence of Roger Hill, a teacher who was later Todd's headmaster. Hill provided Welles with an ad hoc educational environment that proved invaluable to his creative experience, allowing Welles to concentrate on subjects that interested him. Welles performed and staged theatrical experiments and productions there. 
Welles had a troubled and difficult childhood. "In some ways, he was never really a young boy, you know," said Roger Hill, who became a lifelong friend.

His most famous film was his first one, Citizen Kane (1941). This was followed by The Magnificent Ambersons in 1942 and Touch of Evil in 1958. He directed The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and Chimes at Midnight (1966); Shanghai starred his ex-wife, Rita Hayworth.   
On the evening of October 9, 1985, Welles recorded his final interview on the syndicated TV program, The Merv Griffin Show, appearing with biographer Barbara Leaming. "Both Welles and Leaming talked of Welles's life and the segment was a nostalgic interlude," wrote biographer Frank Brady. Welles returned to his house in Hollywood and worked into the early hours typing stage directions for the project he and Gary Graver were planning to shoot at UCLA the following day. Welles died sometime on the morning of October 10, following a heart attack. He was found by his chauffeur at around 10 a.m.

"We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone."
- Orson Welles
~ ~ ~

The album


The War of the Worlds vinyl LP recording
the 1938 radio broadcast of 
Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre actors
album interior detail
detail photo by Styrous®




The War of the Worlds vinyl LP recording
the 1938 radio broadcast of 
Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre actors
back cover 
photo of album back cover by Styrous®




The album design is a gatefold format. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e. a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre, square). The larger gatefold cover provided a means of including artwork, liner notes, and/or song lyrics which would otherwise not have fit on a standard record cover. It is a Duophonic processing of a monaural recording. 


The War of the Worlds vinyl LP recording
gatefold album open (front & back)
photo of album by Styrous®


The War of the Worlds vinyl LP recording
gatefold album open (interior)
photo of album by Styrous®



The War of the Worlds vinyl LP recording
album interior detail
detail photo by Styrous®


The War of the Worlds vinyl LP
photo by Styrous®



The War of the Worlds vinyl LP label detail
detail photo by Styrous®


Tracklist:

A War Of The Worlds (Part 1) 13:18
B War Of The Worlds (Part 2) 15:55
C War Of The Worlds (Part 3) 14:06
D War Of The Worlds (Part 4) 14:17

Credits

Label: Evolution (3) ‎– 4001, Stereo Dimension Records ‎– 4001
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, Gatefold 
Country: US
Released: 1969
Genre: Non-Music
Style: Radioplay

Released by arrangement with Manheim Fox Enterprises, Inc.
This album has been rechanneled to simulate stereo.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

  • Matrix / Runout (Side I: Center Label): 36101
  • Matrix / Runout (Side II: Center Label): 36102
  • Matrix / Runout (Side III: Center Label): 36103
  • Matrix / Runout (Side IV: Center Label): 36104
  • Matrix / Runout (Side I: Run-Out Etched): SE 36101
  • Matrix / Runout (Side II: Run-Out Etched): SE - 36102
  • Matrix / Runout (Side III: Run-Out Etched): SE-36103
  • Matrix / Runout (Side IV: Run-Out Etched): SE-36104


Net links:
  
Complete 1938 Radio Broadcast  on YouTube  (57 minutes)   

H.G. Wells and Orson Welles Radio KTSA interview on YouTube    

The War Of The Worlds on Film   

The War of the Worlds ~ Jerzy Maksymiuk & Józef Skrzek      

Orson Wells Filmography    

Orson Wells in the theater   

 

Articles on Orson Welles: 

Rethinking Oson Welles: Wall Street Journal    

How Orson Welles’ narcissism sabotaged his career: New York Post                



He was bigger than life! 
  
Happy birthday, Mr. Welles, Orson, that is!


~ ~ ~
 
I started the Vinyl LPs series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl vinyl LP albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. Inquire for information here.   
~ ~ ~

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, May 6, 2015

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