A very long time ago, I used to receive a catalog from Publishers Central Bureau selling cutout albums and out of print books. They sold some of the Request (calypso) library that had been re-rereleased on the low-budget Murray Hill label. They also had a stellar collection of music by randy folkie Oscar Brand. I didn’t like folk music, and had never heard of the guy, but the song titles were SO intriguing….Ring Dang Doo…She’ll Do It Again…Three Prominent Bastards.

So I ended up buying the Bawdy Sea Chanteys album, which has been a perennial favorite (and was one of maybe 50 albums I’ve kept since my early collecting days).

So despite a higher price than I usually pay ($4), Oscar Brand’s Bawdy Western Songs came home with me from a shopping expedition. If you don’t race to download this based upon the fact that there is a song called “Blinded By Turds”, then I really have no idea what you’re doing here. Honestly. You’re DEAD to me.

The Old Grey Bustle

Chisholm Trail

As I Was Out Riding

The Little Brown Bull

Charlotte the Harlot

Pinto Pony

Blinded By Turds

In Abilene

Ride On

I Ride An Old Paint

My Love Is a Rider

Poor Little Angeline

The Texas Boys

The Great Big Wheel

Bawdy Western Songs Vol. 6 (I’m on the prowl for Vol. 1-5, believe you me) – Oscar Brand

It was the image above (seen in its entirety here) that made me ask around for some music by this guy. I mean, isn’t this a great album cover? And sure enough, my e-buddy JS has a link to Cliff’s Explosion of the Tone Cabinets within about a half hour. Instant gratification!

For music on the the “largest Hammond organ combination in the US, powered by 30 speakers” it seems a little odd that the record is monaural instead of stereo, but I’ll take it as it is. The other warning was the comment that it sounded as though it were pressed slightly off center–but as you may know I am a big fan of music that is slightly off-center. It sounds about perfect to me!

Explosion of the Tone Cabinets

I don’t listen to this album a lot, but I have to admit it’s one of my top 10 favorite finds ever. It’s a self-published one-man album by Harley Frye from West Lafayette, Indiana. I found a sealed copy of this at a record convention –the joy of finding a homemade multitracking vanity album was great enough, but of course the unfortunate subtitle “A Record of a Man Playing With Himself” is  what sealed the deal. I posted it on my old blog and wrote some rather unflattering remarks regarding Mr. Frey’s vocal and instrumental abilities, an much to my surprise received this email:

“TO baikinange’

I am Harley Frey. I am 91 years old, but retired. I am curious how you found that record. It’s about 40 years old.
I liked your critique, it was right on.  I did everything using two open reel recorders. No sound board, no one two turn things on ( the piano was about 40 feet away from the records), took the pictures with a Polaroid camera, air brushed the sides of the pictures to make them seem
like one. Anyway it was a lot of fun.

Bye bye,
Harley”.

Wow. Of course I wrote him back (somewhat sheepishly) and asked if he thought it was OK to share his album with the blog world.

“I had a hunch you were somewhere in Indiana. Since you correctly called “Here’s Harley” a vanity record you most certainly have my permissionto digitalize it and offer it online. I am still here in West Lafayette, living in a retirement home for senors. in the last
10 to 15 years, I have been honing my skills as an “elevator” pianist, do not play in public any more.”

So there! I have permission from the artist to share this. Harley, you are awesome.

Here’s Harley! 

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My quest continues for world dominance in the “teach your parakeet to talk” record category. Granted, you only get a short snippet of this one because it started getting on the nerves of the person who digitized it and he had to stop.

Come Up and See Me Sometime!

This album cover gets my vote for suavest of the week, by far. That Emil is just Dovetonsiling like a crazy mofo, yes? The album donor did a little research on the artist and found he was an organ/piano/calliope player from the Canton OH area from the forties through the sixties.   All of the tunes have the word “Love” in the title, which pretty much led me to believe the album would be a wash, but I really enjoyed it. Listen to his take on “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and you’ll hear that underneath that silky ascot beats the heart of a true artiste.

L’Amour

Early calypso music, probably 1940s, as one of the tracks “Nora the War is Over” celebrates the end of World War II.

Side 1
Small Island – Duke of Iron
Dorothy One Morning – MacBeth
Cousin Family – Lord Invader
Nora the War is Over – Lord Beginner

Side 2
Matilda – Duke of Iron
Shake Around – Lord Beginner
Mary Ann – Lord Invader
New York Subway – Lord Invader

Backed by Felix and His Internationals on all cuts.

Not to be confused with the other Duke of Iron album entitled Calypso Carnival –this one was released on Monogram Records and has a very groovy pic of the Duke of Iron himself, right on the cover. Many of the songs appear on other Monogram, Ritmo, or Request albums, but I’m offering it here in its entirety just because.
I tried to clean up the audio a little, but the more I removed surface noise, the more hollow it started to sound. You may need to clean the tracks up more to suit your taste; I can live with a lot of surface noise myself.

Calypso Carnival
featuring the Duke of Iron
and his Trinidad Calypso Troubadours
Monogram Records 842

Side 1
Man Smart, Woman Smarter
Music Teacher
Woman Police
Merengue Jenny
Big Bamboo
Last Train

Side 2
The Lost Watch
Creole Girl
One Gone
The Naughty Fly
Coldest Woman
Woman Love (also known as “Loving Woman is a Waste of Time”)

For the calypso fanatics only–this 8″ album from the 1950s has a couple of nice numbers–”Three Old Maids” is a reworking of “Lovin’ old Lady Is Nice”, and the Three Deuces numbers are pretty good. There are also some predictable cover versions of the old chestnuts “Matilda” and “Mary Ann”, which are of no interest to me. Perhaps you will beg to differ.

Bermuda Calypso Festival
The Four Deuces:
Four Day Morning
Nora
Sidney Bean & Trio:
Caroline
Is It Yes, Is It No
Erskine Zuill:
Three Old Maids
Matilda
Kingsley Swan & Calypso Islanders:
Mary Ann
Yankee Subway