The other lot I won today was not such a deal.
60s Rock Boxed Set from Columbia House
I paid $15 including shipping, but I really wanted it. I think it was to make up for the fact that the two copies of Nuggets I saw were going for so much more than I was willing to pay. But this probably isn't going to be like Nuggets. To make matters worse, knowing me I may have some of these in a box somewhere. They look vaguely familiar. Oh well.

Well, this is going to be just about the Last 8-track Hurrah. I think I've spent all the "mad money" I had. I bought two more lots on ebay and there are soooooooooooooo many more I would want if I could afford them. I'm going to have to impose another ebayatorium on myself.

TIME-LIFE "GIANTS OF JAZZ."

THE FIRST TWO FEATURE PEE WEE RUSSELL. THEY ARE DATED 1981 AND THE CATALOG NUMBER IS 8TL-J17 PA 15733/15734. THE TWO TAPES CONTAIN 40 TRACKS FEATURING PEE WEE WITH SUCH ARTISTS AS RED NICHOLS AND HIS FIVE PENNIES, THE RHYTHMAKERS, BUD FREEMAN AND HIS GANG, EDDIE CONDON AND HIS ORCHESTRA, LOUIS PRIMA AND HIS NEW ORLEANS GANG AND MANY OTHERS.

NEXT IS THE SET OF TWO FEATURING BENNY CARTER. THEY ARE DATED 1980 AND THE CATALOG NUMBER IS 8TL-J10 PA 15035/15036. THE TWO TAPES CONTAIN 41 TRACKS FEATURING BENNY WITH SUCH ARTISTS AS THE LITTLE CHOCOLATE DANDIES, McKINNEY'S COTTON PICKERS, FLETCHER HENDERSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA AND MANY OTHERS.

THE THIRD COMPLETE SET OF TWO FEATURES HENRY 'RED' ALLEN. THEY ARE DATED 1981 AND THE CATALOG NUMBER IS 8TL-J16 PA 15518/15519. THE TWO TAPES CONTAIN 40 TRACKS FEATURING RED WITH SUCH ARTISTS AS LUIS RUSSELL AND HIS ORCHESTRA, BILLY BANKS AND HIS ORCHESTRA, FLETCHER HENDERSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA AND MANY OTHERS.

THE FIVE SINGLES ARE:

ARTIST: EARL HINES PART 2
DATE: 1980
CATALOG #: 8TL-J11 PA 15104
TRACKS: 18

ARTIST: FRANK TESCHEMACHER PART 2
DATE: 1982
CATALOG #: 8TL-J23 BA 15886
TRACKS: 20

ARTIST: COLEMAN HAWKINS PART 2
DATE: 1979
CATALOG #: 8TL-J06 PA 14784
TRACKS: 20

ARTIST: ART TATUM PART 1
DATE: 1982
CATALOG #: 8TL-J24 PA 15514
TRACKS: 21

ARTIST: TEDDY WILSON PART 1
DATE: 1981
CATALOG #: 8TL-J20 PA 15752
TRACKS: 20

I have to say one of my favorite thing about this lot was the presentation. The seller has the 8-tracks posed so attractively!






This lot was a good deal as I paid $8.50 including shipping for 11 8-tracks.

A Break From the 8-Track List
Soon I will get back to reporting the rest of the 8-tracks I got, but yesterday instead of 8-tracks, someone brought me viewmaster reels. Including an 3 reel episode of Julia, the 60s T.V. show with the black nurse/ single mom. And 2 reels from a Partirdge Family episode pack. Plus a bunch of views of Disneyland in the 50s, Iowa, Great Wonders of the world - Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, Performing Elephants, Captain Kangaroo. I have noticed that many viewmaster reels are scenes made from little models with clay figures. Of those I have Robin Hood, Bambi, and strangely, Peanuts, with Lucy and Schroeder. Also some beautiful Hansel and Gretel scenes. Viewmaster reels - another weird collection from Swamp Rat 8-Track Fanatic!

WFMU - Listen to Free Form Radio!

Practically every time I'm searching the web for some obscure piece of music I've been listening to on 8-track, the only place it comes up is WFMU's old playlists. They play the best stuff. In fact they're the only place I found:
#18. The Sound Symposium - Contemporary Composers Interpreted. Sealed. Tracks: If I were a Carpenter/ Hey Jude/ Mrs. Robinson/ Don't Think Twice/ Medley: Alfie - The Look of Love- America/ Medley: Respect - Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay/ Medley: Honey - Little Green Apples - MacArthur Park/ You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'/ Darling Be Home Soon/
I wanted to found out who the musicians are. No luck on the web anywhere. They also did a whole album of Dylan covers and one of Paul Simon covers. Gotta get those! I love this stuff.

Auuggghhh! I only got to hear track one. The tape disappeared inside! And it's an old cart with a permanent rivet. Damn! I fixed it, but my girlfriend swears it sounds warped. I'm not sure it isn't just supposed to sound like that.

#17. Canned Heat - Live in Europe. Liberty. 1970. The guy just said it was a live show with Deep Purple and Renaissance! Wow. I love Renaissance and I'd rather see Deep Purple than Canned Heat by a longshot. I can almost smell the pot smoke. He ended the show with the words, "Don't forget to boogie!" 8-tracks always make me wanna go back in time. I'm 37. Old enough to have seen the Van Halen - Fair Warning tour and Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band when they were recording Nine Tonight at the Boston Garden. But young enough to have missed most of the 60s and 70s music I really love. When I was a teenager I was wont to chastise my parents for not taking me to Woodstock when I was 4. They decided not to go. ACtually this Canned Heat album is good. I like it better than the Hollies anyway.

#16. The Hollies - Romany. Sealed. Reviews online of this one are completely mixed. Some like it; some don't. Let ya know what I think. Well first, the cuts on the 8-track are in a completely different order than on the LP. The first song on the 8-track, Magic Woman Touch was a tad soporific. The 2nd, Blue in the Morning had good CSN-like guitar, but was short. They didn't jam on like CSN would have. The next, Jesus was a Crossmaker, soporific again. I didn't understand the point even though I was reading the lyrics. That may have disrupted my musical enjoyment. The 4th cut, Romany, is good. Kind of like slow ballady CSN. I guess I like some of the music and some of the singing, the harmonies. But it falls short of great. It's pretty good. I'd probably come to like it if I listened to it a lot.

#15. Mason Williams - The Mason Williams phonograph Record (on 8-track!) Sealed w/ slipcover. Score. This is the kind of thing I like. Crazy. I reproduce here a review from Buy Music, because I didn't want to link to them, but this guy is after all our 8-trackin' hearts:

"A finely crafted, and all around enjoyable album
When my dad replaced his 8-track collection with either CD's or LP's, he gave me all of his old 8-tracks, and one of my favorites was "Phonograph Record". All of the songs, particularily the first 4, as well as "Classical Gas" are outstanding, and sound great, even 31 years after it was recorded. Also, Mike Post, who later became a well known TV theme composer, produced this album, and even wrote the first track "Overture" (an effective sampling of each song on the album in 1 and a half minutes). Mason Williams is an excellent composer, as well as singer, and musician. You will definetely like this album! The Mason Williams Phonograph Record. A finely crafted, and all around enjoyable album."

#14. Caddyshack Soundtrack. Mostly Kenny Loggins. Looks just about new. I'm giving "I'm Alright" a listen. The nostalgia wore off before the song ended. Now Journey's - "Any Way You Want It", which is a car commercial now. As we grow older, more and more of the songs of ours youth are made into commercials. Sometimes I'm so pathetic, I'm just happy to hear them again. For a minute. I hate commercials.

#13. Father Guido Sarducci - Live at St. Douglas Convent, Comedian Don Novello. Called the gossip columnist of the Vatican. So far I haven't laughed much.

Don't mix up Charlie and Buddy Rich!
#11 Buddy Rich and the Big Band Machine - Speak No Evil. Sealed. RCA 1976. Unfortunately in my usual frenzy of orgiastic 8-track buying at In Your Ear I accidentally grabbed
#12 Charlie Rich - The Memphis Sound, thinking it was Buddy. Just what I need more Charlie Rich, more country music. For $2 too. Ack! That store really is too overwhelming. But Buddy is so cool.

Continuing with yesterday's big score...
#10. Joni Mitchell - Mingus. Still sealed in the wrap. Wally's Stereo Tape City. List $8.98, You Pay $7.69. Elektra/Asylum 5T-8505. Great album. I like experimental jazz. Guess I like "tediously cool" as one reviewer calls it. The track "Dry Cleaner from Des Moines" is awesome. Wish I could go back in time to Wally's Stereo Tape City. Although *most* of the 8-tracks I buy these days are cheaper than Wally's price new. What else could you say that about over 30 years? God, I love 8-tracking!

#7. The Papas and the Mamas presented by The Mamas and the Papas (sic) w/ slipcover. Dunhill/ABC DHM 85031
Includes Dream a Little Dream of Me.
#8. OS - Black Orpheus - Fontana FC-8 67520 The splice came apart on the first play.
#9. OS Brothers - Taj Mahal - Someting massively wrong with this one. New out of the package it does not play and makes high pitched whining noises, leaves graphite capstan marks on the tape. Wound too tight? Tied in knots?

#6. Gold Soul Volume 3 - Liberty/ UA,. I love UA carts. They often have silver stripes and nice label design. Plus the extra long silver dust caps that say "Sonic Spectrum +" on them. This one was sealed. Now it's playing. I wanna tellya who's on it, but it's so good, I don't wanna pull it out. It was new old stock from Wally's Stereo Tape City. List price $6.98; You Pay $5.99. Wow 99c off! It came with a warranty. If it's defective I can send it back to Liberty Tape Duplicating in Omaha, Nebraska. The artists are Jimmy McGriff, Bobby Womack, Fats Domino, Maurice WIlliams, Al WIlson, Little Anthony & the Imperials, etc.

#5. Five Man Electrical Band - Good-byes and Butterflies. Yay the album with "Signs" on it. I love that song. "Sign says long-haired freaky people need not apply..."

#4. Lew Irwin & the Credibility Gap - An Album of Political Pornography - Comedy about drugs, hippies, Nixon, Agnew, LBJ, RFK, voting, gun control, comets hitting the earth, evolution, integration. Almost as timely now as it was then. A collage of sounds of protesters and news announcers which highlights the ludicrous on both sides of the issues, i.e. druggies sound pretty stupid (not unlike Cheech and Chong), but so do the reactionary conservatives who are against them. As per the title, lots of sexual inuendo. A great find. Blue Thumb BTS 2 - 1968 (The 8-track is GRT 875-2)

#3. Various Artists - Underground Gold - Liberty/ United Artists 8985 Featuring: Canned Heat, Traffic, Johnny Winter, The Spencer Davis Group and Albert Collins. My favorite cut is Canned Heat's Amphetamine Annie with the chorus "Speed Kills".

#2. Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason, Chris Wood, Rick Grech, "Reebop" Kwaku Baah, Jim Gordon (Why not call it Traffic?) - Welcome to the Canteen. Read about it at: WIlson and Alroy's Record Reviews Motto: We Listen to the Lousy Records so You Won't Have To. A very useful site. I enjoyed Canteen more than they did. The long jams were cool. I had to fix the splice and spend about an hour winding half the tape back in after it fed into the player.

To be totally self indulgent...
I think I'll review each 8-track in today's big score individually. First of all, there's a record store here in Boston called In Your Ear, that has a pretty amazing selection of 8-tracks. Their web site is down. They said they hated answering email. Years ago they bought the leftover stock of a store called Wally's Stereo Tape City, but they also buy 8-tracks used, so the stock changes. I got 25 tapes for $2 each. I only go about twice a year because I want everything and I can't afford it. They also sell players, reel-to-reels and tons of vinyl.

In no particular order:
#1. Bill Horn - Wizard of Arp
This guy is the Wizard of Arp synthesizer. The album has crazy stuff and totally cheesey renditions of I Write the Songs and Evergreen. I like it better when he jams and doesn't sing, but the songs are campy. The center piece is 2001 More Time. Get it? It verges on a disco version. Apparently Horn teaches all types of keyboards and does weddings! Honey, if they legalize same sex marriage, can we get this guy? Just kidding.

This is my new "Cheese Alert" logo. Fair warning: with my taste, it will be appearing a lot.