Jimi Hendrix is my God
So I have been working on organizing the museum. It is definitely coming along. I had to put shelves right up to the ceiling. I'll have to rely on my rickety old ladder if I ever want to play anything up there. I have discovered that I have 35 or so stereo component type 8-track players, all different brands, some with turntables or cassettes too, some with funky style, some very boring, some quad, most not. I have over 200 jazz carts now too. More counts will be coming in as I assess the collection.

What I really want to finish the room is a black light poster. Preferably a vintage one. I'd like Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin. I'd settle for the Grateful Dead. Here's one I saw on ebay:



Then I saw another I liked, but it isn't black light. I only have one place reserved for a poster. Every other inch of wall space is going to be covered with 8-tracks, so I want a black light poster, because I already have a black light.

My Big Cheesey Listening Lot
-1. Laurindo Almeida - Classical Current.
This may be the only tape in the whole lot of 66 to feed my craze for more stuff from the Space Age Pop Page.
-2. Herb Alpert & The T.J.B. - Coney Island. Splice broke.
-3. Herb Alpert & The T.J.B. - Greatest Hits Vols.1
-4. and 2. Oh great more copies of these!
-5. Roy Clark - My Music and Me. Looks like country.
-6. Sanford Clark - Return of the Fool. Melted pinch roller is positively spongey. Also country?
-7. The Greatest of Nat King Cole. Have several already.
-8. Perry Como - The Shadow of Your Smile
-9. Jim Croce - Photographs and Memories. Got it.
-10. Bings Sings - A Reader's Digest "Pleasure Programmed" set. Vol. 2
-11. and vol. 3. I probably have these already.
-12. This is Tommy Dorsey. No felt pads.
-13. Ferrante & Teicher - It's Too Late. Nice looking UA cart, U-8297. Great songs: Gitchie Goomie, Proud Mary, etc. Doesn't play. Must be wound too tight. Tape just won't move. Drat.
-14. The Best of Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops. I live in Boston, so I have about 30 Fiedlers already.
-15. Benny Goodman - Live at Carnegie Hall part 2. Sealed. From Columbia Record Club. I think I just got part 1 a few weeks ago. That one wasn't the CRC cart.
-16. Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing. Got it already; broken splice.

The ebay dealer had a nerve saying these were in good shape. Several have melted pinch rollers and several have broken splices. But I can't complain since they were 98c+ shipping. Still that's $15 for a bunch of crap that no one, but me could love.

-17. Eydie Gorme's Greatest Hits.
-18. Earl Grant - Greatest Hits - Hmm. This one looks like it might be good. Decca 6-4813. Ahh, organ, that's better.
-19. Guy and Ralna - 22 Golden Country Classics
-20. The Best of Andre Kostelanetz - Reader's Digest set. Tape 1. No tape visible. The king of elevator music.
-21. Andre Kostelanetz and his Orchestra - That's Entertainment. No tape here either.
-22. Mario Lanza - The Student Prince.

Letternen Blowout! I don't think I like these guys. They all look like Karen Carpenter's brother, whatsisname?
-23. The Lettermen - Alive Again...Naturally
-24. The Lettermen - All-Time Greatest Hits
-25. The Lettermen - Hurts So Bad
-26. The Lettermen - Put Your Head on My Shoulder
-27. The Lettermen - There is No Greater Love.
-28. Guy Lombardo - 50th Anniversary Album. Yet another copy.

Perhaps one of the best things in the lot: a quad Mancini I don't have.

-29. Henry Mancini - Country Gentleman - Q8 RCA APT1-0270. The only quad in the lot of course.
-30. Henry Mancini - Big Screen-Little Screen. Covers the Theme from Shaft.
-31, 32. Henry Mancini - Pure Gold. Two of these.

Perhaps I was wrong. Apparently this funk/soul group Mandrill is somewhat sought after.
-33. Mandrill - Beast From the East. A lovely UA cart, UA-EA577-H, with the dust cap in nice shape. Listened to two tracks before the splice broke.
-34. Chuck Fuckin' Mangione - Feels So Good. Again.
-35. Mantovani - Enchanted Strings
-36. Mantovani - The Magic of. Reader's Digest set, tape 1.
-37. Johnny Mathis - All-Time Greatest Hits. I have way too much Mathis.
-38. Glenn Miller - A Legendary Performer. Got it.
-39. Anthony Newley - What Kind of Fool Am I? (For buying this lot?)
-40. Minnie Pearl/ Red Sovine - Giddyup Go with Roger Miller. Yay, trucker music.
-41. The Platters - Encore of Golden Hits. Got it.
-42. Andre Previn - Let's Fall in Love. On the front it's called "I'm Falling in Love". Altone 1038.
-43. Charlie Pride - I'm Just Me. Attractive bootleg with no information on it.
-44. Ruggiero Ricci - Paganini Violin Cocerto 2 & Saint-Saens Violin Concerto 1. This cart has an add for more Decca albums you might enjoy on one side. They reccommend Ernest Tubb, Wayne King, Alfred Apaka, Brenda Lee, Lenny Dee, etc.
-45. George Shearing - The Best of, Vol. 2.
-46. George Shearing - Lullaby for Birdland. Pickwick P8-188
-47. Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me. Got it.
-48. Frank Sinatra - The Main Event
-49. Frank Sinatra - The Works. I've got enough Sinatra for this lifetime too.
-50. Barbra Streisand - Greatest Hits. Bootleg made by American Cartridge Recording, Englewood, NJ.
-51. Barbra Streisand - A Christmas Album. Isn't she Jewish? Is that why she's butchering Jingle Bells?
-52. Sarah Vaughn - Broken Hearted Melody. Harlem Hitparade (Pickwick) HP8-8003.
-53. Various Artists - Electrophonic Presents "The New Scene". A promotional tape for the stereo stores to demonstrate their Electrophonic systems with. Special Markets/Capitol 8XL-6771. Featuring 8 songs: Helen Reddy - I Believe in Music, Glen Campbell - Dream Baby, Joe South - Yo Yo ( I doubt he means that in a hiphop sorta way.), Anne Murray - Just Bidin' My Time, The Lettermen - If, Quiksilver Messenger Service - Fresh Air, Anne Murray - Put Your Hand in the Hand, Joy of Cooking - Brownsville/ Mockingbird. Guess ya hadda look at the customer and decide what they'd want to hear.
-54. Various Artists - Golden Groups/ Golden Memories. Reader's Digest set, tape 2. Strange mix of 40s and 50s. Andrews Sisters, Bill Haley and the Comets.
-55. Various Artists - I WIsh You Love. A Columbia Special Product. Robert Goulet and the Columbia Starlight Orchestra.
-56. Various Artists - In the Wee Small Hours. Vols. 3&4. A Columbia Musical Treasury. All the usual suspects: Jerry Vale, Mathis, Coniff, Kostelanetz, etc. Already have it too.
-57. Various Artists - This is the Big Band Era. RCA. Goodman, Dorsey, Miller , Shaw, etc.
-58. George Beverly Shea - That Rugged Old Cross.
-59. Norma Zimmer & Jim Roberts - His Name Is Wonderful
-60. Score of Gone WIth the WInd by Max Steiner, played by the London SYmphonia. Pickwick, P8-127
-61. The Littlest Angel - Original cast album of the NBC-TV Musical. Says Hallmark Hall of Fame Presents. Tony Randall, Connie Stevens and Johnnie Whitaker. The pinch roller is melted and it has a big stain on the label.
-62. The Sound of Music - OST. Got a few of these already.
-63. The Sound of Music - Original Broadway Cast
-64. Thank God It's Friday, Vol. 1. - OST. Got it.
-65. Beethoven Concerto for Viloin & Orchestra in D Major.
-66. The Best Loved Music of Tchaikovsky. Reader's Digest, Tape 2.

That's the lot then. Pretty stinky. But for 98c? It was a risk. It was a mostly mystery batch. I was hoping for Al Caiola and Dick Hyman. Nada. Mandrill and 1 quad Mancini. And I think it took most of 5 hours to write this post. That's how much interest I take in these things. Will anyone read it? And if you read it, did you enjoy it?

Another Good 8-Track Day!
Two lots arrived from ebay today! 11 jazz 8-tracks and 66 easy listening. Does anyone wonder why you can't usually walk around the museum? I have to pack 'em in like sardines. The Time-Life Giants of Jazz Series is pretty good. They are in good shape and I have quite a few of them now. I can collect the whole set. I'm listening to Henry "Red" Allen now. Never heard of him, but it's good. I like classic jazz and big band, but prefer fusion type stuff and crazier bits. Although some stuff definitely gets too crazy for me. I have to feel like it's working somehow. They can lose me if they go off too much. Can't think of an example right now. This Allen tape is mostly horns, and a sort of fast, plink-plunky, toe-tapping bass running all through it. I think I need to put in something mellower. Hm. Let's look at this easy listening lot.

Christmas 8-Tracks

My Favorite Christmas 8-tracks:
1. Ramsey Lewis Trio - This one features excellent jazz improv. that brings new life to worn out tunes.
2. Soul Christmas - This one features mostly skeezey songs like Backdoor Santa and Make Every Day Christmas for Your Woman.
3. Phil Spector's Christmas Album - The Ronettes, The Crystals, Darlene Love and Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans. And Phil Spector talks at the end.
4. Jimmy McGriff - "Featuring ... fantastic organ artistry". Quite jazzy, but not as good as Lewis. Has a great slipcase with a woman in a santa suit with a huge afro.
5. Elvis' Christmas Album - Wouldn't be Christmas without "Blue Christmas"
6. John Denver and the Muppets - The Twelve Days of Christmas, with Miss Piggy is over the top. This is fun the first time, but hard to take repeatedly.
7. Chipmunk's Christmas - Same as above, but I like to hear them once or twice a year.
8. Christmas with Coniff - Uh-oh, the tape broke!
9. Frank and Bing
10. Elvis SIngs the Wonderful World of Christmas - Smarmier than the other Elvis, but still the King. Except for "Mama Liked the Roses" which is on the other one and is the smarmiest ever.

Fall Cleaning at the 8-Track Museum
I've been slowly picking up the 8-tracks that fell on the floor last year and sorting them. I need to put up more shelves. I loaded pics onto my wants page until it started running slower. I hope it doesn't scare people off. It probably takes a while to load now.

I hate cleaning. I know I'm making progress, but there's so much more to do. I feel like I'll never get the museum organized so I can find everything and have a workspace and have visitors. I want to start working on machines. I need to teach myself to repair them. I got to learn at least basic wire soldering. And the tapes that need fixing are way backed up. Probably 200 or so on that never-ending heap. Spewing tape, sticky black goo-covered, etc. All I can say now is there's enough room to walk around for a change. It's a start.

I love AL Caiola!
I've been listening to "Soft Guitars". It has covers of a lot of my favorites songs: Skylark, I Can't Get Started, They Can't Take That Away From Me, etc. He has bazillion albums and I'll bet they're almost all on my favorite format!

The Man Himself!

I want this!

I saw this cool spinner rack with cheesey 70s pix on it on ebay. Isn't she a beauty? (My, but she was yare!)

On the only side visible it's a man and a woman running on the beach with a kite. I wonder if the other sides are the same or different?