gts006 “madnesh”
You know lack of proper sleep can arise from mental infirmity, but don’t forget it can run the other way too! Snoozin’ lets the brain sort out everything it encountered since the last time it went dormant, so if it doesn’t get enough downtime, it leaves things hanging, unprocessed, jangled. By the way, are the microphone breaks in this ep kinda “off”? Yes they are, I downsampled the recordings then re-up-sampled them to lend a wobble, seemed an appropriate effect.
01-01 Harry James Orch & Helen Forrest – I Had The Craziest Dream (1943)
— not an official World War 2 V Disc, but all of the songs from 1941 to 1945 have this same feel of having a hole of missing someone.
01-02 Easy Star All Stars – Dub Side Of The Moon 07 – Any Colour You Like (2003)
— from ESAS’s cover album where they re-do Dark Side Of The Moon in dubstep reggae. They also have a re-do of Sgt. Pepper which is also fantastic.
01-03 Vincent Black Shadow – Fears In The Water 01- Metro (2006)
— blows the doors off modern psychopharmacology.
01-04 Napoleon XIV – They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! 06 – They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! (1966)
— and he doesn’t sound too bad about it, after all there’s basket weaving!
01-05 Tom Lehrer – An Evening (Wasted) With Tom Lehrer 01 – Poisoning Pigeons In The Park (1959)
— don’t try this at your local park. It is, in fact, against several religions to want to dispose of a pigeon, and most legal systems too.
01-06 Ivor Cutler – Peel Session 05 – Lunatic (1979)
— a short one, nascent environmental awareness. Yes, this ep features TWO songs by someone named Ivor, how many radio shows can claim that?!?
02-01 Genesis – Nursery Cryme 202 – Harold The Barrel (1971)
— last week erroneously claimed that More Fool Me was the first song where Phil Collins took lead vocals, but in fact it was this one. That line always gets me laughing: “hasn’t got a leg to stand on”
02-02 The Dead Milkmen – Beelzebubba 13 – Stuart (1988)
— very wrong. Had a big debate about whether to bleep this one, but decided it should be very obvious to any listener that this guy is off his rocker. Band’s name comes from a Gahan Wilson cartoon.
02-03 Mister Man – The Best MR. MEN album in the World… EVER! 12 – Mr. Gnorw (Mr. Wrong) (1997)
— to make sure that nobody takes the Dead Milkmen tune the wrong way, this is the proper place to put this Mr. Man poem.
02-04 Arrogant Worms – Dirt 11 – Scarey Ned (1999)
— well worth playing at high volume, the backing vocals by the chorus are good, and at the very end the main vocalist trails off saying some erally funny stuff.
02-05 Regina Spektor – Mary Ann Meets The Gravediggers 08 – Daniel Cowman (2005)
— one of Regina’s particular idiosynchratic tunes, towards the end the break is really catchy, gets stuck in my head a lot.
03-01 Nancy Tucker – Dr. Demento’s Basement Tapes 4 03 – Everything Reminds Me Of My Therapist (1995)
— is therapy really co-dependent? Some bit of answer here, and yes, any show about “madness” must lean hard into the Dr. Demento catalogue.
03-02 Blue October – Foiled 09 – X Amount Of Words (2006)
— great tune all around, and a balanced view of our subject at hand.
03-03 Annie Ross – King Pleasure Sings 09 -Twisted (1952)
— classic screwball jazz, there is also a great version of this recorded in Poland, when Poland was deep in thhe grip of Stalin. No idea how they managed to bring this tune past the Iron Curtain.
03-04 Mary Schneider – Yodeling The Classics v2 02 – Yodeling Rossini (La Danza) (2002)
— love for this one. Starts off like a pastoral paen, but it soon goes absolutely bonkers.
04-01 ApSci – Best Crisis Ever 01 – Crazy Crazy Insane (2009)
— darling tune for tv and movies, I think the appeal is the menacing laugh interspersing the lunacy.
04-02 Suicidal Tendencies – Institutionalized (1984)
— several versions of this, but this one is by far my favorite, done for the soundtrack of one of the greatest 80’s movies all time.
04-03 Napoleon XIV – The Second Coming 14 – I’m Happy They Took You Away (1996)
— suitable reply to the previously played novelty tune standard, this is who dropped the dime on him in the first place.
04-04 April Smith & The Great Picture Show – SFASS bonus – Bright White Jackets (2010)
— wowsa, that voice! In a previous ep mentioned that this album has the bonus track on the vinyl, not the CD. And here it is! Bought it from April Smith’s website store, very good price, shipped fast. HOWEVER, also ordered her solo CD, and still waiting for that one to come… 16 months now and counting. But I did get a message from her in December 2021 that “it has shipped”. Apparently not. That disc is listed on Amazon for $120, so that’s probably why she’s loathe to let it got to me for $12. Meh, I found it on eBay for five bucks, so there! She can keep my money, she’s great.
… and later at the Green Room After Party …
05-01 Son House – BBC Session 03 – Don’t You Mind People Grinning In Your Face (1970)
— the Second Age of the blues saw the Brits hungry for the authentic artists which America had discarded. Thus Son House ended in London, and stopped by the Beeb for a short set. Here, he mentions his current hometown, Rochester NY.
05-02 Ivor Biggun – Dr. Demento’s Basement Tapes 2 24 – Let’s All Get Demented (1993)
— our second Ivor, so now you know what happens to the people who get fed pancakes under the door.
05-03 Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine – Tuxicity 23 – Insane In The Brain (2002)
— this goofball covers all kinds of tunes in a swingy lounge style, bizarre treatments of common metal and rap tunes. This one is a classic hiphop standard, but so filthy that Mr. Cheese had to release a clean version.
05-04 Merle Haggard – ATTTBDFPITWOMSTBW 03 – Brain Cloudy Blues (1970)
— I’ll fix your flat tire, Merle! Here the Death Valley bard covers a nutty one from Bob Wills.
05-05 Supersuckers – Evil Powers Of Rock N Roll 12 – I Can’t Hold Myself In Line (1999)
— so naturally we have a cover of a Merle Haggard tune, this time it’s in the punk vernacular.
05-06 Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – I Hear Voices (1962)
— his cover of Put A Spell On You is how most folks know Mr. Hawkins, but just about everything he did is off the rails.
05-07 Easy Star All Stars – Dub Side Of The Moon 08 – Brain Damage (with Dr. Israel) (2003)
— another prime selection from the album featured in song #01-02 today, they nailed all the extraneous comments integral to the original.
06-01 Pink Floyd – A Tree Full Of Secrets 507 – Shine On You Crazy Diamond Storm Mix (1975)
— acid yep, plenty and plenty of acid. Dare you to not go pee after this!
06-02 Roy Byrd (Professor Longhair) – Her Mind Is Gone (1949)
— washes the palate clean, and the perfect segue into what’s coming next week…