Popeye's Zoo

This is sort of an odd album that's put out by a record company I've never heard of (Noble Records). On it, Popeye tells stories and sings fun songs about the animals in the zoo. We do have Jack Mercer doing the Popeye voice here, which is nice. However, even though the album cover shows many of the other characters, it's all Jack here. According to the back cover, this album was released to coincide with the "brand-new series of 208 cartoon films produced especially for television by King Features Syndicate". That's also reinforced by the main bad guy being referred to as Brutus instead of Bluto. These songs were all written especially for this album, and we even have a new recording of "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" with some added lyrics about the zoo. I especially liked the song "Don't Pet the Alligator" that's sung in Popeye's smoother "mumbly" sort of voice. I thought this album was pretty neat, and I think you will too!

Here's the track list:

1. I'm Popeye the Sailor Man



2. Tiger Tiger



3. The Camel Ride



4. The Hippo Song



5. The Tricky Monkey



6. Funny Giraffe



7. The Elephant's Nose



8. Don't Pet the Alligator



9. The Bouncy Kangaroo



10. It's Time to Feed the Seals



11. The Penguin Song



12. Grumpy Grizzly Bear

Click here or here to download!

Star Trek: Original Stories for Children Inspired by Star Trek

This is an album version of stories that were originally in book-and-record sets. Two of the stories were written by Alan Dean Foster ("The Logistics of Stampede" and "Mirror for Futility"). This must have come out around the time of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", but the stories don't have Decker or Ilia in them. Needless to say, these aren't the original voices on this one either, but I think there was one guy in there that liked doing accents. One story has a Swedish guy in it, and another one has a guy that sounds Transylvanian or something on it. He's probably the one who did Scotty's voice too. (You know Scotty's Scottish because the first thing he says is "Och!!"). Anyway, hope you like this!

Here's the track list:

1. Robot Masters
2. The Logistics of Stampede
3. The Human Factor
4. The Man Who Trained Meteors
5. Mirror for Futility
6. Crier in Emptiness

Click here or here to download!

"Tomorrow on the Children's Corner" with Fred Rogers and Josie Carey (COVER UPDATE)

Here's a great rare album shared by Kip, one of my faithful readers. This is from the show "The Children's Corner", a show that Fred Rogers worked on in Pittsburgh before he made it big with "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood". You'll notice a number of Rogers' familiar characters here. I'll let Kip tell you more about the record:

It's a complete adventure, with a song from Henrietta Pussycat that's
90% "meow," upbeat numbers, a sweet lullaby in English and French, an
affirmative song from X the Owl, "You're Special," which is later echoed
off-key by Lady Elaine Fairchild as "I'm Special" (with the memorable
line "I'm a broken tooth, darling"), and many more. Most of the
characters on his long-running PBS show are there. We never hear "Mr.
Rogers" himself, but Fred Rogers does all the voices except for Josie
Carey's as the real-life visitor to the land of Make-Believe.

I couldn't find a picture of the cover (see UPDATE), but I did find this photo of Rogers, Carey, and a few puppets you might recognize. Another thing I noticed on listening to this is that the tune to the song "It's Morning" was later used for one of his closing songs "Tomorrow". The sound isn't quite as good as I usually have (this is a mp3 recording from a cassette copy of the original record that Kip doesn't own), but I think the rarity of this more than makes up for it. Thanks again, Kip!

(and thanks to Bill V for the correction!)

Here's the track list:

1. It's Morning


2. I Like You


3. What Would You Like


4. There's a Smile


5. I'm Busy Being Busy


6. Where Did You Go, Tomorrow?


7. I'm Looking for a Friend


8. It Makes Handsome


9. Find a Star


10. Fine Feathered Friend


11. Smile


12. Meow Mr. Rogers


13. You're Special


14. Where Did You Go?


15. I'm Special


16. Nocturne Duet


17. At Friday's Palace


18. Finale: Tomorrow

Click here or here to download!

UPDATE: As you can see, I've now got pictures of the front and back covers of this album. These aren't part of the original zip file, so if you want them you'll have to save the images from this post. These pictures are courtesy of Molly, who happens to be selling this very album on eBay and allowed me to use the pics in exchange for including some information from this post in her listing.

The Big Top Singers: Let's All Go to the Circus

I don't really know much about this album. The company that put it out was Peter Rabbit Records in Toronto, so this is another album that may hold fonder memories for those of you north of the border. To the rest of us, there's still some fun circus-related songs here (including the classic "The Man on the Flying Trapeze"). I hope you guys enjoy this one!

Here's the track list:

1. The Biggest Show on Earth


2. Annette the Little Majorette


3. I've Got Two Passes for the Circus


4. I Got The Brass Ring on the Merry-Go-Round


5. I Love a Clown


6. If It Was Up to Me


7. Here Comes the Circus


8. That's What I Dreamed Last Night


9. I Want to Be a Lion Tamer


10. The Man on the Flying Trapeze


11. The Giant and the Midget


12. It's a Great Day at the Circus

Click here or here or here to download!