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!

Be a Ventriloquist with Buffalo Bob Smith and Howdy Doody

I believe this album came with the Howdy Doody ventriloquist doll (pictured here with Buffalo Bob Smith). It's a bit deceptive in that you think you'll get lessons in ventriloquism with Buffalo Bob and Howdy. However, they're only heard in some old bits from their show. The bulk of the album is done by a man named Larry Marks, whose voice sounds familiar to me but I don't know where from. That being said, there actually is some very good information about learning ventriloquism here, all the way from doing different voices to learning how to get past some of the tougher consonants without moving your lips. So, as the cover says, "Hear it. Try it. And discover how easy ventriloquism can be."

NOTE: It was pointed out to me that Side 1 and Side 2 were exactly the same. I fixed that now.

Click here to download! (More links coming!)

Archie Presents Petite in "Doggie in the Window"

Here's an album with Archie Wood, Petite, and his other puppet friends. I'm not familiar with Archie and company myself. The record itself looks to be from Canada. So if you're Canadian, this record may provide many fond memories (or nightmares as the case may be)!

Here's the track list:

1. Doggie in the Window
2. Pop Goes the Weasel
3. Blue Tail Fly
   
4. Do-Re-Me
5. Zippety Doo Dah
6. Home on the Range
7. Mocking Bird Hill
8. Old Macdonald Had a Farm
9. Farmer in the Dell
10. Mary Had a Little Lamb
11. Ba Ba Black Sheep
12. Nick Nack Paddy Wack
13. I Think I'll Eat a Tadpole
14. Closing

Click here or here to download!

The Man - Lorne Greene

Whether you remember him as Pa Cartwright on "Bonanza", Commander Adama from the original "Battlestar Galactica", or shilling Alpo Dog Food, there's no mistaking the booming bass voice of Lorne Greene. I picked up this record when I went out of town and, after seeing that it hadn't been re-released, I thought I'd share it with you. Greene does little introductions to each of the songs as well, which I think adds a little fun to it.

I realize this is a bit different from the usual fare you find around here, but I think you'll enjoy it just the same! (Besides, I couldn't find any Halloween records I have that aren't being shared everywhere else!)

Here' s the track list:

1. Pop Goes the Hammer
2. End of Track
3. Nine Pound Hammer
   
4. Bring on the Dancin' Girls
   
5. Oh! What a Town
6. Fourteen Men
7. Destiny
8. Sixteen Tons
9. Trouble Row
10. Chickasaw Mountain
11. Darling, My Darling
12. The Man

UPDATE: This is now available to buy on Amazon! Here's the link to it: The Man

The Stars of "Gentle Ben": The Bear Facts

This is an odd little album from 1969. You remember the show "Gentle Ben" about a boy and his bear and the adventures they had? (Yeah, I know there's more to it than that, but that's about all I remember about it!) Well, apparently in one episode the boy (Clint Howard) had to sing a song. Everybody thought this was fun so somebody in the cast (Dennis Weaver is given the credit or blame as the case may be) thought it would be neat for the entire cast to do a record, and here it is! Featured on the album is Dennis Weaver, Beth Brickell, Clint Howard, Rance Howard, and Candy Candido (the guy who's the "voice" of Gentle Ben), as well as the Good Time People singing songs especially written for the record. Now it says "The Good Time People" over the cast's picture on the back cover, but the GTP's sound like studio singers to me. Anyway, this is a fun little record and I hope you enjoy it!

Here's the track list:

1. Good Time Comin - Good Time People


2. Cobwebs of Your Mind - Dennis Weaver


3. Whatchamacallit - Rance Howard and Clint Howard


4. Love Is a Circus - Beth Brickell


5. I Love to Eat - Candy Candido


6. Feels So Good (To Be Together) - Beth Brickell


7. Days Like These - Dennis Weaver


8. Two By Two - Candy Candido


9. Don't Cry Little Gator - Rance Howard


10. I Am the Way I Am - Clint Howard

Click here or here to download!

Why Mommy...?

I think this was actually two records put together, since the first side is performed by Mr. I. Magination (Paul Tripp) and the second side is done by Tom Glazer. The unifying theme here is songs that answer those questions we had as kids. There's some pretty catchy stuff here, so I think you'll like it!

Here's the track list:

1. We Know the World Is Round
2. What's Inside Our Earth?
3. How Many Colors Are in the Rainbow?
4. Do Animals Talk to One Another?
5. Where Does the Sun Go at Night?
6. How Does a Cow Make Milk?
7. Why Is the Sky Blue?
8. Why Are Stars of Different Colors?
9. Why Do Leaves Change Their Colors?
10. What Makes the Weather?
11. Why Does a Bee Bzzz?
12. Why Do Stars Twinkle?
13. Why Can't I See in the Dark?
14. Why Are Bananas Picked Green?
15. How Do Seeds of Plants Travel?
16. What Foods Should We Eat Every Day?

Click here or here to download!

Kiddie Hit Parade

This album is billed as an "Approved Playcraft Record". Somehow it's affiliated with the Childcraft series of books, which some of you may remember as a sort of children's encyclopedia grouped by subject. I seemed to recall having a set of these at our house when I was a kid. Hey, we didn't have the Internet back then, so we had to do the best we could with what we had! Anyway, here's some fun kid's songs and stories, and I hope you like this!

Here's the track list:

1. Little White Duck
2. In the Land of Hatchy Milatchy
3. On the Good Ship Lollipop
4. Tootles the Tug
5. The Little Shoemaker
6. I'm a Little Teapot
7. Bimbo
8. Happy Birthday
9. The Ballad of Davy Crockett
10. Mule, You Lazy Mule
11. The Arkansas Traveler
12. Turkey in the Straw
13. Mexican Hat Dance
14. Three Blind Mice

Click here or here or here or here to download!

More Transformers Commercials from Mat!!

Look, here's more cool Transformers commercials from Mat, including a local TV station promo for Optimus Prime Week and an ad about an appearance by the Transformers at the Louisville Zoo! Thanks again, Mat!

Lots more miscellaneous Transformers stuff!

Some more great Transformers and other commercials from Mat!

Here's what you'll find in this file:

Transformers Classic Pretenders commercial (.ram file)
Ninja Turtles Talking Toys commercial (.wmv file)
Pac-Man Pasta commercial (.wmv file)
Transformers Action Masters commercial (.ram file)
Transformer comic book (Power Masters) commercial (.ram file)

Blogger in Draft is now offering Video Upload, so I'll try to upload a couple of these to show a sample of what you'll get at the bottom of this file:

Click here or here or here or here to download!

Even more cool Transformers stuff!

Here's more from faithful contributor Mat, including a Transformers record!

This file contains:

Transformers record "Autobots Fight Back"
and some great Transformer commercials.

Video Upload is something new that Blogger is offering, so it may or may not work. If it works, you'll find the commercials below.

Click here to download! (More links coming)

Lots of miscellaneous Transformers stuff!

Here's some fun Transformers comic books and other comic ads contributed by Mat!

Click here or here or here or here to download!

Happy Independence Day from Me and Bob Hope

Yes, it's yet another cut from the CD "Hope for the Holidays". In this one, Bob Hope tells jokes with an Independence theme. Well, sort of. He gets off on a tangent about his brother and school and swimming, but it goes back to being July 4th related at the end. Enjoy!

Click here to download!

A Day in the Life of a Dinosaur

This is a fun little musical story about a child that travels back in time and makes friends with a dinosaur named Bronty. You may notice the credit on the cover that says "Starring Phil Foster as Bronty". I'm thinking this may be the same Phil Foster that played Laverne's father on the show "Laverne and Shirley", but it's hard to tell because his voice is sped up. What do you think?

NOTE: This album is now available to purchase as an mp3 from Amazon! You can get it here.

Broadway: The Children's Delight - The Happy Time Chorus and Orchestra

I was actually hoping that "The Happy Time Chorus" was going to be kids, but these songs are mostly sung by adults, except for kid bits in "Do-Re-Mi" and "Getting to Know You". To be honest, the best thing about this one is the covers. I mean, take a look at these and try to figure out what happened to the little sailor boy between the front cover and the back cover here:


Anyway, hope you like this!

Here's the track list:

1. My Favorite Things (Sound of Music)
2. Do-Re-Mi (Sound of Music)
3. Dites Moi (South Pacific)
4. Getting to Know You (King and I)
5. March of the Siamese Children (King and I)
6. Oklahoma
7. Oh What a Beautiful Morning (Oklahoma)
8. Rain in Spain (My Fair Lady)
9. I Could Have Danced All Night (My Fair Lady)
10. Be Kind to Your Parents (Fanny)

Click here to download!

Animal House Sings & Plays Hits from the Muppet Movie and Sesame Street

What we have here are songs from Sesame Street and The Muppet Show performed by some pretty bad Muppet impersonators. That just makes it more fun, I think! Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. The Muppet Show Theme
2. Baby Face
3. Movin' Right Along
4. The Pig Calypso
5. Mahna Mahna
6. Everyone Makes Mistakes
7. The Grouch Song
8. The Rainbow Connection
9. I Love Trash

Click here or here or here or here to download!

Big Daddy: Meanwhile...Back in the States

And here's the second album from Big Daddy, the band that performed 50's versions of 80's hits! There's actually a third album called "Cutting Their Own Groove", and it's available to download here. If you've enjoyed these other Big Daddy albums, I highly recommend you get this one as well!

Here's the track list:

1. I Want to Know What Love Is
2. Always on My Mind
3. Sussudio
4. Dancing in the Dark
5. I Just Called to Say I Love You
6. Billie Jean
7. Flashdance
8. Jump
9. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
10. Safety Dance
11. Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
12. Every Breath You Take
13. Purple Rain
14. All Night Long

Click here or here or here to download!

Big Daddy (What Really Happened to the Band of '59?)

I've had a number of requests for the other Big Daddy albums, so here's the first one. I've included both front and back covers in the download. There's a lot of fine print on the back cover that I hope comes out legible.

Anyway, enjoy this great album from Big Daddy!

Here's the track list:

1. I Write the Songs
2. Bette Davis Eyes
3. Super Freak
4. Star Wars
5. Whip It
6. Ebony and Ivory
7. You Don't Bring Me Flowers
8. Hit Me With Your Best Shot
9. The Rose
10. Just What I Needed
11. Hotel California
12. Eye of the Tiger

Click here or here or here to download!

"Boxed In" Featuring Punchy and You (INFORMATION UPDATE 6/22/07)

Here's a fun contribution from faithful reader Doug G. I'll let him tell you all about it:

This was a premium offered to drinkers of Hawaiian Punch in the early 90's. I don't recall how many cans of Hawaiian Punch I had to drink to get this, but it seemed like a heck of a lot (mostly because I HATE Hawaiian Punch, but I'm also a cheapskate so if I bought the darn punch I was sure gonna drink it). What we have here is a cassette tape hailed as a "Sonic Adventure" in "3-D sound" starring Punchy, that ultra-violent Hawaiian Punch mascot. The story takes place in a sort of first person with Punchy talking to the listener throughout. Through some fluke, you and Punchy get sucked into your TV set and are being pursued by two guys who border on copyright infringement in their all-too-close resemblance to the Mario Brothers. They (I think they're called the Fellini Brothers or something like that) chase you and Punchy through several TV channels with many a pop reference to early 90's television. Well, in the end those Fallini's get theirs when Punchy asks them "How about a nice..." nah, I won't spoil the ending for you.

I couldn't have said it better myself! Thanks again Doug G.!

UPDATE: As I've mentioned before I love getting comments and emails from you all regarding the blog, but this email was an especially pleasant surprise:

Hi, Tony... my name is David Dean. I've just discovered your blog through TV Squad, and it must have been fate for me to find it when the current page was up... because I wrote and directed that Hawaiian Punch cassette extravaganza, "Boxed In."

This was indeed a premium that you could get through Hawaiian Punch, produced by a small company I worked for called Teeman-Sleppin Enterprises. I edited a few music videos they produced (actually, they were commercials masquerading as music videos -- one was for Cap'n Crunch cereal and featured none other than Rick Derringer, another was for a strange fuzzy toy called Furrever Friends, and one was for a Skittles-like candy called Rascals, where they cast a three-man boy band, called them The Rascalords, and wondered why they couldn't get the thing on MTV), and they asked me if I could produce this twenty-minute or so audio tape that would attempt to -- I'm not kidding here -- make Punchy "hip." The idea was also to try and make the tape itself as much of a 360-degree sonic experience as possible, so if you were to wear headphones it was supposed to feel like you were right in the scene. This is why there are a lot of swirling sound effects, and radical left-right-and-center placement of sounds, and why I wrote it to be a "you are there" kind of format.

We had a cast of only about three or four actors doing all the parts; Punchy was voiced by a guy named Chris Phillips, who was (and still may be) Denis Leary's writing partner (if you look at Leary's old one-man shows, Chris is playing guitar behind him) and was the original signature voice on Cartoon Network. We had a great time working together, and, all in all, I'm pretty pleased with the writing and execution. We may not have made Punchy "hip," but I don't think the tape is dumb, either. (And yes, The Fabulous Fellini Brothers were a direct steal... note the fake Nino Rota music as accompaniment to their videogame...)

Anyway, thanks for the blast from the past. It does look like you have a great site, and I'm looking forward to exploring it now that I'm over the shock of seeing my work on its front page.

P.S. I'm currently the editor of the Travel Channel series "Samantha Brown: Passport to Latin America," airing Wednesday nights at 8:00 eastern and pacific. Last night our previous series, "Passport to Europe," won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Lifestyle Show, for an episode I cut. I'd love to make some kind of connection between Punchy and Samantha, but alas, I cannot.

Thanks David for the inside information on this fun album (and thanks for letting me quote you here)! Since you were nice enough to do that I even threw in your plug for free! :-D


Click here or here or here or here to download!

Ronald McDonald Visits America

This album from 1980 has a pithy little poem for each of the fifty states, brought to you by Ronald McDonald himself! Actually, I don't think this is any of the Ronalds I remember hearing. You'd think they would be able to get the actual one, and that he'd be happy to do the part without having to worry about the costume and makeup, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't believe this was any sort of premium through McDonald's. It was put out by Casablanca Records, the same company that put out KISS albums. I guess they just like doing records with oddly dressed guys in kabuki makeup!

Click here or here or here to download!

Happy Father's Day from Me and Bob Hope!

Here's yet another cut from the CD "Hope for the Holidays", this one features Bob Hope doing a monologue with a Father's Day theme. He talks about Father's Day with his wife and kids, Father's Day when he was growing up, and even has a few cracks about Bing Crosby and his kids!

Happy Father's Day, all you dads out there!

Click here to download!

Raggedy Ann and Andy Pop Concert

Here's a story about Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy and their friends having a secret pop concert after the little girl who owns them moves a piano in the room (and the piano starts talking to them). The songs included on the album are Rock Around the Clock, Hound Dog, Splish Splash, Shake Rattle and Roll, Sha Boom (sp), and My Girl Lollipop. I'm not quite sure who's supposed to be singing on these songs because the voice doesn't sound like any of them! Anyway, hope you like this!

Click here or here or here or here to download!

Rocky & His Friends

Here's one more reason that my blog readers are the best. Not too long ago I shared this album and mentioned that I knew somebody with the Rocky and Bullwinkle album and would share it as soon as he was able to find it again. A couple of days later I received this file in my email from an anonymous contributor! He told me it was OK to share, so here it is!

You've heard some of it on the TV Cartoons album, but this also includes two Mr. Peabody adventures, another song from Boris Badenov, and songs from Mr. Peabody, Sherman, and the Moon Men (Gidney and Cloyd)! Thanks again to our anonymous donor!


Here's the track list:

1. I Was Born to Be Airborne - Rocky



2. I'm Rocky's Pal - Bullwinkle



3. Bullwinkle's Corner: Tom Tom the Piper's Son and Pied Piper



4. Peabody Here



5. Peabody's Adventure: Ponce de Leon



6. The No-Goodnik's Song - Boris and Natasha



7. I Wanna Go Back - Sherman



8. Peabody's Improbable History - Stanley and Livingstone



9. Moon Men - Cloyd and Gidney



10. You Gotta Have a Crook!



11. Fractured Fairy Tale: Riding Hoods Anonymous



12. Reprise and Farewell: Rocky's Song

Click here or here or here or here to download!

Big Daddy: Sgt. Peppers

It was forty years (and 9 days ago) today that the Beatles came out with the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and a number of bloggers are finding contributions to coincide with the event. I figured I'd put this one up by the group Big Daddy. If you'd like to know more about them, you can read my post here. This album takes all the songs from Sgt. Pepper's and does them in a different 50's-early 60's style. A couple of songs are included on the "Best of Big Daddy" album referred to earlier. I hope you guys like this one too!

Here's the track list:

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band


2. With a Little Help from My Friends


3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds


4. Getting Better


5. Fixing a Hole


6. She's Leaving Home


7. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite


8. Within You Without You


9. When I'm Sixty-Four


10. Lovely Rita


11. Good Morning Good Morning


12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)


13. A Day in the Life

Click here or here or here to download!

Music and Stories from Original Hit TV and Movie Cartoons

When I first got this, I was intrigued by all the different company's characters on the cover. I figured this would be really good or really bad, and I was right on both counts. The "Merrie Melodies" cut has somebody doing some pretty lousy imitations of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and the Looney Tunes gang. Then we move to cut 2, "Rocky and Bullwinkle", and it's the real deal here, people! Paul Frees, Bill Scott, and June Foray doing some fun bits and songs with their characters. First Rocky sings "I Was Born to Be Airborne", and then Bullwinkle ("Greetings, record players!") chimes in with the song "I'm Rocky's Pal". Then Boris and Natasha get their own song as well. After that we move to the Fractured Fairy Tale "Little Red Riding Hood". I know I usually complain about a record that just uses the audio from a cartoon, but when the original material is as fun as this, I don't have a problem with it! The Flintstones cut features the original cast singing the show's theme song, with another verse thrown in for the Rubbles. I'm not sure if the Woody Woodpecker song here is the original voice or not, but it's a good effort regardless. I think Popeye's is right too, but it sounds a bit sped up to me. Then we get to the other HB cuts and we're back to poor imitations of the characters.

I'm willing to bet that this is a sampler of sorts for a number of different records. A friend of mine has the Rocky and Bullwinkle record packed away somewhere, and if he ever finds it, I'll borrow it to share here. Anyway, there's some great stuff on this one. I hope you like it!

Here's the track list:

1. Merrie Melodies


2. Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle


3. Boris Badenov and Natasha


4. Fractured Fairy Tales - Little Red Riding Hood


5. Meet the Flintstones


6. Woody Woodpecker


7. Popeye the Sailor Man


8. Yogi Bear and Boo Boo


9. Snagglepuss


10. Blabber Mouse


11. Huckleberry Hound

Click here or here or here or here to download!

The World of Strawberry Shortcake

Now here's a little something for the ladies...

(All right, that's a stereotypical comment. It just seemed to make this fit better with my previous post.)

This is the soundtrack to the TV special "The World of Strawberry Shortcake". It has songs and dialogue on it. I don't own this, so as far as I know this might be the entire thing in audio form. It has the rather original plot of Strawberry Shortcake's friends planning a surprise party for her and her feeling like she's being dissed by her friends because they don't want to do anything with her. Apparently the world of Strawberry Shortcake is filled with lies and deceit (but berry special surprises as well)! Anyway, hope you like it!

Click here or here or here or here to download!

Stan the Man's Hit Record (To Help You Be a Big League Batter)

This was a record from 1963 that you could get from your local Phillips 66 gas station, from a time when gas stations wanted your business so bad that they would give you free gifts if you patronized them! Learn through Stan "The Man" Musial (and co-host Joe Garagiola) techniques on how to improve your batting skills. This record also came with a booklet that further illustrated these techniques, and I have included that in a separate download if you're interested in it. It hasn't improved my batting in Wii Sports Baseball, but maybe it'll work for you in a more practical setting! Hope you like it!

Click here or here or here or here to download the record! (last link on list fixed!)

Click here or here or here or here for the booklet!

Bozo and the Big Top Circus Parade

Here's a record starring Bozo the Clown, as voiced by TV Bozo Larry Harmon. The record is dated 1973 but I'm thinking it's a reprint of an earlier edition (I'm sure one of you nice people reading this can confirm that). The highlight is Bozo's stirring Shatner-esque rendition of "The Marines' Hymn". Also included in the zip file is the back cover which has cut-out figures so you can make your own circus parade! The songs and story intertwine so the track divisions are somewhat arbitrary here. Hope you like it!

Songs featured: I Love a Parade, Washington Post March, The Marines' Hymn, Caissons Go Rolling Along, El Capitan, Merry Go Round Song, Anchors Aweigh, Dixie, Stars and Stripes Forever, I Love a Parade (Finale)

Click here or here to download!

Bob Hope Doesn't Celebrate Mother's Day...

...but he did celebrate Easter when I wasn't looking! Sorry I missed getting this on here in a more timely manner. Hear jokes (some tangentially related to Easter) about women's dresses and Jack Benny (not necessarily in that order)!

Click here or here or here to download!

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

I did some reading up on this one. It's actually not the cast album to the musical. It was a concept album from 1966 simply featuring songs based on the Peanuts characters. The composer, Clark Gesner (who also sings for Linus on this record), was convinced to later make it into a full-fledged musical. The part of Charlie Brown was performed here by Orson Bean, a guy you might recognize from different things depending on how old you are. I remember him as an occasional game show panelist, especially from "Match Game". Others might know his voice as Bilbo Baggins in the animated TV version of "The Hobbit". Some of you might even have a recollection of him as Loren Bray on the show "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman". However you know him, he does a fine job in this. However, he didn't end up taking the role in the eventual Off-Broadway musical. That role went to Gary Burghoff, probably best known as Radar O'Reilly on "M*A*S*H" (and a frequent panelist on "Match Game" himself). That recording has been released on CD, but this one never has. Here's your chance to listen to it and see what you think!

Here's the track list:

1. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
2. Doctor Lucy
3. My Blanket and Me
4. Snoopy
5. The Kite
6. The Baseball Game
7. Little Known Facts
8. Schroeder
9. Suppertime
10. Happiness

Click here or here or here to download!

Mother Goose (Plus the Happy Birthday Song) in Hi-Fi

I haven't tried listening to this with earphones to see if they take advantage of being in Hi-Fi. They probably just wanted to say it because it was a big deal back then.

Actually I bought this for the cover. Don't those kids look excited to be there? Also, I'm really concerned about the one standing on the left. What the heck is he supposed to be? The outfit sort of looks like a rabbit or squirrel or something, but there's no ears on the hood!

Anyway, enjoy listening to this while you figure it out!

Here's the track list:

1. Little Bo Peep
2. Ding Dong Bell
3. The Muffin Man
4. Peter Piper
5. There Was a Crooked Man
6. Three Little Pigs
7. 10 Little Indians
8. London Bridges
9. Did You Ever See a Lassie
10. The Little Red Hen
11. Old MacDonald Had a Farm
12. The Bear Went Over the Mountain
13. The Farmer in the Dell
14. Peter Rabbit
15. Mary Had a Little Lamb
16. Georgy Porgy
17. Cock-a-Doodle-Doo
18. Polly, Put the Kettle On
19. Lazy Mary
20. Happy Birthday Party
21. Rumplestiltskin

Click here or here or here to download!

Donkey Kong

In this story from 1983, Donkey Kong escapes from the zoo, and it's up to Mario to get him back.
This album includes the songs Donkey Kong Theme, No More Zoo for You, The Climber, On Top of the World, Jump Up, Mario Delivers, and Donkey Kong Theme (Reprise), as well as a cheesy accent from the guy playing Mario. The songs are all mixed in with the story though, so the only track break is between sides. I think you'll enjoy this one!

Click here or here or here to download!

Mr. T in "The Dilemma of the Double-Edged Dagger"

Here's a story from 1984 taken from the Mr. T cartoon show where he gets accused of stealing a priceless Aztec dagger, leaving the kids to do most of the work. He does come in at the end and kicks some T butt though!

This is just the record. I might scan in the book later if I get the chance. Hope you like it!

Click here or here or here or here to download!

Creativity starring Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

Here's another album featuring Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Unfortunately this isn't an album of songs. It almost sounds like our friends at Kid Stuff Records simply took the audio from an episode of the cartoon and stuck it on a record. But they'd never be cheap enough to do that, would they?

Click here or here or here or here to download!

Rainbow Brite: Paint a Rainbow in Your Heart

Here's more fun from Kids Music Fan from Boston!

Here's the track list:

1. Color Symphony
2. Paint a Rainbow
3. Prismatism
4. Rainbow Inside
5. Rainbow Land
6. Starlite Rainbow Brite
7. The Pits
8. Twink of an Eye
9. Bink Bonk
10. Friendship
    

Click here or here or here to download!

And here's some songs from the movie "Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer". Thanks again KMFfB!


Click here to download!

The Fabulous Beats Go Country Style!

I'm out of town right now and don't have much time at this computer, but I prepped this one to give you guys something new on the blog.

Here's an odd album from 1964 featuring the Fabulous Beats singing a number of country songs in the style of the Beatles. Is it good? I don't know, but it sure is different!

Here's the track list:

1. Let Me Be the One
2. There She Goes
3. Walkin' After Midnight
4. Lonely Street
5. Release Me
6. Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes
7. Am I That Easy to Forget
8. Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On
9. Just Out of Reach
10. Above and Beyond

Click here or here or here to download!

Clyde & Phyllis: A Musical Fantasy About the World's First Guitar Playing Elephant

I'm concluding my kids records in space series with what must be one of the all-out craziest Golden Records I've ever heard! As you can gather from the title, Clyde is an elephant that can play guitar with his trunk. He's in love with Phyllis, but their love is doomed because Phyllis is an ant. Depressed, Clyde volunteers to be an astronaut and is shot into space where he lands on the moon. At first the Man in the Moon wants to eat Clyde, but after Clyde plays and sings for him, he changes his mind. When he hears Clyde's tale of woe, he suggests that Clyde and Phyllis live in space together because they'd both be weightless and Clyde couldn't accidentally crush little Phyllis. So they both live happily ever after in space. I told you it was crazy! Even the cover by Joe Oriolo is psychodelically bizarre!

The songs on the album have a very distinct bubblegum sound to them. In fact, Clyde's voice reminds me a lot of Ron Dante (lead singer for the Archies), but Dante didn't do any work for Golden Records that I'm aware of. Anyway, bask in the way-outness of Clyde and Phyllis!

Here's the track list (divided somewhat arbitrarily since the songs and the story intermingle) :

1. Hello! My Name Is Clyde
2. There Was a Zoo
3. The Sad Love Affair of Clyde and Phyllis
4. Poor Old Clyde
5. I'm Off to Cape Kennedy
6. A Tune About the Moon
7. Wake Up Clyde! I've Got Good News
8. We'll Float in Space Together

Click here or here or here to download!

The Space Alphabet

Continuing on with our space theme, here's a great kids record that features a song for a planet or other space related word for each letter of the alphabet. They kind of cheat a little (D for Double Star, F for Falling Star, Y for You (?)), and you know what planet they use for the letter U, so get your giggling out of the way right now.

Anyway, hope you like it!

Here's the track list:

1. A - Astronomy and Astronomer
2. B - Big Dipper
3. C - Comets
4. D - Double Star
5. E - Earth
6. F - Falling Star
7. G - Galaxy
8. H - Hydrogen and Helium
9. I - Ionosphere
10. J - Jupiter
11. K - Kepler
12. L - Light Years
13. M - Mars and Mercury
14. N - Neptune
15. O - Orion
16. P - Pluto
17. Q - Quasar
18. R - Radiation
19. S - Saturn
20. T - Telescope
21. U - Uranus
22. V - Venus
23. W - Water Vapor
24. X - X-Ray
25. Y - You
26. Z - Zodiac
27. The Planet Song

The file has been fixed! Someone please try to download it and see if it's OK now. Thanks!

Click here or here or here or here to download!

Journey to the Moon and More About Outer Space

Here's another little tidbit for you. It's another great Golden Record with songs and stories about traveling into space and what the future might hold for us there. Take a listen. I think you'll like it!

I've got a few more space-related kids records coming soon, including the oddest record featuring an elephant and an ant that you've ever heard!

Here's the track list:

1. With a Great Big Noise Like Thunder
2. Meet Space Pilot Jones
3. Rocket to the Moon
4. City in Space
5. Is It Raining in Paris
6. The Story of the Planets
7. The Big TV Show in Space
8. 50 Round Trips
9. Put a Penny in the Scale
10. Window in Space
11. Sea of Showers
12. Rainbow Bay
13. Great Big Noise

Click here or here or here to download!

Tupperware's Big Top Jubilee 1978

With all the messing with links that I've been going through lately, I didn't realize that I haven't put anything new up here for a while, so here's something suitably way out to get the party rolling again. This was apparently some sort of musical circus themed show sponsored by Tupperware. There's not a lot of information on the album itself. Presumably the only place you could have bought it was at the show itself, so I guess you knew what you'd be getting yourself in to. Anyway, it's an odd little show with some semi-talented singing, so give it a try!

Here's the track list:

1. Overture
2. I Have Always Wanted to Be in the Circus
3. Early in the Morning
4. The Circus Is Coming
5. Come Gather 'Round
6. We're Ruined
7. Is This the Ending
8. Please Don't Close the Circus
9. Big Top Jubilee

Click here or here or here to download!

Captain Kangaroo and His Friends Sing Songs of the Treasure House

Here's a great contribution from "Snappercar" featuring Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Green Jeans, Mr. Moose, Bunny Rabbit, and all those great characters from the Treasure House. Listening to this you can tell that it's got a lot of mileage on it, even after I was able to do some clean up on it. It even has a few skips in it. However, I still thought it was so cool that it was worth sharing. I think you'll like it too. Thanks Snappercar!

Here's the track list:

1. Getting the Treasure House Ready
2. I Like All Kinds of Animals
3. When Ping Pong Balls Are Falling
4. Finish My Rhyme
5. When Bunny Plays the Piano
6. Fish
7. I Like to Sing
8. What'll I Be Today
9. Tic Tac Toe
10. A Person You Like

Click here to download!

Woody Woodpecker Presents...

Here's a fun album from 1957. Even though Woody Woodpecker is prominently featured on the album cover and is the subject of a few of the songs, don't expect to hear that familiar voice, other than the one used at the very beginning of the cartoons (and that exact same audio clip is used a few times). There's someone that does a voice for Woody in a couple of the songs, but he sounds nothing like the real voice!

Anyhow, there's some neat tunes here and a few stories as well. Hope you like it!

UPDATE: As reader Jon Cooke pointed out, that voice I couldn't identify (and really should have) belongs to cartoon voice veteran Hal Smith, who did quite a few character roles as well, notably Otis the town drunk on "The Andy Griffith Show". Thanks for the info, Jon!

Here's the track list:

1. Woody Woodpecker Song
2. Who's in the Zoo
3. Oswald the Rabbit Hop
4. Zebby the Zebra
5. Woody Woodpecker Waltz
6. Western Pony
7. Woody Woodpecker March
8. Littlest Reindeer
9. Chilly Willy the Penguin
10. Whopper Whale
11. Andy Panda Polka
12. Pepito Chickeeto

UPDATE: This album is now available to purchase in mp3 format from Amazon.com! You can get it here.

More Ninja Turtles!!

And here's more Ninja Turtle music, again courtesy of Kids Music Fan from Boston! There's highlights from the TMNT 3 soundtrack, themes to the new shows, and even the original theme in other languages.

Did you know that in England the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were referred to as the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles because they weren't allowed to use the word Ninja in a kid's show?

I'd give you the track list here, but I'm afraid I might identify stuff wrong, so just download it and enjoy!!

Click here or here or here to download!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Coming Out of Their Shells

Did you know that in 1990 the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles went on a concert tour (or at least guys dressed up to look like them did)? This is the soundtrack to that concert (which I found out was a promotional cassette from Pizza Hut), courtesy of Kids Music Fan from Boston.

NOTE: For some reason, Track 4 (Skipping Stones) is listed twice. I'll try to fix that in the next few days. Until then, just delete the extra one and you're all set!

Here's the track list:

1. Coming Out of Their Shells
2. Sing About It
3. Tubin'
4. Skipping Stones
5. Pizza Power
6. Walk Straight
7. No Treaties
8. Cowabunga
9. April Ballad
10. Count on Us

Click here or here to download!

And here's a hilarious review of the "Making of the 'Coming Out of Their Shells' Tour" video from Matt at X-Entertainment!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

And here's the soundtrack to the second Ninja Turtles movie, again with the help of Kids Music Fan from Boston. Cowabunga!

Here's the track list:

1. Awesome (You Are My Hero) - Ya Kid K
2. Ninja Rap - Vanilla Ice
3. Find the Key to Your Life - Cathy Dennis and David Morales
4. Moov! - Tribal House
5. Consciousness (That's Your) - Dan Hartman
6. This World - Magnificent Vii
7. Creatures of Habit - Spunkadelic
8. Back to School - Fifth Platoon
9. Cowabunga - Orchestra on the Half Shell
10. Tokka and Rahzar: Monster Mix - Orchestra on the Half Shell

Click here or here to download!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Soundtrack

In honor of the holiday, and the new movie TMNT (Sidenote: Do you notice that when they want to make something trendy and cool, they just refer to it by its initials, like when the New Kids on the Block became NKOTB? And we all know how well that went!), here's the soundtrack to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, courtesy of Kids Music Fan from Boston. Thanks KMFFB!

Here's the track list:

1. This Is What We Do - M.C. Hammer
2. Spin That Wheel - Hi Tek 3
3. Family - Riff
4. 9.95 - Spunkadelic
5. Turtle Power - Partners in Kryme
6. Let the Walls Come Down - Jeremy Kemp
7. Every Heart Needs a Home - St. Paul
8. Shredder's Suite - John Du Prez
9. Splinter's Tale I & Splinter's Tale II - John Du Prez
10. Turtle Rhapsody (see note below)
    

ADDED NOTE: Hey guys, I'm afraid I don't have "Turtle Rhapsody". This file was donated to me, so I sent it out just as I got it. If anybody here happens to have a copy of "Turtle Rhapsody", I'll be more than happy to add it on here as well. Thanks!

Click here or here to download!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from me and Bob Hope!

I couldn't let a holiday go by without a track from "Bob Hope: Thanks for the Holidays". This one is for St. Patrick's Day, and talks about Irish people, drinking, and celebrities you may or may not know. Enjoy!

Click here or here or here to download!

(And by the way, also in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'll also try to feature an album or two today featuring some green individuals you probably are familiar with!)