Land of Lemonade and Lollipops

Here's another one of those albums with songs from a number of sources and a strange random looking cover ("So, Kid, move that candy cane over a little to the right. No, MY right!"). There's some pretty good songs here though. This also scores points for being my new favorite version of "Big Rock Candy Mountain". See if you like it as much as I do.

Here's the track list:

1. Land of Lemonade and Lollipops
2. Big Rock Candy Mountain
3. Back Home (Way Back Home)
4. Marching Song (Children's Marching Song)
5. Little Dutch Boy & Little Dutch Girl
6. Dem Dry Bones
7. Little Red Schoolhouse
8. Stasha Pandowski
9. Billy Boy
10. Grandfather Clock

Click here or here to download!

The Next Hundred Years - The Ragtimers

Remember back in the late 1960s when everybody thought it was cool to do songs that sounded like they came out in the twenties? Yeah kids, people really did that. This is an album of old songs (and songs they made sound old) by the Ragtimers, a group I know absolutely nothing about. Hope you like it!

Here's the track list:

1. The Next Hundred Years
2. (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
3. Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?
4. My Melody of Love
5. Soft Shoe Song (Give Me That Old Soft Shoe)
6. Those Were the Days
7. Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose
8. Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree
9. What Have They Done to My Song, Ma
10. Second Hand Rose
11. Ragtime Waltz
12. The Entertainer

Click here to download!

Trains, Planes and Space Ships

This is an odd little album. The first cut, "Skyliner Flight 35", is a simulation of how it sounded if you were in the cockpit listening to the pilots take off and land a plane. The second, "The Columbia Limited" is the same sort of thing except with a train, and the other two cuts, for no particular reason, are two Rocky Jones sci-fi adventures. Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. Skyliner Flight 35


2. The Columbian Limited


3. Rocky Jones and the Space Pirates


4. Shipwrecked on Planet X

Click here or here to download!

Puff and Toot and Other Musical Stories - Twinkle Orchestra and Chorus

I was going to tell you about this exciting album of train (and clown) songs, but I think the liner notes on the back of the album will do a much better job than I will. (Note the punctuation and spelling are exactly as they're found in the quote) :

Hi there, the jolly conductor of Twinkle Records tells us that he is all set to take us on an imaginative trip to adventure land with Puff & Toot.

We can't wait . . . First we'll ride the Red Caboose and we'll see Squeegie the Clown and stop Down By The Station. But Oh then . . . we can ride the Chocolate Train . . . isn't that exciting? Just think a Chocolate Train all for us. I can't wait can you. Well climb on cause here we go..."ALL ABOARD".

Hi, it's me again. I was going to tell you guys to curtail any "Chocolate Train" jokes, but whoever wrote this seems to dwell on it a bit TOO much if you ask me. And if they wanted us to be excited, you'd think they would have put at least one exclamation point in there. Anyway, this really is a fun combination of train songs (most likely from a number of different sources), so enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. Puff and Toot


2. The Red Caboose


3. Chocolate Train


4. Squeegie the Happy Clown


5. Down by the Station


6. I've Been Working on the Railroad


7. Circus


8. Where Do Ya Worka John

Click here or here to download!

Galloping on My Dinosaur and Other Fun Songs for Children - Larry Thor

I'm not familiar with Larry Thor, but according to the Internet Movie Database he did quite a bit of work on radio and TV, appearing in such series as The Munsters, Leave It to Beaver, Gilligan's Island, and The Andy Griffith Show. These are some fun little songs written by Thor himself that simply feature him and his guitar. With all the crazy orchestrated and synthesized albums I normally hear, this is a very pleasant change of pace. Hope you like it!

Here's the track list:

1. Sad Day, Lonely Day
2. The Gimme Pig
3. When You Hurt
4. Picnic
5. Answer Every Question
6. Matinee Lullaby
7. Scary Song
8. Since You Went Away
9. Worry Time
10. TV Song
11. Galloping on My Dinosaur
12. Lullaby

Click here to download!

Songs from "Your a Good Man Charlie Brown" - The Kid Stuff Repertory Company

I have found yet another version of the "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" album, this one from the infamous Kid Stuff Repertory Company. These are the same people who did the two kiddie disco albums I recently had on the blog. There is one problem with this album right off the bat, which you'll notice if you look at the album cover above. The actual title of this album is "Songs from Your a Good Man Charlie Brown". That's right, they couldn't even spell the name of the show correctly! And they had a number of shots to get it right: The title on the front cover, the song list on the cover, the title on the spine of the album, even the label on the record itself get it wrong!

And the interpretations for the songs are all screwy. For instance, the title song, which should be this loud fun boisterous tune has been turned into a slow ballad like the poor guy died or something! And "Happiness", which should be a slow song, is done uptempo. The intro to "The Kite", with its heavy synthesizer, makes it sound like it should be the theme to a news show. "Suppertime" sounds like the music is done by Miami Sound Machine. "Snoopy" is OK, except the beginning and end, which are supposed be slow and wistful are fast, and the middle part (the "fierce jungle animal" part) is slow. And finally, if you've ever wanted to hear Linus's song "My Blanket and Me" done in the style of a '70s cop show theme, you now have your wish.

When I listened to this, I spent half the time laughing and half the time shaking my head in disbelief. This is, to my knowledge, the strangest version of this music I've ever heard. There is a sort of morbid fascination here, like trying not to stare at a car accident but not being able to help yourself.

And one more thing. Take a good look at the kid I guess was supposed to represent Charlie Brown on the cover. How do you like that t-shirt?

Half of me think that that's the most pathetic thing I've ever seen, and the other half thinks I should go to CafePress and declare it the first official Way Out Junk t-shirt design!!

Here's the track list:

1. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
2. The Kite
3. My Blanket and Me
4. Happiness
5. Suppertime
6. Snoopy
7. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Reprise)

Click here to download!

Victor Borge Presents His Own Enchanting Version of Hans Christian Andersen

This was a special request that I was happy to fill. It has stories by Hans Christian Andersen told by another of Denmark's famous natives, pianist/comedian Victor Borge. This is interesting because, interspersed with Andersen's tales, Borge talks about his childhood and how much these famous stories meant to him, even to the point of reading while he was practicing scales on the piano. Now he pretty much tells the stories as is, playing classical music underneath and only throwing in humor when it is appropriate.

This album was put out in 1966 by Eastern Air Lines, so I'm thinking it was possibly a reissue of an album later used as a premium or giveaway. Whatever it was, it's a wonderful set of stories told and accompanied by Borge. Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. Introduction and My Favorite Song
2. The Tinder Box
3. The Ugly Duckling
4. The Emperor's New Clothes
5. The Princess and the Pea
6. Papa's Always Right
7. The Little Match Girl
8. It's Perfectly True

Click here to download!

Doctor Dolittle Presents the Grasshoppers

Like my previous share, this is reminiscent of the Beatles as well, but only in name. This group of singing insects was featured on the "Doctor Doolittle" cartoon. This is nothing more than a bunch of happy perky pleasant little songs. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Enjoy!

Here's the track list:

1. When You Wear a Happy Smile
2. Everything's Gonna Be Fine
3. Tiger Moo
4. You've Got an Allergy
5. It's the Happenin' Thing
6. Doggone Dog
7. When the Sky Is Clear, When the Water's Clean
8. On a Train Goin' West
9. Good Friends Come in All Sizes
10. You Can Do It
11. You Can Really Fly
12. A Friend in Need

Click here to download!

Once Upon a Beetle - The London Theatre Players

Going from disco to the British Invasion, here's a story about four little Beetles who want to make their fortune playing music. It's a fun little story that at least is done by British people. (I'm assuming the London Theatre Players are British.)

You may have noticed the unusual cover for this record. Apparently the original cover was a puzzle in the surrounding frame, and under that you could color the picture. Well, the copy I got didn't have the puzzle pieces in it any more, and the picture had been colored so long ago I couldn't get the colors off! Anyway, hope you like this album!

Click here to download!

Toon Tunes - Action-Packed Anthems

When I took off "The Mighty Hercules" CD because it became available from Amazon.com, it was pointed out to me that the actual "Mighty Hercules" theme song was not a part of that album. I had included it as a bonus track. This is the CD I got the song from. I checked around and it turns out that it's out of print, so I figured I'd put it up here! There's a wide range of cartoon themes here, from "Underdog" to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", and even rarities like "The Hardy Boys" cartoon and "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan"! I think most of these are the real theme songs as heard on the cartoon, but I get a feeling that some of these may have been redone. This also helps to fulfill one of my unofficial goals, which is to have as many versions of the Popeye theme song as possible. Yeah, I think this one is different from any of the others I've got. In fact, it sounds to me like the oldest version of them all. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this!

Here's the track list:

1. Super Friends
2. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
3. Speed Racer
4. Batman: The Animated Series
5. The Tick
6. The Powerpuff Girls
7. Jonny Quest
8. Space Ghost
9. Sailor Moon
10. Spider-Man
11. King Kong
12. Duck Tales
13. Underdog
14. X-Men
15. Popeye the Sailor
16. Mighty Mouse
17. The Mighty Hercules
18. Super Chicken
19. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers
20. The New Scooby-Doo Movies
21. The New Adventures of Superman
22. Astro Boy
23. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
24. Hong Kong Phooey
25. Darkwing Duck
26. The Hardy Boys
27. Gigantor
28. Tale Spin
29. Crusader Rabbit
30. The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan
31. The Atom Ant Show
32. Touche Turtle
33. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
34. Captain Planet and the Planeteers
35. The Secret Squirrel Show
36. The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

Click here to download!

Shadow Dancing and Other Disco Favorites - The Kid Stuff Repertory Company

If you didn't get your fill of the Kid Stuff Repertory Players going disco from the last album, here's another one for you. You may notice from looking at the titles that they were so cheap they couldn't even afford to buy the extra Oogie in "Boogie Oogie Oogie"! Of course these two albums were so short they probably could have combined both of them into one, but they can sell more records that way. (And yes, these albums were so short that *I* probably could have combined them, but I was able to get two entries out of them this way!)

Here's the track list:

1. Boogie Oogie
2. Jack & Jill
3. See You When I Get There
4. Shadow Dancing
5. More Than a Woman
6. Easy to Love

Click here or here to download!

Night Fever and More Songs from "Saturday Night Fever" - The Kid Stuff Repertory Company

Here's some songs from "Saturday Night Fever" presented by those guys from the Kid Stuff Repertory Company. It's not too bad for a bunch of studio guys I guess, but I don't think these are the same people who do the children's stories!

Here's the track list:

1. Boogie Shoes
2. Stayin' Alive
3. Open Sesame
4. You Should Be Dancin'
5. Nite Fever
6. A Fifth of Beethoven

Click here or here to download!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Little Fir Tree, and The Night the Animals Talked

I figured this would be a good one for the day before Christmas. This isn't the actual poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" but a dramatization of it. This also has the story of the little fir tree who wanted to see the world, as well as the story of the Nativity from the animals' point of view. It says on the liner notes that "The Night the Animals Talked" is a "new and very beautiful story", but I could have sworn I'd heard this story before. Could this have been the first presentation of it?

Anyway, this album features stories performed by voices that will probably sound quite familiar to you (even if the names aren't household words) : Peter Fernandez, Jack Grimes, Jackson Beck and others done in "Stereo Motion", designed to "bring your child into the story". I hope you all enjoy this, and have a very Merry Christmas!

Here's the track list:

1. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
2. The Little Fir Tree
3. The Night the Animals Talked

Click here or here to download!

Christmas on the Moon - Tim Dinkins

Wow. I don't know what to say about this, other than it makes Frank di Silvestro sound like Lennon & McCartney by comparison! Almost all of these songs are written by Mrs. Nellie Bond who, according to the liner notes, Dinkins met while performing on the Squeaking Deacon Show. They wanted to do an album of all new Christmas songs, and this is what they came up with.

The songs are all sung by Tim Dinkins with a couple of exceptions. One singer, referred to as the "Mystery Guest", sings "The Wise Ole Owl". The liner notes say that they're certain "he'll not be a mystery anymore once you've heard him". I hate to break it to them, but he's still a mystery to me. The second one is a little girl named Susan Kay (who they heard singing on a radio show on station K.I.E.V. (probably performing something Ukranian)). She sings a song called "I Won't Let You Lick My Candy Bar". Thank goodness Tim didn't sing this one as well. That would have been creepy. And speaking of creepy, Tim does his best adowable wittle kid impersonation for the song "A Little Boy's Letter to Santa". Apparently Tim wanted to give me the jibblies for Christmas. *SHUDDER*

I think this might have been shared elsewhere, but I scored a sealed copy of this album so I felt like I should share this clean copy of it. This is just mind-numbingly bizarre, but it's definitely interesting!

Here's the track list (All songs sung by Tim Dinkins unless listed otherwise) :

1. Santa's Rocket
2. The Empty Chair
3. Two Little Stockings
4. I Won't Let You Lick My Candy Bar - Susan Kay
5. Just a Little Birdie in a Coo Coo Clock
6. Merry Christmas
7. The Wise Ole Owl - Mystery Guest
8. Ole Pop Reindeer
9. Christmas Message
10. Christmas Comes to Everyone
11. A Little Boy's Letter to Santa
12. Tinkle Toes

Click here or here to download!

The Cowboys Sing Holiday Halftime

I hope somebody can give me more information on this album. The title, as you can see, is called "The Cowboys Sing Holiday Halftime". That's because it features the Dallas Cowboys football team singing Christmas songs. As I did more research, I found that there are other Christmas albums available with other football teams singing Christmas songs. The covers look exactly the same except for the change in title. What I'm wondering is, did they actually get each team to sing, record, and release their own album, or did they just get a huge group of football players to record one album and release it with the different names? Another interesting thing is that in the song "Let It Snow" there's a solo by Lance Rentzel, who I believe played for the Cowboys when this album was released. If these songs were all done with one big group of guys, did they pick a member of each team to sing the solo in that song and put it on the appropriate team's album? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, no matter what team you like!

Here's the track list:

1. Deck the Halls
2. All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
3. Winter Wonderland
4. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
5. A Tropical Winter
6. Frosty the Snowman
7. Let It Snow
8. Jingle Bells
9. Auld Lang Syne

Click here or here to download!

Heidi the Pocketbook Doll - Adventures in Fairy Land

One way I'm sort of fudging on putting other records in with my Christmas ones is by saying that this album involves a toy that many little girls probably got for Christmas. Does that count?

This is an odd little album that involves a doll named Heidi visiting a lot of different fairy tale characters, and even though these are all characters that kids have grown to know, the stories still seem to revolve around the fast-talking Heidi and the Jeep she drives. In fact, for extra giggles, every time she mentions her Jeep, say "Sold separately" afterwards (like they always to on the commercials). You'll say it a lot!

The back of the album shows pictures of some of the other accessories you can get for Heidi to help make her life complete. Somehow, captioning the bathroom set with the sentence "Oodles of boudoir glamour for little girls!" just sort of creeps me out.

Anyway, enjoy these delightful adventures of Heidi the Pocketbook Doll and her Jeep (sold separately).

Click here or here to download!

UPDATE: If you want a literal dose of Heidi the Pocketbook Doll and Christmas, than you can get a copy of Heidi's "The Night Before Christmas" album here at Ernie (Not Bert)!

The Year Without a Santa Claus - Boris Karloff, Narrator

Here's Boris Karloff narrating one of your favorite Christmas stories that was later turned into a cool animated special and a not nearly so good live-action remake! No, not the Grinch. (We've already got Zero Mostel doing that one.) This is the story of "The Year Without a Santa Claus" which, I must admit, I didn't realize was a story before the animated version came out. You may be disappointed to find out that, even though the basic story is the same, the stop-motion animated special we know and love added quite a bit to the story. There's no Heat Miser or Snow Miser here, no Jingle or Jangle the Elf, no Mother Nature, not even Mrs. Claus. The only characters I think the two have in common are Santa and the little boy named Ignatius Thistlewhite. This also features some other Christmas songs by a number of different artists, but the best part is hearing Karloff's dulcet tones telling us another Christmas story.

The bottom of the cover states that this is "Presented for the holiday pleasure of young and old by the E.F. MacDonald Incentive Company, 1968". I don't know if that means it was a special giveaway or what. I'd never heard of this album myself until a few months ago. I was looking around online for more info, when I found that Max at "Drunken Severed Head" had featured this album on his blog last year. He has some great background information about the story and the album and, with his kind permission, he's allowed me to link you up to it here. His link to the album no longer works though, so I in turn gave him permission to link over here to me! Isn't the Internet swell? Thanks, Max!

Here's the track list:

1. The Year Without a Santa Claus - Boris Karloff
2. The Christmas Waltz - The Lettermen
3. Old Toy Trains - Glen Campbell
4. Don't Forget to Feed the Reindeer - Peggy Lee
5. The Little Drummer Boy - Al Martino
6. I Sing Noel - Sandler and Young
7. Jingle Bells - Roger Wagner Chorale

NOTE: This has now been released on CD (with different songs included). You can get it by clicking the link below!

A Christmas Album for the Whole Family - Music & Lyrics by Frank di Silvestro

Hi! Sorry about the delay in getting something new on here. (Again.) I'm afraid I don't have enough Christmas albums to get me through the month, even starting now. So I'll sprinkle a few Christmasy things along with some other stuff.

This is sort of an unusual album. I bought it (still sealed) at Goodwill for a quarter. That cover is just all over the map, isn't it? The songs on this album are all composed by Frank Di Silvestro, and sung by two young ladies and a girl who solo on the different songs. The music itself sounds all synthesized. And the songs...well, the songs just don't sound quite right to me. It's not the performances; they're all fine. I think it's Frank's writing. Sometimes there's a wonky attempt at a rhyme. Often a line will have three or four extra syllables so it doesn't quite scan right. Give it a listen and see what you think.

All three singers list a number of generic credits (performing in commercials and/or soaps), but Meg Bussert actually has a pretty decent resume. She's performed on Broadway in "Camelot" with Richard Harris, among other things. And she's now a full-time Professor at NYU, teaching Acting and Theatre Studies. I would certainly call her the best one on this album, even managing to pull off different sounding vocals on "I'm Little Miss Christmas". Meanwhile, the most interesting thing I've found that Frank Di Silvestro has done is write a book called "Boy Jesus and His Dog".

Anywho, I've got a few more Christmas albums coming soon in the mix, so enjoy this!

Here's the track list:

1. When Mrs. Claus Plays Piano - Denyse St. George
2. Silver Bell, the Heavenly Reindeer - Meg Bussert
3. Toy Heaven - Kristy Graves
4. The Rockefeller Center Tree - Meg Bussert
5. I'm Little Miss Christmas - Meg Bussert
6. I Love Christmas in New York - Meg Bussert
7. Ice Dancing - Meg Bussert
8. Christmas Carousel - Meg Bussert
9. Mrs. Claus Is Special Too - Meg Bussert
10. On Christmas I'll See Lots of Snow - Meg Bussert
11. Blitzen & the Caribou Fell in Love - Denyse St. George
12. The Christmas Rose - Kristy Graves
13. We Are Children Who Love to Sing - Kristy Graves
14. Sam the Snowman & Flo the Snowwoman - Meg Bussert
15. I Dreamed I was in Christmasland - Denyse St. George

Click here or here to download!

BONUS: Here's a clip of Meg Bussert as Queen Guinevere in a revival of Camelot:

Be a Train - Selma Rich Brody

Selma Rich Brody strikes again! Here's a fun album that's all about pretending you're a train, and the different adventures you can have. On the back of the album cover (and included with this download) is a train hat you can cut out and wear, if you need a bit more motivation (or loco-motivation if you will). Anyway, hope you enjoy this!

Here's the track list:

1. Rollo the Railroad Train
2. Train School
3. Mountain Train
4. I'm a Train
5. Chugga Chugga Choo Choo
6. Little Train That Caught a Cold
7. Mail Train
8. Happy Train Song
9. I Got a Train for My Birthday
10. Rollo the Railroad Train

Click here or here to download!

OGF Wisdom for December

(Click on the pic to make it bigger)

Here's your Prof. Otis G. Firefly wisdom for December, right on time (because I'm putting it in in August)! Enjoy!!

This concludes the monthly words of wisdom from "Prof. Otis G. Firefly's Phantasmagoric Almanac". I hope you all enjoyed it! I'll try to think of something else for a running gag for next year.