Um, hello?

Me here...the Keeper Of Records. My apologies for not keeping up with my keeping. You're asking me, "What in the name of hell happened?! Why has it been more than 6 months since I've seen any updates?" Well, lots has happened. A new job in a new area has taken up a lot of time. The move to the new area has left my collection of almost 3,000 records shuffled seemingly beyond organization (but fortunately undamaged). Plus, I'm adding new stuff to the library, most of which comes from flea market runs to the old area. And to top things off, there's about to be yet another equipment upgrade...involving the switch from a PC to a Mac, which I'm using to post this message.

Since I've been gone, I've noticed several great blogs and sharity sites that have either been taken down entirely or stopped offering new material. It was a tough decision for them, I'm sure. I thought about going that route myself with all that's been going on in the past few months. But as I re-shelved my records and explored the web I realized just how much sites like this mean to some people. I owe it to them not to bow out entirely. And the music is too interesting not to share. Not always good, but almost always interesting. And otherwise unobtainable in many cases.

If you're still out there, tell me something: are you interested in becoming a vinyl collector? Would you like to know more about turntables and the art of playing vinyl? I'm considering doing monthly column-type things to maybe inspire people to start their own collections, or help people bring their collections back to life and make them sound better than ever. If you have any other suggestions, e-mail them to me and I'll consider them for the re-launch.

Hope to be back sharing again soon.

The Keeper of Records

Happy New Year!

For those of you still reeling from your new year celebrations, we offer an unusual remedy. In 1978, Miles Laboratories, the makers of Alka Seltzer, released a special collection of hits. What made it special was not so much the hits themselves. In fact, other than two tracks, the entire album was the same greatest hits collection you could get anywhere else. But the two special tracks are indeed truly special. They're rare versions of the Plop Plop Fizz Fizz song as performed by...Sammy Davis, Jr. And they're here for you to enjoy:

Plop Plop Fizz Fizz: Rock version (2.5 MB)
Plop Plop Fizz Fizz: Big Band (2.4 MB)

Happy New Year from thedepartmentofrecords.com!

A Year At The Top/Hawaii Five-0

Here's probably one of the oddest double bills since Jimi Hendrix was on tour with the Monkees.

Would you sell your soul to have a shot at the spotlight? In 1977, an NBC TV show chronicled the tale of two guys from Boise who did just that. They were looking for their break, and found an agent who had an unusual clause in his contract: "In exchange for their fame, Greg and Paul must sign away their souls to me, the son of the devil." Interestingly enough, A Year At The Top was co-produced by none other than Don Kirshner - the man who gave us The Monkees and The Archies. Coinciidence? Maybe that's why NBC pulled the show after 4 episodes.

A Year At The Top was an unholy alliance between Kirshner and another famous producer: Norman Lear, who by this point had clearly lost the magic touch that put All In The Family (and all its many spinoffs) and Sanford And Son
on the air a few years before. As for Greg and Paul, well, they didn't too too badly after this. Greg was played by Greg Evigan, who went on to BJ And The Bear the next year, and My Two Dads in the '80s. Paul? That's David Letterman's right hand musical man Paul Shaffer. You get to hear them play and sing on this album (that's Paul doing the falsettos), which is impressive simply because it was released for such a short-lived TV show.

TRACK LISTING
Paul Shaffer & Greg Evigan A Year At The Top Casablanca Records, 1977

SIDE 1
She's A Rebel
Like A Rising Star
Give Me More
We've Come So Far
A Year At The Top

SIDE 2
We're Lovers After All
Good Time Girl
Sweet Love
Love Just Comes And Goes
You Are The One

ZIP FILE if you dare - contains the entire album, front cover and bonus photos! (23 MB)



Here's a soundtrack to a show that lasted much longer than A Year At The Top - 12 years, in fact. Hawaii Five-0 was one of the longest-running crime dramas on TV, thanks to the beautiful Hawaiian settings and Jack Lord in his role of Steve McGarrett. Also getting some credit is the unforgettable theme to Five-0, which you can hear in its full original form. It's in stereo, if that's a bonus for you. This album contains the theme and incidental music used on the show for the first couple of seasons, all composed by Morton Stevens. Track 2, Call To Danger, is the basis for music of the CBS Special Presentation intro used in the '70s.

TRACK LISTING
Morton Stevens
Original Hawaii Five-0 Soundtrack
Capitol Records, 1969

SIDE 1
Hawaii Five-0
Call To Danger
McGarrett's Theme
Front Street
The Long Wait
Blues Trip

SIDE 2
The Floater
Interlude
Operation Smash
Beach Trip
Up Tight
The Chase/Hawaii Five-0

ZIP File - all tracks plus front cover (27.8 MB)

Learning About Me & The Way I Move/It's About Time

In September we gave you a bunch of great educational albums to listen to. These two are the Keeper's favorites. They were produced in 1974 and 1975, respectively. Learning About Me is a nice, acoustic/soft-rock flavored way to teach kids about their growing bodies. It's About Time teaches about, well, time, and cranks things up a notch with musical varieties ranging from swing to country to plain ol' rock. The standout has to be Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow with its totally rockin' guitar intro.

Both albums feature Gail Contini and Steve Clayton on vocals. The great arrangements were done by Jamie Glaser, who at the time was about 20 years old. His parents, Hy and Lynn, wrote the songs and produced the albums.

These albums were uploaded to upload.sc, and alternative to yousendit that allows more downloads per file and keeps files for a minimum of 30 days. Files are deleted after 30 days without a download.























TRACK LISTING
Learning About Me And The Way I Move
Ultrasound Records, 1974

SIDE 1
The Walking Song
The Jumping Song
The Skipping Song
The Hopping Song
The Running Song

SIDE 2
The School Parade
I Can
The Parts Of Me
What I Can Do With Me
Look At Me

.ZIP File (19.3 MB)
All songs and front cover
























TRACK LISTING
It's About Time
Ultrasound Records, 1975

SIDE 1
Seven Days In A Week
Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
Twelve Months
Thirty Days In September
The Clock Song

SIDE 2
The Season Is Fall
When Winter Comes
Spring Is Here!
Summer
A Time For Everything We Do

ZIP file (21 MB)
All songs and front cover

It's Christmas After All!

While we're doing our year-end review and giving you your favorite albums, we'd like to let you know that we actually are posting Christmas music. We're just being sneaky and not doing it here. But if you go over to visit our friends at falalalala.com, you'll find new stuff every once in a while. We've just posted :Larry Ferrari's "I Wish You The Merriest". Larry was the king of Philadelphia organists. He had his own show on WPVI, Philly's ABC station for 43 years, and released several albums. "I Wish You The Merriest" is an early '60s offering you'll like for its rendition of Blue Christmas. There's plenty more to like too. Look for it in the Members Share section of the forum. We'll see you there!

The Safari

Here's the winner of the voting that took place in November. Safari's a great kids' album from 1979. It takes listeners on a jungle tour of sorts, with lots of interesting locals to meet. The arrangements are witty, with instruments mimicking the sounds of the animals themselves on many tracks. Kids' music maven Steve Clayton is one of the two male singers here, and on the next 2 albums you'll hear. Check back next week for those.

TRACK LISTING
The Safari
Clarus Records, 1979

SIDE 1
The Safari
Chitter Chatter Monkeys
Herbivorous Hippopotamus
Nocturnal Animals
Horns
The Lion Is The King

SIDE 2
Elephant
Ostrich
The Long Necked Giraffe
Watch Your Step
Birds In The Wild Are So Free
The Safari (Reprise)

The Entire Album
as a ZIP file. Figure on about 27 MB - the file includes all songs plus the front cover art.

Behind The Blog

In television, some stations like to take some time during the holidays to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the things and people that make your favorite shows possible. We've decided to do the same thing here at thedepartmentofrecords.com by introducing you to the team that makes the albums happen.


On the left is the most important part of the team: the Pioneer PL-518 turntable. It's a direct-drive unit made in the late '70s. This is not one of those $90 toys you get at Best Buy. No siree, ma'am. This one cost a whole $14.98 at a thrift store. It's direct drive with a pitch control and automatic return, and it weighs about 30 pounds. To find one with feet that haven't rotted off is rare, and this one stands on all fours. It works just fine, but it's been upgraded with a wonderful Audio-Technica AT440ML cartridge. Most of the albums you've heard since summer have been spun from this table.

On the stack on the right sits an hp Pavilion laptop. This trusty steed is outfitted with Creative Wave Studio, which is a nice quick way to get the albums out to you. The Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 NX sound card is next door to its right. This little card does the trick, and more. It even has 7.1 channel surround sound and optical in and out.

Below, another thrift find: a Tascam 133 cassette deck. This is a professional model with XLR connectors, and DBX noise reduction with an outboard box. It records at 2 speeds, which is just dandy for slowing down Chipmunk voices or speeding up those godawfully slow Christmas choir performances.

Underneath it all, a Harman Kardon PM645 amp. No tuner here, just good solid sound for cheap. You guessed it, another thrift find. It came from the same lot as the cassette deck. This mid '80s piece is good for 40 watts per channel.

This team is currently looking for a more civilized home, such as a rack. But for now they're happy to stay where they are and provide you with the music you hear on thedepartmentofrecords.com. Enjoy!