World
Walt Johnson – Oulun Poika Laulaa
I’m a sucker for homemade album projects, so I was thrilled to stumble on this gem last weekend at a local church garage sale. They actually had a second album of Walt’s so I grabbed that one too. According to the album, Walt and his wife were born and raised in the Oulu area of northern Wisconsin. For those who aren’t familiar with the area, it’s beautiful country with the highlight being the nearby Bois Brule River. A world class trout stream and stunning canoe and kayak destination. And don’t miss Johnson’s Berry Patch around the end of June. An Oulu hot spot. I’m drooling just thinking about those sweet, plump strawberries.
I couldn’t resist adding this video. I’ve run the Brule a few times during the summer, but these guys are nuts. I don’t care if they’re covered head to toe in Neoprene, that’s gotta be cold.
Walt decided to make this record at the urging of his friends after spending many years playing at area dances. My concern was that Walt’s friends might be telling him how good he is just to be nice. So I spun this album up fearing the worst. Well let me just say this, Walt….you rock! With a minimal organ and accordion accompaniment, Walt does a beautiful job singing. Mostly in a language that I can’t understand. He moves back and forth effortlessly between Finnish and English, and he’s so smooth that I’d still listen if he was singing in Klingon.
The part I loved best about this album was seeing that my boiler repairman, Ernie, provided “instrumental assistance”. I had no idea that he was a musician too. Although I didn’t know him well, I always looked forward to every fall when Ernie would stop by to restore my heat for the winter. The man was a wizard with my 1970′s era boiler, so I’m really not surprised that he had other talents. Very cool.
If you’re interested, I did find Walt’s follow-up LP on eBay for $9.98. I haven’t listened to it yet but if it’s half as good as this one, I’d pony up the ten spot.
Tracks:
Side One
- 01_01 – Kultainen Nuoruus
- 01_02 – Onnemi
- 01_03 – Villi Ruusu
- 01_04 – Maailman Matti
- 01_05 – Tennessee Valssi
- 01_06 – Metsa Pirtti
Side Two
Hugo Molinares y Sus Magnificos – Salsa, Cumbia y…..Sabor (1984)
What do you get when you combine a 1980′s porn star mustache with the sensibility of a sleeveless Member’s Only jacket? You get Hugo Molinares of course. That’s about the only thing I can dis’ Hugo on though as his band plays some fantastic salsa music. The real problem is trying to find any information at all on Hugo in English, as my Spanish is……how do I say this…..no hablo Espanol.
After several minutes of Googling, I gave up trying to find any info on Hugo. About all I can tell you is that the album was recorded in Columbia and I’m guessing that’s where Hugo is from. Other than that, I found that a copy of this same album recently sold for $3.99 on eBay which means that my 50 cent investment has the potential to reap a 500% return. If only my 401k were tied up in copies of this album, I’d be on a path to early retirement.
Here’s a cool video of Hugo playing keyboard at what appears to be a restaurant. I particularly love the last couple of seconds where the old woman with the walker steps in front of the camera.
Tracks:
Side One
Side Two
Continue reading Hugo Molinares y Sus Magnificos – Salsa, Cumbia y…..Sabor (1984)
Canadian Folk Dances (1966)
If you’re like me, you’re probably woefully ignorant about our neighbors to the north. So here’s some interesting facts about Canada from canadafacts.org:
- A temperature of -77.5 °C (-108 °F) was recorded on Mount Logan in 1991. This is the coldest temperature ever recorded outside of Antarctica.
- The USA buys more oil from Canada than from any other country, including Saudi Arabia.
- In the 15 – 64 age group, for every 100 men, Canada has 102 women.
- Canadian adults (18 and over) watch more TV than children, an average of 28.8 hours a week in a full year. This works out at almost 1,500 hours of television viewing each year, including an estimated 25,000 commercials.
And speaking of Canadian TV, they do have some fantastic shows that you don’t see much in this country. Some of my favorites from the past are Made in Canada, Trailer Park Boys, Corner Gas, and of course, Puppets Who Kill. In case you aren’t familiar with Puppets Who Kill, here’s the trailer:
The last time I was in Canada, we stopped at one of the Tim Horton’s that seem to be positioned about every two blocks. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the chain, it’s pretty similar to a Dunkin’ Donuts. I pulled up to the drive thru and asked the kid at window “So who’s Tim Horton”? He snorted and replied “So, are you like American, eh? Tim Horton was a great hockey player, eh”. Apparently not knowing this will immediately identify you as an American so hopefully you can learn from my social gaffe. I took some time to look up Tim Horton and it turns out the guy was pretty good. It’s difficult to fathom that goalies once played without masks.
(Updated 03/10/10) I had a cool video of Tim Horton scoring an incredible goal until the weasels at Youtube removed it so you’ll just have to use your imagination or perhaps ask a Canadian friend about Tim Horton.
So now you’ve just increased your knowledge of Canada exponentially and you’ll be able to converse with the natives about their three favorite subjects. Television, hockey and beer (I’m assuming that you already know something about beer so no additional material was covered here).
Just one more thing to cover. Apparently, if I’m to believe this album, they like to do silly dances too. So now we know what they’re doing when they’re not watching TV or going to the beer store. In order to embrace the full Canadian experience, I have included the gatefold instructions that explain each of the steps for you. Have fun and good day, eh.
Tracks:
Side One
- 01_01 – Maple Leaf Stomp
- 01_02 – Carding the Wool
- 01_03 – Les Carillons De Dunquerque – Instructions
- 01_04 – Les Carillons De Dunquerque – Music
Side Two
Gheorghe Zamfir – Zamfir (1980)
If you’re old enough to remember the 80′s, you no doubt recall the commercial for “Zamfir, master of the pan flute”. In case you don’t, here it is:
It’s one of those cheesy albums that always made me wonder what type of knucklehead would actually buy one. Well here it is 20 years later and I am now the proud owner of a Zamfir album. Which pretty much answers my own question as to what type of knucklehead would buy one of these.
There really isn’t a whole lot of my usually snarkiness that I can bring to this post. Zamfir is certainly very good at what he does. I personally don’t mind the pan flute, but the backing orchestra is a little over the top for my tastes. The entire album sounds like the soundtrack to some kind of tragic love story. Not exactly my kind of flick.
Zamfir has sold well over 100 million albums and has even received a medal from the Pope. I don’t know exactly what a person has to do in order to qualify for a Papal medallion but I’m hoping that his Holiness is a regular reader of Vinyl from Hell and will perhaps consider me for a literary honor. Although I’m probably still on the Pope’s naughty list after “the incident”.
Back in 2000, my future wife and I were strolling through the Vatican museum when I asked her to hold on to one of my cameras. Like a total dweeb I was actually carrying three cameras. A group of Japanese tourists even stopped to mock me. Anyway, she who shall remain nameless, leaned over a case that contained a Bible from the 1400′s. The camera that she was carrying for me smacked into the glass case and the sound echoed through the long hallway. Fortunately, there was no damage but two security guards materialized from out of thin air and immediately assumed that we were attempted to smash the case. After a rather tense couple of minutes, they determined that there was no harm done to the case and allowed us to go on our way. It’s a topic that still isn’t mentioned in our home, 9 years later. Apparently at the time, (her version) I displayed more concern for my camera lens than any legal consequences which might involve my aforementioned accomplice. In my defense, it was my favorite lens. Sheesh!
But I digress. If I may offer one criticism of Zamfir, it’s the artwork that he schleps from his website. Now I admit that I don’t know much about art, but seriously, I could have done these and I got a “D” in 8th grade art class. Check for yourself: http://www.gheorghezamfir.eu/purchase.html.
I do realize that in order to criticize something, one should be educated on the subject the he or she chooses to criticize. But seriously, I just don’t see how these couldn’t have been done by some type of primate further down the evolutionary scale. As evidence, I offer this link to a series of paintings done by a Cambodian elephant named Lucky: http://www.elephantart.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=42. Not a whole lot of difference if you ask me. But what do I know about culture? I was almost thrown out of the Vatican.
Tracks:
- 01_01 – Ete’ d’ Amour
- 01_02 – She
- 01_03 – Laryssa
- 01_04 – Theme from Limelight
- 01_05 – Elsha
- 01_06 – Run to Me
Count Frank – Count Frank Sings Calypso (1967)
Ok, I admit it….I nearly wet myself when I found this beauty. I love calypso music and the picture of Count Frank in his Jamaican straw hat is the reason that some of us collect vinyl. Album art just isn’t the same when it’s on a CD slip cover. This cover probably cracks my top 50 all-time favorites.
The first thing I noticed is that this LP came straight from Jamaica. This wasn’t released in the U.S. Anyone who has a reggae album that was released in Jamaica knows that these small labels didn’t exactly stress quality control when it came to vinyl pressings. The sound quality is usually terrible, especially with releases from the 60′s. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this album from WIRL Records (West Indies Records Ltd.). I’ve got a few dozen old reggae albums and most of them don’t sound this good.
Count Frank is actually Frank Leonard Anderson, who came from a small village located in the mountainous interior of Jamaica. Frank had a limited education and grew up working in the cane fields where he learned the “mento” songs of the native workers. Eventually Frank moved to the resort town of Ocho Rios to pursue a career in music where he was hired to entertain guests at several high-end hotels.
This album was probably sold at Frank’s shows in order to make a few bucks off of tourists who likely drank a few too many umbrella drinks in the hotel night club. I’ve seen LPs from some pretty awful cruise ship entertainers that cater to the same group. The difference here is that Frank is actually a pretty fair calypso singer and if he showed up at a hotel that I was staying at, I’d consider myself pretty lucky to see his show. There aren’t many songs that really leap out here but the whole album is just a very pleasant introduction to the roots of calypso music. Back before they started drowning the vocals with over mic’d steel drums (not that there’s anything wrong with steel drums).
I appreciate the fact that Frank included the old calypso standby “Shane and Scandal”. I’ve heard the song done by many people over the years and it dawned on me that I didn’t know who wrote it. A quick Google turned up this info from http://www.calypsoworld.org. “Trinidadian singer Sir Lancelot wrote “Shame and Scandal in the Family” for a Hollywood movie titled I Walked with a Zombie (1943)”. Wow!, I had no idea the song was that old. The song was eventually reworked by Lord Melody in the early 60′s into the classic that we know today.
And of course, no calypso record would be complete without a rendition of “Banana Boat”. It’s refreshing to hear it done by someone besides Harry Belefonte.
Finally, as an added bonus, this copy was even autographed by Count Frank himself as you can see in the back cover photo. What a great thrift store find!
Tracks:
Side One
- 01_01 – Calypso Island
- 01_02 – Adam & Eve
- 01_03 – Yellow Bird
- 01_04 – Whistler
- 01_05 – Island Woman
- 01_06 – Going Back to See Her
Side Two
- 02_01 – Island in the Sun
- 02_02 – Shame and Scandal
- 02_03 – Island Girl
- 02_04 – Banana Boat
- 02_05 – Back to Back
- 02_06 – Jamaica Farewell
Continue reading Count Frank – Count Frank Sings Calypso (1967)
