Friday, August 27, 2010

Count Down Jimmie Haskell and his Orchestra 1959








Ultra rare Jimmie Haskell space age fun with a moog and THEREMIN too!! WOW. Craig, the Record King put this one aside as a special surprise for me, knowing I would immediately go nuts for it. Needless to say, I did. Today I did ALOT of work for him as he was all backed up and this was my special giftie for getting him up to date! I am thrilled with this magical gem.

The back notes say "Don't worry about bringing a space suit...all you need is a good woofer and tweeter, a comfortable chair and a vivid imagination." YEAH, BAY-BAY! This is an amazing record.

It is released on the Imperial label which is no budget label, for sure, so it's a slick production and is LP #9068 High Fidelity. I've been breezing through it on the Teac this afternoon but I'll be placing it on the Fisher console here shortly. Just wanted to record a sound clip for you first! ENJOY and have fun finding a copy! You're gonna WANT this one!

I've chosen this tune, Asteroid Hop, for it's swingin, space age quality. Really Atomic and fabulous for 1959. Enjoy!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Red Raven Movie Records and Magic Mirror

A rare treat for the collector of children's records or toys, these fabulous little treasures were made by Morgan Development Laboratories, Inc in Westport, Ct from 1956-1961. The records measure about 8 1/2" in diameter and have a larger than normal label, a portion of which is a little looping cartoon animation which plays by means of the Red Raven Magic Mirror which would be placed atop the record on your turntable spindle.





Some of the records are splatter vinyl like this:





And some are translucent vinyl in lovely colors like this:




From lists I see there were 20 Red Raven Magic Movie records but I had also read that there were up to 40 individual records as there were European and Asian versions of the animated records! You can see an example of it playing here:





There are 2 versions of the Magic Mirror that I am aware of. One is the type I have and show here which sits atop a short spindled record player and then there is another with a removable red top that will sit on a tall spindle. Those being produced in a smaller quantity at a later date in production and thus are rarer.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Vinyl Record Day Worldwide Holiday for Vinyl Junkies

Those of you in the know may be aware that August 12th has been declared Vinyl Record Day. August 12th was not a randomly chosen date, in fact, it's significance is great! It happens to be the very day in 1877 when Great Grandfather of the audiophile, Thomas Alva Edison, invented the phonograph changing all of our lives forever!

Unlike Record Store Day which is a for profit group whose focus is to sell music on any format, the goal of Vinyl Record Day is to increase the awareness of the importance of the preservation of audio history recorded on vinyl and to encourage a day when people gather together and share their vinyl and love of music.

This sounds like our one true Atomic Vinyl Zombie Holiday. Plan something super special and celebrate your vinyl music on August 12th. You can also read an interview with Gary Frieberg, the founder of Vinyl Record Day, in issue 784 of Goldmine Magazine.

Vinyl LIVES!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Fun Record King Score Saturday Afternoon

Hello Ma Baby by Chet Atkins






Fabulously fun afternoon with the Record King today and he hand picked some pieces from a new collection that came in just for me. REALLY fabulous things.

Torero~ Music of the Bull Ring What I like to call Exotica from the Source





The Sounds of India~ Ravi Shankar Super fabulous EARLY Shankar instructional record!




Delirium Hi Fi~ Elsa Popping and her Pixieland Band CRAZY stuff!







Stringing Along with Chet Atkins rare 10" LP which I have posted a track from. This one is totally guitar instrumental and is an awesome record!





There's more, but I'll do a second post to include those.