Alright! This is just great, Bob from Sesame Street doing a cute little bossa-inflected ditty about rain. And unlike a lot of S.St. records, this one's got arrangements that are just terrific,thanks to Stuart Scharf,the man behind Spanky & Our Gang among others.Bob's gotta nice voice too,and handles the material with a simple sophistication.A children's chorus joins him on some tunes, sometimes with his "CTW-style" encouragement.There is another great song on here called "Groovin' In The Sunshine" that has the kids singing the whole thing,almost in a Langley School-ish kinda way. Cute.
One of the more famous song-poems, this is sung by the man with a thousand names, Rodd Keith. Being English, I had never really heard of the song-poem concept until an article in (I think) Cool & Strange Music magazine. Then this compilation CD came out and, wow, pinch my cheeks and call me a convert.
Anything that encourages the bizarre side of human nature gets my approval and song-poems certainly do that. Especially the right wing freaks, who seem to be over-represented in the genre. This is one of those very over-zealous numbers, stating (pre-Watergate) that Nixon is "a man of priceless worth".
What I love about Rodd Keith is that, no matter how banal or weird the lyrics kicked out by some Arkansas dweller are, he gives a sterling performance. This is no different. The spirit in which the song is written is strictly adhered to by Keith, adding of course to its overall charm.
from The American Song-Poem Anthology: Do You Know The Difference... (Setanta SETCD126), available on CD
I think Marc Moulin deserves to be written up on this site. This is one of those artists that produced music years ahead of his time (of course, Tohubohu another outstanding testament), experimenting with the development of genres, melodies, fusions, new instruments, sounds, but ultimately just creating fascinating work. This song Humpty Dumpty is from one of his band projects, Placebo. I think it's an excellent example of someone pushing the boundaries of music, yet maintaining a musical sensibility and general credibility.
This is a really good poppy, punky love song. Like a butch-er version of the Undertones, or a more cheerful Pistols. Much like the Undertones in fact - also from Northern Ireland, but with not as many great songs. But this one is fantatic.
Going all heavy on your arses now...as you might guess from the title this is a serious agit-prop single, but with a great, catchy punk tune. I guess it you like 'Holidays in Cambodia', you'll like this.