Incredibly Strange (and cool!) Music Links

Then you must go here!

The following isan excerpt of the intro to the RE/Search book Incredible Strange Music, Volume 1. It basically says it all. If you want to read the rest of the intro or into this subject like I am, go to the V/search link here and get the books. You won't be sorry. Also available here.

Incredibly Strange Music explores the sonic territory of vinyl recordings (mostly c.1950-1980) largely neglected by the music criticism establishment. Classical, opera, jazz, blues, rock and international music have their specialized critics and publications, but many amazing recordings seem to have escaped critical attention. Often transcending notions involving technical expertise and "good taste," these records defied categories and genres; as a consequence they "fell into the cracks" and are unlikely to be reissued on CD. In record stores they were classified under: easy listening, promotional, novelty/comedy, religious, soundtracks, spoken word, children, celebrity, as well as instrumental headings like accordion and organ (however, whistling, harmonica, and theremin records could be anywhere). When high-fidelity stereo was first introduced, it immediately inspired an enthusiastic audience for imaginative stereo recordingsÑmany of which are celebrated in this book. During these "golden years" (1955-1965), a huge buying public supported labels like Omega, Audio Fidelity, Command, and RCA Victor's Stereo Action series, enabling them to explore the frontiers of sound effects, percussion and "foreign" music toward the goal of providing amazing entertainment. Many of these LPs had gorgeous, colorful covers which were themselves (framable) works of art. An incredible spectrum of genre-busting and experimental records were produced. In the '50s when people began settling into boring suburban housing tracts, there sprang up a deep longing for the exotic. In the early twentieth century, Hawaiian music had inspired a ukelele and steel guitar craze, and after World War II, servicemen reminiscing about their days in the Pacific eagerly embraced the "tiki culture" fad (backyard luaus, tiki bars, hula hoops, Hawaiian shirts, and the hula dancing rage taken up by housewives). At a time when sexuality was most repressed and hypocritical, the phallic symbol of the tiki was planted in backyards by thousands of all-American families. "Import" dance crazes such as the mambo, the cha-cha, the merengue, the belly dance, and the bossa nova also leaked sexuality into our puritanical American society. Just as a dream cloaked in symbols can reveal what we have unconsciously suppressed, so music can expose unsurfaced longings and desires and thus grant unexpected insights into our culture. In general, the recordings discussed in this book were dismissed and disparaged as unworthy of serious preservation and study by music critics and educational institutions, as they catered to mass appetites or mercenary aspirations (e.g., fad recordings such as the short-lived sitar-with-rock trend; recordings using mock-barnyard sounds like Andre Williams' "Greasy Chicken"; promotional records intended to sell carpeting or air conditioners; or records by ex-drug addicts telling how they found god). A lot of the "B" sides of rockabilly or R&B vocal singles were wild, devil-may-care improvisations done in one take just to fill out the record, yet they expressed amazing potent creativity. In such recordings, technical flaws serve to counter the ideal of artificial perfection marketed in many domains by this society; in music, studio-perfect recording techniques often disguise a fundamental lack of inspiration, animal vitality, magic and with the surprise factors that infuse life into "art." Most of this ephemeral music that never had a defined place in musical "history" existed in a shadowy area between categories. It was a direct expression of the society and the trends at the time simply by being untethered form any self-consciousness of its "artistic" status as music. For example, some of it was unabashedly and unashamedly self-promotional done strictly as a marketing gimmick, or to capitalize on fads such as the James Bond movie craze of the early 60s. The heresy that much of this music falls under is: it had a practical purpose. Art criticism is appalled by any practical usage of art; consequently, highbrow art critics have usually snubbed their noses at recordings like Music to Read By, How to Strip For Your Husband, and even the highly collectible Rhapsody of Steel (a promotional record produced by U.S. Steel).

Periodicals

Crank
Cool and Strange Music!
Incredibly Strange Music Volume 1
Incredibly Strange Music Volume 2
It Crawled from the Bins!

Personalities

Martin Denny
Yma Sumac
Legendary Stardust Cowboy
Del Rubio Triplets
Charles Manson
The Three Suns
Korla Pandit
Ken Nordine
Bebe Barron
Elisabeth Waldo
John Oswald/Plunderphonics
The Shaggs
Ruth Wallis
Joe Meek Appreciation Society
Stompin' Tom Connors

Instruments

Theremin
Theremin
Accordions
Gibson Guitars

Record Labels

Ace Records
Arf Arf Records
Rhino Records
Sun Records
Sun Studio
Get Hip
Norton Records

Miscellaneous Links

WZRD
One Hit Wonders
Frank's Vinyl Museum
Incredibly Bad Music by Salon
Dusty Grooves
"Dirty Blues"
Kirk Sings!
Triad Radio
Dr. DementoA]B]
Farting Contest
Hawaiian Music

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