The Beatles - The White Album

We've most of us all probably heard all the cliches (truth) about the White Album. It wasn't called the White Album, but The Beatles. It came out in Nov.-Dec. 1968 with individually numbered LP jackets. George Martin thought it would be better to boil it down to one record, with only the best tracks included. The Beatles did more individual work on tracks and less ensemble work. Some of the songs were conceived on their trip to India. Etc.

It's never been my favorite Beatles album. But it has some very great songs on it. I didn't have the album as a kid, which is true about most albums. There was some talk about John and Yoko's Two Virgins album right about that time (in the newspaper, maybe TV) and some confusion about the white cover of the Beatles' album, that they were one and the same thing, with the white covering the offending picture. I remember around Christmas time going by the local music store and seeing a whole bunch of the White Album stacked around in the window display. But my Dad had made a new rule, because of the nude picture and, going way back, part of the roots, John's statement about being more popular than Jesus. The new rule, "Never will a Beatles record be in my house," something like that.

I don't know if the rule held up perfectly. I never had money for such things anyway. So it was a few years after, and after I was moved out anyway, that I ever got the White Album. Then the one that was issued on white vinyl. And in the used record market, somewhere along the way, I ended up with 0927160. So if anyone out there has 59 or 61, we're White Album companions! Then when it came out on CD, I was in Kansas City and went to some obscure, out of the way record store that probably doesn't exist anymore, and they had the CD (2 CDs) for like $9.99. No kidding. I'm sure it about had to be a mistake, but I didn't say anything and the guy ringing it up didn't say anything, so I walked out thinking how lucky I was. The cover (first disc's cover) was also numbered, and mine is 323,946. So, again, if you happen to have 45 or 47, hey!

There ought to be a White Album registry on the internet. Maybe there is, where we keep track of where each number is!

I've had other White Album run-ins over the years, including various sessions, mono versions, McCartney talking about it, etc., on usenet. I just saw some "Blackbird" sessions on one of the newsgroups today, but I'm not that interested in collecting everything there is!

I always thought the 8-track of this album was kind of attractive, high-contrast B&W versions of the 4 portraits on a little 8-track label and on the box. The 8-track was two cartridges.

My next post will be....me listening to the album on my Gigabeat and making a few comments. Of course I will not be able to avoid saying some of the things I've heard about the various tracks over the last 30 some years. One thing that is different, is I don't think I've ever listened to this whole album on headphones. And I was listening to a few tracks earlier and noticed hoots and talking, etc., that I don't recall just by listening with regular speakers.

So let me warble "Goodnight" to this post, and catch the next BOAC flight to Destination: Next Post!

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - Epic FXS 15118, LP

Track by track, the first record album based on the comedy series:

Side 1:
1) Cuckoo Laugh-In World - Sock it to me and very interesting. It's a cuckoo laugh-in world! Very bubbly track. I just want to swing! This is the best track on the album.
2) Monologue and Cocktail Party - Dan and Dick and cast, with Dick trying to be sentimental but just getting twisted up. Dan says, "I couldn't have said it better myself." These guys were old-fashioned but cool doing it, right out of a vaudeville style but with a cool '60s edge. And there's a great laugh track. Dick wants to be dirty, but the censors, NBC, and the sponsors "cut down the odds" as to what he can talk about. Still he knows of a great party in Room 1537, to which we go. Swinging go-go music and the cast's jokes, first up Barbara Feldon on reading, writing, and rhythm. Then JoAnne Worley. Henry Gibson frowning on the phrase, "Here Come De Judge." Goldie Hawn thinks she ought to rent her groceries, since the prices are so high. Ruth Buzzi plays Robert Goulet records till she could just scream. Polygamies are not tall, Goldie's cute remark!
3) New Talent - Arte Johnson presented as a rock 'n' roll singer from behind the Iron Curtain. Mr. Desminco. He's going to sing a song from the musical theater of his people, kind of a Borat character, but much more shy. Then it's "Mame," in some Russian-sounding language. He has an enthusiastic but flawed ending. When the fickle finger of fate beckons, stardom might be yours! And "Goodnight Tiny Tim, wherever you are!"
4) Personality of the Week - Dan and Barbara Feldon. She works with the Girl Scouts, with a very sexy outlook on the things they ought to be learning. The girls in her troop are about 27-28 years old, older than Brownies. Their marriages didn't work out so they're back in uniform. They sell cookies to keep a roof over their head. Heh heh. Alimony is one of the subjects she teaches the girls. Then they go on a camping trip. The girls love their campouts, near Fort Dix, New Jersey, right outside the main gate. "Those cookies move real fast."
5) News of Past, Present, Future - "What's the news across the nation, we have got the information, in a way we hope will amuse youse, we just love to give you our news. Bop bop bop de bop, Ladies and gents, Laugh-in looks at the news!" Here's Dan! Then to Dickie! A wish for stardust on your bippy. Then back to Dan via Goldie. 1988 - GM execs discuss plans for a one-day work week. Walter Reuther purchases GM. 1988 - Indians have any grievances? Both said no.
6) Etcetera - All cast. Almost two minutes of cast jokes. Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock. Very interesting, but stupid. Knock knock jokes. Tijuana punch in the nose?

Side 2:
1) Half time, with Arte, Gary Owen, and JoAnne. A take-off on "Havah Nagilah." Have two Nagilah, have three Nagilah, they're pretty small.
2) Here Come The Judge - Roddy Maude-Roxby, Henry Gibson, and Male Cast. "We Love The Law," a show number! Some good jokes in here. "Have you ever been up before me?" "I don't know, your honor, what time do you get up?"
3) The Other Cocktail Party - Full cast with jokes interspersed with swinging music. The pastor's favorite denomination is the five dollar bill. A wetbacks joke, that can't be good today. Goldie's IQ has never been mentioned. Joan Baez's autographed fingerprints. Boris gave JoAnne a Polish goldfish, which drowned. Gladys will do anything to have children, and Dick tells her "Adopt." The dirty old man has cornered the market on Walnettos. A lame Christian/Jewish joke about crossing the road, Christians get across in New York, Jews a star.
4) Sock It To Me - Potpourri - Judy Carne and Cast. Henry Gibson got it socked to him "pretty must in the usual way." Potpourri is sure spelled funny, says Goldie. They need to make more zeppelins! Ruth asks the guy making obscene phone calls to please stop. Her number has been changed, which she gives out. She says Gladys ORMphy, not Frump.
5) Mod Mod World - Dan, Dick, and Cast. The coolest generic swinging music! The subject is people in America. The air will be filled with people flying around, to which Dick says "Yeah, baby!" and "I'll drink to that." The guy was a partier! A good Tiny Tim reference, on making it to New York two hours before he leaves. Dancing ladies in Tahiti are the answer to everything if you have the right question. "I'm a little stiff from bowling." "I don't care, let's dance." "Wanna buy a sexy postcard? Wanna buy a sexy book? Wanna buy a sexy movie? Wanna buy a softer handbag?" Whack, whack, whack!
6) The Cuckoos - By Arte, Henry, and Ruth. "Victory On The Farm March" and "Holiday Strings" are the music. Cowboys like hash because it gives them a reason to turn on the rain. Ruth does a Snooky Lanson laughing version of "Holiday Strings."
7) Goodnight Dick - Dan, Dick, and Full Cast. Includes "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips." Dick gets things confused in the end, wanting to say something his aunt once said to him. She was nine days in a Turkish bath with Tiny Tim. What she said should be of interest. She dried off and came out singing, "Tip-Toe..." Viet Cong nearly wrecked the Empire State Building. Gladys just wants to swing. You can hear the opening and closing of the holes in the wall. Then in the end the record self-destructs, like on Mission Impossible.

Who you gonna call?

If you want someone to come scoop snow for you, or run their snowblower, how do you find someone? There are the fairly well-known guys who have lawn services and industrial strength trucks for pushing out major parking lots. But what do you do if you have a really small area and can't really pay $100?

Back when I was a kid many years ago, we used to go door to door with a shovel and try to make a couple dollars. But then it was still hit and miss if they would want you. I don't see kids showing up with a shovel these days, for whatever reason.

Driving on the lake

I'm amazed that anyone would be daring enough to take their truck out on the lake, no matter how frozen over it is. If guys have little fishing shacks out there, that's one thing. But driving the truck out, that seems like bordering on crazy. The ice must be very thick as cold as it's been. But as everyone who's even swam in a lake knows, there can be warm spots. And currents that do things under the water that could weaken the ice.

That would give you a real "sinking feeling" to have your truck go through the ice. Then have to call whoever, the sheriff or whoever, to come pull you out.

A Dog on Lasix

When I was a kid, if a dog got sick it died. Or ran away and died. Or ran out in the road and died. We heard there was such a thing as veterinarians, but they were sort of like the Maytag repairman; the only people who ever saw them were lonely widows whose lives depended on a single old cow that must never be allowed to die.

Now, of course, we have such an attachment to our animals. It's like what we've done with children except it's an extension of that. They're precious and must never face a challenge greater than dodgeball, and sometimes not that. The dog barely knows what outside is; it's the wallpaper on the windows maybe.

Well, the dog has to go outside. But the world is just a big toilet to her. The city park, a toilet. Streets, a toilet. The only thing that apparently isn't a good enough toilet is the yard, where all the smells must be too local.

Now with the snow, it's tough taking the dog out. And add to that a trip to the vet the other day to find out what all the hacking's about, hack, hack, hack. I thought maybe it was just a leash that strained her throat when she was straining for a squirrel once day. But no, it's congestive heart failure, which is treated with Lasix. That means more bathroom trips. And with the huge snow, that means a lot of carrying (Pomeranian mixed with something else and about 17 pounds) and looking for a fit spot.

Lasix, to get fluid out of the system. Except now she drinks water all the time and I think that might just be adding to the problem. But at least the hacking's gone!

Tons of Snow

There's tons of snow, all over the place. It's a wonderful thing for the guys who make money scooping it out.

It's an extra challenge for all the other things of life, like walking dogs and getting the car out of the garage. Excess snow is a romantic thing, like when you hear "Snowbound" from Donald Fagen, or read "Snow-Bound" by Whittier. I really like the thought of a day long blizzard, like on a Monday morning. But the ones that go for a few days, cut the power, interrupt the internet, cause all sorts of grief for normal life, these are the ones that ... well, they still have their good side.

The kids out of school for a few days, I'm sure they like it. And when they get back to school and they're sliding on the drifts on the playground, that'll be nice. Or out sledding today, with lots of very fresh snow.