Category: What the?...


Beatle Barkers

Filed Under: Rock, What the?...
Mar.01, 2010

Here now, is the LP that was inspired by the Virgin Records release, Baa-Baa Black Sheep

 

Record Title: Beatle Barkers

“Performed” by the Woofers and Tweeters Ensemble

Label: Telmak Teleproducts

Category: Rock/What the…?

Catalogue Number TMAK 091

Produced and Arranged by Roy Nicholson

Engineered by John Pal (I don’t make up these names, folks!)

Recorded at Red Face Studios, Sydney

Cover Design by Fox Marketing

Side 1

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Love Me Do

Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da

We Can Work It Out

I Saw Here Standing There

I Feel Fine

Side 2

Can’t Buy Me Love

All My Loving

Day Tripper

She Loves You

Hard Days Night

Paperback Writer

What could be sillier than a group of singing sheep?  Telmak gave us the answer in this Barking Mad volume of Beatles songs ’sung’ by dogs.

TBH, I have only heard the first three tracks on this LP, and have not played this since.

Mercifully, this was the final record of this type ever attempted.

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Baa-Baa Black Sheep

Filed Under: What the?...
Jan.28, 2010

from the sublime to the fluffy…

 

Title: Baa-Baa Black Sheep

“Performed” by “the Singing Sheep”

Record label: Virgin Records

Catalogue Number: BAA 1

category: What the…?

Side 1: Baa-Baa Black Sheep

Side 2: Flock Around the Clock

Credits: Produced by Jeff Mutton.  Special Thanks to Clare Hoare, the Ingworth and Blickling Flock at Ingworth, Aylsham, Norfolk.  Engineered by Andy Wild.

One of the weirdest recordings to be ever released by Virgin records.  Using a synth and samples of sheep bleating, cows mooing and any other animal sound that could be captured, turning a nursery rhyme favourite into a “stars on 45-esque” ripoff.

incidentally, side 2 was an alternate arrangement of the Baa-Baa rhyme.

Strangely enough, this recording would spawn a canine version, barking out howling mad versions of some Beatles hits.  Info on this LP will be coming out later on in the year.

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Christmas in Australia – Joe Dolce Music Theatre

Filed Under: What the?...
Dec.25, 2009

For the history of Hammard, please go here

And now, something for the holidays…

Christmas in Australia - Joe Dolce Music Theatre

Performed by the Joe Dolce Music Theatre

Label: Hammard TV Productions

Category: Holiday

Release Number: HAM 065

Produced and Directed by Steve Tyrell

Arranged and Conducted by Chris Dedrick

Starring Joe Dolce as Guiseppi

Guest Stars: Mary Wilson as The Supremes and Joey Perrone as Little Guiseppi (Courtesy of Television House)

Engineers: Ian McKenzie, Robin Gray, Paul Reeve, Jim Burton and Scott Henning

Catering: Bande-Aide Catering

Art Direction: Paul Pantelis

Cartoon Illustration: Neil Curtis

Released: November, 1981

Side 1: Christmas In Australia, I Saw Mommy (Mama) Kissing Santa Claus, Blue Christmas, This Time Of The Year, Christmas Medley: Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, Frosty The Snowman, Here Comes Santa Claus, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Winter Wonderland, The Little Drummer Boy, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (reprise)

Side 2: Jingle Bell Rock, Christmas At Our House, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Silent Night, Open Your Heart

This 1981 LP contains a huge collection of Christmas songs by the now seemingly forgotten Joe Dolce (who the previous year had a monster smash hit with the song “Shaddup You Face”.  That single became the most successful single released in Australia (taking in sales of 375,000 copies) beating the previous record holder, The Two Man Band’s AFL anthem “Up There Cazaly” by 125,000)

The LP is a mix of poplar carols (Silent Night) major  Christmas hits (Blue Christmas) and some originals (Christmas in Australia).  My favourtie track on this LP is the Italian flavoured version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.

This song (and “Christmas in Australia”) was also released as a single by Polygram.

Hey, Mama's a telling a me a something...

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Check Out the Chicken

Filed Under: What the?...
Oct.23, 2009

Check Out The Chicken

Vocalists “Grandmaster Chicken” and “D.J. Duck”

Label: Festival Records (Australia and New Zealand only)

Category: Rap/Bizarre

Release No: K 1028

Originally Released by Phonogram, B.V., The Netherlands (original catalogue Number 874 602 7)

Produced by Eddy Ouwens

“Check Out The Chicken”  Arranged by Cres Stulk

“Eggs”  Arranged by A v. Olm & Eddy Ouwens

Recorded at P&O Studios and Wisseloord Studios

Of all the records in this collection, this one is the most bizarre.  A Rap version of “The Chicken Dance” and other avian themed tunes.

Aside all of the strangeness, this actually became a top 20 hit in Oz! (reaching 19 on the ARIA national charts in March 1990!)

This single was originally released by Phonogram (PolyGram’s affiliate in the Netherlands) but strangely enough, Polygram never released the single here.

Later in the year, I will post (what I think) was the all time worst recording, and the novelty LP that spawned it.

For the history of Festival Records, go here.

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Aussies on 45

Filed Under: What the?...
Oct.15, 2009

OK folks, I haven’t finished the AFD upgrade at the moment, but I’m going to start my record blog with this rare recording from 1981

Title: Aussies on 45

Vocals: Johnathan Coleman and the Brenda Gee Singers

Record Label: WEA (Warner Music)

Release Number 100188

Side one:

Aussie Intro, Road to Gundagai, Waltzing Matilda, Shaddap You Face, Skippy Theme, Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport, Up There Cazaly, Duncan, Advance Australia Fair, Come On Aussie and Aussie Outro

Side Two:

Aussie Intro, Road to Gundagai (longer version), Click Go the Shears, Botany Bay, Wild Colonial Boy, Old Man Emu, A Pub With No Beer and Aussie Outro

Credits: Produced by Brenda Lee

Arranger and Production Assistant: Gary Fredericks

Recorded at LEO, Sydney, Australia 

Most of you would know Johnno as a radio D.J., but many years ago he started his career as a copywriter and as a reporter on the Ten Networks’s “Simon Townsend’s Wonder World”.

He had a short lived recording career, his first being a song called “You Are What You Eat”.

This was Johnno’s second single.  This was obviously inspired by the success of “Stars on 45″, and from what I recall he was planning to do an “Aussies on 45″ LP, but the lack of success of this single (I once read that the bosses at WEA claimed the single had sold about 6000 copies) put an end to that.

He only made one final single (with was a duet with the late (and great) Ricky May) which was called “Built for Comfort”.

and now, for your viewing pleasure, the back cover art.

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The Strange and the weird

Filed Under: What the?...
Oct.27, 2008

This category will cover the really bizarre and weird recordings in my library

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