Here, for your listening pleasure or pain, are an idiosyncratic sample from my own collection of space age pop. I've chosen these tracks for their novelty, rarity, beauty, or all of the above.
I'm mindful of the fact that the RIAA is roaming the Web these days hoping to chase all MP3 sharers into eternal damnation. Or, failing that, to take money from otherwise hard-working people and give it back to the faceless corporate conglomerates who so desperately need it to pay for offsites in Palm Springs. So I've deliberately stuck to material I know is not just out of print but in danger of being utterly forgotten. It's all dubbed directly from the records, complete with pops, buzzes, surface noise, and all other material flaws. I leave the audio engineering to others.
If any of the tracks listed here ever shows up on CD, let me know and I will happily point customers in the appropriate retail direction. Until then, though, enjoy this collection of tracks, all of them splendid in their artistry, ambition, or awfulness.
- "Walk, Don't Run," by the Marty Cooper Clan
- "A Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid," by Jimmie Rowles
- "Alfred, the King of Disco," by Dick Hyman
- "Middle East Mambo," by David Carroll and his Orchestra
- "House of the Rising Sun," by Sammy Kaye and his Orchestra
- "Windows of the World," by Pete Jolly
- "No Te Esconde," by Los Brasilios
- "Dawn," by Vinnie Bell
- "Wow!," by Russ Garcia, his Orchestra and Chorus
- "Bottled in Bond," by the George Mann Orchestra
- "Ride of the Valkyrie," by Stan Kenton and his Orchestra
- "Sing Hallelujah," by Jeannie Hoffman
- "Overseas Operator," by Hash Brown and his Ignunt Strings