Ready!? Ok! Since I've started work - since I've been home at all actually - I haven't had loads of time to get new music (although the new Weezer album was way disappointing...) I've mostly been listening to the same handful of albums I've been playing around you fellows for the last several years, which doesn'y sound all that exciting to write about.
What I have been doing a lot of is going through old shit in my house to try and get rid of stuff I don't need anymore, or never bought, or stole from other people at some point I can no longer remember. What this means is I've recently stumbled upon a cache of old children's cassette tapes from about a hundred years ago when I was very small. A few of the highlights include 1982's Sesame Street Days and Seasons, which originally accompanied a viewmaster disc that has sadly disappeared, as well as book-on-tape versions of such disney classics as Pinocchio, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Dumbo - with racist crows intact. There's also a tape full of sing-along songs about dinosaurs, which I'll prolly throw on here at some point, with titles like "Comparison of Size," "Compsognathus," and "The Dinosaur Party." So basically I have the coolest audio cassette collection on the planet, if I don't include the Lovin Spoonful Greatest Hits tape.
I've chosen two stories to share with you today. The first is a Sesame Street book-on-tape titled "Bert and the Missing Mop Mix-Up," from 1986. Written by Sarah Roberts, who also penned "Don't Cry, Big Bird," this story chronicles the time that Bert spilled some milk and needed a mop. Truly epic. The "turn the page" sound on this tape, combined with the background music, makes this a story that I'm sure you will end up listening to over and over again. They don't make albums like this anymore...
The second tape I've recorded to share with you is a story from 1985 called "Where's the Bear?" featuring the Muppet Babies. This is one of my personal favorites, especially because the narrator seems so non-threatening, in marked contrast with the Sesame Street narrator... Baby Rowlf's piano plays when you need to turn to the next page, so pay close attention. This tale is about Fozzie losing his teddy bear and the ensuing search. I was in tears for most of it. One weird thing about this is that each of the muppets is referred to as "Baby ____" rather than just using their name, which seems odd to me. I may start calling myself "Adult Matt."
With both of these, you'll need to understand that the source tapes are at least as old if not older than I am, and have seen considerable use. I also had to record them from a barely functioning tape deck using a line-in and an mp3 recorder on my laptop. That said, I think you'll really appreciate the warmth that comes through in the original analog format, and the voice acting is truly top-notch. Enjoy! Sorry about the filesize - it kept converting to 96khz and the quality suffered horribly, so they're big.
Tracks are here!
This would have been up like 8 hours sooner, but my connection doesn't mega-love megaupload.
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2 comments:
Little known fact: the Harry featured on "Bert and the Missing Mop Mix-Up" was actually the third in a long line of Harries that Sesame Street would go through. As is quite evident on the tape, this Harry too would soon pass on due to throat cancer. A class action lawsuit on behalf of the "Sesame Street Harries" was settled by Children's Television Workshop in 1991, closing a shameful chapter in public broadcasting's history.
There's also a very violent subset of the furry community that call themselves Harries, in part as a tribute to these fallen voice actors. They rape and then burn Tickle-Me-Elmos at their annual rally in Atlanta.
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