MA-67 - U.N.C.L.E. Themes A-Go-Go - -Merry Christmas, U.N.C.L.E.-style!

To help keep the season festive, here's a fresh compilation of U.N.C.L.E. music.  Some of it is the familiar pack of different versions of the theme, or melodies from the show.  But, as K-Tel used to say:  But wait, THERE'S MORE!

The first grouping of songs comprises releases that sample U.N.C.L.E. themes as background to their own work.

The rest of the disc contains both variations on U.N.C.L.E. themes, and pop songs that refer to the series.  These may be about a character -- as in The Birdmen of Alkatraz's 1989 "April Dancer."

And then we have songs whose titles refer to the show, but otherwise the listener would have no idea that the tune is related.  It may be that the music was cranked out to fill up a kiddie record, or given the title as a whim.  But some of those songs are here, too!

It's a great privilege and pleasure to also include three special versions of Jerry Goldsmith's theme.  Track 21 is performed by The Illuminoids, a surf guitar band who will satisfy your soul if you want sunbaked rock'n'roll.  I've been talking with band member William, which led to my being the cover designer for their most recent CD single, which actually includes this arrangement!  (Of course it appears in this compilation with their permission.)

Another U.N.C.L.E. fan and friend is Robert Bruce, who graciously has shared some of his own U.N.C.L.E. themes collection with me.  These songs were promptly shoveled into the mix!  But Tracks 22 and 23 are live recordings of Bruce and accompanists playing lounge versions of a couple of U.N.C.L.E. tunes. 

The last track of the CD is an arrangement courtesy of U.N.C.L.E. fan  Robert Short, a graphics and design whiz who's worked on about a gazillion TV shows and movies.

01. Man from U.N.C.L.E. Promo - NBC, 1965 (0:14) 

02. Harlem Shuffle (live) - Open Channel D (5:25)         1983
03. Twiggy Twiggy - Pizzicato Five (4:08)  1991
04. Lucid Dream - Meat Beat Manifesto (2:12)  1996
05. Une Very Stylish Fille - Dimitri from Paris (3:17)  1996
06. Dirty Larry - Dimitri from Paris (7:25)  1996
07. The Legend of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Paula and the Jetliners (2:14)  1966
08. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - The Ventures (1:46)  1966
09. Illya Kuryakin - Bobby Ellis & The Crystalites (3:20)  1967
10. Napoleon Solo - The Jokers (2:40)  1967
11. The Man from Thrush - Parris Mitchell Strings with Brass (2:36)  1967
12. Illya's Walk - Wyncote Records (1:59)  1967
13. The Thrush Tune - Wyncote Records (2:26)  1967
14. Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. Promo - CBS, 1983 (0:29)
15. April Dancer - Birdmen of Alkatraz (2:59)  1989
16. The Rock from U.N.C.L.E. - Doctor QE (2:48)  1994
17. My Friend Illya - The Ulterior Motive Orchestra (2:53)  1996
18. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Santiago Tamura (2:53)  1998
19. The April Dancer Affair - The Monochrome Set (4:23)  1999
20. Napoleon Solo - The Specials (3:07)  2000
21. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - The Illuminoids (2:53)  2007
22. A Martini Built For Two (live) - Robert Bruce and the Mellowtones (3:41)  2008
23. Meet Mr. Solo (live) - Robert Bruce and the Mellowtones (2:14)  2008
24. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Revolution for Dogs (2:38)  2008
25. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (live) - Tokyo Sexwhale (1:38)  2009
26. The Case of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - The Vulcans (1:43)  2011
27. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Robert Short (2:07)  2012

Copious liner notes are also included, as always with my U.N.C.L.E. compilations.

New link, January 2015.



   
 

"Fun" Is a Christmas Feeling, Right? -- MA-17 - 45s & Favorites, Disc 2

Here is another collection of songs that take me back.  Most are 45s I had, ripped from them ol' seven-inch pieces of memory when I was given that USB turntable a few years ago.

Here's the line-up:

1970

1    Mississippi Queen           Mountain
2    Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy/Mr Bojangles        Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
3    We Gotta Get You a Woman         Todd Rundgren  

1971

4 That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be       Carly Simon
5 Walk Away James Gang
6 Tiny Dancer Elton John
7 Hocus Pocus Focus
8 Behind Blue Eyes The Who  

1972

9 School's Out Alice Cooper
10 Rock And Roll Part 1 & 2 Gary Glitter
11 A Piece of Paper    Gladstone
12 Back Off Boogaloo Ringo Starr
13 Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You) Stevie Wonder
14 Give Ireland Back to the Irish - instrumental - (Version) Wings
15 Early 1970 Ringo Starr
16 Mary Had a Little Lamb Wings

1973

17 You Light Up My Life Carole King
18 Back When My Hair Was Short -single version Gunhill Road
19 Rocky Mountain Way Joe Walsh
20 Under the Boardwalk Rickie Lee Jones - 1983
21 It's the Real Thing The New Seekers - 1971

Track 2 is a recreation of the B side of my 45 release of "Mr Bojangles."  The A side was the song by itself, as heard on the radio.  Side B was the same song, prefaced with a spoken reminiscence from an old man talking about his life and his "singing" dog.  When I finally heard the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album I discovered several of these spoken tidbits sprinkled through the two sides.

For some reason, at Bartlesville's Madison Junior High School in 1970, it was a small catchphrase to mimic the old guy when he said to his dog, "Sit down, Teddy!"

The last cut is from a promo 45 given out at record stores, containing "the Coke song."

 

Come on, time-trippin'!
 
 

Book Review - Subterranean Worlds by Walter Kafton-Minkel

NOTE:

I use Grammarly's free plagiarism checker online because

if something’s got your name on it, it should be your stuff!

 

 

AND NOW, OUR REVIEW …

            This is a wonderful book on a fascinating subject.  The author writes with a mix of humor for the offbeat topic and compassion for those who were true believers.

 

            Sadly, this book is not cheap if you want to buy a copy, going for around $60 the last time I checked online retailers.  Maybe this is because the publisher, Loompanics Unlimited, is no longer in business. You can go here to see a PDF of their catalog, along with FBI files investigating them!

 

            Anyway, in this 1989 book, Kafton-Minkel examines the long history of the Hollow Earth idea in mythology, fiction, and supposed nonfiction.  He tells us of Cyrus Teed (the original Koreshian whose title was later appropriated by some Waco whackos), John Symmes, and “the Shaver mystery.”

 

            Here are the few pages of his introduction to tempt you:

 

 

            Although his fiction round-up can’t cover all “underground fiction” (see what I did there?), he gives us a representative sampling of pulp writers like Ray Palmer and Edgar Rice Burroughs.  He also synopsizes Etidorhpa, one I read around 1979 in paperback.  Spell the name backwards for a special treat, kiddies!

 

            However, my favorite scene from Etidorhpa isn’t mentioned by Kafton-Minkel.  The 1895 book by John Uri Lloyd is a tale within a tale of Llewyllyn Drury -- more specifically, Johannes Llewellyn Llongollyn Drury -- who is visited in the night by an old man who goes by the moniker of I-Am-the-Man-Who-Did-It.  Catchy, huh?  Anyway, Drury and “I-Am” get into an argument about the inexorable progress of man.  Drury keeps talking about how wonderful and civilized Mankind has become, and “I-Am” keeps shooting out one-liners to take him down a peg.  To Lloyd’s hero, mankind is like Norman Vincent Peale -- every day, in every way, Mankind is getting better and better.  In fact, Drury exclaims in a transport of pride and joy, there is NOTHING that man cannot accomplish?

 

            Oh, yeah? “I-Am” deadpans.  If you can do anything, “Kiss your elbow.”

 

            Folks, I have tried it.  Can’t be done.

 

 

 

            This is an example of the creepy things in Etidorhpa.  And that’s only ONE of the works discussed in this survey.

 

            Folks, if you’re fascinated by this topic, and of man’s quest for “hidden” things, please buy it (if you are rich) or get it through Interlibrary Loan and read it.  It’s fascinating, fun, and makes you feel normal again, in comparison to those poor souls who lost their minds and sometimes lives in quest of the shimmering ideal of “lands below the surface.”

 

 

            This final bit of imagery is from the end pages of the book.  Do you suppose that these books were actually as listed? or jokes? or perhaps the books were real, but perhaps “Dr Ima Peeper” is a pseudonym.

 

            Anyway, this is a wonderful book that should have a much wider circulation than seems likely.

 

This book review is sponsored by Grammarly.