GOOD AS I BIN TO YOU

You can't always count on the dollar bins. Sometimes they give, sometimes they are unforgiving. 

I flip through record bins everywhere I go. Thrift stores, bookstores, record stores. Everybody knows this. Naturally, I expect to find the best records in the record stores and the worst records in the thrift stores, but that's not always the case. 

Remember that Robert Mitchum record I snagged at a local bookstore last week? There were boxes and boxes of $1 records stacked on the ground but I was meeting my son for lunch and didn't have time to crawl around thumbing through vinyl.

Today, I made time.

Harpo by Harpo Marx (Mercury Wing MGW 12164, 1964)

Delirium in Hi-Fi by Elsa Popping and her Pixieland Band (Andre Popp) (Columbia WL 106, 1958)

Homer and Jethro at the Convention (RCA Victor LPM-2492, 1962)

The Mermaid Theatre presents Lock Up Your Daughters (Decca LK 4320, 1959)

Bill Carty Blasts Off! (Stereoddities CC-1, 1961)

Relaxing Body and Mind  by Milton Feher (Folkways Records FX 6191, 1962)

Havana, 3 a.m. by Perez Prado and His Orchestra  (RCA Victor LPM-1257, 1956)

At the Drop of a Hat by Flanders and Swann (Angel Records 35797, 1959)

Totally Bananas by Rose and the Arrangement (Twink Records TLP 1001, 1981)

Lots of no-brainers here. Lots of records considered, lots of dollars paid.

The last time I saw a Harpo Marx record, it was marked $50. Too rich for my blood, friends. A buck I can handle. Not only did this one immediately go in the "yes" pile, it forced me to look at every dollar record in the joint. The moment you find something good, you're screwed.

The next record I grabbed, Delirium in Hi-Fi, caught my eye thanks to William Steig's cover art. Turns out the record is pretty important in its own right.  Andre Popp, the French fellow who wrote "Love is Blue," composed the music for the album and Pierre Fatosme created the sound effects.  They released their team effort under the name "Elsa Popping and her Pixieland Band." Don't ask me why. Maybe it's a French thing? 

An unusual album, to say the least. 

I've never listened to Homer and Jethro, not ever. I bought this album strictly for the Jack Davis artwork.

Lock up Your Daughters? Never heard of it. I have heard of Lionel Bart, who wrote the songs for Oliver! According to the liner notes, Lock Up Your Daughters is based on Henry Fielding's Rape Upon Rape. Great premise for a musical, huh?

Normally, I'm not a big fan of rape but I can overlook almost anything so long as the songs are catchy.

Check out Bill Carty's face on the cover of Bill Carty Blasts Off! and tell me you wouldn't pay a dollar for this platter. Impossible, right?

Richard Swift's excellent The Atlantic Ocean (Secretly Canadian, 2009) contains a song called "A Song for Milton Feher." I never really thought twice about who Milton Feher was (or might be) and then this Folkways record materialized in front of me. 

Apparently, there was a Milton Feher School of Dance and Relaxation and if you listen to Milton's recorded voice and follow the instructions in the 8-page booklet, you'll not only learn how to relax, you'll learn to sit correctly, improve your posture, and breathe without effort. Definitely worth a buck.

Perez Prado? 'Nuff said. Let me hear you say "¡Dilo!"

Flanders and Swann. One guy plays piano, the other guy's in a wheelchair. Hilarity ensures. 

Totally Bananas looked like a lot of fun. I'm a sucker for novelty records, obviously, but Rose and the Arrangement didn't exactly ring any bells.  Neither did cuts like "Last Tango in Pahrump" or "The Cockroach That Ate Cincinatti." But unlike you, I am willing to gamble with one hundred pennies. I am willing to take a leap.  

Got home, saw the latter song was a huge hit on Dr. Demento's radio show. Pulled the record out of my shopping bag. Saw the endorsement from Demento himself, five whole paragraphs, on the back of the album.

Sometimes it pays to read, especially when you're in a bookstore looking at records.