Indulge in bittersweet reverie, wading through the past with embittered vinyl freaks who have turned their proud backs on the pedestrian Digital Present. This two-volume survey is at its best when the creators of this diverse music speak for themselves as when moogmeister Jean-Jacques Perrey shares his life story and philosophy [translated from French]; Rusty Warren recounts her antics as a gorgonesque sex-lib comedienne of the cocktail era who made a fortune off of tit fetish humor [“knockers up, gals!!”]; Bebe Barron [co-composer of the Forbidden Planet soundtrack] recaptures the lost era when avant-garde and fun could be vaguely synonymous; Eartha Kitt reveals how she forged her Black-woman-as-human-sex-panther persona into a six-decades-long showbiz career and partied with the likes of Orson Welles, Ernest Hemingway, and Marlene Dietrich as part of the international jet set; and Mexican hi-fi-arranger-extraordinaire Esquivel brings back to life his flamboyant ‘60s floor show; not to mention interviews with the exotica demigods Martin Denny and the metaphysical, turbaned organist Korla Pandit.
Also figuring prominently are such contemporary collector/cult figures as Lypsinka, whose act could convert anyone into a show-tune queen; and the Cramps, who recount hilarious record-finding exploits in the basements and back rooms of overweight drunks and semiliterate crackers all over America. SS/MG

Publisher: V/Search
Paperback: 200 pages

Indulge in bittersweet reverie, wading through the past with embittered vinyl freaks who have turned their proud backs on the pedestrian Digital Present. Once you get past a two-page discussion with Jello Biafra about holes in the ozone layer, Volume 2 begins to cook with his erudite look at the worldwide psych-ploitation phenomenon, including the racy recording past of former California Lt. Gov. Mike Curb. There are also scores of lesser-known collectors rhapsodizing over obscure [and sometimes less so] audio curios. One bizarre example is the Episcopalian minister who discusses the “blue comedy” records of Rudy Ray Moore [actually the raunchiest shit ever set to vinyl!]. Sadly, Incredibly Strange Music can sometimes confirm one’s most drastic suspicions about the dearth of originality in music today. SS/MG

Publisher: V/Search
Paperback: 240 pages