Swingle Singers - Anyone for Mozart?

Artist  :  The Swingle Singers

Title  :  Anyone for Mozart?  (1965)

Genre  :  Classical, a cappella

  - Tracks  (favorites in pink) -

01. Sonata No. 15

02. Ah! vous Dirais Je Maman

03. Allegro from Sonata No. 14

04. Fugue 

05. Eine Kleine Nacht Music

    The Swingle Singers had a brief heyday way back in the late 1960's.  They were (and still are, for that matter) a mostly a cappella group, with only a modicum of bass fiddle and drum accompaniment.  ISTR their most popular album featured Bach tunes.

    I found  Anyone For Mozart?, the stereo version no less, at the local Goodwill store, and snagged it for $0.99.  Released in 1965, this means this is a 49-year-old LP, so it had a fair amount of scratches, but no skips.  The scratch-removal program had its normal efficiency, removing about 95% of the scratches, without noticeably compromising the highs and lows of the music.

    The main problem with this LP is its brevity, even by 1965 standards.  Each side was only about 12-13 minutes in length, which is unforgivable, given the copious amount of Mozart music available.  Was this a "rush to release" issue, or did the record company just decide the public would buy it without checking out the times on the back of the album?

   That being said, I like the album.  I doubt it will ever be released as a CD, although I wouldn't be surprised to see it packaged with several other Swingle Singers albums.  There are a couple YouTube videos featuring the group singing some of these Mozart offerings, although ISTR they were all "live" concert videos.

    If you like classical music, especially lively take-offs of it (see : Apollo 100), then you should enjoy this LP.

Demon Toilet Paper Holder

    What to get for the Goth who has everything.

Where's your hairpiece?

    It took me an embarrassingly long time to 'get' this joke.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Life is a kaleidoscope of pains and pleasures, despairs and hopes, family and friends, careers and games, loves and luck, learning and failures, and health and illnesses; not mere itches and scratches.  But do not all these things come down to itching and scratching?  Are not itching and scratching representative of what goes on in life?  All the things mentioned in our list are, ultimately, matters involving some discontent (itches) to overcome and (if we are lucky?) the overcoming (scratching) which provides relief.  What is the value in that?

    (from Can A Robot Be Human?, by Peter Cave)

  7½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Darth the Halls

    Liz has already decorated our two Christmas trees this year.  But I'm thinking that the motif in 2015 should be...

Slaughterhouse 5

    I can call it Slaughterhouse 5 because, well, there are five carcasses hanging there.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “That fabric must be something she loomed herself, in between peanut-butter sandwiches.  It would have been smarter without the metallic threads.”

    “What would an architect call that color?” he asked.

    “I’d call it a yellow-pink of low saturation and medium brilliance.”

    “A decorator would call it Cream of Carrot<” he said, “or Sweet Potato Soufflé.”

    (from The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, by Lilian Jackson Braun)

     6½*/10.  The full review is here.

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Roman Numerals

    Sometimes, the Roman numeral system works better than ours.

Friday Night Philosophy

   True dat.

RIP Huxley

    RIP, Huxley.  You weren't the smartest dog ever, and maybe not even the prettiest.  But you were the bestest dog we ever had, and you're going to leave a hole in my heart for a long, long time.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    That probably sounds strange to you, if you have thought of all the duties a King has – weighty matters such as putting taxes on some things or ending them on others, whether or not to declare war, whether to pardon or condemn.  What, you might say, was a decision over whether or not to allow a little boy to play with a dollhouse next to those other things?

    Maybe nothing, maybe much.  I will let you make up your mind on that.  I will tell you the Roland was not the smartest King who had ever ruled in Delain.

    (from The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King)

     8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Injustice

    Really, St. Louis Police Department?!?!  You're offended that some of the St. Louis Rams players  showed their solidarity with the Ferguson black community by giving the "Hands Up! Don't Shoot!" gesture??

    Well, I'm offended that you think shooting an unarmed black teenager for walking down the middle of a street is okay.  F*cking racist cops.

E-Card Monday

    This is to celebrate one of our dogs, Bella, getting to come home tonight after 2½ days at the Emergency Animal Clinic.  She cheated Death for the third time in her brief lifetime.

    We got to learn all sorts of new words and acronyms during this ordeal.  Such as HGE : Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis and Pancreatitis.  But all that matters is that Bella's home!

Run Away!

    It always pays to have a detailed and well-thought-out Emergency Plan.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “We’re actually going to collect someone from a space station inhabited by pacifists.”

    “Fierce warrior pacifists?”

    “No.”

    “Edible pacifists?”

    “I would advise against it.”

    “Will we then deliver this coward into the sun?”

    “No.”

    “Is anything good going to happen on this holiday?”

  

    (from Space Captain Smith, by Toby Frost)

     8½*/10.  The full review is here.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

    They may be overdoing it with all the "Pumpkin Spice" variations this year.  But I don't mind.

Siberian Huskies

    A long time ago, I used to dog-sit two Siberian huskies.  I can say from experience that the above image is accurate.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Casper looked at the toys and immediately saw the possibilities.  Any show could have a midget.  Casper’s Cavalcade of Living Curiosities was going to have a genuine fairy.

    This was show business.  Nobody came to see the sad or the ordinary.  They came to witness the stupendous, the fantastic, that which is beyond belief.

    (from The Midget’s House, by Anita Bartholomew)

     7½*/10.  The full review is here.

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Ice Bucket Challenge

    I'm not keen on things like the recent Ice Bucket Challenge craze.  But if God takes part in it, I guess it's okay.

Nerdvana

    I don't want to brag, but I've attained Nerdvana.

Friday Night Mantra

    Actually, it should read "there's no drink like RED wine."

Deus Ex Machina

    In case you ever wondered about what the phrase "deus ex machina" means.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Instead of drawing closer, Tilla sat up and started chattering about next door’s cockerel.  “He has stopped crowing at night now: Did you notice?”

    He agreed without thinking, and reached for her.  “I’m well rested.  Come here.”

    She dodged his hand and stood up, still looking more cheerful than anyone who had been awake half the night had any right to be.  Only slowly did it dawn on him that there might be a link between the silence of the cockerel, Tilla’s smile, and the rather stringy meat in last night’s stew.

    He was not going to ask.

    (from Caveat Emptor by Ruth Downie)

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Freudian Sips

    Oh my.  This is going on my Christmas list for Santa.

Preacher Selfie

    Ah, Preacher.  You're looking young here.  We'll use this one if we ever need to find you.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Did she have a sofa, your aunt?”

    “No, just an armchair and a pair of pouffes.”

    “Ample seating.  Did she live on her own?”

    “She does now, the pouffes moved out.  They’ve opened a candle shop in Kemptown.”

    “The air’s very bracing in Kemptown.  Someone told me that it was good for rheumatism.  So I went there and caught it.”

    “You can’t catch rheumatism, can you?”

    “It all depends who’s throwing it,” I said.  “Boys will be boys.”

    (from Waiting For Godalming by Robert Rankin)

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Let the festivities begin

    It's true.  I saw it on the Internet, so it has to be true.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “What’s that?”

    “A dog,” Vin said.

    “Ah, blunt as ever, I see,” Breeze said.  “And, why is it that you now have a dog?”

    “I gave it to her,” Elend said.  “She wanted one, so I bought it for her.”

    “And you chose a wolfhound?” Ham asked, amused.

    “You’ve fought with her before, Ham,” Elend said, laughing.  “What would you have given her?  A poodle?”

    (from The Well Of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson)

  9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Xmas T-Shirt

    Dear Santa.  You're awesome.  Please bring me this.
    Your Friend,

Dancing With The Stars

    Sadly, I fear that tonight it will be Tommy Chong's time to go home.

Sunday Mathday

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The first one hadn’t actually run, he’d walked.  The patrolman on the switchboard it was, and he said, “Sir, the phone’s gone dead.”

    “Oh?  We’d better call the phone company to fix it pronto,” the lieutenant said.  He liked the word “pronto,” it made him feel like Sean Connery.  He reached for the phone to call the phone company, but when he held it to his ear there wasn’t any sound.

    He became aware of the patrolman looking at him.  “Oh,” he said.  “Oh, yes.”  He put the phone back on its hook.

    (from The Hot Rock, by Donald E. Westlake)

     8*/10.  The full review is here.

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Music Friday

        For instance, Mike Oldfield's "Five Miles Out".

Escher Thursday

   And now we know what the "M" in "MC Escher" stands for.

E-Card Wednesday

Color Commentary

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “They only sent one officer?” Roger continued complaining.  He threw his hands up in the air.  “I can’t believe it!  This is an emergency!  Where’s the armada?  Didn’t you hear me?  There’s a dead man out back!”

    The officer raised an eyebrow and did a quick study of Roger.  “Well, then I guess there’s no real chance of him getting away now, is there?”

    (from A Hardboiled Murder, by Michelle Ann Hollstein)

     5½*/10.  The full review is here.

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Arizona 28 - Dallas 17

    So let me get this straight.  There's just one NFL team anymore with only one loss?  And that is...?

November is Tongue Awareness Month

    Just think about that.