The Red Flower of Tachai Blossoms Everywhere

China Record Company have done it again! This is the one to acquire! All the big hits on one record! From the smash single that burned up the charts and warmed our hearts: A Long, Long Life to Chairman Mao, to the song we were all humming in that magical and productive summer of '67: Delivering Public-Grain to the State. Yes, they are all here in one glorious collection! 

The inspirational Conquering the Typhoon will have your foot tapping as your spirits soar. Then, let the gentle, relaxing sounds of Spring Comes to Yiho River and The Flower of Tachai Blooms at the Foot of Kunlun wash over you and be transported to a place of majestic, ancient landscapes and time-honored traditions ... or, as the cover art depicts: a place of modern concrete dam projects, well organized farm plots, and efficient workers. Finally, you'll want to put the pedal to the metal and increase the volume level because the closing song Galloping Across the Vast Grasslands is the perfect soundtrack for cruising the open road; wind in your hair, sun at your back, and best girl by your side.

                                                      ~*~

Seriously, I've long enjoyed hearing traditional Chinese music (but never owned any), and was very pleased to find this record and add it to the collection. Now, not only can I create a more enchanting atmosphere for sipping fragrant tea on those quiet evenings at home, but the next time a boisterous party guest shouts a request for "Delivering Public-Grain to the State," I'll be ready!

The Red Flower of Tachai Blossoms Everywhere
China Record Company M-1019

Released on the state-owned China Record Company label, this is a ten inch record that plays at 33⅓ rpm. Exact release date is unknown, but I think sometime between 1965 - 1975 would be a very safe guess.

 

Here is an interesting article about a Chinese record collector and the history of the record industry in China. I like the early name given to records there: chang pian, or "singing disc." The piece ends with a really nice quote from the collector about his love of music and records.

Former Genesis lead guitarist, Steve Hackett salutes traditional Chinese music with the song The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere. While his song's name is nearly identical to the title track of the record featured in this report, it isn't a note for note cover version. Released on his Spectral Mornings LP, as well as on the Time Lapse live album, it is a brilliantly done tribute composition that displays the guitarist's appreciation of this beautiful music.

Hear the studio version of Steve Hackett's The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere at YouTube 

Watch a YouTube video of Steve Hackett and his band performing The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms Everywhere in 1980

Led Zeppelin - Live in Seattle, '73 Tour

In 1999 the Anti-Piracy Unit of the British Phonographic Industry (that's the APU of the BPI to you and me) released a list of the most bootlegged rock recording artists. Led Zeppelin landed in the number one position with 384 titles. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan trailed behind with 320, 317, and 301 titles, respectively. I was surprised to see Prince next on the chart with 270 titles to his name ... whatever that name (or symbol) might be these days. This 1999 BBC News article notes that the bootleg chart was compiled by the BPI using their own archive of approximately 10,000 illegal recordings confiscated between about 1974 - 1999. Quite a nice record collection they've put together there!

According to another source (link at bottom of page) there are over 4,000 Led Zeppelin bootleg titles out there, spread across the vinyl, CD, and DVD formats! I guess the odds would have it that the first, and one of only two bootlegs I've found at the thrift store so far would be one of theirs. The other one being the previously posted Neil Young - Young Man's Fancy.

Hammer of the Managers

Apparently, even the determined efforts of (Led Zeppelin's notoriously aggressive manager) Peter Grant to squelch the bootleggers did little to stem the tide of illegal recordings of his band that flooded the market. Known to confiscate illicit Led Zeppelin albums he'd find in the English record shops, one well-known story has Grant, and Zeppelin's equally imposing tour manager Richard Cole, paying a little visit to a man who had just been named in a Melody Maker article as the distributor of a new double live Led Zeppelin bootleg. Grant put a closed sign on the unfortunate bootlegger's shop door while Cole threatened him with his life until he handed over his stock of prohibited Zeppelin LPs.

Richard Cole mentions in his book Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin Uncensored, that while on tour, they would often "rough up bootleggers when we caught them at work." A story documented both in Cole's book as well as in Stephen Davis' Hammer of the Gods - The Led Zeppelin Saga describes an incident in Vancouver during their fifth North American tour, when Peter Grant spotted a man in the audience blatantly wielding a large shotgun microphone attached to what looked like a sophisticated tape recorder. Grant pointed "that bastard" out to Cole, who stormed over with some roadies to confront the audacious bootlegger. It wasn't until after a physical assault and the smashing of expensive equipment that it was learned from a stagehand the man was actually a government official sent by the city to measure the decibel levels during the concert! Vancouver police arrived before the show ended, but luckily for Cole and crew, after they were questioned for an hour and agreed to pay for the recorder, the matter was dropped.

Tale of Two Bootleggers

This particular album was put out by the Trade Mark of Quality label. The owners of which are said to be the biggest bootleggers in music history and have been credited with kicking off the modern American bootlegging industry. Briefly, "TMQ" was started sometime around 1968-'69 by a couple of young guys in Los Angeles named Ken and Dub. Their first release, a collection of Bob Dylan songs known as Great White Wonder, is widely noted as the first significant rock bootleg and it swiftly got the pair up and running.

Using high quality materials such as colored, virgin vinyl and printed, color covers they earned a reputation as purveyors of fine unauthorized audio artifacts. However, the partnership ended after a few short years. Allegedly, Ken was fired by Dub's father who had now joined his son's lucrative venture. Dub kept the label going, continuing to use the realistic looking "farm style" pig logo while Ken started his own rival "Trade Mark of Quality" label with the cigar smoking "Pig Daddy" logo as seen on this Led Zeppelin cover insert.

With the help of someone at the pressing plant, Ken began copying all of his former partner's releases by routinely having his own set of vinyl stamping plates made from Dub's mother plates. Whenever the original TMQ label would put out something new, Ken's TMQ would follow with a less expensive duplicate release on black vinyl and with a cheaper cover.

Led Zeppelin - Live in Seattle, '73 Tour bootleg album track list

Definitely a no-frills affair, this particular two record set came in a generic, white, single slot cardboard jacket with a one color, plain paper cover insert (which had been sloppily Scotch taped onto the jacket at some point). The record labels are blank except for a small "SIDE ONE" / "SIDE TWO" etc... printed in plain text just below the spindle hole. Record one has an off-white label. Record two's label is a yellowish color. The matrix numbers stamped in the runoff groove areas match those in the listing for this album at the Discogs site and they are: Side 1: Z820-A / Side 2: Z820-B / Side 3: Z820-C / Side 4: Z820-D.

Further Reading

For a great, detailed list of Led Zeppelin bootlegs and lots of info about the labels and bootlegs in general, visit argenteumastrum.com

See the book Bootleg! The Rise & Fall of the Secret Recording Industry by Clinton Heylin for additional info about the TMQ label and much more

1940s Voice Letter to Uncle Bob

Here is another one-of-a-kind amateur recording from the 1940s. This one was made in a recording booth at Woodside Park in Philadelphia. It was recorded on July 12 for "Uncle Bob" (and family) by a nervous, somewhat befuddled woman named Betty and her coolheaded sidekick, Dorothy (who brings to mind Aunt Bea from the Andy Griffith show every time I hear this record).

Woodside Park was open for visitors from 1897 until 1955. Here is a photo of the park's entrance, along with an autobiographical story written by a man who once performed a sideshow routine there.

Voice-O-Graph record mailing envelope

Voice-O-Graph "automatic recording studio" booths were made by International Mutoscope Corporation and as far as I can tell, were fairly common from about the early forties to the late sixties in amusement parks, arcades, and many other popular destinations such as New York's Times Square. To see some cool Voice-O-Graph advertisements and photos, visit PinRepair.com. I like the first ad, which shows a woman using the machine who doesn't look quite sure if she's anxious, astonished, or annoyed, and the text reads: "Like talking on the phone ... but a thousand times more thrilling!"

1940s Voice-O-Graph record label
and text from envelope flap

A very handy "labelography" at the TenWatts blog compiles a good number of Voice-O-Graph label designs that were used over the years. With this guide, I could determine that our "Uncle Bob" record was most likely from the 1940s, but the exact period associated with this particular label variant is still in question. If you have a Voice-O-Graph record with a label that is not listed in the timeline, you might want to consider contacting that blog's owner and contributing to the project.







I really like playing these little mystery time capsule records for the first time. It's fun not knowing, and anticipating, what you are going to hear. Using clues found on the packaging and in the audio itself, they can also lead you to some interesting historical details you might otherwise never have uncovered. Check out the video clip below if you would like to hear this one for yourself.

East of Eden (1971 LP)

Side 1
Wonderful Feeling (6:10)
Goodbye (6:00)
Crazy Daisy (6:54)

Side 2
Here Comes The Day (4:34)
Take What You Need (5:00)
No Time (6:01)
To Mrs. V (5:10)

Discovery

At first glance this record with the rather ordinary cover and vague title (was it the name of the band or the album?) struck me as a possible Christian-rock record or perhaps something an ambitious (but bland) local act had once unleashed upon an unsuspecting tri-state area. After pulling it out for a closer look, it still took a while to get a handle on what sort of record it was. Turning to the back of the jacket, none of the musicians' names rang a bell and the little descriptive blurb that followed didn't help a whole lot either: "They are from the United Kingdom and play rock. Their music knows how to make people happy." OK. I guess the fact that they play rock was encouraging, and I wouldn't complain if they made me happy, but I was still skeptical. Only when I finally saw that the label was Harvest and the cover photo and design was credited to Hipgnosis was it promptly whisked off to the checkout counter without further ado. Harvest and Hipgnosis are both associated with a laundry list of great, iconic albums by artists such as Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Led Zeppelin, and Iron Maiden to name just a few. This was suddenly a very promising and intriguing thrift store record find...

Brief History

1971 Harvest Records SW-806

I found out that East of Eden was formed in Bristol, England in 1967 and the band relocated to London the following year where they were signed to the Deram label. In 1969 they released their first album Mercator Projected. In March of that same year they also appeared at the Actuel Festival — apparently playing after (Noel Redding's) Fat Mattress and before Captain Beefheart and Soft Machine. This 1971 self-titled LP is their third studio album, and the first they recorded for Harvest.

                                  Sounds Like

East of Eden sound like they have firm blues-rock roots from which they branch off into more eclectic prog-rock terrain. Side one starts off reminding me of American West Coast bands like Quicksilver Messenger Service or Jefferson Airplane's more earthbound moments. But before long, their UK progressive pedigree becomes more apparent as the gritty (and abundant) blues riffing gives way to jazzier bursts of tightly played early King Crimsonesque passages — replete with saxophones and flutes. They sometimes play in a gentler English folk-rock style (to good effect) as well. Even though the main verse/chorus parts tend to sound more like the sort of blues-based, rocking numbers that might be found on a Rory Gallagher or Robin Trower LP (especially the vocal delivery), the busier, more experimental parts somehow never seem contrived or out of place as they easily flow in and out of these skillfully constructed compositions.

Trivia: Founding member Dave Arbus performs the violin solo at the end of The Who's classic rock radio staple Baba O'Riley.

Visit East of Eden's official website

Listen to a song from this LP on YouTube.com

An Evening with Boris Karloff and His Friends

Side 1

Introduction (1:44)

Dracula (2:59)

All About the Monster (1:53)

Frankenstein (3:22)

The Mummy (1:57)

Side 2

The Bride of Frankenstein (3:03)

The Son of Frankenstein (3:37)

The Wolf Man (2:09)

The House of Frankenstein (1:24)

Finale (1:24)

'Twas a dark and dismal day back in the year 2010 when I unearthed this relic from that forbidding, haunted corner of the planet where insatiable shadow-beings feed upon the wretched, dust-shrouded leavings of bygone days (aka the thrift store record department). For many moons, since falling into my possession, this artifact has lain undisturbed, quietly resting in peace, touched not by human hand nor diamond stylus ... until now.

With Halloween drawing near, I figured this would be a perfect record to post, so I gave it a long overdue spin and dug up some info on it. The cover is a bit worn, but surprisingly, the inner sleeve and disc are virtually flawless and the sound is excellent. I would have loved to own this one as a child—when I was heavily into monster movies and other assorted monster-related paraphernalia. Judging by the scuff and fingerprint-free playing surface, I'd wager this particular copy never made it into the hands of any very young monster movie fans.

An Evening with Boris Karloff and His Friends
1967 Decca Records DL 74833 (stereo)

The subtitle on the cover and label reads: Original Soundtracks from Universal's Greatest Monster Movies Narrated by Boris Karloff, meaning that we get to hear scenes from the original movies interspersed with Boris Karloff talking about the films (over a bed of great, spooky incidental music).

Boris Karloff (real name William Henry Pratt), as you may know, was an English actor who made his way to Hollywood, where he appeared in scores of films over a period of about 12 years before eventually finding fame when he took on the role of Frankenstein's Monster in 1931. He acted in more than a dozen films released in 1931 alone! Best remembered for his extensive work in the horror/monster movie genre, he also played in other types of films, but typically still portrayed characters who had rather sinister personalities: an Irish gangster in Scarface (1932); a maniacal doctor in the comedy/drama The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947); and the voice of the Grinch (as well as the narrator) in the animated TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966), among others.

The credits specify that this record was written and produced by Verne Langdon, Milt Larsen, and Forrest J. Ackerman. Ackerman, who wrote the script that Karloff reads, has been credited with coining the term "sci-fi" in the 1950s and was also the original editor and primary writer for Famous Monsters of Filmland  magazine, which is probably familiar to many of you who grew up in the 1960s, '70s, or '80s. Often referred to as sci-fi's number one fan, he spent a lifetime amassing what was possibly the world's largest personal collection of science-fiction, horror, and fantasy memorabilia. In this video on YouTube, the man himself gives a mini-tour of his creature-laden home/museum.

In this interview, Verne Langdon mentions how the record was pulled from the market by Decca/Universal (sometime around or before 1972) due to a lawsuit, which, among other things, prohibited the use of Bela Lugosi's voice on the recording. As far as I can tell, it is still out of print, but an alternate "original" (demo?) version containing different music and editing was made available recently as an mp3 download or CD-R. It can be purchased at Amazon.com where you can also read a couple informative reviews of it.

New Feature: Slideshow Corner!

If you would kindly divert your eyes to the right and gaze upon the top of the sidebar portion of this blog, you should now notice a pint-sized slideshow in progress. This will be an ongoing, regularly updated feature here.

On display will be things like our latest thrift store record acquisitions or selections from the archives which share a certain cover art theme or go together in some other fun and/or interesting way.

Hovering your cursor over the slideshow will make a control bar appear, allowing you to pause/advance/reverse the photos. Click on any of the pictures and a new window will open in which the photos can be viewed at your own pace, along with any captions that may have been added. Most captions will at least identify the name of the artist, album title, year of release, record label, and catalog number for that specific pressing. You might also find some additional comments.

As always, thank you for visiting Thrift Store Record Report and please stop back again. We hope to become the number one destination for all of your thumbnail-size, super low resolution, record-related, sidebar slideshow needs.

Update - October 2016: Unfortunately Google has now discontinued the Blogger sidebar slideshow gadget. Until I find a good replacement, all slideshow photos and captions can still be viewed by clicking the link provided in the posts for each slideshow (e.g. "Summer Movie Soundtracks").

1945 Voice Letter

This unique recording was made just before the end of World War II at a USO club in Boston, Massachusetts. The voice heard on the record is that of a U.S. Navy seaman serving aboard a destroyer called the USS MacKenzie. According to this article the ship had returned from Mediterranean waters to Boston for a 30 day overhaul in July of 1945. Apparently, it was during this time that Machinist's Mate 3rd class Jorgensen had the opportunity to record this "voice letter" for his wife back home in Philadelphia.

August 9, 1945 postmark on Voice Letter envelope

The MacKenzie left Boston on August 13 (four days after the record's envelope was postmarked) for training near Cuba to prepare for duty in the Pacific. However, the surrender of Japan two days later prompted a change of plans and after two weeks training, the destroyer was ordered back to the U.S. for duty with the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain. Then on November 3, 1945 the MacKenzie headed to Charleston, South Carolina for decommissioning.

Label of 1945 Voice Letter record

 An article printed in the January, 1946 installment of Audio Record—a newsletter/magazine for recording enthusiasts, published by Audio Devices Inc. (a manufacturer of blank discs)—states that some 350 USO clubs in major cities were equipped with voice recording equipment and that the USO Central Purchasing Dept. had sent out 301,059 blank discs over the past two years, all of which were donated to service personnel.

One amusing story in the same article told of a young man who made a record for his family and after his mother wrote back to tell him how his dog "sent up great bays of delight" upon hearing his voice, the man went back and made another entire recording just for the dog. 

The USO still provides a modern day equivalent of this recording service through programs such as United Through Reading, where military parents are videotaped reading a storybook to their child. Also used are special books containing a digital device that records the voice of the parent as they read the story aloud. Volunteers then mail the books and videos to the families back home.

Text printed on flap of 1945 Voice Letter record mailing envelope

1945 Voice Letter record (plays at 78 rpm)

Developed in the 1930s, this particular type of recording disc, sometimes called an "instantaneous disc," is also often referred to as an "acetate" even though they do not actually contain acetate. They usually consist of a coating of nitrocellulose lacquer on a substrate of metal, glass, or cardboard. It appears (and makes the most sense) that this particular record is made with a cardboard core. I can't imagine that fragile glass would ever be used in discs meant for purposes such as this USO voice letter, and at this time in history when everyone was urged to turn in metal for the war effort, I'm guessing metal would not have been used for manufacturing record blanks. In fact, I've read that even thousands of pre-existing metal-based discs containing unique recordings, such as from radio performance archives were unfortunately lost to the U.S. scrap metal drives during World War II.

1945 Voice Letter mailing envelope

 Instantaneous/lacquer recording discs are not exactly known for their great durability and longevity. I would say this record and its packaging has held up very well these past 65 years and must have been kept in a safe place prior to turning up at the thrift store.
It's fun stumbling upon these amateur recordings, never knowing what random voices from the past you will find waiting in the grooves to fill the air with sound once more...

Visit collectinghistory.net for photos and more information about the USS MacKenzie

A 324 pg. collection of Audio Record magazine is available to view online or download at Archive.org