Wednesday, February 08, 2017

It's Rock Novelty Records Week (An Occasional Series): Part III (Special Our Friends the Armenians Edition)

From 1958, please enjoy the genius of David Seville (aka Ross Bagdasarian)...


...and the sequentially monikered "Almost Good"...



...and "Mediocre."



Those were the b-sides to "The Chipmunk Song" and "Alvin's Harmonica," respectively. There were giants in the earth in those days.

Interesting trivia note: In 1939, Bagdasarian performed in the original Broadway production of The Time of Your Life, written by his then more famous cousin William Saroyan.

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7 comments:

  1. Shriner2/08/2017 10:54 AM

    Hah -- I have that Alvin's Harmonica 45. I always like Mediocre. It's the better of the two songs for sure...

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  2. steve simels2/08/2017 12:47 PM

    "Almost Good" actually IS almost good.
    :-)

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  3. Anonymous2/08/2017 1:54 PM

    Come On-a My House, my house, I'm gonna give you candy ...

    VR

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  4. dave2/08/2017 2:06 PM

    Two Fresno boys!

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  5. Anna2/08/2017 6:45 PM

    But let's make it even more powerpop! The lovely Annette Zilinskas of the OG Bangles (among other great bands) used to work for Ross Bagdasarian *Jr.*, when DiC, one of the toon factories I worked at was doing an updated Alvin & The Chipmunks in cooperation with them. She and I would speak on the phone daily, but I only knew her as "Annette". She must have heard my music playing in the background, or vice versa, because one day we started talking about music, and she said "you ought to come see my band, The Ringling Sisters play sometime" and I'm like "waitaminnit...you're *that* Annette...?" Yup, she was! Alas, I was working really long hours at the time, the neo-Chipmunks show came to an end, and I never got to see her/them.

    Just a few months ago, sitting in one of Paul Rock's Wild Honey backyard shows in Los Angeles (Susan Cowsill and the Kennedys), I chanced to sit on the steps with a woman, we started chatting, and introduced ourselves. "I'm Annette", she said. AAAH! So, 26 odd years after our phone friendship, we finally met in real life! I hope to see her again soon...I unfortunately missed her when she played with the Bangles at their three night Whisky-A-Go Go stint.

    But...um, yeah...great Ross Sr. songs, Steve! :)

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  6. Dave2/09/2017 1:48 AM

    Anoither fan of "Mediocre" here. From the same era, Buchanan & Goodman and Stan Freberg were huge, but I had a soft spot for "Delicious," and loved watching Jim Backus try to lip-synch it on television. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqZhadwvG0

    Dave F

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  7. Anonymous2/09/2017 8:01 AM

    Anna: Great things do happen in Eagle Rock! Cool story.

    Used to see the Bangs[Bangles] a lot around L.A. in 1982. I have a story about a Bangles gig but it's late and it's long ....

    VR

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