[josemas]

CDs listened to the last few weeks-

Etta James- Four Classic Albums Plus Singles  (4 discs 79 tracks)

Bo Diddley- The Absolutely Essential Collection   (3 discs 60 discs)

Hit Parade 1941   (25 tracks)

Steelin' It- The Steel Guitar Story   (4 discs 100 tracks)

Johnny Cash- 8 Classic Albums   (4 discs 118 tracks)

The Serious Reggae Album Vol One   (12 tracks)

The Serious Reggae Album Vol Two   (11 tracks)

The Serious Reggae Album Vol Three   (12 tracks)

The Real Blues Brothers Vol 2   (19 tracks)

Greatest Folksingers of the Sixties   (24 tracks)

All-Time Gospel Greats   (10 tracks)

R & B: The Definitives   (3 discs 42 tracks)

Roy Brown- Good Rockin' Man- The Definitive Collection   (2 discs 50 tracks)

The Fontaine Sisters- Classic Hits & Golden Memories   (3 discs 42 tracks)

The Cruisin' Story- 1962   (2 discs 50 tracks)

The Dells- Oh, What a Night   (10 tracks)

Marilyn Monroe- With Love   (14 tracks)

Country Classics Vol 1- Honky Tonk Angels   (20 tracks)

Country Classics Vol 2- From a Jack to a King   (20 tracks)

Sammy Davis Jr.- Seven Classic Albums   (4 discs 81 tracks)

Dean Martin- That's Amore- A Selection of Singles & EP's 1946-1962   (4 discs 71 tracks)

Tony Bennett- Chicago   (10 tracks)

[paw broon]

Once again josemas, a great list.
For me, my music listening has included The Groundhogs best of album.  I saw them live, supporting The Stones way, way back at Green's Playhouse in Glasgow.  About as loud as I can remember hearing. It seemed as if the back wall had been built by Messrs. Marshall.  McPhie was on form and Cherry Red was hard as nails.
I read an article about them recently and that's what made me dig out their old albums. All c.d's now.
Also it's The Pirates turn again with Do The Dog a perennial favourite.
Mixed in with that subtle as a brick stuff there's been a bit of Frankie Ford and SeaCruise, Gene Chandler and Duke of Earl, some Johnny and the Hurricanes, Sounds Incorporated - there's a great video on youtube with Sounds Incorporated backing Little Richard when he was in the UK on tour - and a lot of early '60's British pop.

[josemas]

CDs listened to the last coupla' weeks-

Songs That Got Us Through WWII-  (18 tracks)

The Dean Martin Show   (4 discs 68 tracks)

More Surf Legends (and Rumors)    (28 tracks)

Classic Country Collection- Smithsonian Collection Vol 4   (22 tracks)

Let Me Tell You About the Blues-West Coast Blues   (3 discs   75 tracks)

60s Rock Bands-Wild Thing   (20 tracks)

Absolutely the Best Gospel Vol 2   (13 tracks)

The Cruisin' Story-1955   (2 discs  50 tracks)

60s Rock-N-Roll Vol 1  It's My Party   (20 tracks)

60s Rock-N-Roll Vol 2  Tossin' & Turnin'   (20 tracks)

Bob Marley- Reggae   (10 tracks)

James Brown Live- Please, Please, Please   (10 tracks)

50s Pop Vol 1- Hey There   (20 tracks)

Legends- For Your Love   (18 tracks)

Legends- Pluggin' In   (20 tracks)

Legends- Gimme Some Lovin'  (18 tracks)

[josemas]

Some vintage WWII era OTR on Veteran's Day-

The Glenn Miller Army-Airforce Orchestra from New York City,  Dec 18, 1943.

The Ozzie Nelson Orchestra from Akron, Ohio, July 26, 1943.

and some recent CDs listened to-

Cliff Richard- Cliff Rocks   (3 discs 51 tracks)

Aretha and Reverend Franklin- Never Grow Old   (10 tracks)

Amy Winehouse- Back to Black   (10 tracks)

Dean Shostak and Friends- Colonial Fair   (23 tracks)

70s Heavy Hitters- Summer Love   (10 tracks)

60s Soul- Tell It Like It Is  (20 tracks)

The Sound of Music- The Original Broadway Cast   (17 tracks)

Bobby Darin- Eight Classic Albums   (4 discs 98 tracks)

Loafers' Glory   (13 tracks)

Uncle Earl- Waterloo, Tennessee   (16 tracks)

Lonesome Whistle- An Anthology of American Railroad Songs   (4 discs  100 tracks)

The London American Story 1958   (2 discs 50 tracks)

The London American Story 1959   (2 discs 50 tracks)

plus in the last few days as the Christmas season gets going-

Jingle Bell Rock   (10 tracks)

Christmas Hits of the 1950s   (2 discs 50 tracks)

Classic Christmas Vol II   (12 tracks)

Ray Charles- The Spirit of Christmas  (11 tracks)

[crashryan]

Recently I've been enjoying episodes of All-Star Western Theater from our CB+ OTR section. It combines Western-B-movie-style musical numbers with short dramatic productions. The topliner band is Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, who appeared in a lot of Roy Rogers movies. Their sound is similar to the Sons of the Pioneers except that they feature more harmony singing and fewer solos than the Sons. It's a fun show with guest stars like Tex Ritter and Jimmy Wakeley. The show was produced in Los Angles before a live audience. I'm surprised how often the actors fluff lines.

[crashryan]

I recently sampled several episodes of The Avenger in our OTR section. The show has nothing to with Richard Benson, putty-faced master of disguise from the pulp magazine. If it weren't for the fact that Walter Gibson wrote the show I'd wonder if Street & Smith had anything to do with it.

The Avenger is a bargain-basement Shadow imitation. The show even begins with a filtered voice delivering a variation of the "weed of crime" line: "The road to crime ends in a trap that justice sets! Crime does not pay!"  This awkward speech typifies the show. In terms of acting and production it's fine, but the writers don't seem to know what to do with the character.

The Avenger is biochemist Jim Brandon, who often helps the police with tough cases. In the beginning he boasts two crime-fighting inventions: the Diffusion Capsule, granting him invisibility, and the Telepathic Indicator. The Indicator is a laboratory machine that picks up random "thought flashes" from people in distress. The trouble is the Indicator can't reveal things like names, places, or the nature of a crime without spoiling the story. So most of the time Jim and Fern, his Margo Lane, go into the outside world, stumble across the relevant crime, and solve it. Afterwards they work out what the telepathic message had to do with things. The scriptwriters obviously knew they had a dud. After the first couple of episodes the Indicator appears less and less. A dozen episodes in, it vanishes altogether and the show opening credits Jim with only one invention.

The Diffusion Capsule cloaks Jim in "the black light of invisibility." I'm still not sure how that works, although the first episode gives a complicated pseudo-scientific explanation. You'll have to ask the Phantom Lady. When a sound-effects man pops his cheek and says "Whoosh" Jim becomes The Shadow, I mean The Avenger. Unlike The Shadow, The Avenger doesn't get much out of his invisibility. Mostly he eavesdrops on suspects. One time all he does is scare a murderer into running outside so the cops can nab him.

I'm not saying the show is a stinker. It's quite listenable. It just works better as a generic amateur-detective show than as a super-power show.

[bowers]

I dunno, Crash- I'd call it a stinker! Well, maybe that is a bit harsh. Last time we flew down to LA, I filled my MP3 player with Avenger episodes, and I just couldn't finish them. After the first two, they all started to sound the same. Cheers, Bowers

[narfstar]

I tried an episode it was not the pulp character so I tossed it to the curb. I found the Avenger pulps more interesting than the Shadow. His putty face was a cool idea to me.

[crashryan]

Eye surgery has reduced the length of time I can stare at screens, so I've been doing a lot of listening, alternating my indispensable internet radio station, Radio Dismuke, with OTR programs from the CB+ library. I've been going down the list sampling shows I haven't heard. Among them:

Buck Rogers: I managed to make it through 2-1/2 of these. The production values are adequate, but Buck's gosh-wow voice sounds like a Bob and Ray parody. (The earnest child actor pushing Popsicles is also something to behold.) The episodes are excessively padded.  It's worth listening to episode 3 just to hear the cast rattle out "gyro-cosmic relativator" without missing a beat.

Charlie Chan: Another dud. A massively-confusing serial. It piles up lots of red herrings and dead ends, and understanding what happens in each episode counts on your having memorized previous installments. Chan's voice is incredibly irritating, though I like the way he says, "Thang kyoo......verymuch."

The Comic Weekly Man: Definitely for little kids but fun. Hear what was in the Sunday Funnies circa 1950. Flash Gordon without Mac Raboy is rather stuffy. Dick's Adventures is actually interesting when read aloud with sound effects, something it never was as a comic strip. The Comic Man has his hands (mouth?) full describing the fall-over-backward payoff panels in gag strips like Blondie and Snookums. The voice of Little Miss Honey sounds exactly like Elmo, except she doesn't refer to herself in third person.

Crime Does Not Pay: True crime isn't my cup of tea so I only listened to one of these. Good acting and reasonable production values. Just like in the comics, the closing "crime does not pay" lecture sounds hypocritical following half an hour of glorifying killers.

Dan Dunn: Like the comic, generic and ho-hum. Heard one episode; didn't feel like trying the other.

Dr. Kildare: The hospital drama (why did a happy young man attempt suicide?) is mixed fifty-fifty with character comedy revolving around Dr Gillespie. The comedy is aggravating, the drama okay. I've never seen any Kildare movies and I have only vague memories of the 60s TV show. I don't remember Gillespie being such a curmudgeon as he is here. Worse, every time Lionel Barrymore opens his mouth I hear Mr Magoo.

Casey, Crime Photographer: A definite hit. Rough going in the earliest episodes because of poor sound quality, but worth sticking with it. Lively stories and a great performance by Staats Cotsworth as Casey. The actress playing his sidekick Ann is also excellent but she isn't credited (Jan Miner, maybe?). Good production values. Like many OTR shows the mysteries aren't always mysterious, but the overall package is good enough to make me want to revisit the Blue Note Club. I will however be skipping past the unctuous advertisements for Anchor Hocking Glass.

Thang kyoo....verymuch, CB+, for lightening the burden of my recuperation.

[jimmm kelly]

I mainly listen to anthology programs--usually of the suspense variety. I'm always searching for more.

SUSPENSE, THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER, THE WHISTLER, ESCAPE, THE INNER SANCTUM, THE WEIRD CIRCLE, SLEEP NO MORE.

A few months back I listened to a radio program made in South Africa in the '60s called BEYOND MIDNIGHT. However most of the stories were set in England. It was really good--but not that many episodes available on OTR. And the weird ads somehow fit with the feeling of the program.

Lately another program I've added to my listening is THE CLOCK from Australia. Made in the 1940s it tries to sound like an American or British program--often with entertaining results. There were a few episodes made in America, but I skip those because they're just not as good. Sadly not many episodes.

There's another show I sometimes check out called THE UNEXPECTED. This is only 15 minutes, so there's not enough time for the stories to really build suspense. The kinds of stories vary widely--and they seem to be abbreviated versions of what you might hear on SUSPENSE. The unexpected twist at the end is often all too expected and contrived.

And one of my favourites lately is THE BLACK MUSEUM made in Britain, but with Orson Welles doing the narration. The joy of this program is listening to Welles' voice. He must've worked over his scripts to give each syllable the right intonation. The way he says "murder" is absolutely astounding. And when he's in the Black Museum, I feel like he's really in this place, walking through it's corridors--that the objects he holds in his hands are real objects. Yet it's all illusion created for the radio! But this one also doesn't have that many episodes and I've just about run through them all.

Sometimes I like to check out DIMENSION X or X MINUS ONE for good science fiction from the 1950s. And another program I've found--although I've only listened to a couple of episodes--is LET'S PRETEND, a program for children that retells fairy tales and legends.

What complicates this is that I often fall asleep while listening to these radio programs, so I will miss the ending. Gives a whole new meaning to lights out.

[crashryan]

Still spending a lot of time with my eyes closed...love the CB+ OTR section.

Moving down the list I tried Chandu the Magician. It's a bit hokey but I really got into it. I started at random in the middle of an adventure and followed it compulsively until--the run of shows ended before the story did. Not fair!

The voice work is quite good. It's great that when they need a background crowd, it's really a crowd, not just a couple of sound men. There's even a Desert Song-style musical number! Sound effects are weak, though. I'm going to try another storyline but first I'll check to see that we have the conclusion.

[Florian R. Guillon]

I don't usually listen to radio shows, the only one lately has been Geek Or Die on a French radio, because they're talking about US-inspired comics in France, and my work will be featured on the next show. 

I usually listen to music. My last albums listened to: Therion - Secret of the Runes (symphonic metal), Indochine - Alice & June (pop-rock), Therion - Les Epaves (old French pop songs turned into metal).

[crashryan]

Continuing my trek through the CB+ OTR section I encountered Perry Mason. His is an interesting case (ha ha). To this day I enjoy watching the Raymond Burr TV reruns. Researching the show on Wikipedia I discovered that creator Erle Stanley Gardner hated its radio incarnation. In fact after a while Mason and his crew were removed from the show, which morphed into the successful soap opera Edge of Night!

Given that background I wasn't surprised to find that the radio Mason displays the characteristic soap opera paradox: urgent, almost hysterical individual scenes are overlaid upon a larger story arc that unfolds with glacial speed. The acting was good and the whole thing was entertaining enough that I listened to quite a few episodes. I quickly saw why attorney-turned-author Gardner hated the show. There's hardly any courtroom time, and the outer-world action gets pretty silly. I'm no expert on the law, but even I question some of the "facts" presented here. Most notably: Mason is accused of having broken the law in his quest to help his client, who is on trial for murder. Therefore Mason is required to stand trial alongside his client--literally, in the same trial--even though she's accused of murder and he of meddling with witnesses. Huh???

After awhile my interest waned. It was frustrating to hear the story in ten-minute snippets, and when the CB+ run skipped ahead a couple of months I gave up.

[jimmm kelly]

It's not listed among the CB+ offerings, but I highly recommend searching out and sampling OTR episodes of LIGHTS OUT (EVERYBODY). The Archer Oboler episodes, at least. Those are the only ones I've found--so I don't know what the Wyllis Cooper LIGHTS OUT was like--but Oboler was some kind of difficult genius, who must've been hell to live with (as with all geniuses) but what a mind! The guy tried to do just about everything you could imagine with the form. Every episode is a completely new experience.

I was listening to an episode the other night--as I drifted to sleep--where you hear the thoughts of the central character and the contrast between what he thinks and what he actually says. It's brutally honest.

[crashryan]

What, more OTR? Have Gun, Will Travel is an unqualified hit. One of my favorites so far. I followed the TV show faithfully when I was a kid, never suspecting the existence of a parallel radio series. I was surprised to learn that the TV show came first, and the radio show adapted many TV episodes. Among the writers was a certain Gene Roddenberry!

I was a big Richard Boone fan, but John Dehner is equally good as the radio Paladin. In fact the casts of all the shows are top-notch (with the exception of Ben Wright's embarrassing performance as Hey Boy, Paladin's stereotypical Chinese houseboy).

I read that Have Gun was one of the last continuing-character radio series. It's interesting how modern the show sounds. Part of it is because the scripts are a little more adult and "edgy" (by 1958 standards) than earlier series. However I think the biggest difference is improved technology. Even the best Golden Age shows suffer from lack of advanced audio mixing equipment. That's why recorded sound effects in GA shows always have that hollow sound. A mike was set up in front of a record player speaker. In Have Gun music and effects are obviously patched directly into the master board. They have the same strength and clarity as the dialogue, which makes the final product much slicker.

One marginal note: at the beginning and end of each episode we get a scene at the Carlton Hotel featuring Paladin's "amusing" encounters with female guests. Today many of these scenes are downright creepy. Suave, debonair Paladin comes off like a stalker or even a sexual predator. Tastes sure do change.

[bowers]

I've been listening to a program called "Zero Hour". It ran from 1973-74 on Mutual Broadcasting. Hosted by Rod Serling, it consisted of a five part story each week, one episode per night. After the first 13 stories, the format was changed to individual stories every night with a different guest star performing in all the programs of that week. Evidently the show never found an audience- I know I never heard of it! Overall, it's not the best of radio fiction but some of the stories are really quite good. Serling's intros and the strange commercials, such as the father-son bonding over Red Man Chewing Tobacco, give it a definite 70's feel. Can be found at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library. Cheers, Bowers

[crashryan]

Bowers, I'm very interested to learn about Zero Hour. I wonder why I missed that show in the 70s. I've been interested in radio drama since my grade school days (long story) so I was excited when one radio network (CBS?) brought back several OTR series. This must have been in the middle or late 60s. They broadcast a five-evening strip: The Shadow, The Green Hornet, The Sealed Book, Famous Jury Trials, and one I can't remember.

Until I read your post I'd completely forgotten another attempt at an original modern series: The CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I looked it up on Wikipedia and was surprised to find the show lasted as long as it did (1974-1982). It was produced by Himan Brown, a big name in Golden Age radio. The series ran five nights a week, each episode an hour long. In the beginning, when I was listening regularly, the shows were all horror-suspense tales in the Inner Sanctum vein. Apparently later it branched out into science fiction and classic story adaptations.

I had great hopes that Radio Mystery Theater would usher in a new generation of technically sophisticated shows with up-to-date scripts.  Was I ever disappointed! The series sounded as if the previous three decades had never happened. The same old "shock" endings, unctuous host, creaking door, etc. Worse, the old-fashioend stories were half-hour plots (maybe 15 minutes) padded outrageously to fill an hour. Sad. A missed opportunity.

[bowers]

Crash, I also was surprised to hear of this show. A co-worker read a book by Serling's daughter which mentioned the series and, knowing I'm an OTR buff, asked me if I  knew anything about it. After a bit of searching we found it. Being a fan of Radio Mystery Theater, I was always on the lookout for any shows of this type on the radio. A Wikipedia article seemed to be of the opinion that the producers just didn't try very hard to promote or sell the series. Possibly they thought Serling's name alone would make the series a hit. Cheers, Bowers

[crashryan]

As long as we're talking about modern-day radio drama, I wonder if anyone here is/was a fan of Thomas Lopez' ZBS productions, for example The Fourth Tower of Inverness and Ruby, The Galactic Gumshoe.  I listened to many of these in the 70s. I found the story ideas very interesting, but the scripts were overly talky and moved slowly. On the other hand, Lopez created some of the finest sound designs ever, mixing dialogue, sound, and music brilliantly.

I wish more audio producers would have followed his lead in exploring the potential of carefully-produced audio storytelling. The only series that came close technically was NPR's gigantic Star Wars adaptation. Which makes sense, because they had the resources of Lucasfilm behind them. (Like Lopez' work this too was talky and slow-moving).

[Kracalactaka]

I remember listening to some of the Star Wars radio dramatization (and some others) when I was a kid in the late 70's.

I'd love to get ahold of copies of that.

Of a similar vein, but live on stage, is Intergalactic Nemesis  A live Graphic Novel stage show. We saw it in Dayton a couple years back and it was awesome.

http://theintergalacticnemesis.com/

[bowers]

And we can't forget CBC's sci-fi/ horror series "Nightfall". Ran from 1980-1983 and should still be up at Internet Archive and also OTRRL. I've heard the three-parter "The Chrysalids"by John Wyndham and it was pretty good. Also what about BBC's "Hitchhiker's Guide"? I think I heard it on NPR. If I recall, this one quit following the book after awhile and took off on it's own. I never did hear any of the "Star Wars" broadcasts. Cheers, Bowers

[Kracalactaka]

Bowers, PM sent

[mr_goldenage]

I'm a guest and historical advisor on a show called the Midnight Metal Madness hours on Friday nights on KKBL 95.9 and on the Mix Cloud as well. So Every other Wednesday night we do the "taping" (actually using Magix Audio Lab) and typically present 24 or 25 songs per show. That is what I am currently listening to and preparing songs, history on bands and other info during the week. FYI

Mr_MusicMan AkA Richard Boucher

[bowers]

Gentlemen, you have no idea how much I appreciate this thread. My hard drive crashed about  a month ago and I lost about 500 gbs of stuff. Data recovery would have been ridiculously expensive so I just got another computer and am starting over. I had well over half of my comics, books, and music backed up, but none of my OTR. Your kind suggestions are a big help in reconstructing my library. A big "Cheers" to ya- Bowers

[Kracalactaka]

unfortunately we Don't have the Metal "Horns" emoticon on here (Mark, get on that please!) if we did I'd fill the post with them.

Always been a Metal/Hard Rock fan. I've been diving deep into Amon Amarth and other death metal bands like Devil Driver and ExMortus of late.   

I'm a guest and historical advisor on a show called the Midnight Metal Madness hours on Friday nights on KKBL 95.9 and on the Mix Cloud as well. So Every other Wednesday night we do the "taping" (actually using Magix Audio Lab) and typically present 24 or 25 songs per show. That is what I am currently listening to and preparing songs, history on bands and other info during the week. FYI

Mr_MusicMan AkA Richard Boucher