January 31, 2014:
Another short album, the final children’s record: “Acting Out the ABCs,” from Walt Disney Productions. Wikipedia says it was originally released in 1962, but my copy says it’s from 1968, so I guess it’s a re-issue. It’s children’s songs and counting rhymes at roughly a kindergarten level.
Done. Nothing noteworthy about it.
Five albums left to go, mostly comedy.
January 31, 2014:
“Monty Python’s Previous Record” is done.
It was in pretty much perfect condition, and the humor has not aged noticeably. Of course, a couple of bits (e.g., “The Wonderful World of Sound”) never really worked for me in the first place, but others, such as “The Argument Clinic,” are classics.
February 1, 2014:
Okay, here’s the truly stupid one: “Complete Electric Bass Guitar Course,” from Palmer-Hughes/Alfred Music Co., Inc.
It’s exactly what it says. It came in a box with a 48-page book of the same title.
I don’t own a bass. I don’t ever expect to. At one time I thought it’d be fun to learn to play, so I picked this up at a yard sale for a quarter, but I don’t think I ever even opened the box until this week.
February 2, 2014:
“Child of the 50’s,” by Robert Klein. I was surprised that this didn’t appear to have ever been issued on CD — or maybe I just looked in the wrong places.
Anyway, it’s done now, and came out well; there was a skip I managed to edit out successfully, and some minor scratches, but it’s otherwise good.
Some of this stuff is seriously funny; some isn’t.
February 2, 2014:
I have never understood the appeal of “Gumby Theatre,” but the rest of “Another Monty Python Record” remains some of their funniest material ever.
And it was a nice clean transfer.
That finishes up the comedy. One more Bach album and I’m done.
Then I send the turntable to its rest and start on the cassette tapes.
February 2, 2014:
Done! Done, done, dunnity-done! With Albert Fuller’s “Partitas for Harpsichord” squared away my Bach collection is finished, my Nonesuch records all recorded, and every LP turned to MP3s.
There was a skip midway through side 2, but I’m getting pretty good at editing Audacity files and was able to clean it up without re-recording anything. Other than that it all went smoothly.
So — I’ll probably take a break before tackling the cassettes. Or maybe not; we’ll see how I feel. And whether any of them are still playable.
February 8, 2014:
It wasn’t a very long break.
So far, all the cassettes I’ve played have been in fine condition. In fact, they’re easier than LPs — no dust, scratches, skips, warping, surface noise, etc.
One interesting discovery — where my turntable ran a bit fast and everything came out a little short, my tape deck apparently runs a little slow, and everything’s coming out long.
In fact, it’s bad enough that I’ve just taught myself how to use Audacity to change speeds. Now I need to decide whether it’s worth going back and re-doing the stuff I’d already done. It probably is.
As for what I’ve done so far — at some point in the last fifteen years, someone sent me a tape with an hour of the alternative jazz/rock band Soul Coughing on Side 1, and on Side 2 an hour simply labeled “misc,” which turned out to be a song or two apiece by Whale, Splender, Joan Osborne, Alannis Morrisette, Train (pre-“Hey Soul Sister”), etc. I haven’t identified the sender — if it was anyone here, please speak up, because my memory is not up to the job, and I don’t recognize the handwriting. I’ve eliminated the fan I thought was the most likely candidate as a possibility.
I’m also debating whether to keep Side 2 together as a “various artists” album, or split it up by artist. Side 1 I’ve divvied up into fragments of Soul Coughing’s three studio albums, but recombining them might be a better idea.
More to follow.