Hikky Burr

Before the sweaters, there was The Bill Cosby Show 1969 - 1971

The positively EPIC Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake, an album which upon its release sported a most impressive circular fold-out cover as can be seen above (very much want).

It’s discouraging to know that Lazy Sunday was beaten to the No 1 by Gary Pucket and the Union Gap’s Young Girl. A very solid tune to be sure, but this injustice only serves to illustrate that the listening public of the time would rather have had a song about narrowly avoiding child molestation charges at the top of the charts than celebrate a bunch of fun loving chappies just trying to enjoy their weekend.

The Last Time I Saw Paris

I’m 15 years old and Max Blechman and I are contemplating the basement level of Tower Records on West 66th and Broadway. Two kids who have no idea why they’re considering venturing down into an area of the store reserved for such oddities as Jazz and Classical and in all likelihood - Show Tunes.

Through the double glass doors we go and as we do we’re hit square by the crisp lilting tones of a bygone era. Without a word between us we make our way to the counter where we ask in unison, ‘What is this?’ A counter jockey  who appears to be in the final moments of a death throe pulls himself together long enough to reply, ‘That? That’s The Coward’.

Holy shit. We don’t know what that means but we know we have just discovered something epically cool. We hunt around the ‘Ts’ for close to twenty minutes before one of us realizes that obviously ‘The Coward’ will be homed under the ‘Cs’. The closest we can find is someone by the name of Noel who shares the surname. We each grab a copy of More Compact Coward, have our suspicions confirmed by an exasperated, yet ever perishing counter jockey and head off to our respective homes; new purchases in hand. Somewhere between ‘Poor Uncle Harry’ and ‘Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans’ I know gold has truly been struck.

Above is a scan of recently acquired 78 featuring the classic ‘London Pride’ on one side and ‘The Last Time I Saw Paris’ on the other. Though lacking in the mirth of other Coward recordings, T.L.T.I.S.P does not want for charm. For those interested I digitized the track above using the Ion iPTUSB portable turntable. The record isn’t in the best of shape so I’ve done a rough clean up by running it through Audacity. A large version of the sleeve is available to view here and wow what a sleeve it is.

Now THAT’s a project brief!

Dr. Dog is a band from Philadelphia and they’re a band I quite like. Their sound is their own but is clearly informed by the music of the 60’s and as a fan of music from the 60’s I see this as no bad thing.

I discovered Dr. Dog last year and as sometimes happens I was in a bit of a musical rut at the time but their sound not only lifted my spirits it also reminded me of all the great artists I had been neglecting during my usual listening rotations. What more could you ask of a band?

At some point I must have visited their website and I dare say i was less than overwhelmed at what I encountered though I’m sure it serves their purposes. I guess I just felt that they deserved better. I wasn’t (and am not) convinced I was the best person to inflict a little design vigilantism but figured there was no harm in trying. The result is a humble tributary site launched today - www.drdog.co.uk