Various Artists-Frank Johnson's Favorites (1981)

 


Artist: Various Artists (Tuxedomoon, Fred Frith, Renaldo and the Loaf, MX-80 Sound, The Residents, Snakefinger, Yello, Art Bears)

Title: Frank Johnson's Favorites

Label: Ralph Records

Format: LP

Catalog Number: RR 8110

Year of Release: 1981

Country and Year of Edition: US 1981

Sell Price: $5.03

Sell Date: 9/18/26

Condition: VG+/VG

Discogs Last Sold: 9/21/26 VG/VG+ $7.98

Low: $5.00 VG+/VG

Median: $8.85

Average: $10.22

High:$25.00 M/NM 

Current low price: $8.00

Curren Number on Sale at Discogs: 44

Have/Want: 1041/142

Where Sold: Chicago, IL

Time It Took To Sell: 11 years

Where and When Bought: mid 80's Worcester WCUW Record Fair for $1

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A

Sad To See It Go: No

Excellent 1981 sampler of the Cryptic Corporation/Residents Ralph record label.  Everything is grounded in weirdness.  Every act is a distinct entity.  Beyond the Residents and their gone too young guitarist in crime Snakefinger, the "computer" named Frank Johnson chose a great Renaldo and the Loaf track "Melvyn's Repose."  MX-80 Sound, Fred Frith, Art Bears and a pre-"Oh Yeah" Yello abound.  Snakefinger's "Womb To Worm" sounds like a cross between Judas Priest's "Victim of Changes" vocal breakdown and the James Bond theme.

Tuxedomoon have the greatest hits here, "Dark Companion" kicks it off and "Crash" closes it out.  "Dark Companion" manages to get everything right: a great bass line, ethereal music and a sound that will last.  Frank Johnson spat it out first long before there was any artificial intelligence, just clunky computing listing and word processing away.  Frank anticipated AI hallucinations by selecting two additional tracks that didn't even exist!  

Yesterday's comedy is today's reality.

FOR FURTHER REVIEW:

The Residents-The Third Reich 'n' Roll (1976)

Various Artists-The 20th Anniversary of The Summer of Love (1987)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bob Dylan-Masterpieces (1978)

Image
  Artist:  Bob Dylan Title: Masterpieces Label: Columbia Format: 3xCD Catalog Number: 462448 9 Year of Release: 1978 Country and Year  of Edition: Australia 1991 (sticker has 30 year anniversary) Sell Price: $26.69 Sell Date: 4/19/26 Condition: VG+/VG+  Discogs Last Sold: 2/27/26 NM/NM $16.22 Low: $7.19 Median: $20.00 Average: $26.50 High: $64.59 Current  low price:  $7.17 Current Number on  Sale at Discogs: 29 Have/Want: 539/41 Where Sold: Middlebury, VT Time It Took  To Sell:  2 years  Where and When  Bought: Facebook marketplace lot Gwiz-gau Grade:  A Sad To See  It Go: No Of the many Bob Dylan compilations, I never had Masterpieces until fairly recently in a lot purchase.  It was always in the store bin at a triple CD import price when my fingers would flip over it in the early 90's Dylan section.  In that time period it meant over $50 easy whether it was from Australia, New Zealand or Japan where is was...
Read more

Blur-13 (1999)

Image
  Artist: Blur Title: 13 Label: Food/Virgin Format: CD Cat #: 7243 4 99129 2 2 Year of Release: 1999 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1999 Listed Condition: VG+/VG+  Sell Date: 3/9/25 Sell Price: $2.84 Discogs Last Sold: 2/19/25 NM/NM $5.50 Low: $0.49 Median: $3.12 Average: $3.61 High: $8.68 Current low price: $2.83 Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 34 Have/Want: 1960/168 Where Sold: Columbia, SC Time it took to sell: 14 years Where and When Bought: internet mail order circa time of release used guessing CD Warehouse Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+ Sad To See It Go: No Another "critics" record I bought at the end of the year in 1999 that I maybe listened to once, dropped it into the CD carousel and let it pop up on random shuffle for most of 2000.  This 13 track album called 13 is the 6th full length Blur album and I would say the second one I bought after their eponymously titled 5th album. I'm going to say this one is quality start to finish.  My favorite cut is th...
Read more

Lyres-Happy Now... (1993)

Image
  Artist: Lyres Title:  Happy Now... Label: Taang!   Format: CD Cat: TAANG! 66 Year of Release:1993 Country and Year of Edition: US 1993 Sell Price: $3.99 12/19/22  VG+/VG+ Discogs Last Sold: 11/23/22 NM+ $3.95 Low:$2.50 Median: $4.13 Average: $4.29 High: $5.73 Current low price: $2.96 Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 26 Have/Want: 225/23 Where Sold: Middletown, MD Time it took to sell:  10 years Where and When Purchased:  late 90's internet collection buy Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+ Sad To See It Go: No It's a nugget if you ever dug it.  If you dig the likes of mid-60's regional independent bands like TTHHEMM , The Scavengers , Dale & The Devonaires , The Road Runners , Phil and the Frantics  or Mr. Lucky & The Gamblers  then you will be sated with these renditions. 2 Nanker Phlege Stones songs: Now I've Got A Witness and Stoned  are here. You get an actual hit, “Nobody”originally by the Isley Brothers ...
Read more