Comedy/Spoken — In Stock  

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One of the greatest albums to come from the New York underground of the early 80s – even if it was a relatively big "hit" on a major label! Laurie Anderson is in perfect form here – drawing on a strong tradition of avant garde performance, but without any of the indulgences... read more

An unusual version of this album – not the soundtrack, but a special radio promo, recorded on opening night – with interviews with Burt Bacharach and Jerry Orbach – plus snippets from other folks like Neil Simon, Herb Alpert, Sidney Lumet, Ben Gazzara, Milton Berle, and even Burt's... read more

A rare set of offbeat tunes from the creator of Alvin & The Chipmunks – in the style of some of the pre-chip sounds that Ross was doing for Liberty in the late 50s! Nice cover shot of Ross using a gold phone outside of his Rolls Royce!... read more

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Core grooves from trumpeter Terence Blanchard and combo – but mixed with some compelling words from Cornel West and Bilal! The record's a jazz album at its core, but the presence of West and Bilal makes for a bit of a change, too – kind of an added level of consciousness on top of... read more

Excellent stuff from Blow Fly – and a great bit of funk that's a hilarious parody of disco! Blow's band funks it up with riffs that you'd hear from The JBs, BT Express, or other groups of the time – while Blow himself sings these very off-color, and very funny lyrics that rip off the... read more

Well of course the guy's a porno freak – after all, his albums of the 70s were as close to audio porn as you'll ever get! And on this album, Blowfly's certainly keeping things below the belt – working in a style that's a bit tighter than before, and with some nice P-Funk touches, plus... read more

Blowfly changes up his groove nicely for the 80s – taking on a tightly-stepping approach to funk that's clearly inspired by some of the changes on the west coast scene – using Zapp-ish rhythms in a mode that ends up working pretty darn well for his off-color spoken lyrics! There's... read more

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Not necessarily a record of interviews – as the title might make you think – but one of Bruce's best records for Fantasy! The album's got some very edgey bits that approximate his live material, and which take the best part of his cleaner act, and transfer them well to record. Titles... read more

An unusual 70s promo album – featuring Lenny Bruce material from his early Fantasy albums!... read more

Very nice 2LP set that brings together some of Lenny's best moments recorded for Fantasy – including many that aren't currently on CD. The album includes the classic "Thank You, Masked Man", plus "Lima Ohio", "Dijinni In the Candy Store", "Comic At The... read more

Classic early Lenny Bruce work on Fantasy – a groundbreaking set of tracks that features some great shorter snippets, plus a few of the longer, more drawn-out routines that soon became Bruce's stock in trade during the more controversial years – those live riffs that really set Lenny... read more

Charles Bukowski in all his glory – reading his own material before a very lively (and probably lubricated!) audience – bringing all his own vocal tones into play with his earthy writing – which makes us love the words even more than in printed form! The set was recorded in San... read more

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We don't know about you, but we never get tired of Cheech & Chong's jokes about reefer and East LA. Loads of classic material on this first LP: "Blind Melon Chillin", "Wink Dickerson", "Acapulco Gold Filters", "Vietnam", "Trippin In Court",... read more

Lots of older songs, nicely messed up by the Chips – which creates lots of yelling from Dave! Titles include "Chim Chim Cher-ee", "Alvin's Harmonica", "Witch Doctor", and "What's New Pussycat?".... read more

Lots of older songs, nicely messed up by the Chips – which creates lots of yelling from Dave! Titles include "Buffalo Gals", "The Alvin Twist", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and "Polly Wolly Doodle".... read more

The Chips take on a whole host of 60s pop tunes – worth it alone for their versions of "What's New Pussycat", "King Of The Road", and "I'm Henry VIII I Am".... read more

A more obscure late 60s outing – with a bit less of David yelling at Alvin than we'd like – but still a set with some nice numbers, including "Que Sera Sera", "Chim Chim Chere-ee", "The Roses Of Success", and "The Bare Necessities".... read more

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The Chipmunks take on The Beatles – in an early version of fab four fun! Titles are almost all early Lennon/McCartney numbers, sung by Alvin and the gang with a surprisingly nice groove!... read more

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One of Doug Clark's bawdy frat rock-soul party LPs on the Gross label – with his trademark "blue" material for adult listeners, backed up by raunchy R&B riffing! The general style's a bit dated, but it's also the kind of album that paved the way for Rudy Ray Moore in the 70s. ... read more

The first album cut by party favorites Doug Clark & The Hot Nuts – a raw mix of comedy and music, done in the fast-talking style that they served up to countless gatherings in the south! The album's perhaps a bit less blue than some of the later work, but also possibly more compelling... read more

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A weird little record from Bill Cosby – a set that's not as all-out funky as some of his other vocal albums, but still pretty nice overall! The style here is more bluesy than soul-based, but production is still by Fred Smith, of 103rd Street Rhythm Band fame – and the album has a sense... read more

A pretty cool collection produced by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee – focusing on famous speeches by important female African-Americans – mostly focusing on the civil rights era, but also featuring an early speech by Ida B Wells. Ruby reads the speeches, and works include "I Am A Black... read more

A long spoken set, produced by Pepsi, with a style that's kind of like a radio show – narration, plus sound effects, and some dramatized passages as well. The whole thing's a bit hokey and dated – but that's also part of its charm.... read more

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A seminal session of modern jazz and poetry – very similar to American experiments of the type from the 1950s, but recorded in mid 60s London with a group that includes pianist Michael Garrick, trumpeter Shake Keane, and alto saxophonist Joe Harriott! The double-length recording features... read more

A really crazy LP of Zodiac pondering, with cool electronic music by Mort Garson – the guy behind "The Wozzard of Id"! There's some cool spoken bits about the featured "sign" on the LP – then these cool little musical interludes, which are very much in Garson's best... read more

A really crazy LP of Zodiac pondering, with cool electronic music by Mort Garson – the guy behind "The Wozzard of Id"! There's some cool spoken bits about the featured "sign" on the LP – then these cool little musical interludes, which are very much in Garson's best... read more

A really crazy LP of Zodiac pondering, with cool electronic music by Mort Garson – the guy behind "The Wozzard of Id"! There's some cool spoken bits about the featured "sign" on the LP – then these cool little musical interludes, which are very much in Garson's best... read more

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Nikki G in total righteousness, surrounded by a big choir, and dropping knowledge on cuts like "Great Pax Whitey", "Poem For Aretha", and "Ego Tripping". Very spiritual stuff, with backing vocals by the New York Community Choir, who also recorded a great soul album on... read more

Nikki lays down some of her righteous poetry over a backing provided by the Sweet Inspirations and a host of Atlantic studio musicians. The groove is pretty soulful, and this is probably one of her most successful albums that blend poetry and music. Titles include "A Certain Peace",... read more

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The first album by the second group to call themselves the Last Poets – and as fierce a document of their rich talents as you'll ever find – bursting forth with anger and righteousness at a level as tight as Gil Scott-Heron's first album! The group here is the key second lineup of the... read more

A later album from the Last Poets – recorded after their classic run in the 70s, but still pretty nice overall! The record's a bit of an unusual one, in that it shows a bit of the creeping "street" element that the Poets would absorb into their work after being dubbed as the "G... read more

One of the Last Poets greatest albums – and one of their most sophisticated as well! Gone are the rough-hewn rhymes of the group's first album, and in their place are better arranged, more thought-out tracks that mix in a wealth of musical influences – and which expand the group's... read more

Fantastic stuff – incredibly hard and incredibly funky, and a masterpiece all the way through! Long before there was any talk of gangster rap, Jalal of the Last Poets recorded this album of gamblin', pimpin', and hard double dealin'. It's a fantastic album-long ride through the dark side of... read more

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One of two albums produced by Rudy Ray Moore – the other being The Sensuous Black Man – which define the art of making love from a gender-based perspective. Like Rudy's Sensuous Black Man, The Madam's version features one side of "instructional" dialogue – very XXX-rated... read more

Steve Martin at the height of his mid 70s stand up popularity, long before he ever thought of making sappy movies. Includes "Ramblin Man", "Vegas", "Let's Get Small", "Smoking", "One Way To Leave Your Lover", "Mad At My Mother", "Excu... read more

A real mind-trip – and an incredible document of the times – not just ideas floating around in the late 60s, but also new ways of making records too! The album is loosely based around ideas and writings from The Medium Is The Massage – McLuhan's important 1967 book, co-written... read more

A real mind-trip – and an incredible document of the times – not just ideas floating around in the late 60s, but also new ways of making records too! The album is loosely based around ideas and writings from The Medium Is The Massage – McLuhan's important 1967 book, co-written... read more

The shrill goofy vocalist lays down a second album of groovy camp tunes that'll make your dog cover his ears! There's a few lame tracks on here, but there's also some great ones, like her versions of "Girl From Ipanema" and "Monday, Monday". Mod arrangements by Fred Bock and... read more

One of the best-realized Python studio albums!... read more

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An excellent early Rudy Ray Moore album – with tasty musical backing on just about every number, and some great routines that are extremely tight. The backing's not totally funky, but it does give Rudy's party humor a really strong approach – especially on his classic presentation of... read more

Mid 70's live album by Rudy Ray Moore, and one of the few records of his that we've seen that isn't on Kent. There's a band backing him up, but they're sort of in the background, and you can't hear them that well because Rudy's thundering voice is booming out over tracks like "Hell Of A Blow... read more

Classic stuff – Rudy's first album, and a fitting launch to his famous career of party records and live club performances! The cover's got Rudy in front of a nude black model, laying back on the couch, and encouraging him to do the thing that's implied by the title – but the record... read more

One of Rudy's best from the time – featuring some incredibly raw shouted party dialogue, backed by some great soulful instrumentation. The music makes the whole thing groove nicely, even though it's a bit more buried in the mix than on albums like Sensuous Black Man. A few tracks have guest... read more

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A bit dated at this point, but it still has it's moments. With "Singers", "Ice Cream Man/Shoe Throwin' Mothers", "Modern Women", "The Barbecue", "The Fart Game", "Politics/Racism", "Languages" and "TV".... read more

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A long-overdue follow-up to Ken's last Word Jazz album for Dot – done for Nordine's own Snail Records label nearly 20 years after the last one! The style here is less "jazz" and more atmospheric than before – very much in the mode of Nordine's Word Jazz syndicated radio show... read more

Wild! The Nutty Squirrels were an obvious attempt to cash in on the success of Alvin & The Chipmunks during the late 50s – a studio-trickery session handled with the voices of Don Elliott and Sascha Burland – but to our ears, honestly, the album's a lot better! You see, both... read more

Probably one of the most controversial records to be issued on Elektra at the end of the 60s – a rough-edged batch of hippie dippy tracks that shares a fair bit of energy and humor with The Fugs! The tunes here are perhaps a bit more focused than the work of The Fugs, but the group explore... read more

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With "Black Ben The Black Smith", "Showbiz", "Dark Person", "Nigroes", "Black Nationalist", "Unemployment Line", "Cops & Fathers", and "Folsom Prison".... read more

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Pryor's really hit his stride here, and made the transition to the mainstream, though he's still a darn funny motherf*#ker. Skits include "Shortage Of White People", "New N*ggers", "Cocaine", "Mudbone", "When Your Woman Leaves You" and "Our... read more

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Excellent work from Richard Pryor's early years – a record done in the usual "party" style of the Laff label, but with a freewheeling and hip approach to the material that finds its humor in far more than just blue topics and sexual double-entendres! Pryor is frenetic and energetic... read more

Pre Jo Jo Dancer, pre-sobriety Richard Pryor, delivering the goods with skits like "Rumplestiltskin", "Country & Western Show", "Japanese Movies", "Swagger Stick", "Worms", "Churches" and "Heart & Brain".... read more

A pretty interesting album – one in which a host of jazz and rock players pay set music to texts written by consciousness-raiser/sci-fi author Ishmael Reed. There's a few goofy moments on the set, but if you've read Reed's work, you'll also know that goofiness and oddity are part of the... read more

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