A very cool package – one that brings together two rare albums issued alongside the early rise to fame of Mad Magazine – plus rare bonus tracks too! First up is the stunning Musically Mad set, led by Bernie Green – one of the maddest bachelor pad albums to come out on RCA during the late 50s – and it features a nutty set of tunes released in conjunction with Mad Magazine, whose Norman Mingo contributed a fantastic cover painting of Alfred E Neuman! Instrumentation is very percussive-heavy – and there's plenty of odd sound effects, like warbling brass, air-squeezed hands, clanging anvils, crazy voices, and "clinkerated chimes" – all of which makes for a cartoony sound that definitely fits the promise Mad spirit! Titles include "Anvils, Of Course", "Concerto For Two Hands", "Laughing Raymond", "The Green Bee", and "Give Me That Good Old Progressive Jazz". Next is Mad Twists Rock & Roll – maybe the coolest of all the Mad Magazine records from the early days – a set done in collaboration with Big Top Records, as sort of a parody of the rock and roll that label was putting out at the time! Most songs are surprisingly strong rock numbers, but the lyrics are often jokes about the usual themes handled at the time – but given the level of presentation and strength of the overall record, the whole thing maybe just serves to remind us how important novelty records were to the birth of rock and roll! Titles include "She Got A Nose Job", "Let's Do The Pretzel", "Throwing The High School Basketball Game", "Someone Else's Dandruff", "When My Pimples Turned To Dimples", and "Blind Date". CD also features some rare bonus tracks from singles too – "It's A Gas", "She Lets Me Watch Her Mom & Pop Fight", "Potzrebie", "Meet The Staff Of Mad", and "What Me Worry". (Comedy, Now Sound) CD

Rare late 60s work from guitar genius Jerry Cole – and even more compelling than his famous records from earlier in the decade! This collection unearths a lost side of Jerry's career – tripped-out psych instrumentals from 1967 and 1968, recorded under a variety of different aliases – like The Generation Gap, Projection Company, Stone Canyon Rock Group, and T-Swift & The Electric Bag – all groups that didn't exist in real life, but were album-based studio projects by Cole! Jerry's brought a lot more fuzz to the sessions than on his surf and hot rod instrumental tracks – but the groove is mighty tight throughout, with almost a funky undercurrent to some of the best tracks – kind of an American equivalent to the UK freakbeat modes of the period, served up by Cole and a host of tight LA studio musicians. Great stuff throughout – all pulled from the Custom Records catalog – and titles include "Tune Out Of Place", "Fool's Luck", "Wild Times", "Hard Times", "What's Your Bag", "Our Man Hendrix", "Red Eyes", "I Love You I Do", "Expo In Sound", and "The Stinger". (Rock, Now Sound) CD