Friday, May 12, 2017

"Mashmen Across The Water" - Compilation Invite !

   Hey there, Mashing individuals and overall gang... 

    Having recently found 6 prime Elton albums of isolated 5.1 vocals, plus loads of related materials ( not counting the unexpected instrumental YOU'll astound us all with ) I'm apparently helming the "Mashmen Across The Waters" compilation
 ( in functioning conjunctioning w DJ Konrad Useo )
pm me for details on folder-links that just might contain all this -- and More !

5-15-17 insert for continual updating:
"Goodbye Yellow Mash Load" - roster of tracks at work and at play !
Can we get some treatment on every track ? Alternate interpretations are not forbidden !
And, of course, a "Yellow Brick' sequence is one disc of the comp. The other being wide-open to Sir Elton's full spectrum.


1- Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding
---- DJ Rudec ---"I Will Survive Crazy Funeral Bleeding"
-- Diana Ross & Ozzy Osbourne vs Elton

2- Candle In The Wind -------------Voicedude--"Goodnight Norma Jean" -- Elton & Marilyn vs Paul McCartney and Wings.

3- Bennie and the Jets ----------------------------- "BenniE Many JetTs" ... oki insists my ideas make this a new breed of okitoZ !

4- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ------------------ AtoZ - vocal over 50 Cent's "8 Mile" inst

5- This Song Has No Title ------------------------- Voicedude - "This Song Bleeds Nothin'" -- Elton John vs Leona Lewis vs B.o.B

6- Grey Seal -------------------------------------------

7- Jamaica Jerk-Off -------------------------------- Voicedude - "Jerk You !" ---- Elton vs Coldplay

8- I've Seen That Movie Too ---------------------- AtoZ --
    "I've Seen That Mystery Movie Too" -- Elton vs MsT3k !

9- Sweet Painted Lady ----------------------------- AtoZ - "Philadelphia Freedom" vocal over Sweet painted inst. Sweet vocal still open.

10- The Ballad of Danny Bailey ----------------- AtoZ -- "The Escape Route of Danny Bailey" - Elton vs Boris Blank

( I got's to distract myself from this comp till other submissions come in . .  I keep having more ideas, darn it )

11- Dirty Little Girl ------------------ Chocomang --
     "Dirty Little Life" - Elton vs Billy Joel

12- All The Girls Love Alice" --------------------- turns out Useo had a stashed-away folder he just recalled, and even tho' it dupes stuff I had, it provided the full missing pella for this !
Then I watched "Twin Peaks" Ssn 3 \ Ep 8 and thought an inst from Nine Inch Nails might be perfecto ?
Hmm . . . 

Yeah . .  it soon became "All The Girls You Imagined" - Elton vs NIN.
That masher part of the brain is rarely inactive once engaged !

13- Your Sister Can't Twist --------------------- "Your Cool Thing Can't Twist" --oki--

14- Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting  ---- "Saturday Night's Alright (For Electricity)" (Elton John vs OMD) -- DJ Useo

15- Roy Rogers -------------------------------------- Useo has a nifty one over Zappa from 2011, currently in the tweak zone.

16- Social Disease -------------------------- DJ Marty Batfreak has previewed an early version of his gloriously demented work with this. It's kind'a Tom Waits meets Devo.
Can't "Wait" for it's progress !!


17- Harmony ------------------------------------------ AtoZ - vocal over xTc's "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty"


"Low Writing" - AtoZ --  Capt. Fantastic track's vocals over

"dub-mix" of War's "Low Rider"

"Elton In The Mix With Beatles" --- MP3J - Elton joins Beatles original.


"Thinking of Levon" -- Voicedude ( gorgeous too !! )

"Susie Makes Noise" -- AtoZ  - Susie (Dramas) over Suzanne Vega's "Blood Makes Noise"

"Teen Amy" -- AtoZ - "Amy" over Sandy Nelson's "Teen Beat"


"Song Copy ( Carbon Salvation )" - Elton's "Love Song" & "Salvation" vs Telex's "Carbon Copy" - AtoZ"I Think I'm Rocking Myself" - Elton John vs Graziana's Karaoke of Edoardo Vianello - AtoZ

"Your Ghost Town Song" --oki-- Elton vs The Specials vs +

"Switch Me to The Pilot" -AtoZ - Elton vs Will Smith

"Since Bennie's Been Gone" - Voicedude - Elton vs Kelly Clarkson.

(( I was hoping a couple tunes would get uniquely different treatments, and "Bennie" is a great choice.
If we reach a full mashed sequence for Yellow Brick, we'll see which one's in that running, and which is the Bonus Bennie ! ))


-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

and here's a few that a Google sweep for "Elton Mashups" found, and are undergoing consideration:

"Shake Your Crocodile" (Elton John vs Jackson 5 vs Taylor Swift) -
Shahar Varshal ( 2014 ) -- this one's in, man !

"Fly On, O Rocket Man" ( 
Elton John vs Coldplay )
 - Mashup Palace


  Dearest Mashter Mashers,


  Early in the last week of April 2017, some spark of a query had me Googling something about Elton isolated vocals or such  . .  who recalls every little curve in the paths of "lemme' check this . .  Oo, what's that there ? . .  ok, I'll go left down this-a-way and find whole new levels and get lost for fun's sake !"

Point is, I found a YouTuber who'd used 5.1 surround reissues of Sir Elton and posted isolated vocals


    Asking Useo if he'd found such treats himself, he said unto me "Cool !! . .  no . .  please send `em !!".
Only problem was, that upload of "Sweat Painted Lady" was wretched !! . .  levels that were, like -90 decibels and when boosted sounded like bees wrapped in waxey-papers !!
His postings, being nearly 9 years old now, just might mean he ain't soon rushing back to fix it neither, huh ?

I came home from workitty-work at Sunday's end still determined to find a better Sweet Lady, darn it . . . and had to try various search-terms within WhoTube till I hit upon `dis guy !


Search Elton on his channel and not only does one find 4,709 live shows, but one also hits a motherlode of FULL-ALBUM vocals !!!!!

Jeez BeJeeze huh ? . . neato torpedo !

Along w/ previously obtained Elton vocals here n' there, it's all totally overwhelmy !!
One wonders "Gee, how come no "Don't Shoo Me, I'm Only . . " or "Cariboo-Hoo" ??, till one later finds out that those two  . .  along w/ "Westies" and "Blue Moves" were fully prepared
for 5.1 SACD releases, but the formats never caught-on in the early 00's and the various labels feared losses and backed-off, damn it.

   So, Useo's already heard my early sketch work w/ the "Goodbye Yellow Brick" vocal over the inst. of 50 Cent's "8 Mile Road"
While downloading and converting all these albums worth from video to audio aiffs, I spot-listened to a bit of the "Philadelphia Freedom - Vocals" what comes at the end of the "Capt. Fantastic" batch, ok ? . . . . My masher-brain immediately began hearing the inst-version I'd also found of "Sweet Panting Lady" ( only inst mix I did find btw . .  odd, no ? . . must be more out there )

I also, while merely checking the vocal for "Harmony" thought of the Blu-Ray inst I'd found for xTc's ""When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty"". Adjusted inst's pitch, and I think that'll work pretty swift too.

Then ? . . . a couple days later, I merely LOOK at a line from "Writing" while doing a line-by-line edit . .  it runs through my head for a second, and I'm thinking of remixing War's "Low Rider" for it !
( LOVING that one, you bet ! ) (( and I'm trusting all you nutty lugs to know that timing & pitch issues you detect are also know by me, these are all In Progress !! . .  you know ? ))

So . .  Gosh . .  I now got 4 Elton mashes cookin' here, and .. . .  wait a powerful second !!
With the virtual el-TONS of material here, isn't it time to invite the mashy gang out there to contribute to something we might call, oh . .  I dunno' . . . "Mashmen Across The Water" ?!?
Yes . .  I believe it is.

My 1st notion was "Goodbye Yellow Mash Load" . .  the album mashed, in order. Somebody crafts some damn vocal over "Funeral for a Friend: and we're off, babe !
But maybe that's Disc 1 in a 2-disc compilation, and disc 2 is subtitled "Don't Mash Me, I'm Only The Digital Remix"
Ok . .  it' already feels underway, don't it ?

So not only am I inviting you'se guys n' gals to participate and percolate, but I'm providing a downloadable folder of the 6 Vocal-Only albums, each edited to song-by-song / including many tracks the original poster mysteriously left out but were found elsewhere / a sub-folder of several instrumentals / converted mogg tracks for "Croc Rock" / freshly looped n' linked backings from the extended-mixiz of "Who Wears These Shoes ?", "Wrap Her Up" & "Passengers" / and a sub-folder w/ my 4 tracks-in-progress, so nobody duplicates `em exactly ( variations welcome ) and folks get further enthused ( or warned-off ) BY them !


I just hope there's not too many hippitty-hops, samey EDM vocals, or the kind of recent pop-hits that won't stand the test of time ( those that will, certainly will ! )



Pre. S. -- The "Goodbye Yellow Brick" vocals-only file was a bit problematic. 3 tracks were skipped, man ! I separately found the vocal for "Saturday Night Fight"& included the semi-isolated choruses for "Alice" so someone can graft that into another piece. But "Sister Twist" remains elusive ! If one a ' you smarty-pants can extract it or reverb-blend a line into "something", then we got's ourselves a Disc 1 of "Goodbye Yellow Mash Load" . .  maybe ?
And, of course, if any y'all can fashion tracks like "Little Jeannie" / "Nobody Wins" / ..."Teenage Idol" / ETC-whichever into backings for whosever vocals... please !! 
We need a few non-Elty vocals for Disc Two in there somewhere. On top of his vocals over surprising insts !

B. S. -- I converted files into aiffs & wavs for the "Inst" folder, then realized that doing the same for ALL the albums folders would be absurdulous !!
You PC-ers can work with or convert aiffs, can't `cha huh ?








Friday, April 28, 2017

"of Science and Time with MST3k - Season 11"



                "of Science and Time with MST3k - Season 11"
                         ( folder w/ both tracks, arts, notes )

   Twas primarily the first 3 episodes of MsT's 11th revived & refreshed season that inspired these 2 sample-piece/mash-ups.
So many swell lines on science and time-travel to use as samples. 
And as these pieces neared completion, "Yongary", "Starcrash" and even "what's science ?" from "Carnival Magic" presented themselves with the perfect additions !

  I'm sure there's more than a few of us, inhaling the wide-range of creativity in Season 11 over a week or two, who then exhale some creativity infused with it all !
Whether it's paintings, t-shirts, pot-holder & coasters . .  or a couple of sample-piece / mashups, like these from AtoZ:

 The inspiration-point for both of these MSTy items is rather simple . .  obvious even !

  I was already rewatching the earliest episodes ( before finishing the season ) while having also dropped the mp4 files into the audio-editor Fission . .  the better to save lines as samples for whatever future purpose.

                                         The "A-Side"

  Around the same time, I'd added the extended mix of Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science !" to a folder of prospective 80's mashes.
  And "Hey ! . .  both "Reptilicus" and "The Time Travelers" are lousy with moments mocking scientists, commenting on scientists,  and AS scientists !!"
They'd Binded Me With Science !!

  So balance highly scientific use of MST along with Michael Jackson's "Beat It" vocal over the looped & linked Dolby track, and it's "She Beat Me With Science !"  . . .


The bursts of "science !!" from Dr. Magnus Pyke came from a vid of Dolby playing the isolated samples for an audience.

  And .  . well into production on this, I suddenly thought "wait a tic, there has to be an MsT where someone in the theater actually riffs "she blinded me with science !", right ??
Figure out the right Google search-terms and lo and behead :
 --- "417 - Crash of Moons" . . . Trace's Crow !

also includes:
Mike's "touch a button, things happen . . . sometimes"
from 621- "The Beast of Yucca Flats"
Servo's "Patti LaBelle" going "wha-a-a-a-a-a"
and Servo's "it's a nice day for a white wedding" from 404 "Teenagers from Outer Space"

  So I thought this track was 99% done . . maybe a timing tweak or two still ? . . and was polishing the nuttier all-MST samples "B-Side" fulla' Steiners and Capsules !! and BANG !
But it was time for another episode premiere . .  #1112 - "Carnival Magic" and when they riffed Markov stroking his chin and asking "what's science ?", I knew just the right home for it.
While adding that, a "BANG !" may have snuck by me and embedded itself as well. . .


                                         The "B-Side"

  "Dr. Von Steiner - Time Traveler" is completely MST over the instrumental version of Yello's "Dr. Van Steiner".
Von . .  Van . .  meet each other and be as one. Close enough !
Maybe there was a slight warpage in the time portal warp effect as they looped and lapped each other thru time and space and he's now a mutant hybrid time-echo of his new former dopple-self ? It's Dr. Von Van !

There's a few cross-over lines from the other track, while using moments from:
"The Time Travelers"
"Reptilicus"
the "Yongary" capsule scene - --  "capsule . . Capsule !!"
and all 9 variations of "Bang !" from "Cry Wilderness"
plus late in the process I went thru "Starcrash" . . Christopher Plummer's "halt the flow of time !" was a natural, man . . 

  Plus, there's a moment from an MST some of you may recall from before Jonah and The Bots: Dr. F's "turn it off !!" from "The Castle of Fu Man Chu"





Tuesday, April 11, 2017

"of Easy Calling" -- Klaatu w Robert F. Kennedy & Martin Luther King vs The Commodores

   Well, this sure came out with about as much righteous glow and stirring humanity as I had hoped !



    I know most of us mashers would say, if they had a track that felt rather "Voicedudey" in its concerns and also it's use of Klaatu and such. . & they asked Voicedude if he thought he could adjust it much quicker and more accurately... and he said "Sure !" ?!….
Well, you'd say things about how honored you were, and boy --- I sure am !
  But beyond that, we're talking about a producer who's not only impeccable in his construction and craft, but is one of the few who can balance snazzy musicality with whimsy and a range of human spirit ! His work has been impressively slick while maintaining humor and engaging verve, man !


    For "of Easy Calling" here . .  well when "Easy" came out in March 1977, I noticed immediately ( and still recall right where I was ) how the "ah ahhh ah aaahhh" backing vocal was a complete "reflection" of the vocal from Klaatu's "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" released just half a year before ! 

  So those seeds were sown since then, to one day mash one upon the other . .  but I'm pretty sure it wasn't 1977 when I read, or had DJ Useo tell me, that Voicedude was quite the fan of Klaatu . .  I'm thinking that must have been more recent.

 If one knows a V-Dude track like "A Whiter Shade Of Peace" from 2011, one knows even more fully why I thought this might go right up his alley and salute his flag.

   And just to be clear, it was chiefly the Klaatu sample "we are your friends" where I knew my do-it-by-ear skill-set could use the help of a fully musically-trained soul like Joel, whose 1st response included "I LOVE the idea". I sent him all the separated elements and he did some light but invaluable tweaking to other aspects of Klaatu as well.
I was then able to finish work on the overall piece with a fuller tank of assured endorsement and pride . .

it was "Easy" !

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

The Suite of The Courtship of The Mr. Eddie's Father

The Suite of The Courtship of The Mr. Eddie's Father < folder link !


"Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter" by Alyn Shipton certainly filled-in many parts of the picture of our Nilsson Knowledge !! .  . in areas big and small.

 And learning a lot more about one brief period in particular made me put down the book
and jump online to see more, but it's some stuff I see no record anywhere of anyone having collected and presented !

 The unique "songlets" that Harry and George Tipton recorded for the 1st nine or so episodes of "The Courtship of Eddie's Father".

 Scene-specific musical moments lasting a few seconds to a minute or so.
And there's as many with Harry singing scene commentary like "careful with the coffee for your Dad" as there are scoring variations on "Best Friend" or "Little Cowboy" that are so completely Tiptonesque !!

 The wonderful thing about Harry ( is Harry's a wonderful thing ! ) . . . 
and how there's so many distinct career phases to suit yer' moods !!
But sometimes there's nothing like that "golden" period when Nilsson and Tipton worked together, and one month after the "Harry" album came out in August of `69, "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" premiered as a series. One could assume the sessions for both projects alternated to some degree.

Series producer James Komack had a concept, and to directly quote Shipton's glorious biography:

 "Komack's highly original idea for the music was to have Nilsson sing occasional interludes, in the same way he had handled the closing credits on "Skidoo'".
He could move the story along, comment on the action, or simply set a scene"



 I doubt ( and would love to be proved wrong ) that the original master tapes for these sessions are likely to surface ( having remained, no doubt, in the hands of the original TV network ) and provide us with clean takes separate from any episode dialogue and sound effects . .  but I'm okay with that.

 It ends up forming a slightly surreal context as spoken bits from scenes, and characters we weren't introduced to, weave in & out.

 I've also kept in mind, while assembling these, that some of the shortest bits of Nilsson singing a songlet, essentially new to us, fly by in as little as 5 or 6 seconds !
So the approach became more "dreamlike", and many of our new faves here return 2 or 3 times, like mini-movements in an impressionistic suite.



  As I said above, the series premiered Sept. of `69, a month after "Harry" had been released . .  so we can imagine that spring & summer of that year saw Nilsson and Tipton alternating their attentions for both projects. Perhaps the seeds of "The Point !" were already planted as well ?
 The overall "point" here is that I had already read that Nilsson's active contributions had been for "the first 9 episodes or so", and as I worked my way along thru episodes 8, 9 and 10, I found this was true. The Nilss-lines were beginning to peter out !!
A wonderful new variation from Harry on the phrase "best friend" still occurred in ep. 9 "Gentleman Friend", but as I checked ep. 10 "Any Friend of Dad's" just to make sure Harry had indeed left the building, I momentarily thought "wait, here's some new vocals still !!" . . . but it only took a moment to realize "hey, that only sounds like Harry ! . . . Tipton has gotten someone doing Nilssonesque harmonies here !"
So a few examples of that continuing "tribute" are included ( Eddie answers the door-bell thru "are you all grown-up ?" ), but we wrap this collection w/ the Moonshine Bandit himself in a Recap Suite !

   If I stuck to my plan, and shared these with the FaceBook SchmaceBook Group after "The Popeye Demos", then I've employed the same wonderous effect within GarageBand that I did with Schmopeye . . . the Stereo Simulator !!
  I am continually thrilled with how it seemingly "knows" to, say . .  place an oboe slightly left, light percussion panned a bit right, and a nice subtle spread on a centered-vocal !  



 You may also guess correctly that I was not privy to the session-sheets, so if these little gems were given full proper titles, I would not know !
So they've been named rather simply and clearly . .  and it's pretty cool too !


Friday, January 6, 2017

Mash-Up Showcase #12 -- AtoZ



My deep dear buddy Konrad Useo

has posted the volume of his >Mashup Showcase< what he dedicated to me ( shucks )

-- This was actually posted here Jan of 2015, but simply adding the cover-art bumped it to the top-spot, and all the way to the present ?? --


Mashup Showcase #12 -- AtoZ

Groovy Time w\ DJ Useo -=- Mashup Showcase #12 > AtoZ

The Best of The Newest of AtoZ's Previously Unreleased Latest Classics



       I am so damn pleased and proud of these snappy-tracks.
There's a lot of life in them: sometimes confident in their silliness, and sometimes just plain powerful and uplifting.

 Or bunches of both !

    I was even everso bold as to take FaceBook's suggestions on relatable Friends and keep running with it, and after it . . . 
a widening of my potential audience.
    So open-widen audio-ence !

  Unreleased Latest Classics" < full-contents folder




   But, I must be honest -- -- the whole time I've also been hoping that by increasing the number of like-minded folks I share this Comp with, the better the chance that a few will actually listen and, who knows, actually make real life comments. Oh BOY !
(( self-promotion is awkward, man . .  prostitootin' your own horn       like this ))

   I think we all know how it is in these modern daze . .  everyday our lives get fuller of apps beeping at us / news overwhelming us / and all our own fun ideas piling-up !
These days you're lucky if someone clicks "Like", and that may only mean they saw that you shared something  . .  who has time to actually check into it ?!?



   And if anyone gets "into" AtoZ's comp of early 2017 enough for the richer experience, there's the Mega-Mix Single-Track Full-Flow >> "The Best of The Newest of AtoZ's Previously Unreleased Latest Classics - Mega-Mix Single-Track Flow.mp3"