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Hoffnung Music Festival Concert (Angel 35500), recorded in the Royal Festival Hall in London, November 13, 1956. A rare bit of British musical humor!

Osamu - a delightful mix of improvisational rock and traditional Japanese instruments, all wrapped in wonderful sound. The album was produced sometime in the 1970's and has been out of print for quite some time. According to research, Osamu was recognized primarily as Elvis impersonator!?

lord buckley

Get Out of School by Old Skull (a trio of 8- and 9-year-old boys). This is one of the strangest releases ever! Third-grade thrash music gives new meaning to the term "punk" rock. Uses? Play this disc when your guests won't leave. Great music to end a party with!

Strangest LP? Bizarre CD? Do they exist anymore? Anyway, one of my favorites is the 3-LP boxed set of "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol.2: The Helsinki Concert," by one of the most famous, outrageous, and almost mainstream eccentric weirdos—I might add genius as well—the one and only Frank Zappa. This is just a fantastic concert recording, communicating one of the most intense and bizarre concert albums I have heard. The atmosphere of the recording is just so vibrant with an almost physical presence, I get totally mesmerized every time I listen to it. The next best thing to being there; too bad it all happened before I even was born. That is for the vinyl edition; I haven't heard the CD edition. Would I like a DVD-V edition of the venue in surround with pictures? Don't think so!

Howard Matusow's Jew's Harp Band: "The War Between the Fats and Thins."

My strangest LP is called "Devotees," a collection of Devo songs performed by unknown bands in the early '80s. I have not seen it on CD. While some of the covers sucked, several were simply brilliant and actually better (and funnier) than the originals. Overall, I love this LP!

Psycho-A-Go-Go

And you ask this of someone with a half dozen Gentle Giant albums? Who bought Jade Warrior albums when they were new?

Who could pass up this one: "Fred Bear, America's No.1 Bowhunter, tells his Secrets of Hunting to Curt Gowdy, America's No.1 Sportscaster." I also have one on winetasting, complete with an explanation of "Noble Rot." God, I love this hobby!

Alex Chilton's "Like Flies on Sherbet": Having already acquired a reputation for ruining his own work, Chilton surpasses himself with this obviously deliberately bad album. This record is truly terrible, and, with Chilton's intentions considered, is therefore a masterpiece of annoyance.

Either Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies' "The American Metaphysical Circus" or The Flock's "Dinosaur Swamps."

ALAN SHERMAN MY SON THE NUT

At last, a question I can relate to. Putting aside my six Peter Schickele CDs, my Ray Stevens collection, and my K-TEL novelty discs ("Wacky Weirdos," "Goofy Greats," etc.) leaves two discs that might be considered strange. The first one is the eponymously titled "B. Bumble and the Stingers." The biggest hit for this group from the early '60s was Nutrocker, later covered by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. My favorites from this 25-track disc include "Bumble Boogie" (Jack Fina's arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee"), "Nola," "Appleknocker" (Rossini's "William Tell Overture" as you've never heard it before), and "Dawncracker" (based on "Morning" from Grieg's "Peer Gynt"). I've let several people borrow this disc, and each time it's taken threats to get it back. In fact, it's on loan now and overdue. The second strange disc in my collection is "The Three Countertenors," by Andreas Scholl, Dominique Visse, and Pascal Bertin. I know it's hard to believe, but I actually find this sendup of you know who, with its overblown arrangements and nonsensical liner notes, quite listenable. My favorites are "Je suis Grise" from Offenbach's "La Perichole," and "White as Lilies" by Andreas Scholl. Oh, and this is the one CD I have that is guaranteed to clear the kids out of the room. I'm looking forward to reading the responses to this question for ideas for future acquisitions.

FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD "WELCOME TO THE PLEASURE DOME" AND IT'S GOOD!

Sim Shalom: a late-'60s guitar rock/folk rendition of the Sabbath services performed by teenage musicians (members of the congregation). A good half of the album is spoken service and was recorded in Pittsburgh's Rodef Shalom temple in 1969. Fun to play for friends, though the Hebrew is lost on me.

Ethel Merman Sings Disco

Without a doubt, it has to be Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It is this real "loopy" Afrocentric avant-garde jazz stuff. I still can only listen in small doses.

Beauty is in the eye of the remote holder!

Respect by Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians, released in 1993 on A&M. One time I went into a stereo store in a shopping mall and this CD was played on a B&O machine. I didn't know who it was at the time. I bought it later and liked it very much. I don't listen to it often, but each time I listen to it, I can't help wondering why Robyn Hitchcock is not a household name.

An old 45, "Tours," from The Shadows. Remember "Savage"? I saw them in Brighton, England, in the '60s. They were touring with Cliff Richard.

It is the original Halloween radio program of Orson Welles in 1938.

The soundtrack to "The Muppet Movie" on 8-track tape. I don't have anything to play it on, but oh well. It's a keepsake.

Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog—a 1972 Columbia Masterworks LP, I believe. A rather well-done novelty in its time, it comes across as hopelessly corny by today's standards.

The strangest recording in my collection is a cassette called "Lament for April 15 and Other Modern American Madrigals." The Lament, by Avery Claflin, is a musical setting of the filing instructions for the Federal Income Tax return. Compared to this work, the Hoffnung, P.D.Q. Bach, and Spike Jones performances in my collection are almost mainstream.

Inuit throat singing....

PornoSonic, a collection of '70s disco porn, all from Ron Jeremy's films!!!

CD title: "And God Created Great Whales/Mystical Mountain by Alan Hohvaness"—lots of eerie hollow sounds with the moan of whales having intercourse in the background.

With over 2000 CDs and nearly as many LPs, I have hundreds of strange items. Perhaps the BEST strange CD/LP is still Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica." Not an easy listen, and impossible for most, it does offer rewards if given a chance. Listen a little at a time if necessary. Concentrate on the rhythm section (at times brilliant) or the dadaist lyrics. Give it a chance.

You presume to insinuate that my LP copy of Masked Marauders (Deity/Reprise 6378) with the hole punched in the top left corner is bizarre or strange? Shame on you. In fact, I like it so much, especially the hit "Cow Pie," that when I found a 3 3/4 ips open-reel version of it (RST 6378B) from Bell & Howell, I had to buy it too.