Anyone want to place bets that the entire sequence of calls was a prank from one woman?

Probably. On the bright side, I got to hear both "Little Arrows" and "Sugar, Sugar."

I suspect the booze and especially the cigaretts helped with this change in style.

True. But he quit smoking when he married Kathleen Brennan and cut his drinking back to red wine at that same time (around Swordfishtrombones). Which you can really hear on Frank's Wild Years where he sings a number of songs in his upper register. (He has a great quote about how much he loves falsetto: "I just wet my pants when Prince sings falsetto.")

Do you have the "Early Songs" collections

I don't, but I'll probably be getting all the early catalog this year.

(that I think TW objected to)?

Part of his acrimonious breakup with his old manager Herb Cohen where he lost the rights to a number of his songs.

For Corwood, Roller Maidens From Outer Space.

For anybody interested in vintage comedy albums, incidentally, George Carlin's Laugh.com has licensed a bunch of them.

Oooh, Previously unreleased Phil Hartman comedy record

Who's got a favorite podcast to share?

The Great Leap Forward. It's mostly American and British guitar pop. The bands featured in the podcast are listed so you'll know what's in store.

Roller Maidens From Outer Space

Bizarre!

(Also, I didn't get a CD player until they stopped making LPs for most domestic releases.)

My brother!

I first heard Tom Waits in 1982, I think. Live. Didn't know who the hell he was. He was playing at a benefit. My friend and I both thought he was the worst performer there because of his voice. I don't think I found out who Tom Waits was until 1986 or so in college. But what someone played me was the early stuff and I still didn't like it. It was when I heard SwordFishTrombones and Rain Dogs that I became a convert. His Weill-like circus-y stuff was what led me to listen long enough to get past his instrument and listen to how he was using it.

For anybody interested in vintage comedy albums, incidentally, George Carlin's Laugh.com has licensed a bunch of them.

Damn! No Albert Brooks "Comedy, plus One". My library had this when I was a kid (along with some of the Python, Firesign Theater and Cosby records) and I thought it was hysterical then, but I know it's considered somehow groundbreaking now. The fact that I got Brooks humor as a kid really suprises me, but it's so long since I heard it I don't trust my memories.

The fact that I got Brooks humor as a kid really suprises me, but it's so long since I heard it I don't trust my memories.

I thought Robin Williams' "Reality, Wow, What a Concept," was hilarious when I was a kid. I found out upon listening to it later as an adult that I was laughing because other people was laughing, and he spoke funny, and that I'd only actually understood about three jokes on the album.

That didn't stop me from repeating a lot of the jokes. I wonder how many of my techers or other adults I horrified with my borrowed drug-and-sex humor.

Oooh, Previously unreleased Phil Hartman comedy record

Score! Thanks, Hec.

I found out upon listening to it later as an adult that I was laughing because other people was laughing, and he spoke funny, and that I'd only actually understood about three jokes on the album.

On a related note, I got into a discussion with my boss (who's from Canada) and how he's always amazed that people in the US really enjoy British humor, both because of unfamiliar cultural references and just the general style of the humor (though it's hardly a narrow range). I mentioned how I really enjoyed Python as a kid (both on record and on TV - the records didn't have laugh tracks) and chalked at least part of it up to the fact that Python only very infrequently indulged in topical humor, which I suspect has been a factor in their longevity/universality.

I also mentioned I generally just chalked up the occasional reference I didn't get - "Tony Jacklin golf clubs" and "Watney's Red Barrell" spring immediately to mind - were funny because they sounded funny.

Of course, there were plenty of non-topical references that went over my head as well (Free Masons for instance), but somehow the delivery got me past all those difficulties.