Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Albums That Aren't


Here's a new verbal game (nothing's too Trivial, folks!) that some music fans out there in Wonderland might enjoy...

Titles of albums that never were. Whether one word or a few or a sentence, each should strive to be clever: a pun, a character quirk verbalized, a culture reference connected, something unexpected.

Some samples I've dreamed up to get you started:

The Beatles Scarab

Blind Faith It's a Miracle! (second album, years later)


The Byrds Brancusi or Hitch (as in Alfred Hitchcock)

Nat Cole Old King Cole (collection of early Nat tracks)

Cream Creme de la Cream (greatest hits repackage)

Bob Dylan Dylan Four Dollars or Thomas

Dr. John The Doctor Will See You Now or Medical History (for a career overview anthology)

Thelonious Monk The Onliest Monk or The Loneliest Monk

Gram Parsons Gram Cracker or Bye-Bye, Country Boy

The Rolling Stones No Moss or maybe better... No Mas


Sonny Rollins Roads Scholar or Be Striding the World (both play off his famous Saxophone Colossus LP)

Denny Zeitlin Practice, Practice, Practice (Jazz pianist who is also a psychiatrist)


I look forward to your ideas; submit them via Comments, and in a week or two I'll post the best ones. (Shouldn't be hard to improve on my samples!)

By the way, the game needs a name. "None Such" occurs to me. Or "Off the Record." Or one meant to be obscure and needing to be deciphered: "Noel Peace." (Which would be "No LPs," of course.)

5 comments:

Alan Kurtz said...

Jim Hall and Joe Pass (duets): Hall Pass

Alan Kurtz said...

Incidentally, you mentioned Thelonious Monk, The Loneliest Monk, but Time magazine beat you to it by 46½ years. That was the title of their February 28, 1964 cover story on Monk. I guess you winsome and you Luce some, Ed.

IWitnessEd said...

Good one! Perfect puns are rare. There's an old joke that tries for a triple, with punch line "Where the sun's rays meet," but even that one can only qualify on sound rather than sight. So a tip of the Leim chapeau to Mistah Kurtz!

Alan Kurtz said...

Ed, here's another entry: Julie London with the Soviet Army Chorus & Band, Crimea River.

IWitnessEd said...

As the old babushkas' tune goes, "I got no use for your Red Army juice, I got no balalaika now... but if Ukraine your neck, you might see where Moscow went."
Putin in my time, inDubaitably yours, Red 'ead Ed