For several years, dating back to a time without a working turntable, and just as this ridiculous cassette craze was beginning, I have been waiting for CDs to get sexy again. However, in that time, even I went and sold nearly all my CDs and virtually ignored what could have been many goldmines of low-priced, high-quality, un-erasable, un-degradable music. The popularity of cassettes continued to grow, and crate-diving for records continued to be rewarding as Lewis became a legend all while CDs were phased out of more and more retail environments.
No one crate dives for CDs. While people will still spend hours searching for funny-looking releases made for 60s grannies and the third world like irony was still entering style, some of the greatest music off all time was being rejected from the most profitable record stores in the world. Even I have on many times held a jewel box of intriguing mystery and thought "I'd rather keep that dollar."
There are plenty of reasons for this. Music of the CD era is the worst, and none of your favorite post-hardcore "masterpeices" are going to change that. CDs are easier to produce than LPs, decreasing the private press success rate from less than one percent to less than point one percent.
That is why when I found myself with time to kill at the Orlando Public Library book store I was surprised to see myself looking so closely through the racks of compact discs. Mixed in with the garbage were masterpieces like, Paul's Boutique and assorted Bob Mould releases that will continue to be passed over in a city not known for its musical taste. Assuming it was still cash-only I left a lot behind including this promising nugget with artwork that turned me off from the beginning.
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| Look up this band for reason why I would be even remotely interested in something that looks like it came out on Asian Man records. |
However, after a few minutes I found that holy grail - something I would have bought already had I known it even existed.
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| Note the other CDs in the background. |
Turns out the reason I did not know this existed is because it doesn't really exist. The note appears to be from "Fred," presumably Fred Newman and is labeled as for promotional use only, leaving one to wonder jsut how many of these exist. The artwork appears to be printed on a printer - granted one of extremely high quality for 1994, but not a professional printer used by even the lowest-budgeted of labels. The CD, however, was factory quality, with information printed in a green to match Doug's pathetically uncool sweater vest.
It is noted that this is from the first three seasons (there were four, not counting Disney's imposter version), so not all the hits are there. In fact, some of the hits may be missing. I have not listened to the whole disc yet, but I have yet to hear such memorable pieces as "Japanese Restaurant," "Judy's Theme" or my personal favorite, "Cool Shoes." However, all the Beets songs (except so far for the "Where's My Sock?" fragment and the "My Shoes are Cheap" song that Skeeter sings) are there, and that's most likely what people will enjoy this for most.
Below you can see the beautiful way that the tracks are grouped and titled.
There isn't much left to say as this music, and the video below really speak for itself, but in case anyone who isn't a nostalgic 90s kid, just know this great music is not just for us. I would recommend this to any fans of the Residents, Frank Zappa, Ween, the indestructible beat of Soweto, and of course, Mark Mothersbaugh who's excellent work on Rugrats has always overshadowed the brilliant music of this less visually-innovative Nicktoon.
Terri's loss has been all our gain.
UPDATE 6/7/17:
Unfortunately I have had to remove the download here. I was alerted by one of the artists of the need to do so. I won't make any assumptions about his position, but I will say it's unfortunate that powers much greater than his own will continue to prevent his work from keeping his reputation growing amongst the people who his music reached. All I can say is keep digging through those CD bins and try to be as lucky as I have in finding treasures like this one!
