TOMMY NEWMAN'S CHILDRENS GROUP - "FROSTY THE SNOWMAN AND OTHER CHILDREN'S FAVORITES" - 1988 Golden Circle Cassette

Hello, Sanctum Dwellers! My deepest apologies for not being able to share anything over the past few weeks as originally intended; several hardships befell my family and friends, including a death in my family. Hopefully this upload can make up for it.

First off, I hope everyone who celebrates had a very Merry Christmas weekend!

What I'm sharing today is a cassette rip (Thank You, as always, Under Design) of a children's choir singing numerous Holiday staples. The music is credited to "Tommy Newman's Childrens Group", of which I can barely find any information outside of a second album dedicated to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

I can't find any information on Tommy himself. There's an award-winning composer and a theatre writer both with the same name, but I don't think this Tommy is either of them.

While this album seems sweet and innocent enough, there's a tiny bit of controversy that lies within the tracklisting. You may notice that it states "Gene Autry" in parentheses next to the "Frosty" track beginning Side B. Well, that's because that track is quite literally nothing more than a muffled recording of the actual "Frosty The Snowman" performed by Mr. Autry himself!

You see, this compilation was produced and distributed by Golden Circle, who were well-known in the 1980's and 1990's to put out bargain-priced counterfeit copies of already-released albums from other record labels. Remember coming across cheap cassettes at the gas station or low-tier grocery store with super-generic covers? Yep, those are the types of albums I'm talking about.

Because of this, I am purposefully omitting Track 6 from this archived upload, since that song can be legally purchased via the copyright holder(s) of Gene Autry's catalog at a variety of places online (and in much better quality, too!).

Hopefully this small stain on the album doesn't take away from the otherwise humble and straightforward recordings of an average children's choir merrily singing their way through Christmas classics.

Enjoy, and once again Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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192kbps CBR

"TELL-TALE HEART" & "ADVENTURE OF THE GERMAN STUDENT" - 1997 Win Phillips Audiobook

This is a post I've wanted to make for a long, long time.

Way back in 2008, I shared some of my OOP media with the Children's Records and More blog. In the collection was an audio cassette containing two classic Horror stories narrated, and featuring music by, the legendary Winifred Phillips.

This original rip was very poor (I recorded it using the Aux Out on an old cassette player), but I always figured I could update it at some point.

Years passed, I moved houses, and the cassette was seemingly lost forever. I swore I searched everything I owned, everywhere I had anything stashed, but I simply could not find the cassette.

I tried to find other copies online, but could never find one. I emailed Ms. Phillips herself, hoping I could obtain another copy, but I never received a response.

I felt all hope was lost... until one day this past week. I had moved a bucket of old papers, drawings, and magazines from my shed to my house, in the hopes of digging out a magazine I could've sworn I had still owned to possibly send to CGC for an upcoming signing.

...and there it was.

I have no clue how it got there, but I didn't care. I immediately sent it off to Under Design to get digitized, hoping it would be ready in time for Halloween. Talk about a miracle right at the eleventh hour!

The stories included are Edgar Allan Poe's timeless "The Tell-Tale Heart", and Washington Irving's romantic horror classic "The Adventure of The German Student". Each tale clocks in at a little under a half hour apiece.

These are excellent adaptations. Winifred's slow (and somehow sensual) narration works well in accompaniment with her lush, Gothic orchestral compositions. This is the woman who brought us the music behind "God of War", after all.

In fact, this take on "Heart" is my personal favorite, just edging out the revolutionary UPA short.

If you're a fan of either story, or a fan of Winifred's music, you must give these a listen. This cassette is as rare as it gets, and I'm proud to be able to finally share a quality copy with the world.

Please enjoy, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 🎃

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192kbps CBR

NOCTURNAL - 1999 Self-Titled Cassette - Kaos Music

I'm just gonna come right out and ask... if anyone, anywhere, has a shred of info about this band or this album, could you please contact me?

This is "Into The Darkness", by the band Nocturnal. Good luck finding any info on this band, or this release, aside from what's printed on the inner fold of the cassette sleeve.

I vaguely remember getting this album in 1999 via a mail-away offer. There was an ad in some sort of guitar or Rock magazine for a free cassette, so I figured "what the Hell" and asked for one. That's it. That's all I remember.

The cover art, album title, and even the band name do NOT fit the music that lies within. The songs (of which there are no titles printed anywhere, so I just call them "Tracks 1 through 4") are a hodgepodge of Classic Rock influences.

"Into The Darkness" is an unpolished, unfocused oddity... and that's basically the reason I'm sharing it here. That, and the hopes that someone out in the ether of the Web can divulge any further information about this outfit or its works.

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192kbps

"DICK TRACY" Disney Audio Action Adventures - 1990 Cassettes

 

For the past few weeks I've been on a big "Dick Tracy" kick. So much so that I decided to go back and re-visit my digital rips of the 1990 Disney / Buena Vista read-along cassette series!

I originally ripped over a decade go ago for Children's Records and More, but the rips came straight from the Aux output on my Walkman and that particular blog no longer hosts any files... so I decided to give these tales another attempt at archival.

While there are a few rips up on YouTube, they're not exceptionally clear, or they have major clipping issues. I wanted to avoid that; this two-parter is one of the best fully-dramatized stories 1990's Disney ever produced, and I wanted to make sure the best possible copies could be made available.

So here they are, "Big Boy Turns Up The Heat", and "Everything Comes Up Blank", both narrated by the incomparable William Woodson, and featuring some legendary voice actors such as Jim Cummings, Tony Pope, and Corey Burton.

Enjoy!

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192kbps MP3

"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE COMPLETE ADVENTURE" 1989 Random House Cassette

In late 1988, Random House Publishing (in association with Archie Comics) published a special comic book that collected the original 3-issue "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures" miniseries into a single volume. Packaged with it was a 90-minute full-dramatized read-along cassette.

I listened to that cassette so much as a kid, I'm honestly surprised it survived and digitized so well!

I could go into more detail about the comic and/or cassette, but honestly they've already been extensively researched and talked about via more diehard TMNT fans:

https://tmntcomics.wordpress.com/category/random-house/ and
https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Complete_Adventure! both have loads of info!

I recently came across a sealed copy of this (of which I will be cracking open to get the comic itself graded by CGC) and it inspired me to give my childhood copy the digital treatment. I hope you enjoy it!

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192kbps CBR

"SUPER MARIO BROS. AUDIO POSTER PACK" 1993 Disney Audio Entertainment Cassette

I'm not ashamed to admit I adore the trainwreck that is the "Super Mario Bros." live-action movie. It's definitely a product of its time... plus I'm biased because, as a massive fan of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", knowing that Bob Hoskins was playing my favorite video game character made little 10-year-old Me stoked beyond belief!

Walt Disney Audio Entertainment released an accompanying "Audio Poster Pack" to celebrate the release of the film, which included a huge poster with 3D elements, King Koopa-inspired 3D glasses, and a 45-minute fully-dramatized story cassette.

There are a few recordings of this cassette on YouTube, but most are either fuzzy, too loud, or just in poor quality. What I'm sharing here is yet another digitization by Under Design with final cleanup by myself, and it sounds fantastic. Come to think of it, there are times where I enjoy this cassette MORE than the movie itself!

Narrated by the great Chuck Riley, this story is pretty darned thrilling, loaded with great voice-overs, music and sound effects. It's an absolute treat for anybody else who's brave enough to say they love the SMB movie! Enjoy!

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192kbps CBR

"THE STORY OF JINGLE BELLS" - 1987 Disneyland Records Read-Along Cassette

How does nobody have this available anywhere by now? It's absolutely adorable!

"The Story of Jingle Bells" was released by Disneyland Records & Tapes in 1987, and is the story of a horse named - you guessed it - Jingle Bells. The story exists as a vehicle to incorporate the classic Holiday tune, and includes the full song at the end (the exact same version Disney would also release on their "Sing-Along" VHS and DVD series).

It's a warm and fuzzy tale, with soothing narration and no major action outside of a horse race in the final third of the book. Absolutely perfect to sip some hot chocolate to while hanging out in the the living room with the kids on Christmas Eve. Give it a listen!

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192kbps CBR

BAG OF NICKELS - 1999 Debut Demo Cassette

Here's something that, quite honestly, I know little to nothing about.

Back in the late 1990's I had a friend make me a few cassette copies of albums my poor self couldn't afford. One of those was a copy of Primus' "Rhinoplasty". However on the B-Side of the cassette, to fill out the remaining run time, they added a few tracks from a Wilmington, Delaware band called Bag Of Nickels.

The 3 songs were written down as "Debut Demos" and had a date of 1999 written alongside them. The songs are pretty good, with obvious influences from Faith No More, Sublime, and of course Primus (which is why, I assume, my friend tacked these tracks on in the first place).

Researching this band has shown me that their existence is sporadic; after releasing two full-length albums they disappeared until around 2011, and then disappeared again until they released their third album "Amen" via their Bandcamp, and since then they've disappeared yet again.

Some pictures and secondhand listings exist pertaining to their other two albums, but absolutely nothing exists online that tie into these 3 supposed demos outside of a music video uploaded onto YouTube:

Even the image I used for this cassette's album art comes from a photo album titled "old school" on their Facebook page, which hasn't been active in years.

Maybe somebody somewhere has more information on these songs. But until then, just sit back and enjoy the tunes!

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320kbps CBR

"DARKWING DUCK: HIGH WAVE ROBBERY" 1991 Disney Audio Entertainment Read-Along Cassette

Here's one that was a personal favorite as a child, and one I had previously digitized for the Children's Records and More blog (which is sadly gone now).

"High Wave Robbery" is the only "Darkwing Duck" - related audio adventure released by Disney, and the only one to feature the villainess Frequencia. Who knows, maybe she'll make an appearance in the upcoming DD reboot!

As I said earlier, I had digitized this once before... however, it was through a cheap Walkman knockoff via Aux cable, so it sounded really airy and tinny. This time, however, I incorporated the help of Under Design Digital Conversion once again, and what we've produced is the crispest, cleanest digitization of this tale on the Web.

If you're a DD fan and haven't heard this adventure yet, you're in for a real treat. LET'S GET DANGEROUS!

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192kbps CBR

"AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST - FIEVEL'S JOURNEY" 1991 Cassette

 

Here's an obscure Read-Along that's been nigh impossible to find online: "Fievel's Journey", based on the 1991 Don Bluth film "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West"!

This is actually one-half of the complete Read-Along adventure; the second half is "Fievel To The Rescue", which I currently do not own.

It took several attempt to rip this cassette well, but it suffers from way too much bass in the initial recording. Even recording from the source as low as I possibly could, and turning the volume up in post-production, there are still a lot of muffled spots (especially during the ending song).

Still, it's nice to finally have a copy of this digitized for other "American Tail" fans to enjoy!

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256kbps VBR

"DINOSAURS: AN EDUCATIONAL COLORING BOOK" - 1986 Cassette

 

Now here's a cassette that's very dear to my heart. When I was a little one, I was absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs. I had more books, tapes, toys, etc based around these creatures than you could possibly imagine. They fascinated me to no end, and that fascination continues today.

I'm honestly surprised this cassette survived considering how often I'd listen to it. This cassette is a companion piece to the Spizzirri Publishing book "An Educational Coloring Book of Dinosaurs" (which can still be purchased directly from Spizzirri today!).

Charles Fuller's calm and collected narration is a stark contrast to the dynamic stock 1940's/50's background music, and it creates a weirdly scary-yet-comfortable feeling as you listen to Mr. Fuller describe some of the more well-known dinosaurs that roamed the Earth millions of years ago.

Technically, this isn't fully OOP. The cassette format is long-gone, but Spizzirri is actually selling this book (albeit with a new cover) along with a CD with what I assume is the same narration. So if you enjoy this cassette rip, please head on over to their shop and purchase the updated set.

Take a trip back in time and hear all about some fantastic prehistoric beasts!

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256kbps CBR

"CASTLE GRAYSKULL" - 1983 Kid Stuff Read-Along Cassette

Time for another round of HE-MAN goodness! This time it's the 1983 Kid Stuff Records Read-Along cassette simply titled "Castle Grayskull".

To be honest, it's not even a story; it's more of a condensed version of the self-titled LP, or more like a "cliffs notes" of what the original MotU premises was when the toy line made its debut.

Still, it's another neat entry in the long list of MotU albums, and worthy of adding to any Read-Along collection. Enjoy!

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256kbps CBR

"SUPER MARIO BROS. - TRAPPED IN THE PERILOUS PIT" Read-Along Cassette

This is a great OOP read-along narrated by one of my favorite childhood narrators, William Woodson! Also features the majority of the cast of "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show" reprising their roles (except for John Stocker, who replaced Harvey Atkin as the voice of King Koopa).

Saved via multiple methods to ensure it stays archived. Enjoy!

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