In what I consider a major "coup" for this blog, I've received permission from the great Al Kooper (if you don't know who he is go read this) to post MP3s of his infamous "Kapusta Kristmas Albums". I'm starting with number 3 as I've only got Volumes 3, 4 and 5. Trying to get my mitts on the other two.
Tapes of these records have been a massive influence and source of amusement to me and all my musician friends over the last 20 years or so, since my buddy Mark Spencer gave me my first tape. The titles of all 3 of my solo LPs (as well as the cover art of my newest one "There's No Sound In Flutes") are all based on quotes from tracks contained on them.
Here's a piece from the Houston Chronicle about them that sums the whole thing up pretty well.
"For several years back in the '80s and '90s, rock and roll keyboard legend Al Kooper had a very cool yuletide custom. Kooper was (and is) an avid collector of prank calls, celebrity (and some non-celebrity) bloopers, weird songs, hilarious answering-machine messages and studio banter, and each December he would press up a few of the best of them on vinyl and send the albums to the lucky few dozen people on his Christmas list"
"These were called Al Kooper's Kapusta Kristmas albums, and they now cost a fortune on eBay. Because of their limited circulation and high appeal, back in the day most people heard them on second-, third- and fourth-generation cassettes, and so most people just called them Al Kooper tapes. The Kooper tapes not only revealed the darker side of stars like Barry White, Buddy Rich, Casey Kasem and Orson Welles, they also made a few of their own, such as the bluesy and quite probably boozy preacher Prophet Omega and the whacked-out and quite possibly cracked-out music business wannabe proprietor of J&H Productions."
"Not only are these tapes huge hits as tour-bus entertainment for rock and country stars, but comedy writers in Hollywood certainly had access to the Kooper tapes. The running joke in The Simpsons wherein Bart goads Moe into vitriol-spewing rage by getting him to ask for patrons like Al Coholic and such was pretty much lifted verbatim from one of these albums, and Orson Welles's ill-fated frozen peas commercial was likewise borrowed in an episode of Pinky and the Brain. And on In Living Color, David Allen Grier and Tommy Davidson's Funky Finger Productions also seemed to owe a lot of its spirit to the aforementioned J&H Productions."
So here is "Al Kooper Presents The Third Annual Kapusta Kristmas Album" (a tip of the hat to my friend Brian Talley of Moondog Audio Restoration who provided me with this material which he lovingly digitized from vinyl- he also scanned the covers and labels)
Bob Welcomes Sam and Natalie to The Meadowlands.mp3
Dean and Jerry Plug "The Caddy".mp3
The Dangling Conversation Part 2.mp3
Message On My Answering Machine Worth Sharing.mp3
Buddy Live - The Final Transmission.mp3 (not sure why it's called this as this is a famous Freddie Hubbard Outtake
Cookie:
Quite a score indeed! Since first discovering some of the bits from these albums on your fine blog, I have been searching for the complete albums. Now here they are! Thanks for posting this, I look forward to the other editions, whatever you unearth. I really appreciate your efforts.
Posted by: Zillagord | January 13, 2009 at 01:13 PM
Congrats on securing the permission to release this album from Al!
I just got finished my digital transfer of this album last week.
I have #4 completely done (MP3 & artwork) and looking forward to hearing #5!
Capt
Posted by: Capt | February 11, 2009 at 04:57 PM