Stare With Your Ears
:: Angel's Lament ::
:: Cracks in the Ceiling ::
:: Ballad of the Final Page ::
If you’re not familiar with who Ken Nordine is, chances are you’ll recognize that deep, deep, expressive voice of his from one of the, literally, thousands of commercial voice-overs he’s done over the last 60 years. But I’m sure you hipsters know who he is, and are familiar with the “Word Jazz” genre he created with the handful of Dot Records he released between 1957 and 1960. Those records are pretty hard to come by, but I’ll bet Mike has them all tucked away somewhere on his shelves. I’ll eat my own ass if he doesn’t.
I do, happily, have Stare with Your Ears, released on Nordine’s own Snail Records in 1979. The hipster howlings of yore are traded in for more fleshed out storytelling, and there’s an overall dark tone, both in subject matter and backing music. Some of the songs are drenched in keyboard, giving them that 70’s movie soundtrack type of feel. Combined with Nordine’s resonant voice, its great stuff for headphone listening.
I found my pristine copy for five bucks a few years ago, but there’s one record dealer on the internets selling a copy for $455. If any of you crazy fuckers out there are willing to shell out that much for it, I’ll sell you mine.
Phil
This entry was posted
on Friday, January 12, 2007 at 5:28 AM.
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Friday, January 12, 2007 8:08:00 AMThe Record Robot scores again...good Lord do I love your site....it always makes my day....I'm a huge Nordine fan and I was thrilled to see (hear) some of the man's work that I haven't heard before...I'll be playing, "Cracks In The Ceiling" today on the radio here in Richmond, Va....As always, I'll give all due credit to the Robot....eternal thanks...
Friday, January 12, 2007 9:20:00 AM
I do own "Son of Word Jazz", and one Nordine double LP from the early 70s (on Blue Thumb I think). Sorry Phil, but you don't have to eat your WHOLE ass.
Mike
Saturday, January 13, 2007 8:06:00 AM
Everything sounds better when Ken Nordine says it. Godly pipes. Love the accompanying vocoder on "Cracks...", especially the "bits of boo-hoo-hoo" part, but even that is no match for him. Gorgeous lp cover too.
Saturday, January 13, 2007 8:16:00 AM
You've heard his record, "colors", right?
Monday, June 22, 2009 6:33:00 PM
Does anyone know if there is a digital version of Ken Nordines "Don't you wish" from the Stare with your ears album" ? I MUST HAVE IT..... MUSTTTTTTTTTTTT..... I saw it on Youtube so there has GOT to be one somewhere our there in the digital world. Please help if you know!
Friday, February 18, 2011 5:11:00 AM
THESE THREE EXAMPLES YOU SHOW ARE NOW GONE.
THE LINKS GOES TO AN "OOPS" PAGE.
PLEASE PUT UP MORE KEN NORDINE.
AS A SPEECH MAJOR, HE AND ALEXANDER SCOURBY SPOKE AND PERFORMED FOR US. THANKS.
Saturday, October 13, 2012 1:14:00 PM
Hey can you upload this whole album I really don't want to pay a huge amount for the vinyl
Friday, December 15, 2023 3:32:00 AM
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