I have a modest collection of (for lack of a better term) “exotica” records.  Tiki lounge music, weird Moog synth cover albums and other oddities and artifacts from the ’50s and ’60s.  Modest, mainly because these sort of records are quickly snapped up by Gollum-esque record collectors who squirrel them away in their underground lairs.  Wait, is that me?

That said, I was really happy to find this last week.  It’s called The Age Of Electronicus by Dick Hyman.

Dick Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is best known as a versatile jazz pianist/organ player, but, as was the rage at the end of the 60’s he released a pair of very interesting records played on the then recently released Moog Synthesizer.

Released in 1969, The Age Of Electronicus is essentially a Moog covers album.  Two songs by the Beatles, a James Brown cover and “Green Onions” by Booker T. & The MGs, along with others are all there.  The one original composition is called “Kolombo” which i’ve included here.  A pretty strange song from someone more well known for scoring Woody Allen films and playing Gershwin, it reminds me of some of the Pink Floyd stuff on the Live at Pompeii video.

Track listing
1. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” – 2:46
2. “Give It Up Or Turn It Loose” – 3:13
3. “Blackbird” – 3:11
4. “Aquarius” – 2:48
5. “Green Onions” – 7:49
6. “Kolumbo” – 7:35
7. “Time Is Tight” – 3:07
8. “Alfie” – 3:40
9. “Both Sides Now” – 3:02

Scans from the inside cover:

Links
Dick Hyman on Wikipedia
Buy this song on CD