Jeff Robertson’s take on the legendary Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders:

The mix of artists even on a single one of these records [is] crazy diverse, and nothing is segregated by genre. On the early albums, you will quite literally find Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Randy Newman, James Taylor, and Gordon Lightfoot sharing the same record. This defies all notions of market segmentation.

Either they were really ahead of their time, reflecting how people would eventually put all those together on their mixtapes and iPods, or they just didn’t care.

They knew. They probably didn’t anticipate the iPod and its brethren, but they knew.

If you’re not familiar with the Loss Leaders, start here.

With the arrival of WordPress 2.7, I figured I’d give the joint a bit of a facelift. It’s different, but not that different.

Last year I sort of promised Michael Bates I’d have another Songs without Words, and “Rinky Dink” would be in it. Well, I do, and it is. (There’s also a discussion of pop/rock instrumentals at that link, and at this one.) And yes, it’s that David Seville.

Track listing for 111141-2:

1. The Tornadoes: Telstar
2. Spencer Ross and His Orchestra: Tracy’s Theme
3. The Rebels: Wild Weekend
4. A. B. Skhy: Camel Back
5. Johnny and the Hurricanes: Reveille Rock
6. Mongo Santamaria: Watermelon Man
7. Billy Strange and His Orchestra: Goldfinger
8. The Marketts: Surfer’s Stomp
9. Morris Stoloff and His Orchestra: Moonglow and Theme from Picnic
10. Los Indios Tabajaras: Maria Elena
11. The Incredible Bongo Band: Apache
12. Charles Randolph Grean Sounde: Quentin’s Theme
13. Dave “Baby” Cortez: Rinky Dink
14. The Brass Ring: Love Theme from Flight of the Phoenix
15. Sandy Nelson: Let There Be Drums
16. Les Paul: Whispering
17. Duane Eddy and the Rebels: Because They’re Young
18. Henry Mancini and His Orchestra: Baby Elephant Walk
19. David Seville: Armen’s Theme
20. The Astronauts: Baja
21. Ferrante and Teicher: Theme from The Apartment
22. Travis Wammack: Scratchy
23. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass: Casino Royale
24. Chris Barber’s Jazz Band: Petite Fleur
25. The Fireballs: Torquay
26. Mantovani and His Orchestra: Games That Lovers Play
27. The Ventures: Nutty
28. The Beach Boys: Let’s Go Away for Awhile
29. The Champs: Tequila