M.S.R. “Potpourri”

In case you’re wondering where I’ve been for the last couple of years, I decided that two blogs was more than I can handle. But since I’ve got a little extra time on my hands, I figured I'd go ahead and continue with this venture.    I have what I would consider a very “modest” record collection compared to others I know, who have literally tens of thousands of them. I’d say mine is somewhere under 5,000 pieces, although I’ve never kept count. My passion is obscure Garage, Psychedelic, and Pop music from the 60’s and early 70’s so I’m not what you would call an “oldies” collector. Therefore, I concentrate on purchasing things that just look weird or non-mainstream and there’s plenty of that on small labels and major labels as well. One just has to have a “sixth sense” if you will, to know what a worthwhile purchase is. Once and a while we come across junk we throw away for a long period of time, come back to it a few years later and discover something wonderful about it. This time around though I’m going to feature another “song poem” post and I intentionally bought this!   For those who know better I don’t have to explain what M.S.R. Records is all about. For the uninitiated, M.S.R. was an outfit that would solicit “poems” from rank amateurs via the back of magazine ads etc., offer to “produce” a record for them, at a fee of course, and then release them as 45s or in this case with a bunch of other rank amateurs on an LP. The results are usually a hoot, as they took anything and put music to it as long as someone coughed up enough $$$. This one here is a mixed bag of wacked out stories, and some kooky religious stuff as well. There are 18 tracks on this LP and I’ve decided to post them all because…well because they all have a nutty charm to them.    Although these songs are credited to “The M.S.R.  Singers, the performances are sung by M.S.R. stalwarts Bobbi Blake and Dick Kent, both familiar names in the song poem world. Sit back and enjoy this piece of, well….whatever you want to call it.