Above is a flier I made in 1988 for a band I was in, so I've been a fan for quite a while. My circle of friends in college were obsessed with Jim 'n' Tammy, and we watched their shows nearly every day. My special favorite was "Tammy's House Party", her excellent talk show which featured loads of singing, kitchen mayhem, and surprise guest stars like Gavin MacLeod. Poor Tammy: she was insane, and she was almost deliriously idiotic, but she had a wonderful heart and was a hell of an entertainer. I look back on Tammy Faye with sincere fondness.
To commemorate, here's a reposting of some Tammy Faye audio I blogged earlier, and some bonus tracks I never got around to putting up.
Run Toward the Roar, 1985, PTL Records. Click for bigger.
I have several Tammy Faye and PTL-affiliated records, but the above, produced by "Monster Mash" impresario Gary Paxton, is my favorite:
Run Toward the Roar (2:55, 3.4mb mp3)
Oh How I Love Jesus/Thou Art Worthy (5:09, 6.1mb mp3)
Best of all? Her records for children:
Building on the Rock, 1975, Singcord Records.
This fantastic album consists of ten songs sung in a shrieky fake little girl voice and two stories told by Jim 'n' Tammy and all their puppetland friends. The stories are my favorites, because the musical background is so off-the-wall, at points it almost sounds like Captain Beefheart is providing the accompaniment:
Jonah and the Whale (8:56, 10.4mb)
The House on the Rock (7:15, 8.5mb)
I'm sorry I didn't keep track of the names of which songs (6 of 10) from the album I digitized:
Song 1
Song 2
Song 3
Song 4
Song 5
Song 6
Straight to Valhalla, Tammy Faye! Or Heaven. Or whatever.
UPDATE: Bonus request! From the concert advertised in the flier at the top of this post, here are the fabulous Lemon Fresh Pinetones performing their hit Brain Fever Themes.
