Monday, May 01, 2006

Monday Audioblogging: Musical Junkies


The Addicts Sing, ca. 1965, Word Records, Waco, Texas
Click for bigger!

PLEASE NOTE! The recordings reproduced here are a perfect example of a so-called "orphaned copyright", in that the whereabouts of the artists are unknown and the company which released the album no longer exists. Furthermore, this record carries neither a date nor any publishing/copyright information. These recordings are presented as an activity for learning and discussion.

And not just musical junkies, mind you, but musical junkies for Jesus! Hooray! After this morning's audioblogging debacle, I thought I'd treat you to one of the better-known of the unusual records in my collection. Copies of this go for big bucks, not so much because of the music, but for the high-octane cover artwork:


Back cover. Click for bigger!

And you may indeed enjoy this unusual relic simply for the superb cover design and heart-wrenching liner notes alone, but then you'd be missing out on the incredible gut-punch of the recordings within. The singers, all former heroin addicts, aren't conventionally gifted, and it's usually difficult to understand what on earth they're saying, but these songs have a bluntness and minimalism, sometimes grungy and at other times spellbindingly haunting, which makes for an unforgettable listening experience.

Down from His Glory (4:30, 5.4mb mp3)
The Addicts March (3:29, 4.2mb mp3)
Without God I Would be Nothing (3:38, 4.4mb mp3)
You Are the Finger of God (4:12, 5mb mp3)

As far as I can tell, these recordings have never before been available in a digital format. Enjoy!

7 comments:

PWhit said...

Where do you find these things?
I've never seen anything like these at the yard sales I go to.

Earl Cootie said...

Glory Glory! Spunky!

The 4th addict from the left looks like Mel Gibson from here.

Karen Zipdrive said...

Jesus!
These dudes were addicts before addiction was cool.

Dave said...

Wow, that first song really is strangely beautiful and moving. And I hate Jesus!

Peteykins said...

The whole entire album is strangely beautiful. Make sure to listen to the fourth one.

Anonymous said...

Where did you find this????

Max said...

Much thanks--I've wanted to hear this one since I 1st saw the cover a while ago. And "The Addicts Sing" is a much better title than "People with Opioid Use Disorders Sing."