Over the course of this thread, I've featured a few songs from Irwin Chusid's 2000 compilation album,
Songs in the Key of Z. The album is a collection of what Chusid calls "outsider music." That's a phrase Chusid coined himself, and one that seems to mean whatever Chusid wants it to mean at any given time. For instance, he includes the likes of Joe Meek (a successful English record producer) seemingly solely because he was gay, Syd Barrett (the original leading force behind Pink Floyd) for his later drug-induced insanity, and other obvious "insiders." Me, I prefer the term "offbeat music."
Anyway, the album has a lot of stuff. Much of it is just plain weird, and much of it is, in its own perverse way, brilliant. Take, for instance, the example of nursing-home resident Jack Mudurian from Boston. One day, after Mudurian performed in a talent show at the home, he boasted that he had a repertoire larger than that of Frank Sinatra's. Well, an employee with a cassette-tape recorder decided to take him up on his boast. Mudurian obliged and the result was
Downloading the Repertoire-- 47 minutes and 129 consecutive songs (some of which were repeated) of Mudurian singing non-stop, mostly Tin Pan Alley tunes.
As far as quality, it was what you could expect of a guy in a nursing home. Now imagine listening to 47 minutes of some old guy in a nursing home on a jukebox and you'll find out why this is in the Jukebox from Hell.
Here's the first song from
Downloading the Repertoire, a cover of "Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ469i6crGE