On the eve of my 25th birthday, I offer a gift to all of you. A song from the 1960 record “A Child’s Introduction to French.” This was acquisitioned on a trip to a record-hunting trip to a local thrift store. I couldn’t resist the “twenty activity songs, games and conversations that will teach your child and entertain everyone in the family.” You can play it below or just download it here.

With a little digging I found that Golden Records released a series of “A Children’s Introduction to…” records. Spanish, Jazz, the Orchestra, Gilbert and Sullivan, Beethoven and Mozart, etc. This record uses the new “language by ear” method and is approved by leading language teachers.

Without further adieu, Let’s Parler Français:

On this rainy Friday night I present to you, noble blog reader, a selection from Harry Field’s 1959 “Music For Cooking With Gas À La Carte”. We picked up the album some time ago from a thrift shop (purchased not for the music, mind you, but for the kickin’ title—the music is just bonus.) After a little bit of digging, I’ve found that this album was produced by Caloric, a kitchen appliance manufacturer that was acquired by Amana in the mid-sixties. If only companies produced promotional items like this today!

From the liner notes:

“When you want food that is prepared perfectly for your own special tastes, it’s best to order “A La Carte”. And, when you dream of a new kitchen for yourself, the “À La Carte” approach is the best way to go about planning it. Just as Caloric offers the very finest in gas ranges to ensure complete flexibility in kitchen design, so the “À La Carte” music on this record has been carefully selected to bring you the utmost in easy listening enjoyment.”

Enjoy Bossa Nova Prelude:

Before we moved, Josh and I dropped off a ton of stuff at Goodwill. We went inside in search for a painting, but that’s a different story.  Their record selection caught our eye, and the next thing we knew we were leaving with a big stack of records and no turntable.  So we picked up a USB turntable and stopped by several other Goodwills around to search through their record selections.

Over the next few weeks we are going to introduce you to some of our purchases.  Show you some of the amazing cover art and use our fancy pants USB turntable to record some musical treats for you to listen to.  So watch out.  It’s going to be great.