The Ernie Kovacs Record Collection

I get emails at http://www.erniekovacs.net/ and comments posted here regarding "The Ernie Kovacs Record Collection," which was released on July 15, 1997 on the Varese Sarabande label. Most of the comments have to do with the fact that its difficult to find.

Unfortunately this title is out of print. Varese Sarabande, a company that largely deals in motion picture and television soundtracks, doesn't even have it in their database anymore.

My suggestion is to visit this link at Amazon where you can find copies from dealers (though they are all very expensive). I'd also check online auction sites such as EBAY to try and find a copy. You'll most likely get it there for much cheaper.

The CD is probably out of print because of the fact that it appeals to a very niche market that loves Ernie's work and didn't sell very well. I love it, but that's me. You get the "Oriental Blues," also known as "Ernie's Tune," which was his theme song. You can listen with joy to "Medley: Jalousie (Jealousy)/Sentimental Journey" which was the arrangement he used for the bit with the dancing office furniture. There's "Moritatensanger (Mack The Knife)" from the Three Penny Opera by Bertold Brecht, which was used as the background music for all the oscilloscope gags. In all you get 20 tracks on the CD and can listen to sound samples by visiting the Amazon link I provided above. You also get "Song Of The Nairobi Trio ("Solfeggio)" which is a classic.

Speaking of which, congrats to "Devilbabytales" who guessed that "Solfeggio" is the correct title of "The Nairobi Trio" music. Devil couldn't get the other two parts of the question however, so its up to you fans to go back to the post and see if you can. I'm still waiting for answers to my "Whom Dunnit?" trivia question by the way.

In other EK news, I've found some articles which you ought to go check out on other blogs. They are either about Ernie or mention him:

Paul ("The Comedy Tornado") Venier's Top Ten Favorite TV Shows

The Passionate Moviegoer's Article, "Lemon, Kovacs And Quine". It talks about Jack Lemon and Ernie Kovacs working on Richard Quine's films together. It's a great piece.

I also found an interesting post about "The Song Of The Nairobi Trio" which talks about the song under another title besides "Solfeggio," which was something I had not been aware of. (ED. NOTE 7/29/2010-THIS LINK NO LONGER WORKS)

That's all for today. Its been real folks.

ED. NOTE, DEC. 26TH, 2009:

The Museum Of Broadcast Communications in Chicago has their archives listed online so you can view the list. Some of these listings have a digital file accompanying them for viewing and ⁄ or listening.

"The Ernie Kovacs Record Collection"" is one of these. The file streams as the entire CD, one song played after the other. It is approximately 48 minutes in length.

To hear the file:

1. Visit this link and sign up. It’s free.
   
   
2. Once you login choose the "Radio" link, put Ernie Kovacs in "Keywords" and check the box at the bottom that says "Digital File Available". Then click submit. The archive listing along with a link to the file will then come up.

Most people who visit my EK sites know I don't usually promote online files because most of the time the person uploading them does not have permission to do so. Many times I'm sent emails with links to EK file downloads which I ignore and delete; this CD is no exception. My assumption here is that a broadcast museum is not just putting up clips without permission.