It is with great joy that I announce the latest videocast from PaulB, our excellent master of videos! This week we have the top 10 incredible recordings – one of our most popular lists. This list comprises some of the most amazing recordings ever made – either due to their value as oddities of history, or just plain weirdness.
Just paying the bills...
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December 12th, 2008 at 12:22 am
love this list
December 12th, 2008 at 12:23 am
It was actually the first list i ever read on here
December 12th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Aimee – Me too! And I’ve been ever since, though I’m sure a lot of the old regulars must think I’ve dropped off the face of the earth.
December 12th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Fourth, Darn it I was so close! Great list thought
December 12th, 2008 at 2:55 am
My first ever list here too….
I simplv love it
December 12th, 2008 at 2:57 am
it’s not loading for me….
December 12th, 2008 at 5:36 am
cool
December 12th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Is anyone else having a problem with this list not loading?
Ive never had problems with video lists before.
December 12th, 2008 at 8:09 am
The Jim Jones one just makes me sick. How people can become so brainwashed by people like this is beyound me. That is so sad, all those poor children.
December 12th, 2008 at 9:03 am
My favorite list… a video. How wonderful
December 12th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Your best one yet PaulB. Way to go!
December 12th, 2008 at 9:57 am
This is also the list that started it all for me!…been coming here ever since….definetly one of my favorites…keep up the good work!!!!
December 12th, 2008 at 11:10 am
OMG! Florence Foster Jenkins! Whoever convinced her she could sing should be sent to the dog-house immediately! I loved the name of one of her albums, though, Murder On The High C’s! How incredibly apt!
And Paul, re: Ave Maria. Ave is pronounced av-aa. The final e is sounded as if it were a long a.
Aside from that, I loved the entire thing. Laughed at most of it, because it was marvelously funny, was amazed at some, like the castrato (I’d read about him, but had never heard a recording), and cried at one.
December 12th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Jamie must have loved this videocast. It’s got a disturbing kind of David Lynch vibe to it. Well done!
December 12th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Great idea to do a list in video form…And it’s faster for us with slower internet.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
To segue what Segue has posted…(and I’m only doing this because it is my field of expertise):
Castrato should be pronounced as “kah-strah-to” not with an a as in the word “cat.”
Alessandro Moreschi: ch in Italian is always a hard k sound, so it should be “Moreski” in English pronunciation.
Mado Robin is pronounced with the final syllable of each word stressed…mah-DO ro-BAE (There are no final n’s in French, so the vowel is a bright nasal a…much like the a in “cat.”
Also, since the aria she sings is written in E-flat major, the high note she sings is a B-flat (the dominant tone of an E-flat major scale)…it can’t possibily be either B or D as those tones are 2 steps apart and neither are present in the chord. As for what pitch she is performing in (modern American orchestras, for example, always tune to A 440mHz, whereas in France today they often tune to A 444mHz) could make the discrepancy of a semi-tone…but regardless, she is, with intention, singing only a B-flat. Also, the numerical classification of octaves depends on region and era, but B7 or D7 never has been and can never be higher than G10 as the numbers increase going up the scale. There are still over 2 octaves remaining above her sung tone that are identifiable to the human ear.
Great work, otherwise! It’s always nice to have visual accompaniment to the audio clips!
December 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
16. Idreno: To segue what Segue has posted…
****
It’s segue, small s. Otherwise I’d be the noun form, meaning : the act or an instance of segueing. It’s all I can handle being a humble v.i., please don’t make me into a noun!
December 12th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Oh my god. The sounds in the background of the babies and children screaming. Absolutely chilling. Brought me to tears.
December 12th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
geez wrong Ronaldo Picture! oh wait wrong list
December 12th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
These are cool
More so now that we have them on video
December 12th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
This (original) list was the first one I ever read. I found it while searching Google for something.
Now I come back everyday!
December 13th, 2008 at 2:45 am
not to sound like an ass, but anyone with a speech impediment should not do videocasts. as much as i try to pay attention, his forced accent makes me focus on how hard hes trying to sound the norm, rather than the things hes saying..
December 13th, 2008 at 4:03 am
That “accent” would be my voice my good sir. And a speech impediment would be cool but i’d prolly get tired of it after a few days
December 13th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
For some reason the number stations just freak me out!
December 14th, 2008 at 10:47 am
i can tell alot of work was put into this vid to be able to have all the pictures to accompany the recordings. well done.
December 14th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
nice collection
some of those older recording – just hearing the scratchyness is creepy. You could upload them as “ghost recordings” and people would believe it just because of the quality.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Good job on this one Paulb!
December 16th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Great list. I was expecting the same recordings that are trotted out periodically, like the Hindenburg, FDR after Dec 7, 1941, Churchill,etc. But you have a wide range of recordings here, and each one fascinating in its own right. Thanks, PaulB.
December 16th, 2008 at 3:40 am
i think it’s not so much that florence foster jenkins couldn’t sing, but she chose very advanced repertoire that was way beyond her skill level. i have a classically trained voice and the queen of the night aria is still pretty difficult for me to sing.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:38 am
“Av Maria”? It’s “ah-VAY” Maria.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Brilliant, Paul.Michael Caine has a book which has all sorts of random information. I’ll probably pop one of these examples heard here at some inappropriate moment soon.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
this list is not loading for me only the hitler video at the top
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 am
Yeah, only the William Joyce video will load for me.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:46 am
i enjoyed watching the video…especially the deadliest animals
January 5th, 2009 at 11:06 am
two items that should be on this list
kanye/snl
the dog that can say “i want it”
January 18th, 2009 at 4:20 am
#2 mado robin. unreal. that was great i loved it.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:42 am
the first 3 or four items in this list is..nada..
the exorcism recording is good..creepy..i dont believe in those stuff..but.. haha..i dunno..
number ten sounds like a sound effect in a horror-themed video/PC game (like silent hill or resident evil or something..) brrr..
January 30th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
How come Paulb’s newest video isn’t out on the website, ive seen it on his youtube account
March 10th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Subtitles would be very helpful for #10. Can’t hear what the hell he’s saying.
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am
very cool…although I couldn’t really understand what Flo Nightingale said, and definitely not the last one. The Jim Jones one was absolutely chilling.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Совсем недавно попал на Ваш сайт, теперь каждое утро захожу глянуть, не написали ли чего новенького.
К сожалению только Вы не каждый день свой сайт обновляете
November 6th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Зачет!:) Но есть и минус небольшой! У меня скорость инета 112 килобит в секунду. Страница грузилась около 30 секунд.