Here’s a weird one. The only reference to it I can find anywhere on the Internet is from an auction house that tried to sell a copy several years ago (lot 83, final bid price: $0.00). Judging by the lack of information on the jacket or labels, we’ll assume (and rightly so) that this is a privately-pressed record that likely never existed in any large quantity. That said, the indication given by the stampers in the dead wax imply that it was made by Monarch, probably in the year 1959. The heavy red vinyl is housed in a flimsy, handmade, screened cover.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, these are not tales of the Olympics in the sporting sense.
Mathias — or ‘Mat’ as he was commonly known — is described on the back cover as a, “mountain enthusiast, naturalist, and beloved Olympian.” Get it? As in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state? That’s where all these stories take place.
The jacket continues, “Mat tells here the tales he told by trails and campfires in answer to the plea, “Tell us a story, Mat!” During a lifetime devoted to the Olympic Peninsula, he explored it’s hinterland on foot, probing nature to find rare animals…oysters who live inside rocks…worms which dwell in perpetual snow…and others even more rare, here depicted.”
Uh…it’s pretty weird. Check it out.
As always, anyone who can shed more light on this record should contact me. I’ve gone and titled the tracks as best I could, but I don’t know if they’re supposed to have titles.
Mathias
Mat’s Tall Tales Of The Olympics
(No Label, 1959?)
MediaFire DL Link
01. Introduction
02. The Ornitherincus
03. The Rock Oyster
04. The Tree-Twist
05. The Glacial Frog
06. The Wampus Cat [MP3]
07. The Scree Stacker
08. The White-Head Hornet
09. The Queen Of Sheba
