[CP 241.5 CD] Found On The Elevator, 205 W. 57, 2/11/69

Reproduction of this mythic 1969 Private-Press 10” of an “Outsider” Hörspiel piece by noted writer & voice actor (he features prevalently across many Captain Kangaroo & Peanuts-related Children’s records) Clark Gesner, itself posited as a “Reissue” of “An 8½" 20RPM disc found on the elevator at 205 W. 57th Street in New York City on February 11, 1969.” 

Across the two, roughly 10-minute pieces, a narrative unfolds around the plight of a lone interdimensional traveler, locked inside a comms booth on an undisclosed vessel. Themes of paranoia, absurdly future-retro science, and ultimately despair creep in in an effective way, creating an air of pure malaise. What makes this relevant to the CP program are the sound designs, born of a certain "Cinema Pour L'Oreille" spec, consisting largely of the sort of interface pings & tiny electronic chimes that would have populated any number of sci-fi affairs, yet all done inside the sound design of the piece itself; all totally believable as even contemporary sounds. As a narrative audio experience, it's an incredibly singular one, rife with exactly the sort of posited alternate realities that Electronic Music itself often explores. 

This was written about/featured in Beryl Korot’s Radical Software (Volume 2, Number 3; "Videocity") as “The Record by Decker, T. L., J-3, CMR 00965 transcribed by Tom Martin” & is a fascinating, eerily prescient breakdown of mental stabilities in the surveillance-age that presages THX-1138 & the like by a few years. This edition comes inside a six-panel "Gatefold" booklet, which reprints both the minimal jacket & the included baby-blue insert as well as a separate insert/reproduction of the RS article. As the typeface of the latter (rendered in something like 2pt) is damn-near illegible to the naked eye, the CP PTB have included a handheld fresnel lens (in its own electric blue slipcase) with each & every copy.