Worlds of Youth

Description

Worlds of Youth is an album by John Rydgren and Herbert Brokering, original recordings for radio broadcast, released on Concordia in 1966. Produced by John Rydgren and written by Herbert Brokering and John Rydgren.

“The legacy of John Rydgren was one of the most enigmatic in radio-jock if not also record history. A Lutheran evangelist, Rydgren started a hit program called Silhouettes. As with Ken Nordine, his thoughts were highly original, ranging from quirky perceptions of the mundane to deep acid-head philosophy. Distributed to free to radio stations, Worlds of Youth and Silhouette Segments never was commercially released because of licensing difficulties. It remains an obscure and treasured memento of the radio program. The LP was given heavy airplay in Vietnam, however. Questioning life’s meta assumptions within a reassuring pop context, it was a natural for soldiers. And for everyone its juxtaposition of the antipodes of hip and square continue to blow minds.”

Nine more groovy cerebral meanderings with titles like «Forgiveness (The Boy Looking Natural)», «AWOL’s Of Life», «Pictures (The Nasty Picture)», «Rhythm (God Made Rhythm)», «Baptism (Come To War)» and «Martyrs», all of which fuse “faith to the beat and rhythm, the issues and drama of Century 20 1/2”. The selections are inspired by the book ‘Worlds Of Youth’, authored by fellow enlightened Lutheran Herbert Brokering. Very similar to Silhouette Segments with each track averaging around four minutes and featuring a bizarre dramatization followed by an often equally bizarre commentary. Rydgren’s convoluted brilliance is in full form here, along with his knack for selecting wild and varied background music. An unidentified hip female assists on several of the sketches, often speaking in a spacey deadpan murmur, or dialogue with Rydgren as he flies a kite made from a newspaper on «News (The Kite And News)» (“Here comes my world God! Take it!”). Includes a couple rare examples of Rydgren singing, mocking over-expressive on «New Songs (New Song, Guitar)», in a priestly liturgical monotone on the epilogue to «Computers». I could go on and on but it’s best just to hear the thing, so keep your eyes peeled next time you see a stack of those Concordia educational records in your local thrift store. The album plays with a special “locked groove” feature, so you’ll have to get up to advance the needle after each track. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “News (The Kite And News)” – 3:51
A2. “Forgiveness (The Boy Looking Natural)” – 2:57
A3. “AWOL’s Of Life” – 3:04
A4. “Pictures (The Nasty Picture)” – 4:05
A5. “Rhythm (God Made Rhythm)” – 3:27

Side Two
B1. “New Songs (New Song, Guitar)” – 4:26
B2. “Computers” – 3:55
B3. “Baptism (Come To War)” – 6:03
B4. “Martyrs” – 4:47

Note: Re-issued in 2012 by The Omni Recording Corporation as a part of the double CD entitled Silhouette Segments, featuring the Worlds of Youth LP plus the Silhouette Segments 2LP, the They Say LP, and the Cantata Of New Life LP, as well as extra tracks.