The LP is doing well for itself as a format in terms of sales, as events such as Record Store Day have proven. The albums themselves are becoming more and more unique as well, as musicians dabble with color schemes (and mixing their own blood into the vinyl). An album is, in its own way, a work of art, but an LP's are rarely pressed with as much artistic direction as this one: Painter Mark Ryden has commissioned various performers to record their own covers of American classic pop song "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built For Two)" for his art exhibit The Gay 90's: West.
The album, titled The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell, will be limited to 999 copies, which will each sell for $99. The album might not be a soundtrack to Ryden's exhibition per se, but it certainly offers a variety of takes on the standard. Performers included on the compilation: Nick Cave, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, Tyler The Creator, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Weird Al Yankovic, Katy Perry and composer Danny Elfman. What does it have to do with the exhibit? We're not sure exactly, but at least you can take comfort knowing that all proceeds will benefit the Little Kids Rock music education group. Half the records will be available at the Los Angeles showing, and the other half will be released on his website May 13.
"Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" was written by British composer after he was charged an import tax for bringing a bicycle to the United States. A friend told him that he was lucky he hadn't brought a bicycle for two, and the songwriter immediately set the phrase to music in the form of "Daisy Bell." The song is also noteworthy for being the first to be sung by a computer, when IBM's 704 model demonstrated its speech synthesis ability by "crooning" the track during 1961.
