3.07.2006
Archie Moore's "Times Tables" with Soul and a Beat
Archie Moore's "Times Tables" with Soul and a Beat LP (ERU Productions, 1964)
Ha! You thought I didn't have any more gems squirreled away! "Oh no, Soriano, is gonna throw another foreign pop MP3 up. He must be running out of stuff," you've been thinking. Wrong! I am just pacing myself and here is proof.
I picked up this gem in a record store in Portland. The young guy behind the counter looked at it and said, "Cool. Educational records are cool," as he punched $3 into the cash register. "Educational record!" I wanted to scream, but I held my tongue. After all it is not his fault that he doesn't know who the great Archie Moore is.
So who is he? According to the introduction he is an actor, humanitarian, politician, and "World Champion." That last one should be World's Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Moore fought in from the 1940s 'til the 1970s, for 27 years, ten of which he held on to the Light Heavyweight title. He tried several times to capture the Heavyweight belt but he could not overcome Rocky Marciano and Floyd Paterson. He also fought Muhammad Ali, a sad chapter of Moore's life as, at 50+ years of age, he could hardly keep up with the young Ali (AJ Leibling wrote a great essay on the Moore v Ali match). By the time he retired Moore had knocked out 141 opponents, a record. Almost as impressive is that, according to this record's liner notes, Moore had a boxing glove-shaped swimming pool!
Other than having his name and face on the sleeve and a short spoken intro (with dubbed in cheering!) Moore has little to do with this record. The main voice behind it is a "PTA President, den mother, civic worker, and psychology major named Pat Rucker. Uncredited are a bunch of musicians and singers.
# posted by Scott Soriano : 20:56
