STEVE ALLEN - “HOW TO THINK” (196?)
Looking back at my days as a little kid, I was a record nerd even back then. My parents always had installed in my room a turntable, and would buy me piles of kids’ records for me to listen to at any time. Lots of Hanna-Barbera and Disney records, along with random other storytelling titles, blared through my speakers, but in addition to keeping me entertained, my mom and dad also occasionally realized that the record player could be an educational tool as well, and the title I most remember from my childhood being played over and over again in my room was Steve Allen’s “How To Think”: a guided tour through the different sections of the brain, and how they function. In addition, over the course of the album Allen lays down a series of Rules On How To Think, which, even to my adult ears, are pretty sound (how can you argue with stuff like “Use words carefully,” or “Look for the evidence”?)
What makes this album really special, though, are Allen’s original song compositions liberally sprinkled throughout. Whether it’s just a quaint little piece of incidental piano work, or a full-on number in the samba style all about the cerebellum, Allen’s music makes this a great trip, even for the most fucky of jaded fucks. cond cover ex media g
