Classical Gas - Mason Williams - "3000 Years of Art"

40th anniversary of Classical Gas;

Classical Gas with Mason Williams and the original Dan McLaughlin "Classical Gas Video" as it appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1968.

Mason Williams was the head writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the time of the song's release. The song saw its television premiere on the show and Williams performed it several times over several editions. After the song had reached the Top Ten, Williams asked an experimental filmmaker named Dan McLaughlin to create a video montage of classical art works edited in time to the music, using a visual effect now known as kinestasis. The pioneering work, "3000 Years of Art", premiered in the summer of 1968
Recorded at the oakridge Tree Planting festival, 2008.
With Art Maddox and John Doan.
http://www.masonwilliams-online.com
http://www.johndoan.com
http://www.sonicvideo.com

• Category

  Entertainment

[gamerdood93]

that was absolutely brilliant

[ajmccarrell]

I've known Mason almost 15 years and he is the kindest celebrity I've ever met by far. He's always been nice to me and traded music back and forth.

[mzmadmike]

My 15 year old daughter managed to name about 1/3 of those pieces of art as they flashed by. And she's learning to play the music.

[Man Duckly]

I can hardly express how much I hate gratuituous tempo changes in non-accompanied sections of music like this. Fuck all the covers, Williams' remains superior.

[OmegaLara685]

Grab the audio from this vid at searchripgrab doht cohm.

[Kenneth Besselman]

With Jesus bock nekkid on the cross Now that's culture--that's ART!!!!!

[ajmccarrell]

As much as I admire and respect Mason, unfortunately his political jottings are usually lacking in serious substance and fall victim to the bumper-sticker type sloganeering that has come to define modern politics. Unfortunately, all sides are guilty of this and pander to the lowest common denominator, instead of expecting their audience to educate themselves on civicswith few exceptions. His basic thrust are "republicans are evil...end of story." Not much thought there...

[ProNorden]

...I bet Mason Williams's politics are interesting and thoughtful ... whether or not they agree with mine.

[Sejaynus]

I wish the ORIGINAL original was here. Someone made and posted a very good tribute to it. I remember watching it, but it seems to be gone.

[michaelobrown]

A year or so ago I was looking for a recording of the original airing (did video tape exist in 1968 or were recordings still on "cine-scope"??) and I read (but am unable to find the source again) that CBS still holds the rights to this 'performance' and has never released it. Given the ugly relationship and legal battles between CBS and the Smothers Brothers I would not be surprised (albeit saddened) if it was destroyed soon after the show went off the air.

[ja3399]

Hi michael... I remember watching this on Smothers Brothers. I was 16 years old then, and was totally blown away by what I had heard and seen. Yes, genius, good arranging of music, and Mason Williams' gift and talent and result of years of practicing. I love guitar, and often listen to various classical guitar things, but THERE IS NOTHING LIKE WHAT MASON WILLIAMS DID HERE. Isn't it great to be able to see all that is available here?