A fave from childhood, I ended up with my copy around 1976 through Publisher’s Clearing House (after it had been remaindered for about 98 cents) and felt very, you know, Rock & Fucking Roll as I sung the songs with my friends on the playground at school (one of them even calls Spider-Man a “sex machine” which seemed pretty noteworthy to our seven year old brains). Not to be confused with that all-music “Rock Reflections of a Super-Hero” thing that came out a few years later on Lifesongs, this is a mix of a storyline (involving the Kingpin, Dr. Strange, and a retelling of the Spider-Man origin) along with 4 original “Rock Songs” that sorta follow the standard Buddah house sound of the day (ranging from wah-wah pop rock to dopey ballads). I broke the whole thing into tracks as best I could, ’cause if you’re like me after a few listens you’ll probably want to skip “It’s Such A Groove To Be Free” before it bores it’s way into your skull. Oh and hey, for all you Archies fans: that’s the ubiquitous Ron Dante singing the songs (and busy actor Rene Auberjonois voicing Peter Parker/ Spider-Man.)
The Amazing Spider-Man “A Rockomic: From Beyond the Grave” (192 kbps)
Here’s a genre of record that was popular enough for a few competing labels to try their hand at releasing titles; dictation LPs intended for use by aspiring stenographers, typists & shorthand note takers. Judging by the back cover there were plenty of volumes in the Steno-Disc series (both full length & 45 rpm) to choose from, but what I’m sharing here today is specifically described as “Business Letters for Students and Shorthand Brush-Up: 90, 100, 110 WPM”.
Back in the early 1990’s there was a period when I would run my stereo output through a delay pedal for days on end, which had the effect of making everything sound pretty damn good. Perhaps unsurprisingly I found that with that setup I was quite often in the mood for the banal & unimpassioned delivery (not to mention content) of this album, and though I’m posting the tracks in a naked and untreated form my guess is that their charms won’t prove too elusive to grasp in any setting.
Actual Business Letters Dictated At Various Speeds (No 514) (192 kbps)
Well it’s not too hard to figure out where the idea for this came from. In fact maybe the real head scratcher is why, after the surprise success of Chipmunk Punk, there weren’t way MORE kiddie record labels trying to figure out a way to cash in on the clearly lucrative Novelty Punk children’s market. While Chipmunk Punk at least skirted around the edges of mainstream New Wave, Pink Panther Punk can be noted by its insistence on COMPLETELY missing the mark; the LP is a weird mix of between-song skits that lead into covers of somewhat contemporary songs by AOR faves Pink Floyd, Billy Joel & the Doobie Brothers (with Blondie’s “Call Me” providing the sole Wave-O moment) alongside equally crummy originals like “Rock And Roll Panther”, “Panther on the Prowl”, and “It’s Punk” all written by producer John Braden. Despite top billing the pink one himself only sings a song or two, and though perpetually silent in the cartoons he’s vocally imagined here as a charmless Tommy Chong-esque stoner. Pretty much like you always figured I’m sure.
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If you poke around in some of those Famous Monsters offshoot mags from the early 60’s you’ll often see ads for records like this:
…and if you’re a nutjob like me you’ve probably been tearing out your hair trying to imagine what they might sound like, right? Well wonder no more! Today I’m posting one of the best from the cheapo Major Records lineup: Nightmare. Here you’ll find a pair of totally breathy, insane, creepy-voiced interpretations of two of Mr Edgar Allan Poe’s finest works (“The Tell-Tale Heart” & “The Pit & the Pendulum”) , with some trippy & off-key reverb-laden guitar noodling going on in the background that genuinely seems to heighten the sense of madness. You know how it frequently seems like (since no one was really paying attention) producers would kind of go nuts when recording children’s records in general, and spooky records in particular? Well here’s a prime example from the early 1960’s. So very very great.
Richard Taylor: Nightmare (192 kbps).
Wade Denning’s name is all over some of my favorite spooky records from the late ’60’s/ early ’70’s (mostly in conjunction with Pickwick), and this is one of the best/ most extreme. It seems that Mr. Denning did a lot of audio work in a variety of guises, but it’s easily his Halloween related stuff that’s colored my life the most.
I can still distinctly remember the day that my mother bought me this record at the local JC Pennny’s store thanks to the clerk’s assurance that it “wasn’t that scary” & “would be fine for a five year old” (this despite tracks with titles like “Be Buried Alive” & “The Victims of the Guillotine” proudly displayed on the cover). She was uncertain, but I REALLY wanted “The Monster Mash” (it turned out to be a semi-lame re-recording, but I wouldn’t figure that out for a few years) so she eventually relented. Side one is a collection of some pretty standard monster vignettes entitled “Famous Monsters and Ghouls” (mostly stuff like Frankenstein’s monster, the Mummy, etc) but side TWO focuses on “Man’s Inhumanity to Man” and I honestly had nightmares for months (maybe years) thanks to this thing — but I also couldn’t stop listening to it, so it’s not like I didn’t have an active hand in the process, right?. A few years later, while setting up my own “Haunted House” with a friend in my backyard (we had several dummy corpses made out of sweatshirts & jeans stuffed with newspaper, a buncha gravestones cut out of wood, etc), I recorded loops of a number of these tracks & played them on portable tape players (“Nightmare of Lost Souls” & “Curse of the Zombies” were both outstanding in this regard) so it’s safe to say that this LP continued to serve me very well over the years. And here it is for YOU.
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Well then, here’s yet another place to start sticking zip files of various audio obsessions of mine. Expect a lot of children’s records, Halloween junk, Punk Rockery & random oddities from here & there (and I’ll try to keep the bit rate around 192 or better). Let’s get going today with a complete Power Records LP from 1975:
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Enjoy!
