Mr. Spock's Music from Outer Space

After learning of the great Leonard Nimoy's passing yesterday I felt compelled to dim the lights, and dust off this special thrift store relic for a spin on the hi-fi. As Vulcan serenades of yesteryear filled the air, I realized it might also be nice to materialize a quick record report tribute to the multi-talented actor and the unforgettable and ever fascinating Star Trek character he so convincingly portrayed.

Backed by some mildly spacey, sometimes surf-rock sounding sixties pop stylings, Mr. Spock soothes our illogical, worried human minds with his smooth and restrained baritone vocalizations.
 
At times, the more uptempo musical arrangements remind me of the sort of mainstream  "groovy" sounds typically heard during a teen dance party scene as depicted in a sixties TV show. At other times, it sounds like the sort of "space-age," easy listening background orchestrations one might hear while unwinding with an ice blue Andorian ale in the original U.S.S. Enterprise's lounge. 

1967 Dot Records DLP 25794 (stereo)

Side One
Theme from "Star Trek" (2:04)
Alien (1:57)
Where is Love (1:50)
Music to Watch Space Girls By (2:17)
Beyond Antares (2:03)
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Earth (2:12)

Side Two
Mission Impossible (1:58)
Lost in the Stars (2:25)
Where No Man Has Gone Before (2:24)
You Are Not Alone (2:02)
A Visit to a Sad Planet (2:50)

                                                              Star Tracks

 The version of the Star Trek theme included on this LP is propelled by a driving bass line and insistent drums along with vibrato-laden "interstellar" guitar runs; and if you close your eyes, the spirited Hammond organ work might just make you feel like you've been transported to a vast roller rink on the outskirts of Alpha 5.

In the spoken word piece Alien, Spock describes for us some differences between Earth and Vulcan and the inhabitants of each world. Similarly, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Earth is also spoken word and tells about Earth and Vulcan.
 

Where is Love is a gentle ballad of love and longing sung with deep vocals. Spock's human side is definitely showing on this uncharacteristically emotive number from "Oliver!" (Nimoy starred in a 1972 production of the play).

You Are Not Alone asks: What will we do when finally we meet beings from another planet? Will we "greet them or turn them away?" Will we teach them war, will we teach them hate?"

The cautionary narrative, A Visit to a Sad Planet ends the album on a heavy note. It uses a U.S.S. Enterprise First Officer's log entry (and an ominous backing track) to describe a desolate planet in the Milky Way Galaxy where an apparently advanced civilization has been reduced to a smoldering wasteland of radioactive ruins because the inhabitants could not live in peace and destroyed everything with their fighting.

Thank you Mr. Nimoy for all that you've given our highly illogical, but fascinating world. 

 Watch Mr. Spock playing the Vulcan Lute as Lieutenant Uhura sings a song about him.

 

Music Machine

The year was 1977; millions were stricken with Saturday Night Fever; plucky prime time duo, Laverne & Shirley, had stolen the hearts of an enthralled (possibly drunken) viewership and merrily skipped to the top of the ratings chart, while The Fonz proved he was still the coolest by jumping a shark. 

Thousands of Pet Rocks – jettisoned by owners who could no longer care for them – had turned feral, formed aggressive packs and began instigating rockslides and blockading roadways throughout Southern California. 

Just when it looked as if life in the polyester-paved, 1970s fast lane could get no more dizzying, the gargantuan dancing robots began appearing.

The first reported sighting was in a strip mall parking lot outside Kalamazoo. Gobsmacked onlookers initially mistook the unsettling scene for a misguided (but harmless) radio station promotion. Before long, a massive robo-army began assembling mountains of space-age electronic equipment upon open lawns and flower gardens around the globe.

Condensed, high intensity bursts of often disparate original hits (by the original stars) issued from strategically placed, mega-watt speaker towers. This 'round-the-clock aural assault reached far into the ionosphere, fused with the gamma radiation present there and blanketed the Earth in a powerful, contiguous grid of self-oscillating electromagnetic energy that projected a previously unknown, biologically disruptive frequency; scrambling the minds of the citizenry and stymieing all attempts by law enforcement and the military to intervene.

Once the ensuing propaganda campaign was launched, it quickly became apparent that the flailing metal behemoths were controlled by sinister corporate conglomerate, K-Tel International, as part of their latest bid to subjugate the minds and pocketbooks of an impressionable populace.

Music Machine (1977 K-Tel TU 2560)

K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Kenny Rogers, Wild Cherry, Rose Royce, Abba and David Soul were key elements of K-Tel's nefarious master plan ... and then there was the seductive promise of not one, but two bonus miniposters(!) for all who would willingly relinquish a specified sum of money without resistance.

Public records of K-Tel's Music Machine operations were swiftly and systematically suppressed by certain government intelligence agencies and remain classified to this day. Most surviving eyewitnesses claim to have "forgotten" everything they saw or will freeze up and blankly stare off into the middle distance as soon as the subject is broached.

Recently, a piece of damaged broadcast footage surfaced on YouTube via a mysterious private archivist known only by the code name "UFO Cult VHS." This chilling, but historically significant document is the only reliable account we have of those bleak, terrible days.

Additional Data:

View complete track list at Discogs

Canadian pressing with alternate track list

Robin Trower - B.L.T.

I hope everyone (or anyone) is hungry for more Tales From the Thrift Store because after a long hiatus, this blog is back in town with an all new, action-packed, whopper of a report for you to sink your teeth into!

Power Lunch Trio

One-time Procol Harum guitarist and all-around master of the Stratocaster, Robin Trower, brings his impressive songwriting skills and soaring, Hendrix-inspired guitar work to the table on this 1981 collaboration with legendary Cream frontman, Jack Bruce (bass/vocals) and drummer Bill Lordan. Recorded at Konk Studios in London, B.L.T. is a superb platter of hard-biting rockers and soulful ballads.

Truth be told, I expected a batch of hastily concocted, largely forgettable uptempo jams that would get monotonous by the third track, but I'm happy to report that everything is well written, memorable, and definitely worthy of repeat plays. I particularly liked the ballads, which were mostly sandwiched in-between the more rockin' songs and kept things nicely balanced — much like the complementary pairing of juicy, ripe tomato with strips of salty, smoked bacon.

The Art of the Sandwich

I've accepted it at this point, but I immediately thought the whole "BLT" gimmick with the giant bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich on the cover was an ill-advised (if appetizing) idea, and one that didn't really inspire me to dig right in to the record. As a result, I left it on the back burner for quite a while before finally giving it a chance. I also had some trouble remembering who B. L. and T. were and I kept thinking it was a Bill Bruford album. 

Strange Days

This record was part of my all-time biggest thrift store record haul. That's the good news. The bad news is that after what went down at the store that night, I would have to lay low and stay out of there for quite some time, and just to play it safe, to this day I employ a revolving series of clever disguises and masterfully executed foreign accents to conceal my true identity from the watchful scrutiny of that vigilant thrift store staff: "Vaht? Speak in ze ear trumpet eef you please ... Ohhh, nein, nein, my name ist Hans, ja, und I travel all ze vay from Munich only Tuesday zis veek to visit for family und buy ze thrifty polka records, ja..."

Read on as I attempt to piece together the shattering events of that evening...

With an eerie orange glow, the moon emerged from the shrouds of a cloud-choked late autumn sky to cast strange shadows as I made my way through deserted, leaf-strewn back streets into town. Though my mood was light – buoyed by visions of dusty vinyl treasures that might lay at journey's end – it felt like something surprising, shocking, even sinister could be lurking just around the next corner...

[~~~~~cue TV show "flashback warp" effect~~~~~]

After bursting into the store shortly before closing time and toppling the revolving magazine rack near the front door to announce my arrival (as was my custom at the time), I soon found the record section was awash with new arrivals, and not the usual crusty, junk records that so often hang around the store forever, cluttering the place up like the towers of decades-old newspapers and empty food containers at your crazy aunt Edna's house. This was a large collection of clean, well-preserved rock albums — including many less common titles. It was like the whole year's worth of good "finds" sitting there all at once! It was almost more than I wanted to deal with. Almost.

The Time to Hesitate is Through

Racing against the clock, with store closing warnings trumpeting from above every few minutes, the air was fraught with tension and an inescapable sense of urgency as I tried to cope with the miles upon miles of LPs that stretched as far as the eye could see (or at least as far as the adjacent book and VHS sections). 

There was no time to wallow in the mire ... or even to spend more than a couple seconds assessing each album, and once the dreaded command to "please bring final purchases to the register NOW" came blaring from the overhead loudspeakers I could almost feel the window of opportunity slamming shut on my greedy, grimy fingers ...this is it...the chance of a lifetime...now or never...one day only...do or die...hurry hurry hurry...don't pass this up...must act now...free set of steak knives...go go go, now now now ...

Robin Trower - B.L.T. / Chrysalis Records CHR 1324

Then it happened: all the years of hustling and grappling for dominance within the high-pressure, low-stakes, dog-eat-dog world of the thrift store record game had finally taken its toll and I cracked like a shellac disc in a Frisbee tournament. 

Forget about ever sifting through one more box of malodorous records now; with a newfound sense of purpose and clarity of mind, I dropped the late-era Foghat LP I'd been clutching and zeroed in on the bizarre, life-size amateur painting of a clown that's been holding court over the bric-a-brac department for the past week (and was obviously born of evil). 


That deceitful smirk, that treacherous leer ... that haughty little tutu-clad chihuahua doing a handstand on his shoulder. This horror show needed to be dealt with. Right here and now.

Long-repressed childhood memories of being menaced by a disgruntled clown at a run-down amusement park suddenly came flooding back as I lunged at the sinister abomination with a great howl of fury, and in one swift motion, it was ripped off the wall and impaled on a nearby "salty old sea captain" table lamp.

Fortunately, along the way, I had been able to swiftly push to safety the handful of unwitting bystanders mindlessly lingering in the shadow of the ball-nosed fiend — thus saving them from any permanent clown-related psychological trauma. Those poor souls seemed to have no inkling of what was really going on there; so veiled and insidious was the grinning demon's influence. Why was such an unwholesome thing ever given free reign to exude its creepy, malevolent charms in a public area full of wide-eyed children and fragile seniors to begin with? Why did it take this long for someone to do something about it? Where can I find some lighter fluid and a match to finish the job?

There was no time to contemplate the answers to these questions or any others, because to my surprise, instead of rushing to reward my heroic deed with a fistful of store coupons or perhaps even that well-used foot spa I'd unsuccessfully haggled over earlier in the day, I suddenly had the distinct impression the store employees now cautiously circling, crouched and at-the-ready like gladiators about to pounce on a cornered beast, actually meant to cause me harm!

These people were farther gone than I had thought, and probably suffering from some form of PDCP (post-demonic clown possession) syndrome, so I decided it'd be best to depart by whatever means possible at this point as my presence now seemed to be acting as a trigger mechanism of sorts, enabling everyone in the room to release their previously pent-up negative energies directly onto me. That may be well and good for them to get it out of their systems at last, but there are limits to my humanitarian endeavors and at some point I simply must consider my own welfare.

Scanning the scene, It only took a split-second to formulate an infallible exit strategy, and springing back into action like an overwound jack-in-the-box, a hail

of Richard Simmons exercise tapes, used golf balls and Tom Clancy hardbacks filled the air like junk drawer machine gun fire as I cleared the way and took my leave — barrel roll style — through a plate glass display window where an odd assemblage of dolls were apparently engaging in sacrificial rites with a stuffed purple donkey ... or maybe it was just an innocent tea party, I don't know, but those twisted little faces and soulless, staring eyes still haunt my dreams.

Oh, yeah, the record haul ... well, when the befuddled store employees began rudely pelting me with albums through the empty window frame as I was still shaking off glass fragments and trying to get my bearings, I managed to rescue most of those carelessly discarded LPs before hightailing it back to my lair for a spot of tea and well-deserved evening of relaxation and quiet contemplation.

  [~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~]

Okay, okay, the dull reality is that I managed to unobtrusively rifle through all of the records, paid for my selections (a little over 100 LPs) and calmly exited the building the same way I came in: without incident.

Visit the official Robin Trower website

Visit the official Jack Bruce website 

Visit Bill Lordan's page on jimmydewar.com

Coulrophobia is no laughing matter 

Summer Movie Soundtracks

Be sure to check out our latest Slideshow Corner presentation. The theme for this installment is Summer Movie Soundtracks. All of the included soundtracks are from movies released during the summer months (here in the northern hemisphere).

You'll find soundtrack LP cover art for famous blockbusters such as Back to the Future and Jaws, along with some cult classics and obscure titles like Sorcerer, More, Easy Rider, and The Strawberry Statement.

Find out which of the listed soundtracks feature the music of Tangerine Dream; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; The Jimi Hendrix Experience; Pink Floyd and other great artists. You'll also find facts such as release dates of the films, record label and catalog number info, plus some quick comments about the films and records.

Just click on the slideshow (located in the top-right corner of the sidebar) to access the captions and view each image separately, or click the link below for direct access to the slideshow photo album. Eventually, a new corner slideshow will be put into place, so in the future the link below will be the only way to access this movie soundtrack one.

View photo album of Summer Movie Soundtracks

Jethro Tull - Aqualung (Hecho En Mexico)

While Aqualung is certainly a worthy thrift store record find, it is also a very common, extremely well-known album you can easily read about at a thousand other places. To keep it interesting, we delved deep into the most remote, cobweb enshrouded passages of our cavernous archives chambers to bring you exclusive details of a rather obscure pressing of this popular record.

This particular copy is something of a curiosity owing to the fact that it's a Mexican release with the song titles printed in Spanish. What's more, the back cover layout is completely different from the US (and probably all other) versions. It lacks the usual gatefold style cover and accompanying interior artwork as well.

Jethro Tull - Aqualung (Mexican pressing)
1971 Reprise/Gamma GX 01-459

An early pressing on the Reprise label, it was manufactured and distributed in Mexico by Gamma Records. Also worth noting is that it features the old, original "tricolor steamboat" label design supposedly retired by Reprise at least two years before Aqualung's release.

Recorded with new bass player Jeffrey Hammond, and with Benefit LP session keyboardist John Evan now contributing as a full-time member, Aqualung hit the shelves in 1971 to mostly favorable reviews. It would go on to become Jethro Tull's best-selling album and is often regarded as their finest hour by critics and fans alike.

Back cover of Aqualung, Mexican pressing
(click to enlarge)

"Hymn 43" was the only song from Aqualung offered up as a single. But the evocative title track, with its distinctive main guitar riff and haunting acoustic interludes, along with the hard-driving "Locomotive Breath" (aka "El Aliento De La Locomotora") emerged as the most popular cuts from the album, and perhaps from the entire Jethro Tull discography — at least if how much a song has been beaten into the ground... er, I mean chosen for airplay by big "classic rock" radio stations is any way to judge its overall popularity.

Metal Confusion

More jeers than cheers, along with confusion and disbelief filled the air in 1989 when Jethro Tull shockingly eclipsed widely projected winners, and shining stars of metal, Metallica, and took home the first ever Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance with their admittedly un-metal, not-so-hard rockin' Crest of a Knave album. Well, they would have taken home the award that night had they actually been at the ceremony to accept. Figuring there was no chance they could actually win, the band's record company told them not to bother making the trip out to LA. In this recent interview, Ian Anderson reflects on those heady, tumultuous days when he and his band became the reigning kings of metal.

Jethro Tull may not have been the best choice for that particular award, but their music has undoubtedly inspired more than a few metal musicians over the years. Iron Maiden bassist, founder, mastermind and longtime Jethro Tull fan, Steve Harris, for one, cites them as an early favorite and an important influence on his songwriting style.

Check out Iron Maiden's cover of "Cross-Eyed Mary," which appeared as the B-side of their 1983 single The Trooper.

Led Zeppelin - Live in Seattle, '73 Tour

In 1999 the Anti-Piracy Unit of the British Phonographic Industry (that's the APU of the BPI to you and me) released a list of the most bootlegged rock recording artists. Led Zeppelin landed in the number one position with 384 titles. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan trailed behind with 320, 317, and 301 titles, respectively. I was surprised to see Prince next on the chart with 270 titles to his name ... whatever that name (or symbol) might be these days. This 1999 BBC News article notes that the bootleg chart was compiled by the BPI using their own archive of approximately 10,000 illegal recordings confiscated between about 1974 - 1999. Quite a nice record collection they've put together there!

According to another source (link at bottom of page) there are over 4,000 Led Zeppelin bootleg titles out there, spread across the vinyl, CD, and DVD formats! I guess the odds would have it that the first, and one of only two bootlegs I've found at the thrift store so far would be one of theirs. The other one being the previously posted Neil Young - Young Man's Fancy.

Hammer of the Managers

Apparently, even the determined efforts of (Led Zeppelin's notoriously aggressive manager) Peter Grant to squelch the bootleggers did little to stem the tide of illegal recordings of his band that flooded the market. Known to confiscate illicit Led Zeppelin albums he'd find in the English record shops, one well-known story has Grant, and Zeppelin's equally imposing tour manager Richard Cole, paying a little visit to a man who had just been named in a Melody Maker article as the distributor of a new double live Led Zeppelin bootleg. Grant put a closed sign on the unfortunate bootlegger's shop door while Cole threatened him with his life until he handed over his stock of prohibited Zeppelin LPs.

Richard Cole mentions in his book Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin Uncensored, that while on tour, they would often "rough up bootleggers when we caught them at work." A story documented both in Cole's book as well as in Stephen Davis' Hammer of the Gods - The Led Zeppelin Saga describes an incident in Vancouver during their fifth North American tour, when Peter Grant spotted a man in the audience blatantly wielding a large shotgun microphone attached to what looked like a sophisticated tape recorder. Grant pointed "that bastard" out to Cole, who stormed over with some roadies to confront the audacious bootlegger. It wasn't until after a physical assault and the smashing of expensive equipment that it was learned from a stagehand the man was actually a government official sent by the city to measure the decibel levels during the concert! Vancouver police arrived before the show ended, but luckily for Cole and crew, after they were questioned for an hour and agreed to pay for the recorder, the matter was dropped.

Tale of Two Bootleggers

This particular album was put out by the Trade Mark of Quality label. The owners of which are said to be the biggest bootleggers in music history and have been credited with kicking off the modern American bootlegging industry. Briefly, "TMQ" was started sometime around 1968-'69 by a couple of young guys in Los Angeles named Ken and Dub. Their first release, a collection of Bob Dylan songs known as Great White Wonder, is widely noted as the first significant rock bootleg and it swiftly got the pair up and running.

Using high quality materials such as colored, virgin vinyl and printed, color covers they earned a reputation as purveyors of fine unauthorized audio artifacts. However, the partnership ended after a few short years. Allegedly, Ken was fired by Dub's father who had now joined his son's lucrative venture. Dub kept the label going, continuing to use the realistic looking "farm style" pig logo while Ken started his own rival "Trade Mark of Quality" label with the cigar smoking "Pig Daddy" logo as seen on this Led Zeppelin cover insert.

With the help of someone at the pressing plant, Ken began copying all of his former partner's releases by routinely having his own set of vinyl stamping plates made from Dub's mother plates. Whenever the original TMQ label would put out something new, Ken's TMQ would follow with a less expensive duplicate release on black vinyl and with a cheaper cover.

Led Zeppelin - Live in Seattle, '73 Tour bootleg album track list

Definitely a no-frills affair, this particular two record set came in a generic, white, single slot cardboard jacket with a one color, plain paper cover insert (which had been sloppily Scotch taped onto the jacket at some point). The record labels are blank except for a small "SIDE ONE" / "SIDE TWO" etc... printed in plain text just below the spindle hole. Record one has an off-white label. Record two's label is a yellowish color. The matrix numbers stamped in the runoff groove areas match those in the listing for this album at the Discogs site and they are: Side 1: Z820-A / Side 2: Z820-B / Side 3: Z820-C / Side 4: Z820-D.

Further Reading

For a great, detailed list of Led Zeppelin bootlegs and lots of info about the labels and bootlegs in general, visit argenteumastrum.com

See the book Bootleg! The Rise & Fall of the Secret Recording Industry by Clinton Heylin for additional info about the TMQ label and much more

East of Eden (1971 LP)

Side 1
Wonderful Feeling (6:10)
Goodbye (6:00)
Crazy Daisy (6:54)

Side 2
Here Comes The Day (4:34)
Take What You Need (5:00)
No Time (6:01)
To Mrs. V (5:10)

Discovery

At first glance this record with the rather ordinary cover and vague title (was it the name of the band or the album?) struck me as a possible Christian-rock record or perhaps something an ambitious (but bland) local act had once unleashed upon an unsuspecting tri-state area. After pulling it out for a closer look, it still took a while to get a handle on what sort of record it was. Turning to the back of the jacket, none of the musicians' names rang a bell and the little descriptive blurb that followed didn't help a whole lot either: "They are from the United Kingdom and play rock. Their music knows how to make people happy." OK. I guess the fact that they play rock was encouraging, and I wouldn't complain if they made me happy, but I was still skeptical. Only when I finally saw that the label was Harvest and the cover photo and design was credited to Hipgnosis was it promptly whisked off to the checkout counter without further ado. Harvest and Hipgnosis are both associated with a laundry list of great, iconic albums by artists such as Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Led Zeppelin, and Iron Maiden to name just a few. This was suddenly a very promising and intriguing thrift store record find...

Brief History

1971 Harvest Records SW-806

I found out that East of Eden was formed in Bristol, England in 1967 and the band relocated to London the following year where they were signed to the Deram label. In 1969 they released their first album Mercator Projected. In March of that same year they also appeared at the Actuel Festival — apparently playing after (Noel Redding's) Fat Mattress and before Captain Beefheart and Soft Machine. This 1971 self-titled LP is their third studio album, and the first they recorded for Harvest.

                                  Sounds Like

East of Eden sound like they have firm blues-rock roots from which they branch off into more eclectic prog-rock terrain. Side one starts off reminding me of American West Coast bands like Quicksilver Messenger Service or Jefferson Airplane's more earthbound moments. But before long, their UK progressive pedigree becomes more apparent as the gritty (and abundant) blues riffing gives way to jazzier bursts of tightly played early King Crimsonesque passages — replete with saxophones and flutes. They sometimes play in a gentler English folk-rock style (to good effect) as well. Even though the main verse/chorus parts tend to sound more like the sort of blues-based, rocking numbers that might be found on a Rory Gallagher or Robin Trower LP (especially the vocal delivery), the busier, more experimental parts somehow never seem contrived or out of place as they easily flow in and out of these skillfully constructed compositions.

Trivia: Founding member Dave Arbus performs the violin solo at the end of The Who's classic rock radio staple Baba O'Riley.

Visit East of Eden's official website

Listen to a song from this LP on YouTube.com

An Evening with Boris Karloff and His Friends

Side 1

Introduction (1:44)

Dracula (2:59)

All About the Monster (1:53)

Frankenstein (3:22)

The Mummy (1:57)

Side 2

The Bride of Frankenstein (3:03)

The Son of Frankenstein (3:37)

The Wolf Man (2:09)

The House of Frankenstein (1:24)

Finale (1:24)

'Twas a dark and dismal day back in the year 2010 when I unearthed this relic from that forbidding, haunted corner of the planet where insatiable shadow-beings feed upon the wretched, dust-shrouded leavings of bygone days (aka the thrift store record department). For many moons, since falling into my possession, this artifact has lain undisturbed, quietly resting in peace, touched not by human hand nor diamond stylus ... until now.

With Halloween drawing near, I figured this would be a perfect record to post, so I gave it a long overdue spin and dug up some info on it. The cover is a bit worn, but surprisingly, the inner sleeve and disc are virtually flawless and the sound is excellent. I would have loved to own this one as a child—when I was heavily into monster movies and other assorted monster-related paraphernalia. Judging by the scuff and fingerprint-free playing surface, I'd wager this particular copy never made it into the hands of any very young monster movie fans.

An Evening with Boris Karloff and His Friends
1967 Decca Records DL 74833 (stereo)

The subtitle on the cover and label reads: Original Soundtracks from Universal's Greatest Monster Movies Narrated by Boris Karloff, meaning that we get to hear scenes from the original movies interspersed with Boris Karloff talking about the films (over a bed of great, spooky incidental music).

Boris Karloff (real name William Henry Pratt), as you may know, was an English actor who made his way to Hollywood, where he appeared in scores of films over a period of about 12 years before eventually finding fame when he took on the role of Frankenstein's Monster in 1931. He acted in more than a dozen films released in 1931 alone! Best remembered for his extensive work in the horror/monster movie genre, he also played in other types of films, but typically still portrayed characters who had rather sinister personalities: an Irish gangster in Scarface (1932); a maniacal doctor in the comedy/drama The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947); and the voice of the Grinch (as well as the narrator) in the animated TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966), among others.

The credits specify that this record was written and produced by Verne Langdon, Milt Larsen, and Forrest J. Ackerman. Ackerman, who wrote the script that Karloff reads, has been credited with coining the term "sci-fi" in the 1950s and was also the original editor and primary writer for Famous Monsters of Filmland  magazine, which is probably familiar to many of you who grew up in the 1960s, '70s, or '80s. Often referred to as sci-fi's number one fan, he spent a lifetime amassing what was possibly the world's largest personal collection of science-fiction, horror, and fantasy memorabilia. In this video on YouTube, the man himself gives a mini-tour of his creature-laden home/museum.

In this interview, Verne Langdon mentions how the record was pulled from the market by Decca/Universal (sometime around or before 1972) due to a lawsuit, which, among other things, prohibited the use of Bela Lugosi's voice on the recording. As far as I can tell, it is still out of print, but an alternate "original" (demo?) version containing different music and editing was made available recently as an mp3 download or CD-R. It can be purchased at Amazon.com where you can also read a couple informative reviews of it.

Meet The Brady Bunch

1972 Meet the Brady Bunch LP cover

Side One

1. We'll Always Be Friends (2:37)

2. Day After Day (3:09)

3. Baby, I'm-A Want You (2:42)

4. I Believe In You (1:56)

5. American Pie (3:39)

6. Time To Change (2:08)

Side Two

1. Me And You And A Dog Named Boo (3:00)

2. I Just Want To Be Your Friend (2:33)

3. Love My Life Away (2:38)

4. Come Run With Me (2:43)

5. Ain't It Crazy (2:07)

6. We Can Make The World A Whole Lot Brighter (2:25)

I found this record at the thrift store about a month ago, and while there was never any doubt that an artifact of such great historical and cultural significance would be featured here, the question of when it would happen was totally up in the air... until news of Brady Bunch creator, Sherwood Schwartz's recent passing prompted us to immediately stop the presses and get busy writing about The Brady Bunch. This report is dedicated to the man most responsible for bringing the Brady family into our living rooms and our lives.

Brady Cool

This cool Brady Bunch LP was released in 1972 by Paramount Records and was the sec... wait, what do you mean the words "Brady Bunch" and "cool" can't exist in the same sentence? Perhaps you're forgetting this is the show that introduced to the world, that hot new recording sensation Johnny Bravo? Come on, he had "all the platter jockeys waiting to freak out" over his new album (and he hadn't even recorded it yet). And how about that time Bobby rescued a classmate's kitten from an abandoned house and messed up his safety monitor uniform... OK, maybe we should just forget about that one, with the whole safety monitor thing and all...

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

Cool or not, I've always liked the Bradys (even if I didn't always want to admit it). There is something comforting about the Brady World, where a fair and amusing solution to all of life's problems is just an emergency family meeting away. Sure, they will always be scoffed at by the self-styled too cool for school crowd, but deep down, aren't we all just a little jealous that our own families never erected a giant house of cards to settle a trading stamp dispute? And who among us has ever built an actual working volcano, complete with smoke that comes out ... and real molten lava that oozes all over the place? Uh-huh, that's what I thought. Remember that the next time you think about calling a Brady "square."

The Songs

I am pleasantly surprised at how much I'm actually enjoying many of these songs. The album is off to a strong start with the first three tracks: We'll Always Be Friends is a really nice opener, and dare I say, is even a bit touching *sniff* (no, I am not crying ... I just got done chopping some onions!). It sounds like all six of the kids are singing in unison, but with a mix that emphasizes the girls' voices. I can definitely recognize Marcia and Greg's voices when I listen closely, but it's more difficult for me to separate and pick out the others. 

1972 Paramount Records PAS-6032

The vocal mix sounds much the same on the Badfinger song Day After Day. The musical accompaniment is well done, and overall, it's a good and faithful rendition of the song, but with more sugary sweet vocals, naturally. 

I find the Bread song Baby, I'm-A Want You to be enjoyable, as well. The verse beginning with the line "used to be my life was just emotions passing by" sounds especially good. I think there is a key change there and the vocal mix seems to change up from the previous part.

Things go decidedly downhill from there with the upbeat and cheesy I Believe in You. Conjuring images of an embarrassingly choreographed, awkward song and dance routine, complete with spangled bell-bottomed jumpsuits, I find myself abruptly jolted from my relaxing, Marcia hair brushing daydreams, and into television variety show hell. 

Their inappropriately chipper version of Don McClean's American Pie offers no respite for this listener. I don't much care even for the original recording, to be honest, and this brassy, uptempo version does nothing to win me over to the song. In his book Growing Up Brady, Barry Williams even writes: "Worst of all, though, was our extraordinarily awful rendition of 'American Pie.' Ouch!"  

Side one ends with Time to Change; a song originally heard on an episode of the TV series. Absent from this recording are the lines Peter sings with his cracking, out of tune voice so prominently featured on the TV show version. This song also has less full-on, layered chorus vocals and more solo singing parts than any song heard thus far and I actually enjoyed it much more than the previous two tracks.

Back of 1972 Meet the Brady Bunch cover

For some reason, as soon as I saw the title on the back of the cover, I pictured Bobby singing lead on the Lobo song Me and You and a Dog Named Boo, but it's another one with what sounds like all of the kids singing in unison.

The next bunch of songs are not really grabbing me at all. The unrelenting, layered vocal mix/sound with its minimal dynamic changes starts to wear thin and become tiresome by now. I would also say the song selections on this side could have been better. 

We Can Make the World a Whole Lot Brighter closes the album on a positive note, and while I do enjoy this track, it sounds strangely subdued and melancholic, especially considering the optimistic title. It is no Sunshine Day, for sure, but I do agree that the Brady Bunch can (and do) make the world a whole lot brighter! 

Click here to listen to We'll Always Be Friends at Myspace.com

Click here to watch a segment of the Johnny Bravo episode on YouTube