Disco Down The Yellow Brick Road

Last May I posted what was to become the most downloaded album on this blog. I am speaking of MECO's "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk". At last count, it had been downloaded 506 times and I'm sure that number has gone up even as I type this. After such a huge reception to that album, I feel only right in bringing you the follow up record from Meco. After the success of "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk", Meco was being pressured by his record label into doing yet another disco album based on a film score. Unfortunately there weren’t any current or new movies that satisfied him. He woke up one morning singing “We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz” and simply thought it was cute. He had seen it at least twenty times over the years and it was somehow buried in his sub-conscience. Unlike "Star Wars" where he only had about fifteen minutes worth of material, he soon realized that he had around eight good songs to begin with. Meco went back to his label and told them about doing “The Wizard of Oz” to which they laughed and commented, “the old Wizard of Oz at this point in time?” Before long Meco had them humming the old songs and they soon gave him the go-ahead to begin work. Around the same time, Meco’s old friend, Harold Wheeler had arranged a Broadway musical called “The Wiz.” The two got together and brainstormed for hours. They came up with about twenty-seven minutes of music, but because it was on two-sided vinyl it had to be cut in half at around the fifteen-minute mark. Now the second side was shorter so they decided to take the themes again and take out the Disco beat and leave just the orchestration. A John Williams style symphony so to speak for the last four minutes of side two helping to bring about a graceful ending. This was my first introduction to Meco. My father brought this album home and played it at dinner one night. I fell in love with it. It was and still is pretty darn cool in my book. Here it is for you now. Enjoy!

MECO-The Wizard of Oz

The Best of The World of Wonder: Ape Along At Home

In honor of the passing of Charleton Heston, I bring you back to last April when I posted this Power Record:


When I was a kid, Planet of The Apes was still pretty new in the world. One of the coolest tie-ins was a Power Records Album featuring dramatizations of the ape films. I still have it and am sharing it with you today! Enjoy!

Planet of The Apes Power Record

Creating The Electric Warrior

Marc Bolan and T Rex are among my favorites and was I first introduced to them by a friend of my high school girlfriend who worshipped Bolan. This girl honestly believed that Marc would appear in another form at one time. Kind of weird but she was pretty cool. Anyway, the first album that I was given to listen to was Electric Warrior. This should be standard listening for everyone and should adorn the collection of all audiophiles. It contains the biggest hit Bolan had in the states, "Get It On (Bang A Gong)" as well as classic radio cuts such as "Jeepster" and "Cosmic Dancer". Quite simply, it's the best T. Rex album, period. This could only get better when I discovered "The Electric Warrior Sessions" one day. This was a limited edition release with just 500 copies that were officially put out. The "sessions" include 12 outtakes and previously unreleased versions of tracks such as 'Get It On', 'Monolith', 'Cosmic Dancer', 'Life's A Gas', 'Honey Don't', 'Woodland Rock', 'Summertime Blues', 'Jeepster', 'Baby Strange' and 'Jewel'. It is extremely cool even if you're not a big T. Rex/Marc Bolan fan. I present it here for you now. Enjoy!

T. Rex-Electric Warrior Sessions
T. Rex-Electric Warrior Sessions Part 2

The Best of The World of Wonder: The Guy They Call Little Mickey Mouse

The Mouse Factory was a television show in the early seventies that would feature all different clips from all different Disney cartoons. This was long before the advent of cable so it really was the only place that you could see Disney cartoons. The show did so well that they released this accompanying record. It is one of my all time favorites! It never fails to bring a smile to my face. It features great songs such as "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo" and The 4 Mosquiteers singing "The Ballad of Davy Crocket". However, the best bits are the little skits that involve Goofy, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge and others. I still have my copy from my childhood but recently aqquired a brand new never-been-opened copy which I played for the first time for this post. Enjoy!

The Mouse Factory

Bruce Campbell Gets Fulfilled By Old Spice!

A "behind the scenes" look at the "Hungry Like The Wolf" commercial followed by the actual commercial!

The Incredible Invisible Dragon

Last week I had the pleasure of reminiscing with a few old friends from my college days and we got to talking about drive-in theaters and it brought back a flood of memories of going to the drive-in with my family back when the drive-in was a major part of film going. Nowadays, the old Clinton Drive-In is a Super Stop and Shop complete with accompanying little stores in a strip mall. In fact, it was only about a few years ago that they found the screen in the field behind the store. Anyway, I saw a lot of great movies that would leave lasting impressions there. Escape To Witch Mountain, Logan's Run (those were both shown on the same bill!) and who could forget, Pete's Dragon. Since that fateful viewing on the big drive-in screen, Pete's Dragon has played a weird part of my life, popping up in various different times throughout. I remember viewing it on television at my grandparent's house when they had just gotten this new cable channel called HBO. Then I remember viewing it when my family first got cable and we had this brand new exciting channel (that you had to pay extra for at the time) called the Disney Channel. Now that I'm married, I have discovered that it's one of my wife's favorite films and, of course, we own it. She has tried several times to show it to my niece and nephew so that they can share the joy of Pete's Dragon. However, it wasn't until recently that she was able to have them watch it all the way through due the fact that it used to scare my niece. In fact, at school one day, when her 1st grade school teacher asked my niece why she was scared at one point, my niece told her that her aunt had shown her a scary movie. When the teacher asked my sister what kind of film it could be, my sister laughed and told her it was Pete's Dragon and that my niece used to be scared but now thoroughly enjoys it! Anyway, I present for you now, the soundtrack to this "scary" adventure of a boy and his dragon. Interesting bit of trivia about the film, its original theatrical release ran 134 minutes. Shortly after, the film was re-edited to 121 minutes. When it was first issued on home video as a rental title (the first Disney film to be released on home video), the movie was cut again to 104 minutes, severely edited and time-compressed, eliminating the "Candle On The Water" number. When it was made available for sale in October 1980, the film was restored considerably to 128 minutes—the most notable change being an alternate version of the musical number "I Saw A Dragon", different from the one that was seen in the premiere version—this has become the version most widely seen today on video and DVD. For its 1984 theatrical re-release, the film was further cut to 101 minutes, and finally the network television version was cut down to just 94 minutes. Here is the soundtrack (including both Candle on The Water and I Saw A Dragon) for you now. Enjoy!

Pete's Dragon OST

Super 8 Theater Presents: Keystone Hotel

A silent super 8 reel featuring the Keystone Kops!

The Coolest Action Figure Ever!

I think you all will agree!



Here was the female version for the girls: