Saturday, January 5, 2008

Black Belt Jones: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ( WS7771, Warner-1974)


I recently learned that the Jim Kelly blaxploitation masterpiece, Black Belt Jones, which has been out of print on VHS for decades, has never had a formal DVD release. Why? Warner Bros.!!! Do something now.....

Track Listing:
1. Main Theme (02:35)
2. Sydney's Theme (00:19)
track contains dialogue & sfx
3. Opening Theme (01:25)
track contains sfx
4. Main Theme (Version 2) (03:12)
track contains dialogue & sfx
5. At The Beach (00:58)
track contains dialogue & sfx
6. Symphony For Jones: Warehouse Battle / Pinky / Collectors Theme / Drug Money / Wrong Answer (08:39)
track contains dialogue & sfx
7. Drama (02:46)
track contains dialogue & sfx
8. Mafia Theme (Drama Pt. 2) (05:21)
track contains dialogue & sfx
9. Love Theme (02:40)
10. Battle Theme (02:14)
track contains dialogue & sfx
11. Dragon Style (02:32)
track contains dialogue & sfx
12. Sexy (Love Theme Pt. 2) (02:35)
track contains dialogue & sfx
13. Mr. Jones (06:54)
track contains dialogue & sfx
14. Excerpts: Don't Stop / One Two (Dialogue) / Come On In (Dialogue) / Papa Bird / Turn Her Out / The Money Pinky / Stay / Double Cross (03:15)
track contains dialogue & sfx
15. Super Slick (01:20)
track contains dialogue



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Thursday, January 3, 2008

The Marvel Superheroes (1966)

I've been a fan of the 1966 Marvel Superheroes cartoons since childhood, watching them on WXIX Channel 19 out of Cincinnati. "XIX" (as it's referred to by the locals) carried the syndication package of these things for years.....I can remember them popping up from time to time at extremely odd time-slots as late as the mid-1990s on the station, usually early Saturday mornings...."early" as in the 4:30 to 5:30 a.m. range, when no child in their right mind would be awake...LOL! Amazingly enough, one discovers after taking a gander at Marvel's in-hopuse ads for the show in the comics of the era, WXIX was one of the stations that carried the show during it's original 1966 broadcasts, making it one of the few stations (if not the only one) around to re-run the damn thing for nearly 3 decades....

Even though the animation is incredibly limited, it does possess a certain minimalist charm to it, and all the storylines are practically lifted from the comics themselves. Quite literally, seeing as how alot of the "animation" in the shows themselves is crudely cut-and-pasted artwork from the original comics!!!!

For download tonight, all of the classic theme songs, and the rousing Marvel Superheroes March, which was used as a "blanket theme" for the show itself....I've always been particularly fond of the Hulk theme....

"Doc Bruce Banner / Belted by gamma rays / Turns into the Hulk / Ain't he unglamorous?"


In this file, I've also included the classic 1967 Spider-Man animated theme, just for good measure....

Track Listing:

01- Captain America
02- Iron Man
03- Marvel Superheroes March
04- Spider-Man '67
05- Sub-Mariner
06- The Incredible Hulk
07- The Mighty Thor

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Flash!!! Ahhhhh-AAHHHHH!! Part 1: Radio Daze


Flash Gordon (1980) has been an obsession of mine since first seeing it at the drive-in a the tender age of six.

This obsession led to a great love for the character, a creation of cartoonist Alex Raymond in 1934, and an insane interest in anything connected to it, be the cliffhanger serials of the 1930s, the various comic book and animated adaptations, on back to Raymond's amazing original Sunday strips.

For the first installment of my on-going tribute to Flash, here's the first 26 episodes of the original radio show from 1935.....

The Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon (1935)
26 episodes

Download Link

Friday, December 28, 2007

Spider-Man: The Mark of The Man-Wolf (Power Records, PR-8146, 1974)


I was a Spider-Man fan as a child, cutting my teeth on the double whammy of the (then-current) introduction of the original Hobgoblin storyline and the (then-current, again) monthly reprints of the entire Lee/Ditko run of the book via the reprint title Marvel Tales, circa the early 1980s.

But, after a downhill slide of over a decade in incredibly terrible storylines, Marvel Comics has finally provided the straw that has broken the Web-Headed camel's back in the form of "One More Day".....

From Wikipedia:

One More Day is a 4-part, 2007 comic book crossover storyline, connecting all of the Spider-Man comic book series. It will conclude the storyline of the fallout of Spider-Man's actions during the Civil War. It starts in Amazing Spider-Man #544, continues in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 and The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #41, and concludes in Amazing Spider-Man #545.

The last issue has been delayed until late December, according to Newsarama.[1]

Writer J. Michael Straczynski wrote this: "there's a lot that I don't agree with, and I made this very clear to everybody within shouting distance at Marvel, especially Joe Quesada... there was a point where I made the decision, and told Joe, that I was going to take my name off the last two issues of the OMD arc." Eventually Joe talked me out of that decision because at the end of the day, I don't want to sabotage Joe or Marvel, and I have a lot of respect for both of those." [1]

The story has been quite controversial and has been heavily criticised by areas of the fandom under the assumption the story will undo Spider-Man's marriage. [2] The story itself is still ongoing.


Spoiler Alert!!!!!!! The following is (for anyone who cares) the revelation in store for those reading "One More Day"



Just prior to the One More Day storyline, Peter publicly confronts the government's Scarlet Spiders who each wear redesigned "Iron Spider" armor; their appearance in battle against and alongside Peter raised public doubt

over whether Parker is the original and/or only Spider-Man, despite his previous public reveal.

Peter's attempts to save Aunt May by contacting such diverse characters as Mister Fantastic or the High Evolutionary fail, prompting the demon Mephisto to appear to him with a bargain; he will save May's life, so long as Peter and Mary Jane agree to have all memory of their marriage wiped from all but a small part of their souls, thus allowing Mephisto to enjoy listening to that part scream for all eternity. Peter and Mary Jane agree to the deal and the continuity for the past 20 years is wiped out. Peter and Mary Jane are no longer married, Aunt May is no longer shot, Peter's unmasking

has never occurred, and Harry Osborn is alive (with everybody celebrating at a party for him). Fan reaction is almost completely negative to these changes.



IMO, if Joe Q. likes stories that focus on deals with the Devil, then he can burn in Hell. I wash my hands completely of any and all Marvel titles

. My reasoning? The Pete and MJ marriage is one of the better things to come about within the last 20 years in the book, and Marvel decides to chuck it. For what? A poor excuse for cop-out and poor writing? Screw Marvel. I'll never buy another one of their books again.



Anyways....onward to happier times. Here's another Power Records Marvel Comics post.

Track Listing:

01- Spider-Man: The Mark Of The Man-Wolf

02- The Incredible Hulk: At Bay

03-Captain America And The Falcon: And A Phoenix Shall Arise

04-The Fantastic Four: The Way It Began


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Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Countdown 2007: Ground Zero!!!

Lon Chaney Jr.- "Monster's Holiday" (Tower Records, 1964)




This delightful little .45 single is actually fairly hard to come by, but it's charming little tale of monsters hi-jacking Santa's sleigh is too heart-warming not to share...

Download Link (Hosted by Megaupload)

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (Golden Records SLP170, 1964)



Sadly, my scanner crapped out on me, so I couldn't include the scans of the actual comic, but here's the album...

Download Link (Hosted by LIX.IN)


Merry Christmas, everyone....hopefully Droppo Claus visits each and every one of you all.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Words & The Music of Frankenstein (Hip-O Records, 1999)

God Bless Rob Zombie. Released in 1999 on his Spookshow International label, in conjunction with Universal Music Group's Hip-O label. Hip-O is basically UMG's answer to Rhino Records, re-issuing and re-releasing a ton of stuff from defunct labels that now fall under the UMG library (such as Decca), as well as special compilation projects like this.

Probably one of the best anthology/compilations of score music and sound bites from the first three films of Universal's Frankenstein franchise.

Track Listing:

1. Word of Friendly Waning
2. Toast
3. Grand Appassionato
4. Bride of Frankenstein
5. Prologue
6. I'm Glad to See the Monster Roasted
7. He Hated Fritz
8. Search Every Ravine
9. Bring Him To The Village
10. A Toast
11. Grand Appassionato
12. The Bride Of Frankenstein Main Title
13. Prologue
14. I'm Glad To See The Monster Roasted
15. Monster Entrance
16. The Monster! It's Alive!
17. Processional March
18. Forget? If Only I Could Forget
19. A Strange Apparition / Pretorius' Entrance
20. You'll Need A Coat
21. Pastorale
22. Chase Music / Crucifixion / Monster Breaks Out
23. We Better Get Away From These Parts
24. The Hermit's Fiddle (Ave Maria)
25. Alone - Bad, Friend - Good
26. The Music Of Friends (Ave Maria)
27. This Is The Fiend
28. The Fire In The Hut / Graveyard
29. Dance Macabre / Female Monster Music
30. Monster Enters / Monster Theme
31. In The Tower Pt. 1
32. In The Tower Pt. 2
33. Creation Pt. 1
34. Creation Pt. 1 / Female Monster Music
35. Creation Pt. 2
36. She Hate Me . . . Like Others
37. Explosion Pt. 1
38. Explosion Pt. 2
39. The Son of Frankenstein Main Title
40. It Wasn't My Father's Fault
41. The Message
42. The Discovery
43. The Examination
44. Has He Asked You To Rob Any Graves?
45. The Result Of The Examination
46. The Giant / Looking For A Monster
47. The Evil Flute
48. I Scare Him To Death
49. The Evil Flute
50. Don't Touch Him, Frankenstein!
51. The Death of Ygor
52. There's a Monster Afoot
53. The Monster Appears
54. The Monster's Lament
55. Monster On A Rampage / The Menace Destroyed
56. Herewith I Deed To You


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Monday, December 17, 2007

The World Of Junior Samples (CLP-1005, 1967)


My grandparents absolutely adored this man. Possibly because he reminded them of the common, earthy folks that filled their day-to-day lives in rural Ohio.

And, with the passing of time, I find him to be be funnier and funnier with each passing year....I like to blame my parents and their insane need to watch HEE HAW every time they had a chance.

About a year back, I actually lucked into scoring Samples' complete discography on Chart Records (The World of Junior Samples, which I'm sharing here now, Bull Sessions at Bull's Gap (1968), That's a Hee Haw (1969), and The Best of Junior Samples (1970), on vinyl.

From the liner notes of this album:

"I don’t know whether people read liner notes on the back of albums before or after they play the record that’s inside, but in any case the recording that’s inside this album jacket is the result of one of the most amazing stories I’ve encountered in my sixteen years of covering stories about show business and it’s people. Junior Samples is a North Georgia backwoodsman who backed into show business through an amazing set of circumstances that seem more like a fairy tale than that legendary lady, Cinderella.

I suppose it all started when one of Junior’s young sons found the head of a big fish on the shores of Lake Laneer near his home in Cummings, Ga. He took it to a race track to show his dad, our hero, who had taken a few drinks, and, needless to say, was feeling pretty good. Junior paraded the fish among the racing fans and claimed that he had caught a big bass. A radio announcer covering the races also heard Junior’s story and proceeded to broadcast it to his audience. Thus the story of the big fish spread, and soon came to the attention of the Georgia Game and Fish Commission who, in turn, dispatched Jim Morrison to the home of Junior Samples with a tape recorder to get Junior’s own account of how he caught the big fish.

Today Junior says, “this is one of my stories that got out of hand. I told Mr. Morrison to forget it, but when he kept insisting that he had to get a story, I took a drink and told him one!”

In the Spring of 1966, the original ‘Big Whopper’ interview was broadcasted all over the state of Georgia through the regular Game and Fish Commission program. It was so funny that stations were asked by their listeners to repeat it.

Junior was then forgotten for a while until Spring of 1967, when the program was repeated and the reaction again was fantastic. Slim Williamson, President of Chart Records, was contacted, and he immediately signed Junior to a recording contract and gained the rights to release the interview as a record. The two guitars were dubbed in to provide background music and the interview was shortened to conform with the time of most of today’s records.

The results have been fantastic. Junior, after appearing on my night radio program and on my television show, as well as others, was immediately taken into the hearts of all who heard him. He was asked to, and did, appear before the Legislature at the Tennessee State Capital. Johnny Cash was so favorably impressed with Junior that he asked him to join his radio show this fall. He was written up in newspapers all over the South, and is now being acclaimed as the comedy find of 1967.

I personally think that Junior’s greatest appeal is in his honest approach to any subject, as I’m sure you will be able to tell by listening to this, his first album."

Ralph Emery
WSM Radio and Television

Track Listing:

01- World's Biggest Whopper
(with Jim Morrison)*
02- Truth About the Fish (with Jim Morrison)*

03- The Hunter (with Tommy Dee)
04- The Bird Mule (with Jim Morrison)*
05- Moonshining (with Ralph Emery)
06- It Happened to Junior (with Jim Morrison)*
07- The Disorderly House (with Tommy Dee)
08- Bitten By The Love Bug (with Bob Jennings)
09- The Cook (with Ralph Emery)
10- On Television (with Eddie Hill)
11- Keep On Keeping On (with Bill Powell)

* (note- a Georgia game warden, not who you're thinking of)

COMING SOON!