NIGHT OF THE LAUGHING DEAD

When I was a kid I would haul my Emerson Big Big Portable Record Player around and listen to these Power Records productions put out in the 70's.


The back hood of mine was covered in Empire Strikes Back stickers.

This was my favorite:


Listen to it here.

Close second


Third


Some others I had and listened to over and over and over.



Ah the days before VCR's and Cable.

That Spider-Man vs. The Werewolf one was awesome, it was not fun-gunning adventure like the other Spider-Man records, it was almost...serious. The music wasn't hokey it was weirdly suspenseful. Very mature compared to the others. When J. Jonah's "Nooooooooo", Peter Parker's angst "why don't you just leave me alone?" the werewolf's howl when Spider-Man rips the pendant off...great stuff. Almost like a sci-fi soap opera.

So anyway, I found a awesome site that houses LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of these files not only have the Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman Records that I had and listened to every fucking day in my single-digit years but also story-records for Star Trek, Planet of the Apes Conan the Barbarian, and Kojak! I had no idea.

Here's and complete catalog and awesome site where you can download many of them.

This sitealso has TONS of links. Really great site. Great link after great link, he even has a link to the Spider-Man Rock Opera!

But the best thing they had was the one Power Record I've always been looking for.



The fucking Man-Thing. This record was advertised on the back of The Spider-Man: Mark of the Man-Wolf album and I always wanted it, thinking "what the fuck is a Man-Thing" and knowing how realistic and mature the Man-Wolf album was I couldn't imagine what this one would be like!!!

I finally downloaded it using the above sources and it absolutely EXCEEDS all expectations. Stephe is going to help me link it to a future blog, you have got to hear it. First of all it's all serious and weird like Man-Wolf with a fucking CREEPY soundtrack that sounds like a harpsichord with a very nervous player. THEN, like the Man-Thing comic that narration is all in second person "You are Ted Sallas, scientist, trapped in he body of the mindless Man-Thing." THEN the very first minute of action is a clown sitting in the Everglades, crying, having run away from a circus. Okay, Crying Clowns, Man-Thing, Everglades, Harpsichord, Second Person narration, we're talking a magically disturbing combination here. And then, children listening on your Emerson Big Big Portable Record Players, the clown BLOWS HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF!

And you know how they have that tone that tells you to turn the page? That tone come right after the gunshot! AWESOME!!!

Pure art. Pure fucking art.

These were all made for kids with tougher skin and less parents in less Christian Coalitions.

And while I'm at it, I found this great blog on my journey with an amazing assortment of albums you can't believe existed.