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A blog post light years beyond your imagination!

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Man, you all gave me a lot of great guesses what the stupidest movie of 1983 was! And while none of you were right (okay, maybe you two who guessed Superman III were) I’m going to go out on a limb and say that neither was I. But here’s the soundtrack to one of the stupidest movies of 1983

Krull Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
After doing a bit of research I’ll no longer claim that Krull was the stupidest movie of 1983. That was the year when both Amityville 3-D and Jaws 3-D were released, and they are both some of the most epically stupid films ever made.

But before I defend the movie I previously bashed, I should probably tell you all what its about, since I’m willing to bet that most of you have barely even heard of the flick.

Krull is a bizarre sci-fi/fantasy hybrid set on the semi-magical world of…Krull. A young princess and prince are about to wed, but on the day of their wedding an evil space alien referred to only as The Beast crashes the party and kidnaps the bride-to-be, hoping to make her his own. Now its up to the prince, with his awesome boomerang of death called the Glave,  to rescue her! It’s just like Super Mario Bros. but with less magic mushrooms. On his quest to rescue her, the prince and his merry band of cannon fodder encounter one calamity after another, including surprise quicksand, shapeshiting demons and seemingly endless armies of evil cyborgs with lasers. In the end, the prince and the princess literally defeat The Beast with the power of love and live happily ever after.

No, that’s not a spoiler, did you really think he’d fail?

1983 saw a lot of sci-fi/fantasy combos, and Krull isn’t even the stupidest one of them. There was the atrocious rotoscroped monstrosity Fire And Ice; the straight-to-video scholckfest of Deathstalker; and  the notoriously bad prehistoric/sci-fi abomination Yor, the Hunter from the Future.

But why so many sci-fi/fantasy mashups? Just think about it.

It’s 1983, Star Wars is tearing up all box office records. What’s another big hit? Conan The Barbarian. The hacks of Hollywood (and Italy, in the case of Yor) must have collectively thought “Man, if Conan is big and Star Wars is huge then if we combine them we’ll be unstoppable!”

Of course, they all bombed epically, Krull included.

And yeah,  Krull is big stupid bomb, but its a really fun big stupid bomb! While a lot of these flicks are obvious rush jobs designed to make a quick buck, you can at least say that a lot of heart went into Krull. The sets are gorgeous, the action not half-bad, and lot of the actors (including Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane -who is dubbed) make the most of the corny material.

More on topic, it also has a great score by James Horner! Its so great that he blatantly stole portions of it while doing the score to Aliens a few years later. Listen to the last few tracks, and you will totally hear the finale to Aliens. Aside from (or perhaps because of) that, it’s a pretty great score, very heroic.

Tonight I am sharing a rip of the vinyl soundtrack to Krull. This is not the complete score. That is only available on a two-disc CD set that costs a bloody fortune now. And, I’m sorry, while I love Krull, I don’t love it that much.

Enjoy it. Listen to it while mountain climbing or something.

Posted in Complete Albums, soundtrack | 8 Comments »

Dystopian Soundtracks of Future Past

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

I’ve been complaining a lot lately (Just lately? Shut up. Shit, I’m talking to myself). so maybe its time to share some good news.

I got a new turntable! And it’s AWESOME.

For those who want the specifics, it’s a Stanton SR-80. It’s a direct-drive model with a bunch of bells and whistles I’ll never use, and a straight-arm as opposed to a curved one. Now, I know straight arms are worse for records, but they also cut down on skipping, so it’s worth it for me. Besides, I usually only listen to a record a couple times at the most before I record it. After that I really never listen to it again unless I find a mistake with the recording.

But most importantly, it sounds AMAZING. No RF interference, no varying speed due to a worn down belt, no motor noise, no hissing, no nothing. Just pure, beautiful music. One of the problems with my last turntable was interference, it was even a problem after I got an external pre-amp. When it wasn’t radio stations busting through my audio signal, it was just annoying white noise, ruining any quiet moments a record had. That’s why I wasn’t able to record this album until now.

Edgar Froese – Kamikaze 1989
I know very little about this album and movie. Let’s get the easy shit out of the way. For those of you who aren’t retarded  New Ave/Ambient fans (and why aren’t you?!?!) Edgar Froese is the sole continuous member of Tangerine Dream, a group that started out as a Krautrock band before slowly morphing into electronic/ambient mellowness, but in the best way possible. You probably know Tangerine Dream like I do, from their soundtracks, because they’ve done a shitload. Near Dark, Legend, Thief, Sorcerer, Risky Business, Firestarter and about a billion other flicks all feature scores by the German keyboard fanatics.

Oddly enough, I’m pretty sure that this is the only soundtrack that Froese created under his own name. Like I said, I know very little about this movie. It is apparently not very good if this incredibly negative review is to be believed and the only thing worth mentioning about it is that it was the last film to feature the legendary German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who died the same year it came out. It’s a dystopian sci-fi fantasy that takes place in the far off future of 1989 (it was made in 1982). And since everyone knew in 1982 that the future was synthesizers, it must have made sense to get Froese to do the score.

If the movie does indeed suck that’s a damn shame, because the soundtrack is pretty good as ambient electronic music goes. Sure, there’ s not always a lot to it, but it is supposed to be background music after all. I’ve always had a soft spot for ambient music, I don’t know why. It really goes against everything I usually like in music (fast beats, high energy). Maybe it’s because everything that I do while listening to ambient music sounds incredibly important and mysterious. Right now I’m listening to Tangerine Dreams’ soundtrack to Sorcerer, and it really gives the imprssion that the shit I’m typing is totally fucking epic.

Anyways, if you like Tangerine Dream type stuff you’ll dig this. If not, avoid it.

Posted in Complete Albums, Edgar Froese, soundtrack | 2 Comments »

The Decline Of Western Civilization Part 1

Monday, September 13th, 2010

I’m tired, so let’s just cut right to the good shit.

The Decline Of Western Civilization Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II is one of my favorite movies of all time, but Part 1 is pretty damn good too. Unlike Part II, which is full of unintentional hilarity, Part 1 is a semi-serious look at some seriously damaged individuals and their seriously great bands (um…and The Germs).  The early footage of X and Black Flag is mesmerizing, while the live train wreck that is the Fear show never ceases to amaze. Just like Part II (and the rarely seen Part III), it’s not on DVD, and I don’t believe the “official” website’s claim that anyone is working on those discs at this point. I have a bootleg. You can watch it on YouTube, and you can find it on a bay where pirates hang out. Get it that way. If they can’t be bothered to put the fucking thing out by now then that’s their problem.

Just like the movie itself, the soundtrack to Decline Of Western Civilization is woefully out of print. The copy I’m offering above is from a less-than-stellar vinyl copy I bought last month. It’s a little scratchy in parts, but it kind of adds to the dirt-punk charm of it all. The X songs sound great at least.

In case you’re wondering, here’s the complete tracklisting included in the zip file above:

Black Flag
White Minority
Depression
Revenge

The Germs
Manimal

Catholic Discipline
Underground Babylon

X
Beyond And Back
Johnny Hit and Run Pauline
We’re Desperate

Circle Jerks
Red Tape
Back Against The Wall
I Just Want Some Skank
Bevery Hills

Alice Bag Band
Gluttony

Fear
I Don’t Care About You
I Love Living In The City
Fear Anthem

I separated some of the speaking parts into separate tracks. Basically if it doesn’t have anything to do with the song that’s playing before it I made it a separate track. Otherwise it’s just like the original version.

Oh, and I put up highlights to Part II a while ago, get them too.

Posted in Complete Albums, soundtrack | 6 Comments »

‘Yellow Magic’ Just Sounds Gross Though

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Yup. It’s music.

Yellow Magic Orchestra – X∞Multiplies
Nice Age
Behind The Mask
Rydeen
Day Tripper
Technopolis
Multiples
Citizens Of Science
Solid State Survivor
Talk about a band that’s criminally underheard (in America anyways). Yellow Magic Orchestra is one of the synth-pop bands. As far as I’m concerned they’re one of the first bands to perfect the electronic-pop sound, nearly beating Kraftwerk to the punch. So why haven’t you heard of them? Well, most likely it’s because they’re from Japan, and us American assholes just don’t seem to dig on Asian pop musicians, no matter how amazing they are. NONE of YMO’s discography is currently in print in America, although the import price for their first two albums aren’t that bad at Amazon at the moment. In the age of MP3s and digital music stores this is really inexcusable. Hey, whoever owns the rights to YMO’s music, if you make it available to purchase I’ll buy it. You’re making it hard for me to give you money.

The history to this album is a bit confusing but also appropriate, considering that there are multiple versions of it. The Japanese version came first, and that featured a collection of new tracks as well as some sketch comedy bits. The American and European versions cut out all the comedy bits and instead treated the album as a compilation, taking the best bits from the band’s first two albums and throwing them in with the tracks that were already there. The tracks listed here tonight are from my copy, which is the American version.

And that version of “Day Tripper” is something else.

Posted in Complete Albums, Yellow Magic Orchestra, YMO | 8 Comments »

EAT ELECTRIC DEATH! The Tempest 2000 Soundtrack

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

My friend Anna Hegedus recently bought an Atari Jaguar. Don’t worry, she already apologized. It was one of the few remaining holes in her classic console collection, which already included legendary duds like the 3D0 and the Phillips CDi. So she was pretty hardcore about tracking one down. She was so hardcore that she paid…well I’m not going to say what she paid, it was a lot…for a Jaguar-themed bundle on eBay.

The box of suck included an Atari Jaguar (still in box) and an Atari CD add-on (very hard to find). It also included several games, including copies of Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace that were signed by Don Bluth.

With baited breath Anna and I hooked up the Jaguar today for a test drive (sorry, bad pun) and we quickly plowed through the batch of horrendous suckfests that were the Atari Jaguar software library. We bore witness to a horrendous port of Doom, the shitty space shooter Cybermorph, and the Jaguar CD’s horrendous port of Blue Lightening, an Afterburner rip-off that was actually a sweet Lynx title. We even booted up the pinnacle of shit, the movie-based White Men Can’t Jump, which played and looked like NBA Jam covered in about 50 tons of raw sewage.

However, there was one diamond in the shit-stained rough; Tempest 2000.

Tempest 2000 is a remake of the original Tempest, an arcade classic from 1981 and it kicks eight different kinds of ass. It’s the most frantic and fast-paced shooter you’ll ever play and it’s crazy psychedelic explosions made the game an acid trip in cart form. There were other versions of the game released on other systems but the Atari Jaguar version remains the best.

And not only did Anna’s box of Atari ass contain the original Tempest 2000 (in the box, complete with instructions to boot) but it also included one more bit of Tempest-related goodness…

Tempest 2000: The Soundtrack
The Tempest 2000 soundtrack KICKS ASS, and it’s one of the reasons why the Jaguar version remains the definitive release. It’s an amazing collection of acid house inspired techno and entirely original. It’s a bit derivative and definitely silly as hell, but so was most “legit” electronic music at the time. If you like old-school Moby, The KLF or FSOL then you need to listen to this soundtrack, it’s the best techno album you never heard.

Now if you visit Amazon you can buy this soundtrack, and many of you probably know that I try not to post music that’s in print and easily available. However, I’m making an exception this time around, and for various reasons:

1. This technically isn’t available at Amazon, it’s being sold by an independent retailer through Amazon’s site.

2. The retailer himself says that the soundtrack is out of print.

3. This soundtrack was released by Atari, and they no longer exist

Does that make me a hypocrite who’s over-rationalizing? Maybe. But I don’t care. The fact remains that this album is out of print, it kicks ass and you should listen to it right now!

Also go visit Anna Hegedus’ amazing site, where she’ll show you how to fix your NES, make your 360 full of pretty lights and much more!

Also, if you like Tempest 2000 then check out this excellent lecture by Jeff Minter, the crazy motherfucker behind it all.

No llamas were harmed the in making of this post.

Posted in Complete Albums, Tempest, video game music | 4 Comments »

Return of Trip The Moog Fantastic

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Past few posts have been nothing but 80s/90s gold. Well, now for something COMPLETELY different. This is the kind of shit I listen to when I really want to forget about the real world.

Marty Gold
Moog Plays The Beatles
Okay, before I get to the wackiness involved with this I have to make a confession. I stole these MP3s.

Well, not really. I do own this album. But when I recorded it way back when it was on my shitty turntable that spun too fast. I didn’t want to post those versions, but I also didn’t want to dig the LP out of my massive stacks of unorganized records and re-record it either. Luckily an awesome blog called 36 15 Moog posted it and the author of that blog kindly gave me permission to steal from him. I recommend everyone check out that AMAZING blog if you want even more Moogy madness. His recording equipment is amazing because this copy sounds crystal fucking clear. Dude gets props in my book. I just added that blog (and other outstanding blogs by the same guy) to my blogroll. Check them out.

Now, with that out of the way we can discuss this amazingly stupid record. It’s an early entry in the Moog craze, coming out in 1969, just a year after Wendy Carlos’ amazing Switched On Bach started the craze, and it’s particularly sly in combining the Moog mania with the tail end of Beatlemania. As Moog novelty records go it’s fairly good if not at all experimental or adventurous. I have worse Moog records for sure though, it’s hard to make “Eleanor Rigby” unlistenable after all.

The Electronic Concept Orchestra
Moog Groove
I know very little about this “group.” I use quotes because I’m pretty damn certain it was most likely just a couple dudes with a Moog, a drumkit and a dream. The back cover of the record (which you can read here) is one of many Moog album linear notes to go off on the “new sounds” that the Moog could create. That seemed to be a fascination with the Moog when it first came out. Everyone wanted to hear a “new sound.” I suppose that makes sense, and you could probably mirror that fascination with the auto-tune/robovoice of today. That being said, Moog Groove isn’t really packed with “new sounds” as much as it is packed with old sounds done in a slightly new way. I can’t imagine anyone from 1969 buying this record and upon first listen proclaiming “My god! I’ve never heard a sound like this before! My ears, they are awoken from a slumber that I didn’t even know they were in!”

The selection is a little weak as well. Like every single fucking Moog album ever made it includes a version of “Aquarius” from Hair, as well as its own fair share of Beatles covers. The take on “Grazing In The Grass” is pretty fun though. It’s also fun to compare the two version of Penny Lane and Hey Jude on both of these albums to see how different artists used the Moog. While Marty Gold used a simple guitar-like sound for the melody of “Penny Lane” The ECO went for a faux-vocal approach, which fits the song much better in my opinion. Both are stupid fun regardless. Enjoy and I’ll probably have some more “normal” music up later this week. In the mean time if you want to hear some amazing Moog-based music check out this post. If you want to hear some hysterically odd Moog tunes go here. You should check out this other post if you want to here some pre-Moog electronica. And click at your own risk here if you’re retarded and horny for even more Moog.

Posted in Complete Albums, Moog | 1 Comment »

OMGSNOWTF

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Snow everywhere!

I’m drunk!

What? It beats shoveling. Don’t judge me. Besides, I’m not having a good day. Two of my fishies died. I am drinking vodka in their memory. It’s like tapping a 50 but worse for you.

Brian May
Star Fleet
Let Me Out
Blues Breaker
Yes, this is what I do when I am inebriated and mildly depressed, I record, and share, sub-par out-of-print albums by acclaimed guitarists of 70s rock bands. You probably go bars and get laid don’t you? Pfft. Puny humans. I am above such petty things as late-night bar hookups. This album is actually credited to “Brian May and friends.” Who are the friends you ask? Well, the drummer is the drummer is Alan Gratzer of REO Speedwagon, the bassist is Steve Chen, who did session work and the second guitarist is a Eddie Van Halen. Yeah, that’s right. Eddie Van Halen did an album with Brian May. An album that has a title track about a Japanese TV show.

This record is pretty stupid and not altogether very good. Although if you like blues jamming (Hi mom!) then you’ll probably like the second two tracks, and if you like 80s retardation then you’ll probably like the first one. You know what? Now that I’ve had half a bottle of vodka I have to revise my original opinion. This album is sexcellent. That’s right, I said sexcellent. It was a typo at first, but I’m sticking with that spelling.

I have nothing else to say about this album. Actually, I probably do, but typing is getting increasingly more difficult by the minute. Vodka is my friend but he doesn’t want me to type anymore. My fingers are all goofy feeling.

Enjoy.

Posted in Brian May, Complete Albums, vodka | 1 Comment »

Let Your Prog Flag Fly

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

I’ve been having a less-than-stellar few weeks, but thankfully I found an album so amazingly bizarre that I think it could actually be sold as a cure for depression…well, if it came with a bottle Prozac and some vodka. Good triple play if you ask me.

Fireballet
Les Cathedrales
Centurion (Tales of Fireball Kids)
The Fireballet
Atmospheres
Night on Bald Mountain
I have a odd relationship with prog rock. I worship Pink Floyd, but I really don’t consider them “prog” as much as they are psychedelic. On the flip side, I used to think Rush was the worst band in the history of the universe, but someone forced me to listen to 2112 and I came around (but I still hate Geddy Lee’s voice). More recently I’ve become interested in King Crimson and have discovered some pretty amazing obscure 70s prog bands like Magma and FM. And even in the prog I don’t like (such as Jethro Tull) I recognize the talent behind the music and can usually appreciate it on that level (notable exception: Traffic – I fucking hate that band).

However, what I like most about prog rock is just how damn stupid it can be. And I mean that as a compliment. There is no shame in prog, no restraint, it is what it is, like it or not. And that’s how we get stuff like a theatrical performance of King Arhtur ON ICE (thank you Rick Wakeman) and Peter Gabriel performing as a flower.

Fireballet definitely encompasses everything I love about prog rock, preposterous concepts, technical ability and a hard-to-define wackiness, all in one amazingly odd and quirky album.

Night On Bald Mountain was Fireballet’s first release and came out on Passport records in 1975. In ways the album is actually restrained when compared to other prog rock releases, most of the songs hover around the four-minute mark, and keyboard solos are kept to a minimum on those numbers. However, it’s the other two pieces in which Fireballet really let their freak prog flag fly in all its insane and ludicrous glory.

The first is “Les Cathedrales” which apparently borrows liberally from Theme One by Van De Graff Generator. Even though, they mix it up a bit, adding a great spacey intro and moving the originals sax melody to various keyboards and other electronic instruments. The vocals by lead singer Jim Como are also an addition to the original, and his forceful delivery really drive home the energy of the tune in the bridge before it delves off into solo insanity.

The real highlight of the album though is the title track, a 19-minute take on the Modest Mussorgsky composition that features every damn instrument you could possibly imagine (more on that in a minute) and some original lyrics about wizards…and stuff (okay the lyrics are kind of out there). Needless to say it’s totally insane/inane/brilliant stuff. It’s definitely the kind of thing that could only be created in the 70s that’s for sure.

If you decide to download these songs (and if you’ve read this far I’m assuming you have) then you might be wondering what the hell you’re hearing. There’s a lot going on here man. Thankfully the back cover breaks down the instrumentation by performer for us.

Jim Como was the Phil Collins of the group, going double-duty as a drummer/singer. In addition to drums he also played timpani, xylophone, vibes, glockenspiel, Chinese bell tree, gongs, finger cymbals, tubular bells (which is apparently more than a Mike Oldfield album) and triangle. I do love that he felt the need to credit his gong playing separately from his drum playing, hell I love the fact that he had multiple gongs! Bryan Howe backed up Jim as the organ player, rocking out on a Hammond and pipe organ as well as a celeste. And while Howe may have been the organ player, Fireballet also had a pianist. His name was Frank Petlo and he played piano, electric piano, ARP 2600 Synthesizer, Mellotron, electronic strings and the Oberheim DS-2 digital sequencer. Ryche Chlandra was the guitarist of the group, playing both acoustic and electric. He also performed various “electronic devices” which is probably the coolest credit in the history of music. Rounding out the group was the Marytn Biglin who played bass, 12-string guitar, bass pedals and Moog Taurus pedals. Their producer, one Ian McDonald of King Crimson and Foreigner fame, also contributed to the mix, playing sax and flute on a couple tracks.

That is…a lot of instruments. One can only imagine what their practice space looked like. Did these guys ever go on tour? I couldn’t find any information on their live show. I do know that they released one more album (the hilariously-named Two-Too) before calling it quits. They have a MySpace page however, and Ryche is even on Twitter!

Despite these all work remains out of print, never released on CD – which is why I am putting up all of Night On Bald Mountain here for download. If anyone from Fireballet objects, please let me know and I shall remove its progtastical greatness in due haste. Until then I recommend everyone check it out, its’ great stuff. And it’ll make you want to watch Fantasia (which for some reason I have on LaserDisc – so I got that going for me, which is nice).

Posted in Complete Albums, Fireballet, prog rock | 1 Comment »

Flu me

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Ugh, this is only my third post this month! I was going to kick ass as be all prolific this week but I am currently ill. I have the flu, possibly of the swine variety. It’s not fun. Right now I’m functioning on Sudafed alone. I got so much of that shit in me that you could cook meth from my blood.

However, I am a many of my word and promised more ridiculous Moroder insanity this week, so here it is.

Giorgio Moroder & Joe Esposito – Solitary Men
Solitary Man
Show Me The Night
My Girl
Too Hot To Touch
Diamond Lizzy
Washed in The Neon Light
A Love Affair
Nights in White Satin (has a skip in the first minute, sorry!)
Lady, Lady
White Hotel
To Turn The Stone
I was presented with quite the moral quandary with this one. This is NOT a good album, in fact, it’s quite awful. However, it is very hard to get in America and it is excessively weird and of note for a number of reasons. For that I feel it is worth posting and talking about. However, I can not downplay just how awful this record is. If you don’t recognize either of the people responsible for it then I suggest moving along and coming back later in the week. Otherwise…

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog then you probably know who Giorgio Moroder is. I talked about him briefly in my last post and I will once again point those who want to know more to his Wikipedia page.

But who is Joe Esposito you ask? You fool! Why he’s only the singer/songwriter behind the best non-Rocky sports movie montage song of the 80s! That song is of course “You’re The Best” from The Karate Kid, a ridiculous piece of motivational tripe that should be on your iPod’s workout playlist.

I have more to say, but I’m very tired, so screw it. Sorry.

PS: “Lady, Lady” is fucking gross.

Posted in Complete Albums, Giorgio Moroder, Joe Esposito | 3 Comments »

To Boldy Go Where Many Blogs have Gone Before

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Newsflash, I’m a nerd. And as a nerd I enjoy Star Trek.

I’ve seen the new movie three times now (twice on IMAX) and I plan on seeing it at least three more times in the theater if I have anything to say about it. It’s held up on each viewing and I’m beginning to think it just might be my favorite movie of all time. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a movie I’ve liked that much in the theatre. Dark Knight was great, but it sure was flawed (and too long). And a lot of my all-time favorite movies (Aliens, Clerks, A Clockwork Orange to name a few) I didn’t see in the theatres.

I guess the only movie going experiences I can compare to Star Trek in terms of how they made me feel are the first Spider-Man film, Rushmore, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Last of the Mohicans. An odd list for sure, but I fell in love with each of those films because they touched me in unique ways. Spider-Man made be believe in movies again, and restored my faith that sometimes a studio can actually not fuck something up (let’s not talk about Spider-Man 3 okay?). Rushmore is just a great fucking movie, and one that I identified with in ways I can’t even describe, I saw that flick four times in the theatres, a record that will finally break when I see Star Trek a few more times this month. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is just a great fun movie, and I think it was the last action movie I saw “as a kid” that really captured my imagination. On the flip side of that was The Last of the Mohicans, a decidedly adult action film that I appreciated on a more mature level admiring its cinematography and amazing score. It was also the first movie that I remember being happy that I saw it on a big screen because it was so damn beautiful.

I guess Star Trek kind of hits on all four of those points. It gives me faith that some people out there actually know what the fuck they are doing, I identify with it in strangely personal ways, I enjoy it the way a kid would, and I respect and appreciate it as a piece of great filmmaking (the film looks and sounds AMAZING). I think you can add to that the sense of nostalgia it brings to me. Although I was never a huge fan of the original series growing up, I used to watch TNG all the time with my parents, and it remains one of the few pop culture points my dad and I have in common.

Whatever the reason is, I fucking love that movie. And I know it’s going to be all I want to talk about for at least another week or so. Thankfully I was able to dig out some Star Trek related stuff in my vast music library, so I can fulfill my nerd trekkie needs and update this blog all at the same time!

Inside Star Trek
This was an album released by Columbia records in 1977. Let’s put that date in context; by 1977 the original series of Star Trek had been off the air for eight years, and the first movie was still two years away. So fans at the time were clamoring for anything Trek related. Star Trek conventions had taken off, and regularly featured appearances by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and various cast members. This album mainly consists for speeches and talks given at various Star Trek conventions, with some other stuff thrown in for good measure. It’s a little uneven, and pretty dated, but fans of the show should enjoy hearing Roddenberry talk, and its an interesting time capsule of what the fandom was like in 1977.

Inside Stark Trek
Star Trek Theme
A quick introduction followed by the original theme song.

William Shatner Meets Captain Kirk
This isn’t Shatner interviewing Kirk, thank god, but Roddenberry interviewing Shatner. Most of these stories have been told before and since but it’s always fun to hear Shatner being Shatner.

The Origin of Spock
A quick speech from Roddenberry about how Spock changed from the inception of the show to the original pilot to the final version we are know and love. Very funny with a great punchline.

Sarek’s Son Spock
Mark Leonard talks in character as Sarek to Gene Roddenberry. A lot of time is spent on Vulcan mating, including how a human woman could be seriously injured during form it. It’s kind of creepy to be honest.

The Questor Affair
Roddenberry tells his story about The Questor Tapes, a failed pilot that was never more than a movie-of-the-week. It’s an interesting bit of Star Trek history since much of it was the basis for Data. Roddenberry rants about network censorship (a common theme of this LP) and finishes with a semi-dirty joke (another common theme of this LP).

The Enterprise Runs Aground
Gene Roddenberry was a perv, I think this speech of his about sexuality and gender equality on the Enterprise proves it.

McCoy’s Rx For Life
DeForest Kelly talks to Roddenberry about life, the universe and everything, he sounded like a pretty awesome dude.

The Star Trek Philosophy
Well, this is what it’s all about. This should really be called Gene Roddenberry’s Philosophy, since he pretty much sums up his entire world view in about four and half minutes. He also goes into detail as to why he thinks the show became show popular later on, while attacking anyone who tries to exploit it. A well-spoken speech, if a little snarky.

Asimov’s World Of Science Fiction
Geekgasm alert: this is Gene Roddenberry interviewing Isaac Asimov. They talk about their legacies and what they consider science-fiction to be. Interesting stuff.

A Letter From a Network Censor
Roddenberry speaking at a Star Trek convention again, this time doing a little bit about how he feels about network executives by reading network notes regarding The Bible. Kind of stupid but funny.

The Star Trek Dream
This closer is similar to “The Star Trek Philosophy” and features Roddenberry waxing nostalgic about his past and how he got into science fiction.

I might have another post tomorrow, if not, more stuff (both Trekkie and not) next week.

Posted in Complete Albums, Nerd Alert, Star Trek | No Comments »

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