Record #6,000,001 - The Six Million Dollar Man "4 Exciting Christmas Adventures"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Today's record is the fantasmagicalistic Six Million Dollar Man record "4 Exciting Christmas Adventures"! Hooray!

So the 1970s were weird... obviously. The Six Million Dollar Man was insanely popular, so they merchandised the crap out of it. There are t-shirts, shoes, action figures, and yes, Christmas records.

I'd like to point out that none of these stories are exciting. But one has a stereotypical German guy named Fritz! So I guess that makes the record pay for itself.

One of my favorite things about this kind of story records, is to compensate for the lack of images, they have to describe everything. This would be nice, if it didn't mean Steve Austin didn't have to talk to himself all the time. It's super awkward.

Also, I'm about 3000% sure that Lee Majors is not doing the voice of the Six Million Dollar Man. Buuuuut I could be wrong.

Well, here you go. Enjoy the non-excitement of these 4 exciting Christmas Adventures... or else Santa Claus will kill you. And if he doesn't, I will.

Download the record HERE.

Record #1985 - The Goon Squad - Eight Arms To Hold You (12" Single)

Alright, Goonies... Today's record is the incredible superduperly magnificientalicious 12" single "Eight Arms To Hold You" from the soundtrack to The Goonies.

So, you might be saying to yourself "Hey, Jeremy. Why is there a song about an octopus on The Goonies soundtrack?! There's no octopus in The Goonies! You lying, dastardly son of a motherless goat!"

To answer this hypothetical question that nobody asked, I'd have to point you to this video of a (dun dun dunnnnnnn) DELETED SCENE FROM THE GOONIES!

Put that in your pipe and smoke it! Wooo! I win!

Anyways, so they wrote this song for the movie, and the song didn't end up being in the finished movie, but they still made a single for it and, well, the rest is history... I guess.

So there's 3 tracks on this. The first is the regular old vocal track, then you've got the "Bonus Beat" version, which is basically the short version of the song with more bass drum and no vocals. Lastly, you've got the "DUB" version, which is the song with 10 extra seconds of filler. Whee!

You can download the "Eight Arms To Hold You" 12" single HERE!

And, yes the file is ginormous -- just like the octopus... and Chunk's belly.

Record #81 - Shirley, Squirrely & Melvin: "LIVE"

What would life be without crappy ripoffs of crappy novelty groups? 

Nothing, thats what. And, well, today's record is one of those.

Today's record is a ridiculous ripoff of the already tremendously terrible Alvin & the Chipmunks, by the group Shirley, Squirrely & Melvin and their album "LIVE", although I highly doubt that it's an actual "LIVE" recording.

I wonder if the people who made this really thought they'd get away with such a blatant ripoff. Dave Seville should sue these guys.

Alright, so yeah. Those Alvin & the Chipmunks people were making a lot of money off of albums like Chipmunk Punk and the like, so a bunch of people started making these weird "high-pitched animals singing pop songs" records. I guess these people didn't think twice about the inevitable comparisons between squirrels and chipmunks.

Even the Simpsons made fun of this whole "Rodent Invasion".

Hey, look! Spinal Tap!

Anywhoo, let's talk about this album. 

It really spoke to me.

It told me "WE CAN MAKE YOU HATE A BUDDY HOLLY SONG".

On that note, let's begin our track by track journey through this mess and try to make some sense out of this ridiculousness.

1) Introduction - Fake crowd noises and someone saying the group's name. So far this is my favorite track on the album.

2) Back in the USA - Our first real song is a Chuck Berry song. One of these squirrels implores us to "COME ON AND CLAP YOUR HANDS". Sorry, but no. I refuse to put my hands together to make such a noise.

3) It's So Easy - Ah, the aforementioned Buddy Holly song. This just makes me sad. If they really wanted to do "ONE FOR BUDDAY!", then they should have done him the favor of leaving it alone. Now whenever I hear the supremely superior original version, this crappy one will pop into my head. Ugh. Don't listen to this version unless you want your heart to cry.

4) The Gambler (feat. Denny Richards) - Okay, this one is just ludicrous. LUDICROUS, I SAY! This cover of the classic song features the alternate Hell-on-Earth-Universe version of Kenny Rogers -- Denny Richards. Now, are they REALLY trying to make us think that Denny Richards is a real person? I'm not convinced. Also, should squirrels be singing songs about drinking and gambling? Can these squirrels even wrap their tiny little brains around the importance of this song? Am I looking too much into this?

5) Mercedes Benz - This is a Janis Joplin song. It is an a capella song. Now, I don't really like Janis Joplin all that much, but still. Come on. These people are on a mission to ruin every single song from the past 60 years with high-pitched squirrels, and by golly, they're gonna do it.

6) Boulevard - Okay, here's a Jackson Browne song. I hate it. You hate it. We all hate it. Let's all hate it some more by making squirrels sing it. Whee!

7) Soul Man - This song makes me wish I didn't have a soul.

8) Blue Suede Shoes - Why? Because Elvis sounds SO MUCH BETTER when you up the pitch 3 and a half notches.

9) I Like Reggae Too - Ugh. I don't. 

10) Get Back - Oh yeah. Because we haven't ruined everything good in the world yet, let's ruin the Beatles. Yippee!

11) Love Lives On - Finally. The end. And, unsurprisingly, another crappy crappiness of craptoscity. Almost as bad as Ron Cey.

Thanks a lot, Canada, for ruining everything good in music. Again. Was ANVIL not enough!?

I'm kidding, of course. Anvil rules.

Shirley, Squirrely & Melvin on the other hand... Blech.

Download this idiocy HERE.

Record #72 ½ - Sleuth/The Heartbreak Kid (Radio Spots)

Last week, I shared with you the soundtrack for Elaine May's excellent film, The Heartbreak Kid. The day after that, my awesome co-worker and super cool filmmaker Dean saw today's item on eBay, and I immediately bought it. 

And, well, here you go.

Today's item is a one-sided 7" record of two (although it says there are three cuts) Radio Spots for a double feature of the 1972 films Sleuth and The Heartbreak Kid.

Back in the 1960s and 70s, most films were shown on a double bill. To promote showings of the films, they would send movie theaters these records, as well as pressbooks. Unlike the way films are promoted now, it would be completely up to the theater owners to purchase radio air time and newspaper ads to promote the showings.

I've already explained the greatness of The Heartbreak Kid to you, but unlike that film, I have never seen and have no idea what Sleuth is about.

Let's find out together!

Oh. So, it's a Michael Caine murder-mystery thingamajig. Huh. Watching this with The Heartbreak Kid seems like an odd double feature, but hey... what do I know? I guess I'll have to rent this one out from work and try it out as a double feature.

I'll get back to you on that...

In the meantime, check out the two Radio Spots for Sleuth and The Heartbreak Kid!

Download the Radio Spots HERE.

Enjoy!