So… it’s been a while.
The Holiday’s, our Anniversary, vacation… and well, reading. I took on “The Eye Of The World” which consumed many a night for me. So I have some catching up to do.
This one is PURE nostalgia.
During our week of vacation we visited a place called “Crazy Franks”.
I had passed the highway sign for this place tons as we went from Belmont to Dodgeville or Madison and back. On this day we happened to be in Mineral Point and happened to pass it and Cindy asked if I wanted to stop. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a pretty big store with vendors areas set up as “booths”. Little alleys and alcoves galore. It was a bit mind numbing. Just SO much stuff.
and yes… there were records.
Largely the collections, a lot of the vendors had them, were of the Percy Faith, Elvis and Dolly Parton variety (which some find perfectly lovely) but after hitting several dusty bins it was pretty clear I was not going to find a rare awesome bootleg or anything contemporary here. It was still fun to look.
However, as we were deciding it was time to go and meandered towards the front we came across another bin of records that had one out front that Cindy stopped to look at and as she was flipping through the cover of one caught my eye and blew my mind. “Whoa whoa whoa, go back.”
It was a record that was perhaps one of the first records I bought myself when I was a kid. I had bought some 45’s and had records from my parents collection, but I’m pretty sure this was the first full album I ever purchased with my very own “allowance?” money? It also had the distinction of being the first album that taught me a valuable lesson in buying records.
“Themes From Hit TV Shows” – Peter Pan Records
Now as a kid these were shows that I watched and I liked (most) of these theme songs. The cover was certainly designed for my demographic and since the only music I really knew was what my parents had and the bands on some of the 45’s I would end up with from a garage sale haul, it seemed to me like a winner.
I had no idea what a records store was and this was purchased from a G. L. Perry Variety store in Indiana. It was my mall at a ripe young age. The selection was not huge. One single bin of LP’s and a small bin of 45’s. I did buy my very first 45 ever from there of my own choosing which I believe I have written about before: A Side Cher doing “Gypsys Tramps and Thieves” with B Side by Sonny doing “A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done”. So you can see where my head was at in those days. Early and impressionable. Not the space jam, reggae hard rock lover I am now.
Anyway, this album was brought home and the moment the first song played I got my very first lesson.
Everyone knows the “Welcome Back, Kotter” song. John Sebastian right? You’re probably humming it right now. As I listened to this first track something was off. It was the right song, and it was good, but there was something I couldn’t put my finger on. It didn’t sound quite right.
Lesson: Ensemble records or Great songs of the… are often miserable money grabs and will disappoint you. Stay away kid.
Yes, what this non-discerning kid didn’t pick up on was this tiny little detail.
The Pop Singers And Orchestra?!
Now, not to belittle The Pop Singers And Orchestra, but they are no John Sebastian. So this whole album was NOT the ORIGINAL TV Theme Songs, but copies of the songs. Wah wah…
I don’t think that back then I cared a huge amount, being less discerning as previously mentioned, and I did listen to this album often, but I DID notice and understand how I was duped.
Unwilling or unable to secure the rights of the actual famous songs?… just record your own versions. What a world.
I am laughing at myself even now as I write this as I do recall listening to this album a lot back in the day despite it not being originals. It certainly taught me a lot though and was probably what steered my away from many an album thereafter unless I saw “Original Artists” on the cover.
For 4 bucks though I had to get it from Crazy Franks to return it to my collection.
Ah childhood.
The Aural Retentive 