Night of the Loving Dead - Nekromantik Merchandise!

With the news that the infamous Nekromantik has finally been passed by the British censors and will be out on Blu-ray via Arrow later this year - uncut, no less - it seems apt to post a couple of Nekro products from the time the film first came out.

 

 

This is the original soundtrack seven inch picture disc.

 

And here is the frankly weird comic book!

Mine-a-Long-a-Max - When Max Bygraves and the National Coal Board joined forces to Do It The Safety Way

1976 saw the release of this curio - a health and safety 7 inch single produced by the National Coal Board (this may be the sole release of NCB Records), where the unlikely figure of Max Bygraves - who I suspect has never been down a coal mine in his life - sings a jaunty ditty telling miners that "common sense saves accidents, do it the safety way". he's backed by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band - sadly the only collaboration from these giants of the entertainment world.

Singalong fans will be thrilled to know that the lyrics appear on the back cover, and include gems like "Unless the roof's supported / it's odds on it will fall / And if you're underneath it / it's not very nice at all", which frankly sounds a bit of an understatement. The lyrics were by Coal News competition winner Jack Birchall, administrave officer at Lancashire's Bickenshaw Colliery. The music is by Ron Goodwin.

According to the sleeve notes, "the special sing-along style of Max Bygraves gives the whole arrangement hit parade appeal". An ambitious boast.

Can You Tell What It Is Yet? - Stylophone Fever

Launched in 1968 and defunct by 1975, the Stylophone was a crude analogue electronic keyboard that you played with a stylus. It was promoted by Rolf Harris, who, as well as appeaering in TV ads, hosted assorted 'playalong' 7 inch singles. Allegedly easy to follow, these seemed to require the ability to read music to have any chance of playing a tune. Unfortunately, as the stylophone only had one volume level - namely LOUD - the likelihood of many people persevering long enough to learn Hello Dolly, Pennsylvania 6-5000 or Jingle Bells was slight. However, if you have a taste for industrial noise, then this is a fine instrument and I'm glad to finally own one.

 

 Pictured is my (working) stylophone and collection of three Rolftastic 7 inch 'LPs'.

 

Le Club Dorothée - French pop meets Ewoks!

One of the joys of second hand record shopping is stumbling upon a cache of stuff you've never heard of, but have an instinctive understanding will be great. So it was on Record Store Day 2014. As usual, I didn't buy a single RSD release, but did find a collection of 1980s euro pop singles! They included these six releases by Dorothée - including two about Ewoks! How could I resist?

According to Wikipedia:
"In 1981, the presenters of Récré A2 acted in a musical performed in the Olympia, a famous concert hall in Paris. The show was actually the adaptation of her disc. In 1982, Jean-François Porry, one of her producers, created a whole album for her. From 1982 to 1997, she recorded one album a year! Her first hits were Tchou tchou le petit train (choo choo the tiny train), Rox & Rouky (French theme for The Fox and the Hound), Hou ! la menteuse (boo the liar), La Valise (the luggage). The single “Hou la menteuse”/”La valise” was probably the most successful one of her career. The song “la valise” is an enumeration of what she puts in her luggage, and there will be a new version in every album! The next years, she recorded some of her main hits: Pour faire une chanson (to make a song), Qu'il est bête (he's so dumb), Allo allo monsieur l'ordinateur (hello hello mister computer), Vive les vacances (long live holidays), Maman (mommy)… and she also got an award for the French theme of the film Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure. In the meantime, she carried out presenting Récré A2 and performing on stage in musicals (Dorothée - Tambour Battant in 1981 / Au royaume de Diguedondaine in 1982 / Pour faire une chanson in 1983 / On va faire du cinéma in 1985). She was also the star of a Christmas show in 1983."

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