Jimmy Castor - I LOVE MONSTERS (Little Monster Records, 1979)

 

I never thought I'd say this, but here it is, after years of searching.  A while back, I did a post analyzing all of the releases & versions of Castor's "Godzilla" song (you can read and hear them at this post). 

 

The back cover wastes a lot of opportunity and is completely blank!

This is basically a compilation album that Castor built around his song "Troglodyte," which was  minor (novelty?) hit.  He attempted to market this collection as a kids' album, but the truth is, it's waaaay too funky and out there probably for even 70's kids.  

This album is a lot of fun, and has some excellent grooves.  Dracula, The Mummy, and King Kong are all here, and there's even a song about the Incredible Hulk (referred to as "The Beast," but it's pretty clear what's going on...which explains why Hulk is playing drums on the cover).  If I was going to be critical, I'd say that many of the songs are structurally the same, following the same pattern, and not just because of Castor's sort of speak-rapping delivery (also some of his lyrics are grammatical nightmares).  It doesn't stop it from being extremely enjoyable, and it's a shame that it didn't find new life as an annual Halloween classic, because that would've worked fantastically.  Some truly terrible rarities have gotten new pressings; why not this?  (Oh wait, the rights would be a bloodbath, that's why.)

I also have to say that the copy I got cleaned up phenomenally, and only needed the minorest of filtering and microscopic noise removal.  It turned out very nice,  if I do say so myself!

But back to the "Godzilla" track, which is why we are here.  It turns out, it's indeed identical to the 7-inch and 12-inch single that he put out when he added the track to his album called "C" the next year! So gaining this rarity also solved that mystery (Castor re-released the song in 1985, and you can compare and contrast at the link above).

To further sell the idea of this collection being a children's album, the LP included "The I Love Monsters Lyric Book With Pictures To Color," which was rather primitive in its design.  Here is the Godzilla page:

Butchered the Japanese numbers, there...

Gotta admit though, Godzilla blowing a saxophone with fire coming out of it is pretty hard core:

But enough monkeyshines! Enjoy this long-lost classic album:

Link:  I LOVE MONSTERS (1979)