THE NEW JAM ALBUM OF STATION ID'S & SINGLES (Jam Productions, 1979)

 

Here is an interesting item, which is also a fun snapshot of 1979.  JAM Creative Productions is a production house for jingles, background music, and much more, and has been dominating from their Dallas headquarters for over 50 years! (By the way, the name comes from the initials of the founders, a married couple.)  They've had an incredible career of supplying high-quality jingles and music around the world.

These promotional sorts of LP's are always fun, if for no other reason than because you were never supposed to hear them, as they were never available in stores.  Instead, this extremely well-made album serves as a portfolio for everything the company could do. It would've gone to program directors and heads of radio stations, for them to evaluate their advertising needs.  You know as well as I do from your youth that jingles and call-letter identification could make or break a radio station, as it gave them a sense of identity.

Another compelling part of this record is how "1979" it is.  That was a weird time.  Disco was trying to be put to pasture, and the New Wave hadn't yet set in, so the culture in America was trying to figure out what the eventual 80's would sound like, and there was an extension of the mellow "singer/songwriter" vibe that was so big in the earlier part of the 70's.  As such, the album would fit in nicely in the "WKRP" era in sound.

Another fun thing is one of the narrators, whom people of that generation will recognize.  It's Mason Adams, who had that homespun, Jimmy Stewart's Dad type of voice that you could never believe was lying to you, no matter what he said.  We even had an LP of Halloween stories on this blog that he read.  I always knew him as the voice on commercials:  "With a name like Smucker's, it's GOT to be good."  I kept thinking about how ironic that was, because, you know....JAM.  And jellies.  

Anyway, I have said enough times that this is an enjoyable listen.  I relish the days where real singers sung with real instruments and real string sections and real everything.  The average 8-year-old ear doesn't care, but to anyone with sense, it sounds warm and real and like it exists in the actual world.  Sure, it was doing it the hard way, but the hard way is usually the best way.  Unless you are doing brain surgery or something. Use the robot for that.

LINK:  New JAM Album of Station IDs & Singles (1979)

THE WAR IN SPACE (International Poster/Press Brochure) Toho, 1977

 

Here is the last of my recent haul of international poster brochure-things.  This one is for 1977's THE WAR IN SPACE, which is an...interesting...Toho STAR WARS-inspired film from 1977. Lots of people dunk on this film, but I think it is a lot of fun.  I mean, I like MESSAGE FROM SPACE and I think STARCRASH is fun, too, so if you like those, you're in for a fun ride.

The flying ship in this film is called the Gohten, which is not Gotengo (Atragon), or even the new Gotengo from FINAL WARS, but they are all in the same cinematic lineage. Toho simply loves flying ships with drills on the front!

As a fun bonus, here is a real rarity, the poster flyer-thingy for Toei's LEGEND OF DINOSAURS AND MONSTER BIRDS!

THE SAGA OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (MCA, 1979)

 

Here's another one of those sorts of things that you just can't find anywhere else (and I looked).  After STAR WARS, every big movie seemed to have their own book-and-record, read-along condensed version for kids, but there could also be the long-playing version that skipped the book and the need to "turn the page when you hear this sound." This grown-up version used audio from the actual film, too.

This is the latter version, and in place of turning the page, it actually has new audio recorded by Lorne Greene as narration...which is actually strange, because he is often referring to his own character, which makes for some weird moments where Adama sound like he's speaking of himself in the third person.

This album walks through the initial movie that launched the TV series, in 49 minutes, and it's pretty well-done.  It made me want to go back and watch it again, so it must have been doing something right.  

Another interesting facet of this production is how it forced me to honestly evaluate the series as an adult, rather than when I was young and undiscerning: is it a shameless STAR WARS ripoff?  Back in the day, kids did not sit around on the playground and complain that Glen Larson was ripping George Lucas off.  Instead, we were thrilled to have new space fantasy to devour, while we waited for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

Now, however, I can more clearly see some of the reasons George was upset.  After all, some of his own people worked on it, and there are some issues and similarities, of course (suddenly we had another space "Saga").  I read that Lucas issued a laundry list of demans, including vehemently insisting the blasters "fire no beams," which explains why they always lit up at the ends.  I am not sure how he could really claim a copyright on that, but whatever.  In retrospect, Apollo and Starbuck are sort of two Han Solos, and if it were up to me, I would've dialed the music down quite a bit; it's one of the most obviously-borrowed items because it is just so bombastic.  You do have rebels--in a sense--and enemy soldiers that all look alike, which they at least made into robots (before Lucas did, come to think of it). And then there are the dogfights, which are hard to defend in their similarity...again, the same folks worked on them, after all.  

But there are lots of great original things to praise the series for as well.  The cast is great; the designs are amazing (did I mention Ralph McQuarrie worked on the ships?), from the vehicles to the uniforms.  The Cylons are incredible in every way, from appearance to their all-important unique sound.  In the film, the Ovion insect people are a stroke of genius, and the writers invented a casino planet long before the Mouse ever stole the idea and wasted it.

I could go on, but I believe that the series has earned its place in history, and should stand as its own thing.  Unfortunately, it succumbed to what I call the Curse of Television.  Namely, a television series does not usually benefit from the luxury of having a beginning, middle, and definite ending.  Instead, a series tries to last as long as it is allowed, and eventually, funding is cut long before anyone can envision a proper ending to the story, or a way to pull it off, and the show is cancelled.  It's been a problem for literal decades.  

.................and then, GALACTICA 1980 happened instead.  The less said, the better.

One more thing, and this is hilarious--notice on the front cover of the album, despite all of the available artwork from the show, somebody thought it would be a good idea to swipe the MATTEL 12-INCH ACTION FIGURE ARTWORK for their painting.  After all, Cylons probably look exactly like that, right? With the huge chest light and plastic gun beam...and giant backpack push-button sticking up?  It would be a lot of trouble to go watch the show, or ask for more reference photos, right?

LINK:  SAGA OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1979)

GODZILLA 2000 Theatrical Coming Attraction Slide (Columbia Pictures, July 2000)

 

Here is a fast one today. Remember when, before the trailers, movie theatres would show still images, projected with 35mm slides? I guess they still do....I mean, I assume they still do, who goes to the actual movie theatre anymore?  Maybe if there was something good to go see, then people would...but, I digress, sorry--I figure today it's done digitally anyhow, but back in the day, they used slides (and before that, glass slides, such as this one used in 1963 for KING KONG vs. GODZILLA:

This technique goes back to the old "magic lantern" shows, which long ago used a flame as the light source...somehow.  Anyway, what we have here today is a 35mm slide sent out by Columbia Pictures for theatres to show, touting the release of GODZILLA 2000 later that summer!

And not too much later, either, because the slide is dated July 2000, and if I remember right, the movie came out in August (I got to see it in the actual theater, too)! And here is the right-side-up image with a light source behind it:

THE 8-BIT CONSTRUCTION SET (Beige Records, 2000)

 

Here is something I ran across that you won't find anywhere else, and it isn't on YouTube or anywhere to be found (you will see why in a moment).  This is a "DJ record," for lack of a better term.  It's ingredients, to make your own mixes and jams.  These were privately produced items, and never sold in stores.  We have actually looked at one in the distant past on this very blog, because there is a Godzilla-themed one that is quite rare today!

Goodness, that was 15 years ago.  Anyway, this record is divided into two sides, and instead of A and B, it's the ATARI and COMMODORE 64 sides:

Both sides begin with montages of samples and sound effects, followed by ten or eleven sampled beats, which are presented in SHORT LOCKED GROOVES.  Get your brain around this--in the space of an inch or so, there are 10 (or 11) tiny bands which your stylus will not advance between.  Thus, this record was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to convert, especially when you can't hear what you are recording until you are done.  What madness is this? How did I resolve this one?

In the course of making this blog, I have had to solve some unusual and wacky problems from time to time.  In this case, I set up a large magnifying lamp with bright built-in LED lights, clamped it to a nearby table, and used it to see the placement of the stylus as best I could with my failing eyes.  And, it actually was successful.  If you have ever messed with locked grooves, they can be quite stubborn to cooperate. But somehow, I got all of them!

The third band on each side is an original chiptune composition using the featured hardware.  These are quite cool.  The final and fourth band on each side is truly original indeed--they contain game programs for their respective systems, which can be recorded onto a cassette and uploaded, just like in the old days.  It doesn't tell us what these games are, but huge points for the innovativeness of the designers here.  Word of warning though, these tracks are unlistenable.  The Commodore one sounds like you are actually inside an MRI machine.

All in all, this is a really fun release, despite the recording challenges.  Kudos to the team who pulled this off, 26 years ago now! Enjoy.

LINK:  8-BIT CONSTRUCTION SET(2000)