Azathoth's Abode on the Plateau of Leng

"Flash Fearless vs. The Zorg Women parts 5 & 6" was planned as a stage musical - its a sci-fi spoof with a Flash Gordonesque comic book hero. The music was first broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour and this soundtrack came out later in 1975 accompanied by a comic. The soundtrack features an all star cast including Alice Cooper, Black Oak Arkansas' Jim Dandy, The Who's John Entwistle, Maggi Bell, Justin Hayward (Moody Blues), Carmine Appice, Eddie Jobson, Keith Moon, Nicky Hopkins, Kenny Jones, Bill Bruford and many others. The sleeve notes credit the record as "A Scratchy Records Production for Chrysalis Records Limited in association with Intergalactic Productions and based on the stage musical to be produced by Weston Gavin." "Flash" did make it briefly to the stage with Gavin in the title role, albeit not for another six years.



Dave Pierce and Steve Hammond, two Canadians (although both were based in England at the time), were the prime figures behind the project. Pierce was responsible for writing the comic book and lyrics, with Hammond concentrating on the musical direction. Hammond had formerly been a guitarist for Fat Mattress in their later days(around 1970), a band best known for its Hendrix connections, while Pierce is a veteran of many plays, television shows and films.

The project came together in 1974, and a deal with Chrysalis Records was struck."Executive producers" for the LP were John Gaydon and Alan Siefert, although whether this relates to the stage musical side of things rather than the LP isn't clear. (Gaydon of course was the "G" of EG Records, home to King Crimson,Roxy Music etc.)

The producer for the album was John Alcock, also known for his production duties on the second and third solo LPs by Who bassist John Entwistle [And In fact Alcock apparently WAS Entwistle under a pseudonym].

Rather than use fixed line-up for the LP (which might not have been possible, given that the LP was recorded over three months), Alcock chose a floating line-up with an impressive list of musicians including the following:

JOHN ENTWISTLE (bass) was the only musician involved on every track on the LP (apart from one short synth reprise). He also sings lead on "Let's Go To The Camp".

ALICE COOPER (vocals) sings lead on two tracks, "I'm Flash" and "Space Pirates". This particular project fell between his LP for Warners - "Muscle Of Love" and his first for Anchor - "Welcome To My Nightmare". The Alice tracks, which are IMHO the best on the album, feature the following musicians:

I'M FLASH: Robert A. Johnson - Lead Guitar, Johnny Weider - Guitar; John Entwistle - Bass; Bill Bruford - Drums

SPACE PIRATES: Justin Hayward - Acoustic Guitar; Kenny Jones - Drums; John Entwistle - Bass; Nicky Hopkins - Piano; Keith Moon - Long John Silver; Steve Pettican - Slide Guitar


ELKIE BROOKS (vocals). Elkie was also between contracts. Having split Vinegar Joe (on Island) at the end of 1973, she was soon to join A&M as a soloist to great acclaim later in 1975. Her role in "Flash Fearless" is somewhat confused, having sung her first song "Trapped" as Dulla of Flash's crew and the second as the leader of the Zorg Women - i.e. the enemy!

JIM DANDY (vocals). The lead singer of the band Black Oak Arkansas, he sings lead on "Country Cooking" and "Blast Off".

JAMES DEWAR (vocals). Bassist/vocalist for the Robin Trower Band (another Chrysalis act). He made his breakthrough as bassist for Stone The Crows before their split in 1973. Sings lead on "What's Happening".

FRANK MILLER (vocals). Frankie's career these days is fairly low-key, but during the mid-'70s he was widely tipped as the next big thing - a gruff-voiced blues singer of not inconsiderable talent. He cut six albums for Chyrsalis during this period - hence his ready availability to tackle the somewhat dodgy "Supersnatch"- and had two or three big hit singles, of which "Be Good To Yourself" is perhaps the best remembered today.

MADDY PRIOR (vocals). Best known for her work as frontwoman with Steeleye Span, she makes a nice job of the country-ish "Georgia Syncopator" here (despite sounding very like Carly Simon), although she seems to be taking on the role of Dulla, played earlier on the LP by Elkie Brooks! Her track appears on the UK release of the album instead of "Supersnatch".

KEITH MOON ("Long John Silver"). Presumably dragged into the project by Entwistle, albeit only in a cameo speaking role during "Space Pirates" (what else?). Ultimately his contribution was mixed so low that it's hard to see why they bothered, particularly as he had to be recorded specially in Los Angeles.

JUSTIN HAYWARD (guitar). A long serving member of the Moody Blues. Hayward's atypical blues riffs here are a highlight of the record.

BILL BRUFORD (drums). Has recently seen King Crimson split up, having left Yes especially to join them. Regarded then as now as one of the best drummers in the business.

CARMINE APPICE (drums). Having risen to prominence with US band Vanilla Fudge, Appice was at this time the drummer in supergroup (Jeff) Beck, (Tim) Bogert (also from Vanilla Fudge) and Appice. Again, respected as one of the best drummers in the business.

KENNY JONES (drums). Then in the Faces, although that band soon fell apart when Rod Stewart's solo career became too big to combine both careers and guitarist Ron Wood joined The Rolling Stones. This LP features the first example of Entwistle and Jones as a rhythm section, which of course would become a fixture when Jones joined The Who on the death of Keith Moon.

NICKY HOPKINS (piano). A man who needs no introduction, having played with just about everybody from the Roling Stones and The Who downwards.

Other musicians featured included ROBERT A. JOHNSON (guitar); JOHN WEIDER (ex Animals/Family) (bass); EDDIE JOBSON (Roxy Music) (strings); MIKE DEACON (ex Suzi Quatro, then with Kiki Dee, later in Darts!) (piano); MICK GRABHAM (Procol Harum - a Chrysalis band) (guitar); JIM FRANK (harmonica); CHICK CHURCHILL (Ten Years After - a Chrysalis band) (keyboards); HOWIE CASEY (respected session musician going back to Liverpool's Howy Casey & The Seniors) (Saxaphone); STEVE PETTICAN (slide guitar); THUNDERTHIGHS (1974 hit single, but best remembered for "doo doo doos" on Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side") (backing vocalist); LESLEY DUNCAN and CHANTER SISTERS (respected vocalists) (backing vocals).

"Flash Fearless" was recorded between 1st October and 31st December 1974 at London's Chrysalis Studios, although three contributions had to be recorded in America; those of Alice Cooper (New York), Jim Dandy (Memphis) and Keith Moon (Los Angeles). These sessions were produced by Bob Ezrin (then a familiar collaborator of Cooper's, and later to work with Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd amongst others.)




Flash Fearless vs. The Zorg Women parts 5 & 6 (CHR-1972, 1975) + comic book (.cbr):

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Make yourself a bowl of Christmas Gumbo and chow down while groovin' holiday style with the Fats Man



Fats Domino - Christmas Gumbo:

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Here's some stuff to listen to while you drift in and out of comas induced by the revenge of the turkey sandwiches that you can't stop eating...


Goofy Greats 24 track version (K-Tel NU 9030, 1975):


This is the 24 track version of Goofy Greats - at a quick glance it appears it has 6 different tracks (green tambourine, simon says, mah na mah na, the birds and the bees, nashville cats, mr. custer) and 18 of the same tracks on it as the 28 track double album set. So sort of a repeat but kinda not.


hmmm... Turkey says it wants to get its groove on... let's see what we can do.



This is just about my favorite of all the regular non-goofy type music k-tel albums, not so much for the musical content which is ok yet not spectacular, but simply because it is one of the most awesomely cheesy misuses of Robbie the Robot eeeever! They even used him in the infomercial hocking the thing. Best things on it as far as content are Alice Cooper's 'You and Me', Bill Conti's 'Gonna Fly Now' (the theme from 'Rocky'), and 'Beth' by Kiss.

It also has Mannfred Mann's garbled vocals cover of Springsteen's 'Blinded by the Light' so you can try to decode the lyrics on it (always fun). And like 4 out of 5 k-tel albums it naturally has a track by KC & The Sunshine Band (I've personally counted over 20 k-tel records they are on and I have by no means encountered anywhere near all of k-tel's output. I think it is fair to say they were rather obsessed with KC.) Some copies of the album even came with a KC poster...



They also came with Andy Gibb's poster, but I haven't been able to locate that actual poster so here's another one (it should be fairly close as most posters have him just sitting there with his hairy chest exposed... I never saw the appeal of this, but I'm told many a girl had his posters on their walls at the time and far be it from me to disappoint the ladies. Personally I'll stick with the posters of Barbarella and Dracula's 'wives' that I had - and of 'course the posters of Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep )




Music Machine (K-Tel TU 2560, 1977):



And here's one by Ronco called Gettin' It On... its got Brownsville Station's Smokin' in the Boys Room which is good unless you've ever heard the Mötley Crüe version (and who hasn't?) - after the Crüe you can't go back; one of those exceptions that prove the rule that covers suck compared to the original.

It also features Jim Stafford's Spiders and Snakes, Cover of the 'Rolling Stone' by Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show, that really distubing Funky Worm song by The Ohio Players. If this were the US release there would be a 2nd ohio players song but its the Canadian one so we get a couple interesting different items... the Badger and the Farmer's songs instead.

Hmmm, what else is noteworthy here... it has the song from 'The Poseidon Adventure' and Johnny Nash's cover of Bob Marley's 'Sir It Up', Rose Royce's 'Car Wash', oh and it has Deodato delivering a discofied version of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' (for all the philistines: that would be the tone poem by Richard Strauss composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical treatise, which became one of the most recognized and famous musical works in the history of forever after it was used in 1968 as the theme for Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece - 2001: A Space Odyssey. It has also notably been used as The Nature Boy Rick Flare's wrestling entrance music and in a million other places since then.)


Get It On (Ronco / Columbia Special Products CSPS 783, 1974)

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Its Thanksgiving time again and so this weeks' twisted selection is more wacky novelty and bubblegum rock songs just like last year... All the greats are represented on the following albums from Ohio Express, The Coasters, Ray Stevens, and the 1910 Fruitgum Co. to The Royal Guardsmen, David Seville, Jumpin Gene Simmons, Nervous Norvus, and Sam the Sham. Great Fun!

Goofy Greats (1975):


Greatest Dumb Ditties (1977):


Looney Tunes (1976):


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"Pink Panther Punk can be noted by its insistence on COMPLETELY missing the mark; the LP is a weird mix of between-song skits that lead into covers of somewhat contemporary songs by AOR faves Pink Floyd, Billy Joel & the Doobie Brothers (with Blondie's "Call Me" providing the sole Wave-O moment) alongside equally crummy originals like "Rock And Roll Panther", "Panther on the Prowl", and "It's Punk" all written by producer John Braden. Despite top billing the pink one himself only sings a song or two, and though perpetually silent in the cartoons he's vocally imagined here as a charmless Tommy Chong-esque stoner." - Scar Stuff

I don't find it all that crummy, actually I think its one of the more amusing kid Stuff records. Inspector Clouseau singing is something everyone must experience


Pink Panther Punk (Kid Stuff KSS-117, 1981):

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