Nice Spock art from 1970s animated "Star Trek" series.
The first of many "Star Trek" revivals (I think, I'm not a big Trekkie) was a short-lived series in the the 1970s, featuring many the original series stars doing the voices.
Animated art: Aquaman, the Flash, Superman, Hawkman and the Green Lantern!
From the 1960s "Superman/Aquaman Hour" TV series. Primitive but cool. Image via Heritage Auctions.
"Staring at the Rudeboys" compiles the post-punk British ska revival
I was deep into the 1970s/80s British Two-Tone bands: Specials, Madness, English Beat. So many great songs and memories. The records still stand up, in my opinion.
This set is out from the excellent Cherry Red Records label in February. There's a listing for it on Amazon here, but it's not yet available to order.
Details:This 3 CD, 69 track compilation provides the most comprehensive release to date to cover the UK Ska Revival 1979-1989.
• From the ‘Big 5’ of The Specials, Madness, The Beat, Selecter and Bad Manners, through to ‘one off’ highly collectable rarities from the likes of The RB’s, The Thrillers and The Gangsters and loads in between.
• Hit singles from the likes of The Lambrettas (‘Poison Ivy’) and The Piranhas (‘Tom Hark’), ‘comeback’ recordings from original Ska pioneers Laurel Aitken, Rico and Desmond Dekker, ‘novelty’ 45’s from the likes of The Burtons, The Charlie Parkas and Max Headroom and ‘New Ska’ sounds from late 80’s outfits such as The Deltones , The Hotknives and Maroon Town – this release has it all.
• Many of the bands and tracks featured acted as a ‘launch-pad’ for later more successful acts – Tears For Fears evolved from Graduate, The Mission’s Wayne Hussey debuted in the Ded Byrds, Fine Young Cannibals’ Roland Gift can be found fronting The Akrylykz and the Reluctant Stereotypes laid the foundations for King.
• A near 10,000 word sleeve note provides info on each track in the fully illustrated 44 page booklet.
• If you only ever buy one Ska Revival compilation, then it has to be Staring At The Rude Boys.
Track Listing:
DISC ONE:
1. LITTLE BITCH – The Specials
2. BED & BREAKFAST MAN – Madness
3. GIVE IT TO ME NOW – The Merton Parkas
4. RICH AND NASTY – Ded Byrds
5. SKA FEVER – Judge Dread
6. BIG EXPENSE, SMALL INCOME – The Tigers
7. BALLAD OF ROBIN HOOD – The Charlie Parkas
8. ROUGH RIDER – DiVersion
9. POISON IVY – The Lambrettas
10. STREET FEELING – The Selecter
11. PHOENIX CITY – Rockers Express
12. McARTHUR PARK – The Burtons
13. ELVIS SHOULD PLAY SKA – Graduate
14. DON’T PANIC – Max Headroom & The Car “Parks”
15. INNER LONDON VIOLENCE – Bad Manners
16. PLAY MY RECORD – Arthur Kay’s Originals
17. SPYDERMAN – The Akrylykz
18. PIED PIPER – Red Roll-On
19. MODERN LOVE – Indicators
20. WE ARE THE GANGSTERS – The Gangsters
21. SHOOTING – The Thrillers
22. LOFASKA – Reluctant Stereotypes
23. LET’S DO ROCK STEADY – The Bodysnatchers
24. SOUTH COAST RUMBLE – The South Coast Ska Stars
DISC TWO:
1. BIG FAT MAN – Laurel Aitken
2. WHINE & GRINE / STAND DOWN MARGARET – The Beat
3. I WAS WRONG – The Rimshots
4. ACCIDENT – The Viewers
5. STOP THAT BOY – Wide Boys
6. SEA CRUISE – Rico
7. TOM HARK – The Piranhas
8. RUDE BOY TRAIN – Desmond Dekker
9. BLUE LAGOON – The Ammonites
10. PARTY GIRL – The Skavengers
11. HOUSEWIVES CHOICE – MP’s
12. JEANIE – The Resistors
13. BREAKING UP NEW GROUND – The Parrots
14. THE ODD MAN OUT – Teenage Filmstars
15. ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD – The A.T.’s
16. CHARACTER CHANGE – Machine
17. PINK SLIPPERS – The AK Band
18. ARE YOU WIV – Tich Turner’s Escalator
19. NEVER GONNA LOSE ME – Sax Maniax
20. NO ONE LIKE YOU – The Originals
21. DREAD IN MY BED – The Odds
22. EXPLAIN – The RB’s
DISC THREE:
1. 2-6-5-8-0 – Kim Wilde
2. MY FAVOURITE BAND – The Lemons
3. REGGAE ON THE RADIO – The Papers
4. 21 GUNS – 21 Guns
5. DAMBUSTERS MARCH – JJ Allstars
6. SKA’D FOR LIFE – The Ska-Dows
7. MOUTH AND TROUSERS – Splodge
8. PLASTIC GANGSTER (I COULD BE SO GOOD FOR YOU) – Plastic Gangsters
9. OH – Case
10. MAD ABOUT YOU – Laurel Aitken & The Potato 5
11. ALL OR NOTHING GIRL – The Larks
12. FOREST HILL SKA – Forest Hill Billies
13. SHEILA – Burial
14. COME INTO MY PARLOUR – Skin Deep
15. SKINHEAD LOVE AFFAIR – Busters Allstars
16. KING HAMMOND SHUFFLE – King Hammond
17. SKADANSK – Mark Foggo’s Skasters
18. DAVE AND MARY – The Hotknives
19. POUND TO THE DOLLAR – Maroon Town
20. THE UNDERTAKER – The Loafers
21. STAY WHERE YOU ARE – The Deltones
22. BLIND DATE – The Riffs
23. RUKUMBINE – Ska Boom
24. RUDE BOY SHUFFLE – Rude Boys
Doctor Who's new-look Daleks detailed!
Notably, the famous Dalek sink plunger (in reality known as the “manipulator arm”) is also absent from this section. While the whisk-like gun is present and correct the plunger has been replaced by a spikier all-purpose tool that we’re sure will be used to deadly effect in the festive special…
So long, Chad Stuart of "Chad and Jeremy"
British singer Chad Stuart of the duo, Chad and Jeremy, died Sunday at age 79, Billboard reports.
With Jeremy Clyde, Stuart charted several 1960s hits, including "Yesterday's Gone," "Summer Song" and "Willow Weep for Me." I strongly recommend the pair's underrated LPs Before and After and Of Cabbages and Kings, which saw them flirt nicely with psychedelia.
The pair appeared memorably on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and on on "Batman" in plot where Catwoman steals their voices. Holy laryngitis! What a criminal calamity that was!
Here they are singing their song "A Teenage Failure" from their 1966 appearance on the show:
Check out this great batch of Marvel Comics variant covers coming from the great Micheal Cho in March
Cho is a modern master, blending a cartoon/Kirby sensibility that makes superheroes fun again.
Animation art: Batman, Robin and lots of Jokers
Production cel from "The New Adentures of Batman" cartoon series. Image via Heritage Auctions.
The Kinks' Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Pt. 1 collected, expanded in new box set
This is the last of the front-to-back, truly great Kinks albums, in my view, before Ray Davies' conceptual pretensions too often started getting in the way of his writing strong, stand-alone tunes. (The same thing happened, around the same time, to Pete Townshend!)
You can order the box now from Amazon.
If you're not up for the full-meal deal, there's a double-CD version that includes the remastered album and what looks like the best outtakes.
Details:
THE KINKS LOLA VERSUS POWERMAN AND THE MONEYGOROUND, PART ONE DELUXE BOX SET ‘Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One’ is the eighth studio album by The Kinks, one of the most influential rock acts of all time, and was recorded and released in 1970. A concept album, it is a satirical appraisal of the music industry, including song publishers, unions, the press, accountants, business managers, and life on the road. This classic album appeared during a transitional period for the Kinks, and was a critical and commercial success. This set is a limited edition, lavishly packaged, 50th anniversary deluxe 10” book-pack of that album, containing many previously unreleased tracks and versions. Produced in association with The Kinks, with audio & visual content curated by Ray Davies. Matt laminated rigid slipcase featuring the original LP cover reproduced with foil and metallic silver finishes. 3 x CDs containing: Original album new remaster from original HD master tapes, singles (stereo and mono mixes), B-sides, alternate original mixes, new medleys with Ray & Dave Davies conversations, new Ray Davies remixes & original session out-takes, previously unreleased session & live tape audio, instrumental & acoustic versions, previously unreleased demos & BBC material. 2 x reproduced original 7” picture bag singles, remastered audio. 60 page, hardback book with extensive notes, new band quotes, Kinks ‘1970 diary’, rare photos & memorabilia. 4 x small glossy printed kinks photos. Features the hit singles ‘Lola’ & ‘Apeman’.
"Bewitched" takes on racism in 1970 Christmas episode: "Sisters at Heart"
What was moving and groundbreaking 50 years ago can be cringey today. But "Sisters at Heart," the Christmas Eve, 1970, episode of "Bewitched," while dating badly in some ways, still has a lot to say. It also has cool back story.
In 1969, "Bewitched" star Elizabeth Montgomery and her husband William Asher, producer of the show, received a letter from Marcella Saunders, a teacher at a Los Angeles high school saying that her students loved the show. Most kids in her class, Saunders said, struggled with reading and comprehension, and she felt that learning more about the importance of reading, writing and storytelling to TV programs might be inspiring.
Montgomery and Asher responded by inviting Saunders' all-African American class to visit the show's set and the kids left inspired enough to try their hand at writing a script for the program.
Montgomery and Asher responded by inviting Saunders' all-African American class to visit the show's set and the kids left inspired enough to try their hand at writing a script for the program.
Montgomery and Asher loved the story the kids came up with and decided to use it. Only a few minor revisions were required. "We've had bad scripts submitted by professional writers that weren't as well written or creative," Montgomery later said.
In the story, Tabitha, the daughter of Montgomery's character, Samantha, gets upset when she's told by another child that she couldn't possibly be the sister of her friend, Lisa, because Tabitha is white and Lisa is Black.
Tabitha, like her mom, is a witch, too, and later casts a spell making her skin white with black spots and Lisa's black with white spots, to demonstrate they can, indeed, be sisters. This, of course, is awkward, and—likely nearly every episode of "Bewitched"—puts Samantha and Tabitha at risk for being outed as magical. There's also a sub-plot about a racist businessman, Mr. Brockway, who's a potential client at the ad firm where Samantha's husband, Darrin, works.
Over the course of the show, we learn, of course, that race poses no barrier to sisterhood and Mr. Brockway gets his comeuppance. And there's also some unfortunate, full-on blackface, not just spotted skin. For that reason, the show doesn't hold up well today. But at the time, the series was taking a risk in the message it was sending, and the use of the students' script was heartwarming. As a Christmas episode, it truly had something to say that was in the spirt of the season. Looking back now, yes, it's weird and inappropriate in many ways, but also very right, too. The episode won an Emmy and Montgomery later said it was her favorite of the series.
You can watch the whole thing here, starting with this special introduction by Montgomery:
Hot Trax '70: Edwin Starr; Eric Burdon and War; Ray Stevens and more
New tracks on the U.S. Top 40 this week 50 years ago.
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| Edwin Starr - Stop the War Now |
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| Eric Burdon and War - They Can't Take Away Our Music |
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| Jackie Wilson - (I Can Feel Those Vibrations) This Love is Real |
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| Joe Simon - Your Time to Cry |
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| Ray Stevens - Bridget the Midget (Queen of the Blues) |
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| Rufus Thomas - (Do The) Push and Pull Pt. 1 |
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| The Chi-Lites - Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So) |
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| The Mike Curb Congregation - Burning Bridges |
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| The Originals - God Bless Whoever Sent You |
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| Tommy James - Church Street Soul Revival |
Listen to the December 1970 playlist:
Some nice animation art from "The Super Friends," 1974
Man, I was so exicted when the first "Super Friends" show debuted in 1974. I was eight.
These images bring back those memories. The first three are cool - you can see how the character cels are layered over the Super Friends' Hall of Justice HQ backdrop.
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