The Savage Seven – O.S.T. (1968)

Artist: The Savage Seven
Title: O.S.T.
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Atco

This violent motorcycle gang drama finds the outlaws riding onto an Indian reservation to take over. A rival gang has other ideas. There are few likeable characters in this feature, the possible exception being Johnnie (Robert Walker), and he is a convicted thief.

Rock-guitar legend Duane Eddy plays off the seven, while Penny Marshall makes an early big screen appearance. Marshall would gain fame for her television work in the 1970s, and by the 1990s she would become one of Hollywoods leading directors. The Savage Seven is a modern-day cowboys and Indians tale, only instead of horses, the outlaws ride motorcycles. (Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide)

Track Listing

1. Anyone For Tennis
2. Desert Ride
3. Maria’s Theme (vocal)
4. Shacktown Revenge
5. The Medal
6. Here Comes The Fuzz
7. Iron Butterfly Theme
8. Unconscious Power
9. Everyone Should Own A Dream
10. The Deal
11. Desert Love
12. Ballad Of The Savage Seven
13. Maria’s Theme (instrumental)
14. The Savage Struggle
    

The Touchables – O.S.T. (1968)

Artist: The Touchables
Title: O.S.T.
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: EMI Stateside

I acquired the soundtrack LP to The Touchables in the late 80s, hooked initially and unsurprisingly by the groovy girls on the cover and the inclusion of my fave Hammond organ demon, Wynder K Frog, on the track list.

I read somewhere, the synopsis for this long lost artifact of swinging London excess and marvelled at the plot concerning an arrogant pop star kidnapped by four pulchritudinous dollybirds and kept as a sexual plaything in a see through pleasure bubble in the English countryside. Blimey!

That’s all I could find out at the time…oh yes and its lack of availability….darn! Nothing on the LP either to convey fevered kinky couplings, except a bit of greasy Hammond courtesy of Mr Frog….the sometimes patchy soundtrack also featured a bit of white soul from Ferris Wheel, flowerpop from Roy Redman and cult psych band, Nirvana.

It also turns out to have been directed by Beatles photographer, Robert Freeman and written by the masterful Ian La Frenais and the late great genius, Donald Cammell….I still haven’t seen it! (Mark Ellis)

Track Listing

1. The Touchables Theme: All Of Us [Nirvana]
2. Dancing Frog [Wynder K. Frog]
3. The Chase [Ken Thorne]
4. Blues For A Frog [Wynder K. Frog]
5. Respect [Ferris Wheel]
6. Good Day Sunshine [Roy Redman]
7. Sadie’s Theme [Ken Thorne]
8. Christian & Melanie [Ken Thorne]
9. Sampson’s Theme [Ken Thorne]
10. The Dome [Ken Thorne]
11. Jalousie [Ken Thorne]
12. The Touchables Theme: All Of Us [Nirvana]
    

John Simon – Last Summer O.S.T. (1969)

Artist: John Simon
Title: Last Summer O.S.T.
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Warner Bros./Seven Arts

Last Summer was released in 1969, a movie starring Barbara Hershey about four young people during the course of a summer on Fire Island, and what happens to them. Reviews said it was the best picture on the subject of youth.

The Warner Bros. soundtrack album opens with an instrumental, “Last Summer Theme”, a beautiful loping cut that has strings mixed with a trilled mandolin. Plenty of finely played mandolin and drums are included on “Temptation, Lust & Laziness”, a great country-romp-duet between Levon Helm and John Simon. “Drivin’ Daisy” has Cyrus Faryar on vocals, singer, instrumentalist and producer who was with the Modern Folk Quintet and Whiskyhill Singers, and prominent session musician. “Cordelia” and “Sonuvagun” are sung by Buddy Bruno, who was discovered by Simon. Cordelia is sung in falsetto and was rerecorded by Simon for his Journey album in 1972.

The transient “Subtle Evanescence Of Now” is an instrumental composed and performed by Colin Walcott on sitar (a disciple of Ravi Shankar) which takes you straight back to the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. “Lay Your Love On Me” is an Otis Redding sounding r&b thumper with Ray Draper (jazz tuba player and vocalist with Red, Beans & Rice) on vocals. The heavy “Magnectic Mama” has Simon singing. “Safari Mary, won’t you come back to me?” has banjoist/singer, formerly with the Modern Folk Quintet and respected session musician and photographer Henry Diltz on vocals. A slightly unsettling sounding cut that has you shifting in your chair. As does “Hal, The Handyman”. “Firehouse Blues” is a very appealing instrumental. A sleazy sax plays over a backing of guitar, bass and drums that is very reminiscent of The Band.

Laughter and shouts of joy can be heard throughout the cut as if its a rehearsal or private performance for friends who have dipped at the sauce. The liner notes to the album say:

It was decided that Simon’s music should be more than just sweeping strings playing tuneless background themes or occasional sound effects on some soulless electronic wonder. The music should be, in fact, another member of the cast. With that in mind, several separate and distinct songs were written, to be performed by a number of talented individuals under Simon’s supervision.

The result is a highly memorable score, and one that holds up remarkably well when separated from the film for which it was created. While some of the musicians, for contractual reasons must remain anonymous, their music speaks for itself. Last Summer is an uncommen film. This is an uncommonly fine soundtrack album.
The album was subtitled “Featuring songs composed and performed by John Simon” and was recorded in New York at The Hit Factory and Sound Recorders.

Last Summer was re-released on CD by Warner in Japan in 1998, with more details from John Simon about the musicians on each track. According to the CD’s Japanese liner notes, all members of The Band, except Robbie Robertson, play on the album. (Prairie Prince Minsky)

Track Listing

1. Last Summer Theme
2. Temptation, Lust And Laziness
3. Drivin’ Daisy
4. Cordelia
5. Sonuvagun
6. Hal, The Handyman
7. Beach Romp
8. The Subtle Evanescence Of Now
9. Lay Your Love On Me
10. Magnetic Mama
11. Safari Mary
12. Firehouse Blues
    

Mary Jane – O.S.T. (1968)

Artist: Mary Jane
Title: O.S.T.
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Sidewalk

Fabian plays a high school art teacher who is framed and busted while trying to convince the school principal that grass isn’t such a bad thing. Diane McBain plays a fellow teacher who has her own problems to deal with. The rebellious students are about as threatening as a teenage root beer bust. (Alfie Hitchie)

Track Listing

1. Theme From Mary Jane 1 [Mike Clifford]
2. Ellie’s Theme [Mike Curb & Lawrence Brown]
3. The Fun Zone [Mike Curb & Lawrence Brown]
4. Grass Party [Mike Curb & Lawrence Brown]
5. Pursuit [Mike Curb & Lawrence Brown]
6. Jerry’s Theme [Mike Curb & Lawrence Brown]
7. Bay City Boys [Mike Curb & Lawrence Brown]
8. Gas Hassle [Mike Curb & Lawrence Brown]
9. Theme From Mary Jane 2 [Mrs. Miller]
10. Store Stealing [Mike Curb & Lawrence Brown]
    

The Wild Racers – O.S.T. (1968)

Artist: The Wild Racers
Title: O.S.T.
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Sidewalk

Jo-Jo Quillico (Fabian), an unrestrained racing car driver, is hired by a race car tycoon to be runner-up for a more experienced driver in the year’s big European trophy races. Their common mechanic, Charlie, is also Jo-Jo’s close friend, sharing in his fast life.

In the first race, Jo-Jo cannot help but try to win and burns out the expensive car’s engine in the process. Jo-Jo then dumps his current girl friend and picks up another to see him through the next round of competitions. She too, however, is dropped when Jo-Jo gets a new car and takes up with another woman, Katherine (Mimsy Farmer), for whom he feels the first stirrings of real love.

He is also being cooperative with his boss by supporting his racing partner’s lead in several races. But his partner is injured, and Jo-Jo, given his chance, scores several spectacular victories.

Now an international figure among racing drivers, he must deal with the marital aspirations of Katherine. Aware that his way of life could never include marriage, Jo-Jo coldly replaces Katherine with a woman willing to share his carefree existence.

The usual Sidewalk artists are here on the soundtrack with production by Mike Curb, including the Arrows, (who perform the theme song) The Wild Racers and the Sidewalk Sounds. (TCM)

Track Listing

1. Wild Racers Theme [The Sidewalk Sounds]
2. Love Theme From The Wild Racers [The Arrows]
3. Bedroom Theme [The Sidewalk Sounds]
4. The First Meeting [The Sidewalk Sounds]
5. The Checkered Flag [The Arrows]
6. The Train Station [The Sidewalk Sounds]
7. Dance Party [The Sidewalk Sounds]
8. The Lonely River [The Sidewalk Sounds]
9. Love Theme [The Sidewalk Sounds]
10. The Bullfight [The Sidewalk Sounds]
    

The Cattanooga Cats – Original Music From The Hanna-Barbera ABC-TV Show (1969)

Artist: The Cattanooga Cats
Title: Original Music From The Hanna-Barbera ABC-TV Show
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Forward

Cattanooga Cats is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera for ABC. It aired from September 6, 1969 until September 4, 1971.

The show was a package program similar to the Hanna-Barbera/NBC show The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (see July 29, 2010 post), except that it contained no live-action segments. During the 1969–1970 season, Cattanooga Cats ran one hour and contained four segments. During the 1970–1971 season, the segments It’s the Wolf! and Motormouse and Autocat were spun off into a half-hour show.

Around the World in 79 Days remained a part of Cattanoga Cats, which was reduced to a half-hour. Motormouse and Autocat ran concurrently with Cattanooga Cats until both met their demise at the end of the 1970–1971 season.

Cattanooga Cats depicted the adventures of a fictitious rock band similar to The Archies and The Banana Splits populated by anthropomorphic hillbilly cats: Lead singer/guitarist Country (voiced by Bill Callaway) Singer/dancer Kitty Jo (voiced by Julie Bennett) Bassist Scoots (voiced by Jim Begg). Drummer Groove (voiced by Casey Kasem)

A fifth member, a mouse keyboardist named “Cheesie”, was storyboarded but cut out of the series. The group travelled around in a van, was chased by a female cat groupie named Jessie the “Autograph Hound” (also voiced by Julie Bennett) and Kitty Jo owned a big blue dog named “Teeny Tim”. The singing vocals for The Cattanooga Cats were performed by Michael Lloyd and Peggy Clinger.

Producer Mike Curb was the musical director for the series and co-wrote all the songs performed by the Cattanooga Cats. Ted Nichols composed the background music. An LP, The Cattanooga Cats (Forward ST-F-1018), featuring some of the songs used in the series was released in 1969.

The Cats also appeared in various “bumpers” between the other cartoons, but were best remembered for their animated musical segments. These cartoons showed a strong psychedelic and op-art influence and the Cattanooga Cats remain a cult favorite to this day.

Hanna-Barbera had high hopes for Cattanooga Cats to be a hit program, like The Banana Splits, but the show failed to attract a large audience during its original run. Mildew Wolf, the most popular character on the program, resurfaced six years after the cancellation of Cattanooga Cats as co-host, with Snagglepuss, on Laff-a-Lympics, this time voiced by John Stephenson. Lambsy appeared in Yogi’s Ark Lark.

Reruns of Cattanooga Cats were not seen until the program began airing as part of the Boomerang programming block on the Cartoon Network, which later became a spin-off network of its own.

For several months the UK Boomerang channel ran the musical interludes from the show, all of which ran to exactly 1 minute 45 seconds, as short (and unidentified) fillers before closing down at midnight. When the channel expanded to 24 hours, these interludes were dropped. The complete show has not been seen in the UK in recent years. (Wikipedia)

Track Listing

1. Cattanooga Cats Theme
2. Mother May I
3. How Did I Ever Get So Lucky
4. Wait A Minute For Country
5. My Group Has Too Many Cavities
6. Alle Alee Oxen Free
7. Country Carnival
8. Johnny Johnny Jump-Up
9. My Girlfriend Is A Witch
10. Mt Birthday Suit
11. Merry Go-Round
    

Gil Mellé – The Andromeda Strain O.S.T. (1970)

Artist: Gil Mellé
Title: The Andromeda Strain O.S.T.
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Kapp

In 1970, during the editing of his now classic movie The Andromeda Strain, the director, Robert Wise, approached me with a view to have the soundtrack album marketed in a special manner. I was then in charge of Order Service for MCA Records; that is, record manufacture.

He asked if it was possible to have the record pressed in a hexagonal shape as the extra terrestrial viral strain called Andromeda in the film was hexagonal. I said anything was possible, but that it would cost an estimated $20,000. While this was then a high figure for record production, it was minimal to the movie business and was agreed.

The executives at Kapp Records were only too happy to go along with the scheme as it relieved them of the production costs. (The soon to be defunct Kapp Records was one of several labels under the MCA umbrella at the time.) I discussed the matter with the president of Monarch Records, who pressed all MCA record requirements for the West Coast at that time.

My idea was to have the music recorded in 10 Au format but put on a 12 Au matrix and manufactured as a 12 Au record. A steel hexagonal mold would then be made and this would be used in a press to trim the excess material from the 12 Au record to make a hexagonal shape, leaving the 10 inches of recorded material intact. This became the production method.

Kapp had agreed to a production run of 10,000 records. The pressing process encountered some problems: the unrecorded surface of the record had to be roughed so that it could be gripped for the cutting. This left unsightly corners on the finished record, therefore a more careful method of roughing only those edges that would not form the corners of the finished record had to be devised. Also, for a run of 10,000, the edges of the mold had to be sharpened frequently so as to leave a clean edge on the record.

The packaging into the record jackets also required extra time compared with normal jacketing. However, the total cost, including a spare mold, came to somewhat less than the quoted figure of $20,000. MCA were fortunate in having a very creative design team for their record jacket production. John LeProvost and Virginia Clark wanted to reflect the fact that it was music from a movie, thus they came up with the idea that the jacket should emulate a camera lens surrounding the actual record, but nevertheless pasted on a 12 Au square board.

The original 10,000 records sold out fairly rapidly. Gil Melle, the composer of the music, urged a second pressing, but the Kapp management did not want to go to the expense of reproducing the original format. It was therefore decided to repress the 10 Au recording on a 12 Au standard record and package it in a standard jacket. This did not sell so well, and MCA soon lost interest in the record.

Hope that’s of some interest to the ANDROMEDA STRAIN fans out there. Looking forward to the continuation of the vinyl piece. (filmfactsman RYM)

Track Listing

1. Wildfire
2. Hex
3. Andromeda
4. Desert Trip
5. The Piedmont Elegy
6. Op
7. Xenogenesis
8. Strobe Crystal Green
   

Patty – O.S.T. (1976)

Artist: Patty
Title: O.S.T.
Year: 1976
Format: LP
Label: Stang

The album to this film about Patty Hearst is often overlooked by blaxploitation collectors but is well worth obtaining. The Stang studio band The Rimshots provide two great funk instrumentals, backed up by several other artists from the Stang label. As usual for Stang, the pressing is hissy and poorly recorded, but the music still grooves. (blaxploitation.com)

Track Listing

1. Patty [Title Song] [The Moments]
2. Do What You Feel [The Rimshots]
3. Revelation [The Rimshots]
4. Look At Me [Retta Young]
5. It’s Gonna Be Such A Beautiful Day [The Moments]
6. Love For The People [Chuck Jackson]
7. Gotta Get A Gun [Chuck Jackson]
8. Sexy Mama [The Moments]
9. Takin’ It [The Rimshots]
   

The Bugaloos – The Bugaloos (1970)

Artist: The Bugaloos
Title: The Bugaloos
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: Capitol

The Bugaloos is an American children’s television series produced by brothers Sid and Marty Krofft in 1970. This Krofft live action puppet show aired on Saturdays from 1970 to 1972. The Bugaloos were a musical group comprised four British-accented teenagers, each with antennae and wings, who lived in Tranquility Forest and had their own rock band.

They wore bug-oriented outfits which allowed them to fly (though on occasion flying on surfboards), and were constantly beset by the evil machinations of Benita Bizarre (played by comedienne Martha Raye), who was covetous of the Bugaloos’ musical prowess.

The show was produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, and aired on NBC from 1970 to 1972. Like its predecessor H. R. Pufnstuf (1969), The Bugaloos ran for only one season (1970-1971), with reruns airing the following year (1971-1972). It was shot in Los Angeles, California.

Touted as the British version of The Monkees, over 5,000 aspiring Bugaloos auditioned to cast the four leads, each having to demonstrate aptitude in dance, singing, and acting. Among those auditioning in spring 1970 was Elton John’s former manager, John Reid, as well as rock musician Phil Collins, who joined the art-rock band Genesis later that year.

Reid and Collins had been two of the three finalists for the role of “I. Q.” given to McIndoe, who has joked, “If one of those guys had gotten it instead of me, rock-’n’-roll history might have changed,” McIndoe wrote. “Whenever I see them, I say, `Hey guys, you were lucky you didn’t get the part.’”

Seventeen episodes of the series were produced. An album of Bugaloos music was released in 1970, and their song “For A Friend” actually charted as a minor hit. The complete series was released on DVD in May 2006. Cast members John Philpott, Caroline Ellis, John McIndoe and creator Sid Kroftt added commentary tracks to several episodes. (Prairie Prince Minsky)

Track Listing

1. If You Become A Bugaloo
2. Senses Of Our World
3. For A Friend
4. Believe
5. It’s New To You
6. Fly Away With Us
7. Older Woman
8. Just The Memory Stays Around
9. Gna Gna Gna
10. Castles In The Air
11. Bugaloos
    

Satan’s Sadists – The Wild Sound Of… O.S.T. (1969)

Artist: Satan’s Sadists
Title: The Wild Sound Of… O.S.T.
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Smash

The “Satans” are a very cruel biker gang led by Anchor. The gang goes to a diner in the middle of nowhere in the California desert where they begin to terrorize Lew and his patrons and his waitress, Tracy. After a little killing, one of the patrons named Johnny manages to escape from the bikers into the desert. They need to reach a town before the Satans catch up to them and kill them. The soundtrack features the music of Harley Hatcher and additional songs by The Nightriders and Paul Wibier. (Josh Pasnak)

Track Listing

1. Satan Theme [Paul Wibier]
2. Gotta Stop That Feeling [The Nightriders]
3. Nice Set [Cast]
4. Is It Better To Have Loved And Lost? [Paul Wibier]
5. I’m On My Way Out [The Nightriders]
6. Firewater [Harley Hatcher]
7. I Like The Way You Work [The Nightriders]
8. Baby How I Fell For You [The Nightriders]
9. Anchor’s Speech [Russ Tamblyn]
10. Love In The Afternoon [Harley Hatcher]
11. Can You Dig It? [Harley Hatcher]
12. Traces Of Love [Harley Hatcher]
13. The Chase Is On [Harley Hatcher]
14. Born Mean [The Nightriders]
15. Vietnam… [Cast]
16. Satan (Alternate Version) [Paul Wibier]
17. Satan’s Sadists Radio Spot (30 Sec.) [Casey Kasem]
18. Satan’s Sadists Radio Spot (15 Sec.) [Casey Kasem]