Sunday, February 24, 2008

Batman LP - 1975


Tracks:
One of the most--if not the most--popular Power Records LP, if its ubiquitous appearance on eBay is any indication.

The label lists Cornel Tanassy as producer, and for the first time writing credits are given: Joey Lapidos wrote "Stacked Cards", Joan Wile wrote "If Music Be The Food of Death", and DC Keeper of the Flame E.Nelson Bridwell wrote "The Scarecrow's Mirage" and "Challenge of the Catwoman."

I simply adore this Neal Adams cover--Adams makes The Riddler and especially The Scarecrow look so darn creepy. Between that and the muffled sound they gave his voice on the record(like he was being heard through a burlap hood) it cemented the Scarecrow in my young mind as one of Batman's most disturbing bad guys.



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Still have this in my mom's basement..."help me Batman, I'm stuck in the mud down here!"

Haven't heard it in like 30 something years but it still sticks in my head...great stuff

ozz said...

"The Bat Blog" (tomztoyz.blogspot.com) led me here.

I had this album when I was a kid, and like Joe above me wrote, I've never forgotten that line from The Joker.

Thanks for posting the audio.

Matt said...

That;s it. I straight love you. This was my second favorite image of Batman (back cover) and one of my favorite records! Why oh why did they stop drawing Batman the way they did in the late seventies? He was the COOLEST!

Jay said...

Being the earliest PR Batman stuff, these four stories have a certain stiffness about them particularly the portrayal of Batman, that reminds me quite a bit of Adam West. The Batman of later PR stories, like Gorilla City and Robin Meets Man-Bat is a little warmer and more like the Batman I remeber reading in late '70s DC Comics.

Stacked Cards is really great, and very illustrative of both how Power Records didn't dumb their stuff down for kids and how much entertainment has become "child-proofed" in the last 30 years. Not only do you see the museum guard dead with that awful leering grin on his face, but Batman and Robin casually discuss the Joker needing a frontal lobotomy (!!!): "Oh that Joker really is a menace, Batman - do you think an ice pick job would fix him?" Yikes!

And how about that Huntington Waterbury! What a great name!

Anonymous said...

The quote "Help me, Batman! I'm stuck in the mud down here!" brings back memories. So does:

"Oops, I tripped, Batman! Look... it's a body!"

"Yes, a dead one."

I do remember something about a frontal lobotomy conversation.

I'm pretty sure I still have several of these in the closet of my old room back at my parents' house. My mom never throws anything away.

Damon Grae said...

Wow I'm Freaking out I haven't heard these stories since I was a child and I have been searching for them ever since. Thank you for posting these.
I used to have the Batman along with the Suprman and Wonder Woman. I even remember being scared listening to the Batman LP. Thanks again this is wonderful nostalgia.
Damon

Anonymous said...

I'm 40 years old and I still have this record from when I was a very little kid!

Anonymous said...

Back when these records were new, a childhood friend of mine and I hijacked my parent's reel to reel tape recorder and used to have hours of fun taking dialogue from these Power records stories and editing it in with other records in our collections. We had great fun with the Joker's "Help me, Batman. I'm stuck in the mud down here!".

You can use your imagination as to the things we replaced the word "mud" with.

Dep1701

Anonymous said...

"Challenge of the Catwoman" was sampled in this song (Not Safe For Work):
http://youtu.be/HWfKkc2H3DI

Anonymous said...

I downloaded the audio from a few years back. I had this album when I was a kid. I downloaded it so I could share it with my son. I had the dialogue from this stuck in my head for years. Now, both my 8 year old son and I have it memorized. "Remember in the game of life.....THE JOKER'S WILD! Goodbye for now Batman and Robin. WE SHALL MEET AGAIN"

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