Star Trek - Three Exciting New Complete Stories

Tracks:
Passage to Moauv
In Vino Veritas
A Crier in Emptiness

Yet another Star Trek Power Record adventure that I somehow missed posting during the blog's first run! This beautifully designed LP features three adventures, all of which appeared in 45" form. Dig that back cover, with an incorrect Uhura and a really pissed-off-looking Enterprise bridge crew!


At first glance, this looks like the work of Neal Adams. But after examining it, it seems more like the work of some combo of Dick Giordano, Sal Almendola, and others from Continuity. No matter who did it, it looks great.

Star Trek - In Vino Veritas

Track:
In Vino Veritas

Another Power Record adventure that I somehow missed posting during the blog's first run, "In Vino Veritas" concerns the crew of the Enterprise trying to broker an uneasy (it's always uneasy) agreement with the Klingons and the Romulans. Unbeknownst to any of them, noted troublemaker Coriolanus Quince has spiked the drinks! This leads to lots of uneasy truths between the three sides, none of whom trusted each other to begin with.

Power Records continued its penchant for crafting unusual stories, especially when you consider they were meant for children. This plot is basically about how people drop their guard when they drunk, full stop (with a reference to "giggle weed" for good measure). I dunno, for my money it doesn't sound all that bad. Maybe if I had had this record as a kid, it might have led to a life of alcoholism.

The cover is by Neal Adams, and it's of course quite nice. But I will say one thing--I get the sense Continuity Studios was getting close to the deadline, so someone probably said "Eh, just put a big star pattern in the background, call it a day." Toothbrushes all around!

Dr. Strange - The Origin of Dr. Strange

Track:
The Origin of Dr. Strange

No, this is not a long-lost Power Record! This is a custom book-and-record sleeve I created to go along with an audio track from...the Dr. Strange radio show!

Yes, there was a Dr. Strange radio show. In 1967, an enterprising producer at WBAI in New York decided to put together a Dr. Strange OTR program, complete with a voice cast and sound effects, and give it a go. It didn't last long, and it pretty much completely disappeared from anyone's radar after that.

I never knew it existed until a fan of my Power Records podcast asked me about it, sending along this link to an interview with the creator of the show. My interest, as you might imagine, was piqued! Before I even got a chance to look into it, the followed up with a second email, this time to Booksteve Library's blog, featuring a link to buy CDs of the show! By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth!

I listened to the shows (seven episodes across two discs). They're a lot of fun, and really quite true to the spirit of the original Lee/Ditko comics. So then I thought, considering the fact that Power Records occasionally bought up pre-recorded audio tracks and slapped a new album sleeve on them, maybe they would have done the same with Dr. Strange? After all, he did star in a 1978 TV movie, so he probably had enough built-in fame to earn a Power Record, along with fellow TV stars Spider-Man, Captain America, and the Hulk.

So click the track link above to listen to a complete episode of the show, "The Origin of Dr. Strange." If you're like me, you'll want to hear more, so I suggest you head over to Booksteve's Library and order the CDs for yourself.

Original Power Records Art by John Romita

Check out this awesome original black and white art by the legendary John Romita, which appeared on the inside front cover to many of the Marvel Power book-and-record sets. When else would you get the chance to see Spider-Man, the Hulk, Dracula, Man-Thing, and the Planet of the Apes all intermingling?!? Click to embiggen, and note the slight changes that were made between Romita's original and the final printed version.

 

Thanks to Al Bigley's Big Glee! blog for the image!

Spider-Man - Invasion of the Dragon Men Cassette

Track:
Invasion of the Dragon Men

I really enjoy recording episodes of THE POWER RECORDS PODCAST, and a large reason why is due to my co-host, Chris Franklin (aka Earth-2 Chris). He grew up listening to the Power Records like I did, and he always has numerous fun observations about each audio adventure we profile on the show.

But sometimes he also drops some nerd knowledge on me--case in point, that Power Records released some of their productions on audio cassette! A few episodes back, Chris mentioned he owned "Invasion of the Dragon Men" on tape, which was a total shock to me! I had never seen any Power Record on tape, either in person or on eBay. A little while later, Chris found the tape (see above, oh-so-carefully labeled "Invasion of the Dragon MAN") and was kind enough to send a picture. Sockamagee!

This can't be the only Power Record released in this format, so now of course I'm dying to find others--most likely there's at least a Superman, Batman, and Hulk. The search continues, thanks Chris for being the blog's first Power Pal!

Batman LP

Tracks:

Mystery of the Scarecrow Corpse

Catwoman's Revenge

Robin Meets Man-Bat

Gorilla City

I don't know how I forgot to write about this awesome LP during the first iteration of the blog--it's Batman, it's Neal Adams, and I even own a copy! Not sure what went wrong there.

Anyway, as I mentioned, this second Batman record-only LP has got some amazing sleeve art by Neal Adams--it's unfathomably iconic. The Batmobile makes its first (and only) appearance on a Power Records sleeve, and it looks so exciting here I wish we had a bigger glimpse of it. The only (minor) complaint I have is that, tonally, "Gorilla City" doesn't fit with the rest of the stories, which are darker and grimmer. Probably had something to do with how much material could be fit onto the LP. In any case, a great Power Record!

Aquaman - City On The Edge of Nowhere!

Sadly, this book-and-record set from Power Records does not exist; it's a creation of Tyrone Biljan, who is a whiz at these things. Using Nick Cardy's cover to Aquaman #50, he crafted this little number, coming up with something that I would simply kill to listen to!

And bonus verisimilitude points for using actual interior pages from the comic for the inset, top right. Nice work as usual Tyrone!

Power Records "7 Super Adventures" Gift Set

This is a super-cool, hard-to-find Power Records "Gift Set" that includes seven 45" records featuring the biggest stars of Power Records, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, The Flash, Metamorpho, Plastic Man, the crew of Star Trek, and of course Aquaman, all rendered by the man, Neal Adams.

I had heard of this set, but had never seen it (even on eBay), until my pal George Rears got it for me, which was, as usual with him, extraordinarily generous.

There isn't anything in this set that Power Records hadn't released before, but its still a fun little set, and it was nice to see the Aquaman (oh, excuse me, "Aqua Man") record get included, as opposed to other Power Records' stars, like Wonder Woman, the Hulk, or Conan, by Crom.

Thanks George!

Peter Pan Records Display Ad

I found this awesome ad over on my pal Brian Heiler's blog Plaid Stallions. Brian says that he doesn't remember the Peter Pan/Power Records being displayed like this, but I do, sort of: my memory of finding these gems was at department stores like Woolworth's, who kept them on racks similar to what you see above, alongside the comic books (which makes total sense, from a merchandising point of view). This particular ad was designed for the 1978 toy fair.

It's hard to see (Brian has closer pics), but up top there are Welcome Back, Kotter and Laverne and Shirley records! Anyone remember ever seeing those in the real world?

Planet of the Apes - Dawn of the Tree People

Tracks:

Dawn of the Tree People

Another POTA TV show-centric plot, another stunning Neal Adams cover. "Dawn of the Tree People" features pour intrepid astronauts Burke and Virdon running afoul of a small pocket of surviving humans who live in the swamps, who don't take too well to strangers, to say the least.

Like the other audio adventures from this series, there's a lot more excitement to be found in the premise than in the execution. Maybe when the Power Records folks were contriving their own Apes stories they felt more constrained than when they were adapting the movies, which featured nuclear devastation, lobotomies, gun play, and city-wide ape riots.

Planet of the Apes - Mountain of the Delphi

Tracks:

Mountain of the Delphi

I completely missed covering these non-film Apes records during the first run of the blog, and I guess that was because I didn't have them as a kid and simply forgot they existed. But how could I have missed these beautiful sleeves by Neal Adams?

Using characters from the short-lived POTA TV series, Mountain of the Delphi is a fine, if a bit talky, adventure--which, IMO, makes it a very accurate adaptation of the source material. As usual, Neal Adams makes it look way, way more exciting.

These "other" Apes adventures were released as separate 45" records as well as all together on one LP.

Ghostly Sounds

 

Tracks:

Side 1

Side 2

Even as a Power Records collector, this LP was one I never bothered with because, as far as I understood, there was no story--it's just random spooky sounds. Plus, it's a Peter Pan record, not a "Power", so even if it I saw it as a kid I probably would have turned my nose up at it, relegating it to "kiddie stuff." After all, I was listening to the truly scary stuff, like Man-Thing and The Monster of Frankenstein!

That said, Ghostly Sounds isn't too bad--there's some genuinely weird stuff, which could do the, er, trick for some of the younger set. Plus, check out that sleeve art, by the unfortunately-named George Peed! How this guy never ended up at Mad or (at the very least) Cracked...

I found these scans online, so I haven't had a chance to see what the inside looks like. Now that the blog is back, maybe if I can find it on eBay for the right price I'll pick it up. Halloween is coming, after all...

Power Records Are Back!

Well, the blog that is!

The Power Records blog was one of my blogging efforts that I let fade away after a time. Strangely, people kept visiting it, reading, listening, and commenting, which was always nice to see. Over time, many of the outside links I used for the audio tracks were taken down, leaving the blog in a sorry state. Every so often someone would email, asking me if I was ever going to update the site, but I never had the time to take on such a massive job.

Well, I finally did make the time, so here are some of the changes you'll find: all links are now working, and I've added tracks for a few for some Power Records I didn't have before. Also, every post features an audio link that opens in a new window--no more Auto Play (I don't know what the hell I was thinking with that)! That way you can read and play easily, with just one click.

If you're a big Power Records fan, you might want to check out my show, THE POWER RECORDS PODCAST, co-hosted by me and Chris Franklin, aka Earth-2 Chris of THE SUPER MATES PODCAST. It's part of the FIRE AND WATER family of podcasts, and you can find all episodes of the show here, on iTunes, and on Stitcher.

Also: I will be adding even more improvements and content to the blog, so check back in occasionally to see what's new in the world of Power Records!

 

Marvel Power Records Ad

I remember seeing this ad growing up. From what I remember, Marvel slotted it in below different ads for other products, whether they were toys or other comics. Only $1.49 each!

The Power Records Podcast, Episode 6: Spider-Man!

The Fire and Water Podcast Presents: THE POWER RECORDS PODCAST, Episode 6

This week it's all about one of Power Records' biggest stars, The Amazing Spider-Man! Rob and Chris take a listen to two exciting Spidey audio adventures, "Return of the Conquistador" and "The Mad Hatter of Manhattan."

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Opening and closing themes courtesy Peter Pan Records.

Thanks for listening! Drop the needle and turn the page!