Mad Monster Party

Woah! I always thought the Rankin-Bass puppeteering was a little odd (most folks of my generation only got to see the Christmas ones as a staple, with Burl Ives giving us him commentary on the situation). Phew, this is what happens when 1960s pop/jazz meets Halloween stop motion animation, you get Henry Mancini on amphetamines. This isn't your parents' idea of something to sit your kids in front of on Halloween if you expect them to grow up to be accountants or Republican Senators. The music, penned by the legendary Maury Laws, is always upbeat, harking back to some of his famous music on the Dr. Seuss classic "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". I've seen a lot of Rankin-Bass animation growing up, but I'm afraid to say I musta missed this one, but after reading the rather well-done liner notes, I have a need to track down a copy on video (or beg my local TV station) for a Halloween viewing. We even get to go as far as to have comedian Phyllis Diller grace the screen as a character (playing herself) and sing. If you've heard her talk before, you can just imagine her singing voice (granted it's not like having Harvey Fierstein sing on Mulan though). It's a bit of self parody, producing such an "over-the-top" type of film, but for the late 1960's, you could get away with a lot of things that you definitely couldn't today.

This is Percepto Records' first release, which is distributed by Retrograde Records (a subsidiary of Film Score Monthly). The company is headed by Taylor White, former proprietor of Creature Features in Burbank, California, who has started the record label to produce such hidden gems as this release, and from what we hear, and many to come. It's a well-produced album, good liner notes, a reasonable recording length, and of course, hopefully easy to find (either through Film Score Monthly or select retailers). I hope to see a lot of similar "little finds" making their way into our little niche marketplace like this release has.