TELEVISION'S GREATEST HITS   -   Various Artists

YEAR:  1985
LABEL:  TVT
TRACK LISTING:  Captain Kangaroo (Puffin Billy),  The Little Rascals (Good Old Days),  The Flintstones (Meet the Flintstones),  The Woody Woodpecker Show,  Bugs Bunny Overture (This Is It),  Casper the Friendly Ghost,  Felix the Cat,  Popeye,  Yogi Bear,  Magilla Gorilla,  Top Cat,  The Jetsons,  Fireball XL-5,  Howdy Doody,  The Beverly Hillbillies (Ballad of Jed Clampett),  Petticoat Junction,  Green Acres,  Mr. Ed,  The Munsters,  The Addams Family,  My Three Sons,  The Donna Reed Show,  Leave It To Beaver (The Toy Parade),  Dennis the Menace,  Dobie Gillis,  The Patty Duke Show,  The Dick Van Dyke Show,  Gilligan's Island,  McHale's Navy,  I Dream of Jeannie,  I Love Lucy,  The Andy Griffith Show,  Star Trek,  Lost In Space,  The Twilight Zone,  Alfred Hitchcock Presents,  The Adventures of Superman,  Batman,  Flipper,  Combat,  The Rifleman,  Bonanza,  Branded,  F-Troop,  Rin Tin Tin,  Daniel Boone,  The Wild Wild West,  The Lone Ranger (William Tell Overture),  Happy Trails,  Mission:  Impossible,  The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,  Get Smart,  Secret Agent Man,  Dragnet,  Perry Mason,  Adam-12,  The F.B.I.,  Hawaii Five-O,  77 Sunset Strip,  Surfside 6,  Ironside,  Mannix,  The Mod Squad,  The Tonight Show (Johnny's Theme),  The Late Late Show (Syncopated Clock)
IMPRESSIONS:  This is the one that started it all -- the flood of TV theme song compilations to follow.  I will forever associate this with Rustler.  One night after closing, we all sat around a table in the Rustler Steak House dining room listening to my tape of this album and playing "who can guess the TV show first".  No one will ever forget Meg's immortal guess:  "Smoke Gun????".  The San Francisco Chronicle famously called the album "the most fun you can have with your pants on".
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  The Little Rascals (Good Old Days),  Bugs Bunny Overture (This Is It),  Casper the Friendly Ghost,  Top Cat,  The Jetsons,  Petticoat Junction,  Green Acres,  Mr. Ed,  The Munsters,  The Addams Family,  My Three Sons,  The Patty Duke Show,  The Dick Van Dyke Show,  Gilligan's Island,  McHale's Navy,  I Dream of Jeannie,  I Love Lucy,  The Andy Griffith Show,  Star Trek,  Lost In Space,  The Twilight Zone,  Alfred Hitchcock Presents,  The Adventures of Superman,  Batman,  Flipper,  Bonanza,  F-Troop,  The Wild Wild West,  Happy Trails,  Mission:  Impossible,  Get Smart,  Secret Agent Man,  Dragnet,  Perry Mason,  Adam-12,  Hawaii Five-O,  Mannix,  The Mod Squad,  The Tonight Show (Johnny's Theme),  The Late Late Show (Syncopated Clock)
FACT SHEET:  TELEVISION'S GREATEST HITS is the first album in the series of TVToons albums which ran to 8 volumes.  The album features both original soundtrack recordings taken from the TV shows themselves as well as newly recreated versions of themes.  The original vinyl pressing of the double LP featured brief narration by announcer Don Pardo which was sadly excised for the cd reissue. 

CHILDREN'S TREASURY OF BATMAN MUSICAL STORIES  -  The Merriettes

YEAR:  1966
LABEL:  Tifton
TRACK LISTING:  Look Out For the Batman,  Ho Ho Ho The Joker's Wild,  The Wonderful Boy Wonder,  The Penguin,  Here Comes the Batmobile,  It's the Batman,  The Joker Gets Trumped,  There Goes Robin,  A Penguin Caper,  The Battiest Car Around
IMPRESSIONS:  The kiddiest of kiddie records.  The music here sounds very "Peter Pan Players" and is perfect for boppin' toddlers.  The singing is so breezy and chirpy it's hard to remember this album concerns the Dark Knight Detective.  Either released right on the cusp of the campy BATMAN TV show craze, it's particularly fun to hear the struggling orchestra try to cope with the hip, modern, go-go sound on "There Goes Robin".  One can only suppose children are instructed to do the "Batusi" while listening.  Also, the musical intro to "Ho Ho Ho The Joker's Wild" is nothing other than the "Casper the Friendly Ghost" theme surely lifted without permission.  Another well-known super-hero would get the "Merriettes" treatment . . . but that's a story for another day. . .
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Look Out For the Batman,  Ho Ho Ho The Joker's Wild,  The Penguin,  Here Comes the Batmobile,  It's the Batman,  The Joker Gets Trumped,  A Penguin Caper,  The Battiest Car Around
FACT SHEET:  No facts . . . just bats.

BATMAN - Power Records

YEAR: 1975

LABEL: Power

TRACK LISTING: Stacked Cards, The Scarecrow's Mirages, Challenge of the Catwoman, If Music Be the Food of Death

IMPRESSIONS: As a comic book reader from the age of nought, I thought I'd hit the jackpot when I first discovered Power Records in the mid-70's. I really don't know which I found first but I believe it was probably the 45 rpm records packaged inside an actual comic book of the story dramatized. It was, however, probably the Marvel Comics adaptation of the first issue of "THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN". This BATMAN album was the one and only Power Records 33 1/3 LP I ever owned as a kid and it was a treasured item. Apparently, it is also the most popular and sought after Power Record of them all if ebay prices are anything to go by. While some of the campiness of the 60s BATMAN TV show still clung to the album like fear gas from the Scarecrow's gun, I found it to be particularly "grown-up" sounding (to my 9 year old ears) with music and sound effects just like the old-time radio shows I would grow to love several years later. Now of course the acting is laughably stiff and melodramatic and some of the dialogue is MST3K-worthy; a particular favourite of everyone appears to be the Joker caterwauling: "Help me, Batman! I'm stuck in the mud down here!". -- although mine is probably when Robin says "Oops, I tripped. Batman, look! It's a body!" and Batman replies "Yeeeeees, a dead one!"

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: All of 'em. This is getting monopollus!

FACT SHEET: BATMAN is a collection of four dramatized adventures by Power Records. The beautiful cover which was iconic from my childhood is drawn by comic great Neal Adams. The album was produced apparently by Cornel Tanassy for Power Records. "Stacked Cards" was written by Joey Lapidos, "If Music Be the Food of Death" was written by Joan Wile and both "The Scarecrow's Mirages" and "Challenge of the Catwoman" were written by long-time comic book scribe E. Nelson Bridwell.