This one’s personal. I met Terry Knight when I was 11. I was traveling alone on a plane from Cleveland to New York just after Thanksgiving 1972. I wasn’t too happy about heading back to boarding school and Terry and his beautiful Swedish girlfriend Pia invited me to sit between them. We played cards and talked and they really cheered me up. He told me that he managed Grand Funk Railroad, which at the time was one of the biggest bands around. We exchanged addresses and about a week later I got a box of Lps, cool T-shirts and other band swag. That Christmas and for the next three Christmas’s Pia and Terry and I exchanged cards. Much later I found this and his other records with Terry and the Pack. I read recently all about his falling out with Grand Funk, his failed attempts to cash in, his panned comeback with Mom’s Apple Pie, (a recalled cover that’s destined to be posted on Lp Cover Lover), and finally his descent into drugs before he got into a fight with his daughter and was killed by her boyfriend in 2004. At the time of my brief encounter, he was on top of the world with eight gold records. To me, he was just a really nice guy who went out of his way to cheer up a sad and lonely kid. I wonder how Pia is today.

“The Mighty Hercules” Golden Records. A Trans-Lux Television Presentation, Produced by Adventure Cartoons for Television Inc., The Mighty Hercules followed the adventures of mythology’s son of Zeus. Hercules traveled with his companions Helena, Newton a centaur, Prince Dorian and Tewt a satyr. The main recurring villain was Daedalius, the evil wizard. Other villains included Wilhemine the Sea Witch as well as the Mask of Vulcan. The theme song was by Johnny Nash. It was on the air from 1963-1966.

The Chad Morgan Song Book.   EMI Columbia.

Another from the pen of the always awesome Jack Davis!   “Spoofing the Big Ones!   Ben Colder as played by Sheb Wooley.   MGM Records.   1962.   Includes:   Don’t Go Near The Eskimos / Ballad Of A Mean Ole Queen / I Walk The Line No 2 / Hello Walls No 2 / Walking The Floor Over You No 2 / Don’t Take Your Cash To Town / Little Bitty Steer / Real Me / Devil Woman No 2 / Don’t Worry Bout Me No 2 / Shudders And Screams / Release Me No 2

Ratana Presents a Programme of Maori and English Favourites.   Viking Records.

“Bei Mir TWIST Du Schon”   The Temples   Ad Lib Records.

Foster Sylvers.   Pride Records.   “Misdemeanor” was a top ten hit in 1973 and still holds up as well as any of the Jackson Five songs from that time.   (Foster was ten!)   It’s just a great, funky, pop-soul song with great arrangements by Jerry Peters.   Other cuts on the album are nice covers including  “I’m Your Puppet”, “Mockingbird”, “I’ll Get You In The End”, “Swooperman”, “More Love”, “Happy Face”, “Lullabye/Uncle Albert”, and “Only My Love Is True”.     Foster was part of another family group “The Sylvers” that had a couple of hits in the mid-seventies, “Boogie Fever” which went to #1 in 1975 and “Hot Line” which reached #3 the next year.

Gallodorro

Gene Martin “My Soul Magnifies the Lord”   An A.A. Allen production on his evangelical Miracle Records label.   On red vinyl.

Thunderbird Records Present “Indian Songs of the Southwest” (Gems for Collectors) Includes a paste on cover of native American art by Gerald Nailor from 1948. Interesting liner notes too.