Rat on!

 The title of this entry is in reference to this great (?) album by Swamp Dogg at bizarrerecords.com. :)

This is actually a gatefold. Behold!

 It looks happy!

It continues on the other side and has the band on its tail. Of course, if this was done nowadays, they'd probably all be in proportion to each other and the guy on the far right would have the same contrast levels as the rest. Heh.

Here's some info from the interior left side:

I love that Speed Limit 8 M.P.H. sign! :) Lots more info about "the world's most famous unknown band" at their official site.

Wanna hear the whole shabang? Go here! It's really good! I daresay it reminds me of The Osmonds. (think "Crazy Horses", "Hold Her Tight" and such) Tough rock.

Here's the opening track:

Ring The Bells

'Standard looking cover,' I thought as I picked it up...

...and then I noticed it's actually this cool gatefold. Those windows almost look real!

The window shape motif continues on the back, as you can see. Some info on the group here and here.

Here's their biggest hit (#1 in Canada, #7 in the U.S.), "Stay Awhile":

Meh. :p

Unnecessary cheesecakery?

Such a beautiful cover...

Great looking woman, nice tiger (stuffed, no doubt). But as we shall determine later, was this non-Jo Ann cover necessary?

Nice selection of classics. :)

Some info on Jo Ann. Being a regular on the Lawrence Welk Show was an impressive gig!

Alrighty, now we'll take a look at Jo Ann herself...

If you ask me, that's a very nice looking lady! She has a Karen Steele vibe going on in this pic, and that's good, good thing. ;) I've looked up other covers of hers and there were several others that used random models. A few had Jo Ann on the front, including one very similar to this, but in less glamorous clothes.

Here's a great vid of her playing "Maple Leaf Rag": 

K-tel's Goofy Greats

I'm pretty sure I had this one growing up, based on the tracklist, but it's hard to say for sure, because they tended to use the same songs on multiple compilations. :p

Typical fun, song-based art. I'll let you guess what goes with what.

Typical plain back cover. You'd see anything interesting on the back of a K-tel record!

Quite an awesome selection! I'm blanking on a couple of them, but most were big favorites growing up. I particularly like "Little Green Bag". :) Wanna hear it? Okay!

The Polka Dot Door!

The Polka Dot Door was a long-running kids' show produced by TVOntario in Canada. Here is one of their fine records. :)

That inscription reads "To Jennifer [and] Stephen, Keep Smiling, Love Carolann" & ...Davey? Not sure. I'm guessing it was added by whoever gave the album to Jennifer, especially as it's in a different color of ink.

This was the cast at the time, which included the mighty Denis Simpson and the also mighty Nerene Virgin (who co-hosted the MIGHTY Today's Special!) at some point. Oh look, there's Carolann! Let's have a closer look...

WOW.

Here's a video of the intro to the show:

Wild about Jack!

Best known for roles in Oliver! and H.R. Pufnstuf, Jack Wild also had a musical career, and boy oh boy, you can sure tell they were trying to turn him into the latest, greatest heartthrob of the time, as evidenced by the pictures below!

Jack galore!

The ol' vital stats gatefold. Everything you wanted (?) to know about Jack, but didn't ask. :p I suppose this was very important info for teen and pre-teen girls.

Here's a nice interview not long after his 'Best Supporting Actor' nomination for Oliver!

Judy, Judy, Judy!

Needless to say, this album caught my attention in the thrift store...

Yeah, this is the back cover first. Heh.

Pretty lady. :) Are her eyes really that blue? More on Judy here and here!

The title track hit #66 on the U.S. Hot 100 list and #16 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary list. Here it is: