Well I figured this would be a nice clearinghouse for all things AIP beyond a specific movie.
Now I found a nice bootleg comp of AIP themes, but it claims notes by Arkoff, who claims James Nicholson was a child molester. Now the tracks are amazing, but I can't imagine this is true or that even if it was Arkoff would ever say that. It's weird why ruin a great comp with making something up like that?
Now I found a nice bootleg comp of AIP themes, but it claims notes by Arkoff, who claims James Nicholson was a child molester. Now the tracks are amazing, but I can't imagine this is true or that even if it was Arkoff would ever say that. It's weird why ruin a great comp with making something up like that?
from SkinnyRobbie @ RateYourMusic.com
Talk about an oddball item. It must be a bootleg, since there's no dates, UPC, copyright info, catalog number, addresses, etc. No doubt a licensing nightmare. What we have here is 65 tracks spread over the course of two CDs. The first disc is comprised of songs from the peak era of American International Pictures' exploitation heyday, focusing on the teen market (horror movies, biker films, beach movies, etc.) 36 tracks from the likes of Frankie & Annette, Nancy Sinatra, Little Stevie Wonder, Lesley Gore, Louis Prima, Gene Vincent, and many others. Sources vary, but most of it is clean and clear. The second CD is film score music and instrumentals from Ronald Stein, Les Baxter, Davie Allen and the Arrows, and others. For the cult movie/exploitation freak (like me), this is a treasure trove of goodies that will make any Friday night pajama party even more of a wing-ding than it already is.
The oddest thing in the entire package is the liner notes, allegedy written by Samuel Z. Arkoff (the brains behind AIP) in which he says...
Americana. That's what we made at AIP. There were some people at the time, arty-farty types and the so-called pillars of the community, who said we made garbage. We didn't care because our pictures weren't made for those people. We made them for teenagers. Motorcycle movies, beach movies and so on and so forth.
My partner, Jim Nicholson, was the best title man in the business. He'd come in with a title like THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES and you could just hear the money pouring in. It was a shame really when he became a child molester back in '57. He was a good man (God rest his soul) but he just couldn't keep his hands off the little boys. Thanks to my efforts it was one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood. But his perversion destroyed his first marriage and his creativity. Officially, Jim left AIP in 1968 but I'd been running the company for eight years before that. Not that I need to take credit for everything. Who gives a shit?
There was a lot of music in those pictures that I made and I suppose there are some people who want to listen to it so I guess it's a good thing Back Door Records gathered a bunch of it together. I couldn't care less.
Huh? Did he really write that? A real head scratcher in so many ways. But yeah, if you can find this super rarity, it's well worth having for the boxing up of so much great music which in many cases is just not available elsewhere. I'd love to find a sequel that focuses on the 70's AIP output, but until such a thing is created, this will be blaring from my jukebox of retrosploitation.
Tracklisting:
Disc 1
1. Frankie & Annette - Beach Party
2. Frankie Avalon - Don't Stop Now
3. Annette - Treat Him Nicely
4. Annette - Surfer's Holiday
5. Frankie & Annette - Beach Blanket Bingo
6. Donna Loren - It Only Hurts When I Cry
7. Annette - A Boy Needs a Girl
8. Little Stevie Wonder - Happy Street
9. The Exciters - Gotcha Where I Want You
10. Linda Evans - New Love
11. Annette - Bikini Beach
12. Frankie & Annette - I Think You Think
13. Frankie Avalon - Running World
14. Annette - I'll Never Change Him
15. Annette - How About That
16. Nancy Sinatra - Geronimo
17. Annette - Pajama Party
18. The Lovin' Spoonful - Pow
19. The Bone Smokers - The Devil's 8
20. The Standells - Riot on Sunset Strip
21. Frankie Avalon - Fireball 500
22. Lesley Gore - Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows
23. Garry Mills - Look for a Star
24. Otto Brandenberg - Journey to the Seventh Planet
25. Laurie Mitchell - You're a Dolly
26. Kenny Miller - Eenie Meenie Miney Mo
27. Jerry Blaine - Puppy Love
28. John Ashley - You Gotta Have Ee-oo
29. Dick Contino - Wait'll I Get You Home
30. John Ashley - Annie Laurie
31. Louis Prima - Twist All Night
32. The Block Busters - Rock All Night
33. Nora Hayes - I Guess I Won't Hang Around Here
34. Fats - Ain't That a Shame
35. Gene Vincent - Baby Blue
36. Gene Vincent - Dance in the Street
Disc 2
1. Les Baxter - House of Usher
2. Les Baxter - The Pit and The Pendulum
3. Ronald Stein - The Premature Burial
4. Les Baxter - Tales of Terror
5. Les Baxter - The Raven
6. Ronald Stein - The Terror
7. Ronald Stein - The Haunted Palace
8. Ronald Stein - The Undead
9. Les Baxter - The Dunwich Horror
10. Ronald Stein - Dementia 13
11. Franz Reisenstein - Circus of Horrors
12. Ronald Stein - The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow
13. The Ball-Busters - Rock and Roll Guitar
14. Davie Allen & the Arrows - The Shape of Things to Come
15. Davie Allen & the Arrows - Devil's Angels
16. Davie Allen & the Arrows - The Wild Angels
17. Ronald Stein - High School Hellcats
18. Ronald Stein - Reform School Girl
19. Ronald Stein - The Bonnie Parker Story
20. Gerald Fried - Machine Gun Kelly
21. Ronald Stein - The Day the World Ended
22. Ronald Stein - It Conquered the World
23. Ronald Stein - Invasion of the Saucer Men
24. Al Glasser - Earth vs. the Spider
25. Al Glasser - The Amazing Colossal Man
26. Les Baxter - Master of the World
27. Gerard Schumann - Horrors of the Black Museum
28. Paul Ferris - The Conqueror Worm
29. Ronald Stein - She-Gods of Shark Reef
