I love vinyl. I still have my turntable…and my records. But like most modernists, most of my music listening these days is highly digitized—in fact; I’m considering having my iPod surgically implanted.
Click Joe's head for full groove.
Still, my love affair with the old school album format continues. Couple this with my admitted 70’s fixation and the following bit of useless-but-fun info burst forth to provide you with yet another enjoyable distraction.
Play It Safe! Vol. 4: This album comes courtesy of WFMU
This must be heard. Ah, the golden days of the 70’s record business. When you came up with a concept record, built your plan, put it in the market…and maybe even sold some. I guess this qualifies as a spoken word record but it is perhaps more accurately described as a “hi-fi” burglar alarm.
The Premise: Play this record on your home stereo while you’re on vacation. The resultant conversation on disc between an adult couple will surely deter lurking burglars by successfully duping them to believe that someone is indeed “home” (I can’t help but think of young Kevin in "Home Alone" succeeding in the execution of a similar dupe with the pizza delivery man.
But at this point, your logical mind kicks in and says “But when the record reaches the end of side one… it stops playing…Right? Well, these clever folks thought of everything. They even included some twist ties that you could strap on your turntable to keep this record looping for the duration of your absence.
A few thoughts to marvel at:
Someone came up with this concept. They had marketing meetings about it. A script was written and voice talent was hired. It was probably pitched at the sales conference of the distributor. It got sold-in to retail outlets. And somewhere…someone actually bought this in earnest—and not for the amazing comic novelty record that it now is.
But wait, there’s more…
The script is amazing. One gets the impression that it is a middle-aged East Coast couple jawing on about much of nothing. Slightly disturbing is the continually condescending tone in which the guy talks to his wife. The dialog twists are quite entertaining.
Don’t be surprised if you get sucked into listening to the whole thing.
To quote the Guinness TV commercial duo: ”Brilliant!”
