Genre: disco / bizarre
Rating: ** (2 stars)
Title: The Wizard of Oz
Company: Millennium
Catalog: MNLP-8009
Year: 1978
Country/State: Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania
Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+
Comments: conventional black vinyl
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 4864
Price: $9.00
I'm not even going to speculate how much cocaine must have been involved in this bizarre mid-1970s offering ...
Musically the concept behind 1979's "The Wizard of Oz" isn't really all that different than Meco's earlier releases - take a well known film and subject it to a horrible 'discofication' process. Co-produced by Meco, Tony Bongiovi and Harold Wheeler (the same crew that was responsible for his "Star Wars" success), you have to admire the man's guts for being willing to tamper with the 1939 film classic (and to Neil Bogart for agreeing to finance something as goofy as this). To be honest, Meco's clumsy orchestration and pedestrian disco rhythms make the album sound much like his earlier releases. In spite of the song titles, there really isn't much of a plotline here. The group voices are all anonymous and the helium gas propelled muchkin segments are simply irritating. The end result is that most folks will start to gag about two minutes into this. On the other hand there's a group of you out there that will find immense pleasure in wading though disco-fied versions of such classics as 'Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead' and 'Over the Rainbow'.
Two related pieces of trivia: Some copies were pressed on transparent yellow vinyl (yellow brick road), and Millennium released a single off of the set: 'These from the Wizard of Oz' b/w 'Fantasy Demo' (Millennium catalog number MN 620).
"The
Wizard of Oz" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 1:58
2.) Cyclone (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 3:43
3.) Munchkinland (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 1:19
4.) Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 2:00
5.) Munchkinland (Again) (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 0:40
6.) We're Off to See the Wizard (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 3:32
(side
2)
1.) Poppies (Harold Arlen -
E.Y. Harburg) - 1:12
2.) The Spell (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 1:42
3.) Optimistic Voices (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 1:31
4.) The Merry Old Land of Oz (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 1:14
5.) The Haunted Forest (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg)- 1:22
6.) March of the Winkies (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 1:20
7.) Dorthy's Rescue (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 1:11
8.) If I were King of the Forest (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 0:57
9.) Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 1:05
10.) The Reprise (Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg) - 3:17