The $650,000 Turntable

I am told that this Dereneville VPM turntable, by AV Design Haus, is priced at $650,000. Deutchmarks or dollars? Does it even matter?

Is this the most expensive turntable ever built? If it’s not, it probably was at one time. But with all that fine, precision German-built analog attention to detail, can it really compare to the ultra-high tech wonder that was my first record player ever?

Really, no amount of $650,000 high-tech inventiveness could ever create the thrill of discovery comparable to what I had as a kid plopping down this Power Records vinyl (see below) down on the Close ‘n Play and hearing the psuedo-Morricone Italian crime soundtrack music blasting out of those crap speakers.

I realize now that the music on the following clip was the gateway drug for my now-insatiable soundtrack collecting obsession when it comes to Morricone, Stelvio Cipriani, Piero Umiliani and others. Strange that you can pin down a lifetime of music obsessions to a single, very obscure record heard as kid:

P.S. The story on the Batman: Stacked Cards vinyl is HILARIOUS. Listen all the way to the end to hear Batman ruminating that a frontal lobotomy could return The Joker back to “normal society”! Hell, yeah–let’s save time and bother and lobotomize EVERYBODY!

–Joe Wallace

Maniac Soundtrack LP Reissue

Behold the ultra-rare vinyl reissue of Jay Chattaway’s score for William Lustig’s slasher opus, Maniac. The score was remastered by James Plotkin, and the record sports brand new liner notes by Lars Nilsen.

And how about that stunning artwork by Ken Taylor? Joe Spinnell leering at you from the cover is totally iconic. The original poster is excellent, but this album cover could become THE defining image for the film. This specific release is destined to be legendary and extremely collectible–it’s a heavyweight 200 gram vinyl record and limited to only 500 copies.

325 of those copies were pressed on black vinyl, with the remaining 175 copies pressed on clear vinyl with red mixed in. Those special copies are random, there’s no way to tell whether your copy is black vinyl or the colored vinyl.

The score itself is pretty fascinating. Shades of experimental Morricone, Goblin, but above all Jay Chattaway’s own unique take on quietly creepy atmospherics. If you’re looking for an excess of overly bombastic sounds and “gotcha” stings, you’re in the wrong place–take a listen for yourself:

This particular release is sure to be prized, and they have virtually disappeared from the shelves near as we can tell. Kudos to Alamo Drafthouse Cinema for getting this out–it’s an amazing piece of work!