Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

       The 1988 movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit (based on the novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit ) had a world where Baby Herman and Roger Rabbit starred in Maroon Cartoons. The character was popular enough that Disney made a new short with the duo that showed before Honey, I Shrunk the Kids . Dark Horse made a spoof of serials called Monarch of the Moon  that showed American flying hero Yellow Jacket versus Japanese villainess Dragonfly. Now that I had the cartoon and serial I needed the main feature. I chose Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid , which not only stars Steve Martin but has Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and many more stars of the Golden Age.      Put these all together and you have a 1940s movie-going experience from a past similar to our own,   Tummy Trouble - Roger Rabbit Short [HD] - YouTube Monarch of the Moon Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) Original Trailer [HD] - YouTube

       Back when I realised CDs were here to stay (well for a while anyway), I chose Days of Future Past  to be the first LP I would replace with a CD. I believed The Moody Blues' orchestral, layered music would suit checking compact discs crystal clarity over The Ramones. They had made many beautiful albums when in 1972 it looked like that would be the last of the group. Luckily in 1978 they did put out a new record. However for this blog I am focusing on 1976 when all the members worked on solo efforts. I did not use any tracks from the Graeme Edge Band as Adrian Gurvitz did the vocals, although to be far, I tend to think of Edge doing spoken word more than singing. I take name of his album for this so he could still be represented.       From Justin Hayward's album, Songwriter , I pulled three songs, "Tightrope", "Nostradamus" and "Doin' Time". John Lodge's Natural Avenue  gave me "Piece of My Heart", "Broken Dreams, Hard ...

  Quinn Martins was all over the television in the 1970s. He produced "Streets of San Francisco", "Barnaby Jones", "Cannon" and many more show about crime solvers. In 1978 he teamed up Brian Clemens who had been working on the British series, "The Avengers". Together they tried to make an American version of John Steed and Mrs. Peel. The pilot was a "movie of the week" on CBS. It did not do well enough to get a series. I would have been curious to see where it would have gone. If you are curious, the pilot can be viewed here; CBS Network Special - Escapade - WBBM-TV (Complete Pilot Broadcast, 5/19/1978) 📺

      David Johansen died on February 28th. He was the last surviving members of the New York Dolls. The Dolls were pioneers of the punk scene and influenced, with both their look and sound, bands like Kiss and Twisted Sister. After putting out albums in 1973 and 1974 they went their separate ways. This is a 1979 album that never was. From Johansen's album In Style,  I grabbed the title song, "She" and two songs he co-wrote with Sylvain Sylvain: "Wreckless Crazy" and "Flamingo Road". From Sylvain Sylvain's eponymous album I chose "Teenage Dreams", Tonight" and "Emily". Johnny Thunders' October 1978 album So Alone  gave me two songs that he wrote with Johansen, "Subway Train" and "Downtown". In 1979 Jerry Nolan and Arthur Kane put a single with the band The Idols. Both songs, "You" and "Girl That I Love" and on this "What If" album. New York Dolls- IDOLS - YouTube

       For a long time, I have been wondering "what if Highlander  was made in the 1940s?". I would love to see Errol Flynn as the immortal swordsman. It would be great to see Basil Rathbone with him as an ally instead of an enemy, so I cast him in Sean Connery's role of Ramirez. William Keighley was a director who (in my mind) could direct any style well so I think he would have the right flair for a cross-genre movie like this.  Include a score by Max Steiner and I would be in heaven.

       This is actually a "what if" by AEC. As follower of this blog know, I am a big E.L.O. fan. I was working on the idea of what would the second album be like if co-founder Roy Wood had stayed. While looking up things I found that the Albums Back from the Dead blog had not only already done it, but I thought it was great. The songs chosen and front cover are from that, all I did was make a booklet and tray card for it. Check out the original blog here:   Albums Back from the Dead: Electric Light Orchestra -- "The Lost Planet" and here is the playlist: ELO The Lost Planet - YouTube