National Film Board of Canada (1977)

How about this: a National Film Board of Canada double LP? This rare beast features soundtracks from some interesting NFB short films, notable highlights being three of Norman McLaren's scratched and synthesized pieces for his animations Blinkety-Blank, Rhythmetic, and Neighbors. The keeper on here for me is the soundtrack for Peter Foldes' early computer animation Metadata. This track starts with a long passage of some wicked-sounding synthesized squalls that transition into a funky psychedelic rock thing. A real rare groove to look out for.

The graphic NFB logo character is great but somewhat under-used on this subdued silver-gray label. In comparison with how energetic and visually thrilling the films represented on this record are, the label and package design are pretty low-key and serious.

Thanks to animator and record-collector Matt Marsden for finally putting this treasure into my hands after years of searching!

YV45013 (1967)

The Ugly Ducklings (Yorkville)

The great garage band makes an awkward attempt at blue-eyed soul. The a-side “Gaslight” is over-produced with horns and strings, and the instrumental b-side shown is a more stripped-down blues workout (which is to say, a total snore). I love the abstract swaths of pastel color on this Yorkville label, though confusingly their early singles and LP were released on “Yorktown” (?!).