Kama Sutra (1970)

This Kama Sutra label looks like packaging for a Barbie doll. I would probably like this label a whole lot more if the color scheme were tweaked away from the pink. Honestly, this Pepto-Bismol shade of pink really must be the hardest color for a designer to work with tastefully in the entire spectrum of visible color. Maybe there are some garish purples and sickly greens that could be as tricky, but I think this one is pretty tough. I do really like the layout with the arc of icons.

This Caldera album is pretty crazy. It's a "moog mass" and features vocoded religious choral singing over moog arrangements, with a British guy reading prayers. Really spooky at times. It's not a totally freaked-out listen, the tracks are short and relatively concise, but the whole thing has got a very distinctive and interesting sound. Highly recommended for anyone interested in weirdo psych/religious stuff.

Flight Final

Because You Care Flexi

With the name Baptist Children's Home, I think of a Nursing Home with children knitting in a full-immersion baptismal font.

Jiggers!

There's a big bite out of the vinyl, so I can only imagine what Jiggers knows about ghosts and happiness.

Unknown

I have a couple entertaining religious records from the 1970s that rail on the usual suspects: rock music, hallucinogenic drugs, premarital sex, homosexual lifestyles, etc., but with this flimsy platter, Hal Lindsey tries to one-up 'em with full-on apocalyptic predictions. Unfortunately I've never been able to get through more than 30 seconds of this, so I'm not sure when the supposed doom will be unleashed. Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed and the Ghostbusters on speed dial.

Along with all of the other dumb shit that I now associate with the '80s (Ronald Raygun, chicks with bad hairdos and snaggletoofs that I had crushes on, James Brown's "Living in America"), we also get some really dope, cheap-ass-looking design work. I could be wrong, but it looks to me like this was some early computer graphics what with the font and bank of lines under the spindle hole. In some ways, the minimal look is both hokey and surprisingly ominous. I think it also makes for an appropriate record to start the countdown on my 12-day stint of labels -- and perhaps armageddon.

Note: I was going to include a link to Lindsey's Web site, but the dude appears to be a complete nut job. Here's his Wikipedia page if you're inclined.