365 Days #27 - General Electric - Go Fly A Kite (mp3s)

MP3:
01 Be Direct With Me (2:53)
02 Witchcraft (1:12)
03 Supermink (1:52)
04 Manpower (1:53)
05 Dingo's Protest/We're Twenty-One/That Great Big Au Go-Go In The Sky (4:34)
06 Absolutely Available (3:02)
07 Perfect Control (2:51)
08 A Big Fat Wife (1:12)
09 We're Makin' Our Own (3:07)
10 No, No, Not That/PDM Can Do (4:42)
11 34 Years From Today (4:05)
12 Welcome To Williamsburg (2:24)
13 The Proper Perspective (2:26)
14 Through The Magic Door (1:40)
15 Let Me Put It To You This Way (3:36)
16 Go Fly A Kite (2:04)
17 Atom And Evil (1:16)
18 Heaven Out Of Hell (2:07)
19 Make A Woman Out Of Your Wife (6:31)
20 Times Have Changed (3:19)
21 Finale (1:01)

"Go Fly A Kite" by General Electric is one of the best examples of an Industrial Musical. Not only is this a double album, but the gatefold cover is chalk full of photographs of the actual live stage performance!  For just about every single song, you get to see what the actors and singers were doing and wearing, along with the campy sets that draped the background.

I've had this LP for several years now and used to play it on my old radio shows (Oddity Rock Radio & Delirium In Hi-Fi) on KWCR. I'd like to list just a few favorite tracks along with some of the original liner notes that explain them.

Start listening with this one:

#1 - "Heaven Out of Hell" (Definitely the Standout Track of the Musical!)
"While George attends the Conference, Richard responds to Martha's wish to see the past, and particularly, Marie Antoinette.  They end up in Hell, where the devil indignantly refuses to let Martha visit "that woman in the bakery."  Unabashed, Martha tells the Devil his Hell isn't so hot, his transportation system is all snarled up, and, in general, he's operating inefficiently and uneconomically.  She and Richard persuade the devil to electrify Hell through Richard's magic powers.  Instantly, the air is purified, the furnaces operate efficiently, and traffic is unsnarled at the River Styx.  Horrified, the devil realizes he has been tricked into making a Heaven out of Hell through electricity."

#2 - "Make a Woman Out of Your Wife" (The most epic song of the musical. This track almost seems to go on a bit longer than it should but it's hilarious imagining this woman dressed in a white gown caressing blenders, irons, clocks, electric fans, and egg beaters, like the picture inside the record sleeve. To be placed on every Christmas compilation later this year :)
"Mr. Smith wishes for the magic to express the transformation which electrical products make possible in the life of the American woman. Richard obligingly evokes an enchanting woman and an overwhelming procession of housewares, kitchens, and home entertainment products."

#3 - "Atom and Evil" (For some reason I gave this track the most airplay.  Possibly because of it's length.  Love the characterized voices!)
"(Martha) ... asks George what the General Electric speakers are talking about next. George replies, "Nuclear Power".  Hearing this, a group with picket signs erupts onto the stage and does a number good-naturedly spoofing unreasonable and misinformed views of nuclear power."

#4 - "Perfect Control" ( I just like this one :)
"In the course of his talk, Mr. White emphasizes the inherent simplicity of design of a boiling water reactor and its self-regulating nature, which keeps the reaction under perfect control.  This inspires a beautiful blond girl in a Harlow dress to sing her version of the subject."

#5 - "No, No, Not That!"
"In the office of Dr. Jung, a psychiatrist, a burly victim of amnesia cannot recall anything until a pretty nurse enters and the doctor acknowledges the patient's healthy reaction by saying, "She's got a pretty good distribution, eh?"  The word "distribution", plus a hefty shot of truth serum, triggers total recall in the patient, who remembers how his mother, wife, and daughter were always pressuring him about appearance, reliability and cost."

#6 - "Thirty-Four Years From Today"
"We find George during the coffee break after the distribution presentations, musing about transmission problems that have to be solved long before the end of the century.  Martha says, "Thirty-four years?  My, you are a long planner."  But George reminds her that he asked for her hand only thirty-four years ago".

#7 -  "Dingo's Protest" (Self-explanatory)
Not in any particular order, but I guess I had more favorites than I thought!  Enjoy :)

PS. Coming up in February on 365 Days - "General Electric Silicone Products Department - Got To Investigate Silicones" (Wink)

- Contributed by: B.C. Sterrett (The Lost Media Archive)

Images: Front Cover, The Show!, More of The Show! (courtesy of: Jonathan Ward)

Media: 12" 2-LP
Album: Go Fly A Kite
Label: General Electric
Credits: Fifth Electric Utility Executives Conference, Williamsburg, Virginia
Date: September 19-21, 1966

Comments

[Jonathan Ward]

Not that it matters much, but the correct order of the tracks is as follows:

1. Welcome to Williamsburg
2. The Proper Perspective
3. Through the Magic Door
4. Let Me Put It To You That Way
5. Go Fly A Kite
6. Atom and Evil
7. Perfect Control
8. A Big Fat Wife
9. We're Makin' Our Own
10. No, No, Not That
11. PDM Can Do
12. 34 Years From Today
13. Be Direct With Me
14. Witchcraft
15. Supermink
16. Manpower
17. Dingo's Protest/We're Twenty-One/That Great Big Au Go-Go In the Sky
18. Absolutely Available
19. Heaven Out of Hell
20. Make A Woman Out of Your Wife
21. Times Have Changed
22. Finale

Also worth noting, although those who know this record are familiar with this info already: the show was written by Broadway mainstays John Kander and Fred Ebb (along with industrial show mainstay Walter Marks), right before their next project - "Cabaret" - opened on Broadway.

And if you listen closely, you'll hear Valerie Harper in the cast.

[Serphina]

Is that the same Velerie Harper that was in the SUPERMAN films? I had no idea she was a singer. She was also in the 1973 PBS drama STEAMBATH. Not sure what she's doing now.

[MIGUEL]

"Steambath" also starred Bill Bixby. PBS wouln't dare air something like it now. it was the first time nudity was shown on American TV. Valerie co-starred in the Superman films

[HP]

Valerie Perrine was naked in Steambath. Valerie Harper was Mary's friend Rhoda who married David Groh.

[Andrew]

"Is that the same Velerie Harper that was in the SUPERMAN films?"

You're thinking of Valerie PERRINE.

The Valerie Harper on this LP was Rhoda on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW.

[Jonathan Ward]

I think you guys are thinking of Valerie Perrine. Valerie Harper is best known as "Rhoda."

[Martini Man]

This is a great industrial music album. I have other General Electric LPs in my collection, but not this one. Thanks for posting it.

Which song is Valerie Perrine on?

[Walter]

sounds like Valerie Perrine is on Track 20 (Make A Woman Out of Your Wife) - from what I understand she is also sometime President of the Screen Actors Guild and an animal rights advocate

[Patricia Gleason]

This is one of the most interesting company albums I've ever heard.
I think others are confused. Which track is Valerie Harper on? Is it track 20?

Do you have other General Motors albums? I would love to hear them if you do!

thanks--Patricia

[Jonathan Ward]

Patricia -

Valerie Harper sings throughout the entire album. She was one of the three or four women in the cast.

Jonathan

[Listener Kliph]

Atom and Evil - also the name of a stellar doo-wop song that can be heard on The Atomic Cafe soundtrack. BTW, Atomic Cafe starred a naked Valerie Harper as a clothed Valerie Perrine. How about that.

[Jonathan Ward]

Yeah - and wasn't that doo-wop song written by famed surrealist Paul Valéry?

[D-No Da Di-No-Saw]

Where else but WFMU can a bunch of record collectors talk about Valerie Harper! Such is life on the internet! How exciting!

[Clayton]

Steambath is one of very few works to have been "banned" by the Catholic church in the 1960s and '70s. The only others I can think of from the period are Midnight Cowboy and The Exorcist.

[cash back]

interesting read well done and thanks.