LEGENDARY industrial musical - Diesel Dazzle - diesel engine tunes

$

145

If you've seen "Bathtubs Over Broadway" or read "Everything's Coming Up Profits," you know that private pressing "industrial musical" souvenir albums are some of the rarest and weirdest records in existence. These motivational musicals were only for dealers, salesmen, distributors and other industry insiders at sales meetings and conventions, and the souvenir vinyl records were not available to the public. And many of these shows boasted outstanding music and performances along with the bizarre corporate subject matter.

I'm the collector and historian profiled in the documentary "Bathtubs Over Broadway," and the co-author of "Everything's Coming Up Profits - The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals." I'm thinning out my stash of duplicates, and offering an assortment of records that range from the scarce, to the very rare, to the "you'll probably never encounter this again."

Here's "Diesel Dazzle," Detroit Diesel Engine Division of General Motors, 1966. A blue chip landmark of the genre that's prominently featured in "Bathtubs Over Broadway."

That title: four syllables that encompass the improbable juxtaposition of the genre: the heavy industry of "Diesel" slammed together with the showbiz glitz of "Dazzle." And somehow, it works.

It works because of the genius of Hank Beebe and the late Bill Heyer, who wrote the songs and the book. Hank and Bill did industrials (and other shows and projects) together for nearly 20 years, and here they're in top form, backed up by a company that insisted on excellence, a top-shelf brassy orchestra supplied with gorgeous arrangements, and an ace cast that included a young Hal Linden and future newsman David Hartman. 

The hits just keep on coming: from the bouncy title track, to "We Were There," a stirring tribute to diesel engines as a linchpin of modern civilization, to "Reliabilt Hoedown," a rollicking paen to Detroit Diesel's engine rebuild program, to "Sell Truck," an overview of all the truck lines that use Detroit Diesel engines, to "The Step Up," a dance craze number about service and parts, to "Daddy's AFA's," about a young woman hoping Daddy's long-delayed warranty work reimbursements come in someday, to "One Man Operation," about an overworked Detroit Diesel man learning to delegate so he could spend more time with his family. That one is so strangely powerful that 47 years later it made Terry Gross choke up, as she admitted when she had me on "Fresh Air" to talk about industrials.

The bold, punchy cover in the DD logo colors opens to a gatefold spread of show photos, a listing of the musical numbers, and credits.

And here's an extraordinary extra: THE HYPER-RARE SHOW PROGRAM, with cast bios, a message from two company executives, and even more credits. It took me years to realize a weird fact: the lettering on the program front has a differing color scheme than the lettering on the album cover. Yeah, I've spent a lot of time poring over this stuff.

"Diesel Dazzle" is the ONLY industrial known that was pressed in both stereo and mono, so the Detroit Diesel guys could request whichever version was better suited to their home system. DD was serious about keeping the musical excitement going long after the April '66 show was over. This copy is the STEREO pressing.

"Diesel Dazzle" was one of the first industrials I found back in the 90's, and was a big part of my turning from "what bizarre nonsense" to "I think this stuff is actually the weirdly fantastic work of geniuses -- what the hell is going on?" Fast forward 20-something years to me seated at a piano with Hank Beebe, now in his 90's, working on new songs together and feeling grateful that I paid attention to my curiosity.

This copy is not in as good condition as the previous copy I sold. The cover's quite presentable, with minor wear, and "25¢" in marker on the upper left corner. Sorry, that ship sailed long ago -- but I do like that detail as marker of how far industrial shows have come in stature and desirability. The program is in fine shape with crisp undamaged pages.
The vinyl has a few minor scuffs, but its main issue is a general dirtiness. It plays through fine, but with noise. I suspect that a thorough professional cleaning would bring it back to good audio quality, but I'll leave that up to the buyer, and I make no guarantees.

Don't miss out -- add "Diesel Dazzle" to your collection and your life.

Check out my other listings for many more killer examples of this deliciously strange and secret slice of American musical and corporate history, including other great Hank Beebe industrial material and another Detroit Diesel record.

Buyers of multiple records get a break on shipping charges.