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http://drop.io/spidey_reflections
...if you ignore the rest of this post, you at least owe it to yourself to scroll down and enlarge the image of the back cover (description is below as well).
about the album - here are some excerpts hijacked from the esteemed Chris Sims' recent post on Comics Alliance (yes, i read comic book blogs):
Everything single thing about it is simultaneously completely insane and totally awesome, from John Romita's painted cover to Stan Lee's narration to the gloriously, amazingly over-the-top songs themselves. And that's before you get to the fact that this is an ablum with a rock song about Doctor Octopus turning Thor into a go-go dancer.
Despite the re-release, "Rock Reflections" is still a pretty obscure piece of Spider-Man ephemera, and that's a shame because this thing is a hoot. Produced with studio musicians, it's essentially a musical journey through the highlights of Peter Parker's life, which is somehow even weirder than it sounds. It starts off with "High Wire," which, with the fact that the singer belts out the line "I'm a man... I'm a SPI-HIIIII-DER-MAN!", is unquestionably the single greatest song about Spider-Man ever produced. =Seriously, that opening guitar riff is my jam.
==
But oddly enough, that's not the song that most people probably heard. That honor would go to the album's first and only single, which (from what I understand) actually got airplay, albeit mostly through college radio stations: "Spider-Man."
I absolutely love this track. Not only does it capture the melodrama of the comics and feature more than its fair share of completely nonsensical metaphors ("I must be blind to see this clearly"), it's got the line "Once I was helpless / Now I rescue those who need it, when I can." For some reason, that "when I can" just strikes me as absolutely hilarious. Like "I save people when, you know, I'm not busy with other stuff."
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The music hits the absolute peak of its insanity, though, with "Doctor Octopus." All told, this thing covers three tracks, including a grand, synthesizer-filled theatrical introduction ("AND WITH SLEEEEEEEEP / COMES THE AWESOME DREEEEEEEEAM"), a piece of narration from Stan Lee, and then the craziest song you have ever heard.
I barely know where to begin with this, but first of all, it's a song that is also a dream sequence, so you know things are about to get radical right off the bat. Second, this the most soulful Dr. Octopus ever. I would buy this guy's album in a heartbeat, if only for the way he says "Avengaaaaaaaaaaaz" Third, this is a song about Dr. Octopus talking about how much he hates guys like Silver Surfer and Captain America, and I'm pretty sure that is nowhere near being that guy's deal. I mean, Silver Surfer? Do he and Doc Ock have a history I don't know about?
Fourth, and this is the most important, this is a song where Dr. Octopus threatens to turn Thor and the Black Panther into "go-go dancers." Fan. Tastic.
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But amazingly, while it blows the rest of the songs out of the water with its sheer madness, this is not the best part of the album. That would be the back cover:
As if the shot of Spider-Man himself in the throes of lyrical passion (which I'm going to go ahead and rank in the top two pieces of art of John Romita's legendary career) wasn't enough, the album credits all the music to other Marvel Super-Heroes, including Luke Cage on bass, Hulk on drums, Thor on trumpet (I woulda figured him for a percussionist), Conan and the Barbarians rocking the strings, and my personal favorite, Captain America on Tambourine.
Sorry, The Louvre. We have found a new collection of the world's greatest artistic treasures, and it is the back cover of "Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Super-Hero."
you're welcome.
-raman
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