Some things were destined for one another, just like Harry Manfredini and his Echoplex.
The summer of 1985 was one of the hottest in decades for Los Angeles. Having just arrived, the place seethed with electricity, zapping me with my first sensations of culture shock. Not really shock–more like electrocution. Music, gritty urban danger, and opportunity seemed to be around every corner. The media went batshit over Live Aid and the fact that serial killer Richard Ramirez was still on the loose. The daily high temperatures, which blasted way past 100 degrees in the San Fernando Valley where we now lived, made all these new symptoms even more severe. So, as our frozen yogurt melted, the blacktop squished under our feet, and people keeled over the middle of crosswalks, I’d be fibbing to say it wasn’t a way of life that took a long time to get used to.
As August crept up, it was time to get registered for school, and things like finding me and my sister’s immunization cards suddenly became more important than my upcoming birthday. I’m sure my poor mother had no idea what to get me after such a whirlwind year highlighted by a cross-country relocation on a very tight budget.
As soon as I visited Boulevard Music Mart at the corner of Winnetka Avenue and Ventura Boulevard, I wanted only one thing for my 11th birthday: Harry Manfredini’s soundtrack to the first three FRIDAY THE 13th films, which was originally released by New York-based Gramavision Records. The copy I came across that day was the only time I’ve ever seen it. The $8.99 price tag was hefty for that era, and so I had to leave the store that day without it. It was a horrible feeling.
In the following weeks, my mum finally agreed it could be my birthday present, and so off we went back to the store the weekend before my big day. I remember being so excited as I walked into the store…until I flipped through the “F” section of the vinyl soundtracks and it was gone. I almost puked up my heart, liver, and everything else, just like that woman in CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD. I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t. Vinyl sleeves flew through the air and cashiers started to side-eye me as I refused to leave the store. I was on a quest, prepared to flip through every motherfucking soundtrack album, from APOCALYPSE NOW to ZORBA THE GREEK.
Finally, there it was. Someone had nestled it in the “J” section (for “Jason”?), probably in a George Costanza-like attempt to hide it so they could purchase it at a later time. Nice try, jagoff. This one’s mine.
The 3-D album sleeve appears to be a zoomed take of a FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3 promo poster that was in stores during the second half of 1982. The album even came with its very own blue/red glasses for proper viewing! Most of maestro Harry Manfredini’s now-classic music cues from the first three FRIDAY THE 13th movies can be found here, sometimes combined into mini-suites with such fitting names as “Introduction to Horror” and “Moments of Madness”. And yes, for all you boogie-down disco fans, we get this party started with a full-length take of the theme to PART 3.
After more than a dozen moves over four long decades, I still have my beloved 11th birthday present. I easily could have sold it, broken it, or forgotten it over the years, but I will never part with it. Except for maybe Amy Reilly in first grade, horror was my first true love, and some things are meant to be together forever.
#spookysoundtracks #fridaythe13th #harrymanfredini #losangeles #vinyl #boulevardmusicmart #gramavisionrecords
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