Browse by Artist: FOUNTAIN, JUDSON

Artist:	FOUNTAIN, JUDSON
Title:	Completely In The Dark
Label:	INNOVA
Format:	CDR
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	INNO 200CD

[deleted] "First-ever CD release of 'The Ed Wood, Jr.' of radio drama. Original radio dramas (1969-1974) produced, written and directed by Judson Fountain. Produced by Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon. Before TV captured the nation's attention, radio was the most popular form of home entertainment. Nowadays that box offers mostly music, news, and backtalk, but from the 1920s through the '40s, the airwaves boasted drama, comedy, and murder mysteries. Judson Fountain (b. 1952) grew up after the heyday of classic radio theater, but as a child heard vestiges of programs that had enthralled his parents. He developed an obsession with suspense-filled shows like The Shadow, Inner Sanctum, and Lights Out!. While most Americans were evolving into couch potatoes, Judson embraced radio as the superior theatrical medium, and felt compelled to single-handedly revive the art. That he lacked training, technology, skilled staff and a budget did not deter him. Ed Wood, Jr. made movies; Judson produced radio dramas. Judson was between 17 and 22 when he produced these extremely primitive affairs. His simple, derivative plotlines employ Halloween kitsch -- spooks, witches, haunted houses -- as vehicles in morality plays about redemption for the honorable and damnation for evil-doers. Judson's work was characterized by cliché scripting, egregious ethnic accents, and inept editing -- all seasoned with copious needle-drops of creaking doors and howling wolves from the timeless Elektra Sound Effects Library. But this extreme amateurishness and unwavering sincerity synergize to great advantage in Fountain's theatricals. There is charm in the clumsiness, and befuddled amusement in the often-abrupt plot twists. Over the past decade, Judson's recordings have circulated among collectors of the bizarre, and in the process have attracted a cult following." CDR release.

Artist:	FOUNTAIN, JUDSON
Title:	Dark, Dark Dark Tales
Label:	INNOVA
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	INNO 222CD

...And Other Dark Tales! "Radio dramas by Judson Fountain, with Sandor Weisberger. Produced by Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon. Cover portrait by Drew Friedman. Dark Dark Dark Tales offers a second collection of off-kilter, gothic-tinged audio theater by Judson Fountain, the 'Ed Wood, Jr. of radio drama.' Fashioned in the style of 1940s old-time radio plays, these recordings were produced and written by Judson in New York during the late 1960s and early 1970s and released on vinyl LP in limited editions of unknown quantity. Original copies are extremely rare and highly collectible. They are also divinely entertaining. As on its predecessor, the 2004 Innova release Completely in the Dark, Judson delivers most of the voices, including his trademark old hags, young punks, creepy thugs and hapless thieves. These simple morality tales are highlighted by spooky noises provided by needle drops from the classic Elektra Sound Effects Library. Judson's erstwhile sidekick, the avuncular Sandor Weisberger, serves as announcer and occasional leading man. In addition to seven Judson dramas released on CD for the first time, Dark Dark Dark Tales offers a new radio drama, The Nasty Roomer, written by charter 'Fountainhead' Don Brockway specially for Judson and Sandor's reunion appearance on WFMU radio in 1995. In a one-take, live sight-reading, the old friends acted their parts with élan and recaptured the atmosphere of their vintage recordings. Judson's work embodies all the peculiar qualities (and, some might say, charming flaws) of outsider art. That it has attracted a cult following over the years is not surprising, as there's nothing quite like a Judson Fountain drama. Turn off all your lights, and be completely in the dark dark dark!" Includes 16-page booklet.

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