Friends, the other day while having a chance to chat with Rockford Jay – he asked if I had ever heard of The Amazing Spider-Man: From Beyond the Grave – an LP released back in ’72. I told him that I had not had the pleasure and he took off like a rocket out of the office and returned with the actual album – somehow he had failed to pass along the information that it’s full title is actually The Amazing Spider-Man: From Beyond the Grave – A Rockomic. I can tell you that a little over 36 minute later after Rockford had dropped the needle on the record player in our office – not only was I incredibly impressed by what I had heard – I was looking on eBay for a copy of the LP for myself. There is a lot to geek out about with this 1972 record from Buddah Records Inc. – which by the way was a record company that handled releases of albums for the likes of Gladys Knight & The Pips, Curtis Mayfield, The Lovin’ Spoonful, and Captain Beefheart to name a few. For one thing it features four songs performed by Ron Dante – who you might know better as the lead singer for The Archies – which brought us the bubblegum pop classic Sugar, Sugar!
The music and lyrics for the four songs are credited to Stephen Lemberg and are entitled Theme from Spider-Man, Such A Groove To Be Free, Stronger The Man, as well as Goin’ Cross Town. Even more fantastic than the music is the fact that the late and great Rene Auberjonois voices none other than Peter Parker and web-slinging alter-ego – in addition you also have David Thayer (Dark Shadows, Rocky) as the Kingpin – to say nothing of the fact that Doctor Strange shows up to lend Spider-Man a hand.
So go grab your favorite beverage and snack – turn up the volume as we share The Amazing Spider-Man: From Beyond the Grave – A Rockomic!
Have any of you possibly heard this LP before – for what it might be worth the album is available for purchase on iTunes!
Thanks for posting this, I bought this album in a small second hand book store in a North Norfolk village when I was eight and still have my now dilapidated copy. I used to have the poster on the wall opposite my bed so would wake up to John Romita’s Spider-Man every morning. I think I knew every word on the album of by heart and it’s been a great pleasure to listen to it recently and find that the songs are actually genuinely quite strong! Thanks for fleshing out some info, I didn’t know the singer was the guy from the Archies, although I was aware it was Rene Auberjonois playing Spider-Man. I always thought he did a great job and sounded the part, unlike the guy who did the 60s cartoon who made teenage Peter Parker sound like a middle aged guy longing for his next cigarette…
Rob, thanks for taking the time to check out the article! I wish I had come across it back in the day – it is just an amazing LP.