Who is Fab Farm Freddy???

The latest childrens character to hit the little screen on Cbeebies? No. Maybe an agricultural psychopath with razor blade gloves? Nope, not him either. Fab Farm Freddy is simply the result of misconstrued lyrics by an uncredited 'U.S. Disco Explosion' vocalist on her/their cover of Blondie's classic pop track 'Rapture'.

Now, even I have struggled over the years to decipher some of the words within Deborah Harry's somewhat abstract 'rap', but one line which is definitely as clear as day is, "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly...". How on earth the vocalist ended up with "Fab Farm Freddy told me everything he's tried..." I don't know. Oh well, nothing to lose sleep over and since the vinyl is pretty scratched up I won't be listening to it very often anyway. Besides, it's all about the sleeve and vinyl on this one...

The records been sat in my crates for a few years now and I only stumbled across it again the other day. It's a Japanese promo demonstration album for Sharp's 'Linear Tracking' turntables, an idea which obviously didn't take off too well at the time. You can read all about the 'exciting new technology' by clicking on the scan of the back cover for an enlargement, or if like me you're not particularly interested, just admire the sleeve and picture disc vinyl. Classic '80s material throughout.

I've already got a pretty solid collection of "Carrying Type Stereos" - to quote the sleeve - but only one which includes a turntable, the J.V.C. 'BA DC33' (that's not my clip on Youtube by the way). Since having laid eyes on the one pictured here though I definitely need to upgrade - that MONSTER should definitely "vibrate the concrete"!

So here's the sound-clip (crackles and pops included), and below that are some photos of my own 'Ghetto Blaster', 'Boombox', whatever you wanna call them, collection...


U.S. Disco Explosion 'Rapture' (1982 Sharp L.P.)






Aiwa TPR 990K (click to enlarge)


J.V.C. BA DC33 (click to enlarge)


Hitachi TRK 8200E (click to enlarge)


Sharp GF 555E (click to enlarge)


Sharp GF 8989E (click to enlarge)