This is the original version of Pac-Man Fever, as opposed to the version you can purchase via your favorite digital retailer or from Buckner & Garcia's CD Baby page. The difference is quite significant as the currently available version is a complete re-recording which is missing a lot of the original sound effects. Pretty peculiar, but it gets a little more complicated when you hear the details. Sony, the corporate owners of Columbia Records and it's catalog, own the rights to the original version of the Pac-Man Fever album that was issued in 1982, but upon being petitioned for a reissue towards the end of the nineties, Sony issued a denial that Buckner & Garcia, despite their fifteen minutes of fame having expired long before, simply wouldn't accept. They got the remaining members of the band together and entered the studio with the supposed intention of making a perfect copy of the album, though the finished product was far from it. Samples were replaced with inferior effects, such as every sample in the song Mousetrap. The group claimed they couldn't locate an original arcade or home console version of Mousetrap but are we to believe they couldn't have requested the help of their supposed fan base that "demanded" the album's reissue? Other samples were replaced with instrumentation and fans noted a myriad of other differences. Again, Buckner & Garcia blamed technology or rather a lack of from the album's original recording, but it's easy to believe they weren't trying very hard and simply wanted to cash in on their brief resurgence of notoriety. Whatever the reasons behind the changes, the original album is more or less lost to the eighties and an official reissue unlikely.
I feel it's important that I note I am not a fan of Buckner & Garcia's music, though their stories are far more interesting. Listen to the Pac-Man Fever album, for which they claim Columbia required them to fill with videogame themed songs. If they had it their way, so they say, the album would have shown their musical diversity, but all it takes is a cursory examination of tunes like Do The Donkey Kong and Ode To A Centipede to recognize how little they had to offer. They sound like any number of generic studio groups you could hire for a low-budget radio commercial. You could argue that the source material doesn't offer many opportunities for creativity, but that argument holds no water when you look at "Weird Al" Yankovic's career. Nonetheless, Buckner & Garcia earned their record deal because of several novelty records, including the aforementioned Pac-Man Fever. They also had a career long after that record was forgotten by writing for other artists and contributing a series of songs to Waffle House jukeboxes throughout the US. Seriously, Waffle House jukeboxes throughout the US. That's not a joke.
If Buckner & Garcia had their way, Pac-Man Fever would not have been the end of their time in the spotlight. Follow-up singles were written and recorded including a tribute to Mr. T named, what else, Mr. T, as well as a Spielberg sanctioned tribute to his extra-terrestrial celebrity, E.T. I Love You. If Buckner & Garcia were ever dealt a bad card, this is it, as Columbia decided not to release their E.T. single in favor of Neil Diamond's Heartlight, a song which was not sanctioned by Spielberg or anyone else related to the film and resulted in a lawsuit being brought against Diamond. Oops, Columbia. Guess that diamond didn't cut, eh? Eh??? Okay, nevermind, that joke sucked.
This copy of Pac-Man Fever is taken from my own collection and was run through iZotope RX's automatic declicker. I do have a lossless copy of this in case anyone really wants it, as I understand there are people out there with fond memories of this record. Hell, it isn't that bad, it's just cheesy and hasn't aged well, like many pop culture artifacts from nearly thirty years ago. The sound effects are great and were recorded from original arcade machines and the cover art is wonderful. Too bad they didn't put this kind of energy into remaking the album in 1999. With that said, you can purchase the remake of the album digitally at Buckner & Garcia's CD Baby page as well as an EP with some of their other recordings and a single for which they are contributing some of the profits to the All American Soap Box Derby. I don't have to enjoy their music but I have to respect that.
Buckner & Garcia - Pac-Man Fever: Original Version
01 Pac-Man Fever
02 Froggy's Lament
03 Ode To A Centipede
04 Do The Donkey Kong
05 Hyperspace
06 The Defender
07 Mousetrap
08 Goin' Berzerk
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