Spider Man: Freddie McCoy
Background
This was a music album released in 1966 by Prestige Records. It claimed to be the start of a series of Marvel Music albums, though I haven't seen any others actually produced.
Unlike nearly all the other albums in our Audio section, this record is purely instrumental, and the tie-in to Spider-Man consists of the image on the cover, and the title of one song: "Spider Man".
Story 'See Review Details for Track Listing'
Spider Man: Freddie McCoy
| Producer: | Cal Lampley |
| Record Label: | Prestige Records |
| Copyright: | Fantasy, Inc. |
| Music: | Charlie Wilson, Freddie McCoy, Rudy Lawless, Steve Davis |
The music is jazz, lead by McCoy's vibrophone playing, supported by piano, bass and drums.
There's a mix of tempo, but it's all good tight stuff. I occasionally put it on when I'm just wanting some background music, but it rewards a proper listening too.
McCoy is talented, there's no denying it. Of course, there's something about vibes that makes me feel like I'm a Lounge Lizard in the 1960's, chilling in the bar of a Las Vegas casino. But hey, that's no problem. I just order a margarita and check out the back-view of the showgirls.
Tracks are:
- Hav` Mercy
- Yesterdays
- The Girl From Ipanema
- Spider Man
- That`s All
- Speak Out, Deagan!
The "Spider Man" track is a hot-paced Samba number, and there's a couple of chords that seem vaguely reminiscent of the 60's TV theme. But maybe I'm just imagining that. Here's the MP3 of just that one track for you to have a listen for yourself.
It's a little disappointing to note that Spider-Man is missing his hyphen in both the album title and the track title. I guess Freddie wasn't a particularly devoted comic book collector. Still, it could have been worse — in The Marvel World of Icarus poor old Spidey didn't even get the courtesy of a space in his name.
General Comments
It's 60's vibes jazz music, very well done. As a 1966 release, this is a very early Spider-Man collectible, and the price will reflect that if you want to own it on vinyl. Even the CD is very expensive, being a Japanese import.
Overall Rating 
The music is great. Not just the Spidey track, but the whole album.
I'll give it a solid four webs for the music, plus an extra half web for being the first Spider-Man music record that I know of.
Footnote
It's not clear at all what involvement Marvel had with the making of this record, if any. There's no commentary or Marvel created material apparent other than the artwork on the cover.
A footnote in the album text boldly claimed:
This album is the first in a series matching Marvel with music, so be sure to collect them all. If you don't, WHAM! SOK! KLONG!
Certainly other albums have used Marvel imagery and characters, such as the 1970's heavy-metal album "Unchained" by Elias Hulk, and the 1971 prog-rock album The Marvel World of Icarus. But there's no indication at all that either of those albums should be considered part of the same "series" as Freddie McCoy.