RARE & AMAZING 1979 Coca-Cola INDUSTRIAL MUSICAL - Coke bottlers show

$

100

If you've seen "Bathtubs Over Broadway" or read "Everything's Coming Up Profits," you know that private pressing "industrial musical" souvenir albums are some of the rarest and weirdest records in existence. These motivational musicals were only for dealers, salesmen, distributors and other industry insiders at sales meetings and conventions, and the souvenir vinyl records were not available to the public. And many of these shows boasted outstanding music and performances along with the bizarre corporate subject matter.

I'm the collector and historian profiled in the documentary "Bathtubs Over Broadway," and the co-author of "Everything's Coming Up Profits - The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals." I'm thinning out my stash of duplicates, and offering an assortment of records that range from the scarce, to the very rare, to the "you'll probably never encounter this again."

This one is "The Great Get Together, " Coca-Cola's 1979 big-time extravaganza for bottlers held in San Francisco.

Coke was right up there with the car companies when it came to big, splashy, flashy industrial shows. They always paid for serious talent and staging. The photos on the front and back covers give you an idea of how elaborate the whole event was, with trips and outings and parties... and the dazzling gatefold spread inside makes you realize just how ambitious a top-level industrial show could be.

And the uncredited songs have some great standouts. Patriotism was a theme Coke wanted to be associated with, in songs like "Coke Goes With America" and "Whatever America Wants." The popular "Have a Coke and a smile" jingle makes an appearance. "That Certain Something" is a fun overview of iconic people and things, including Coke, that have "it." My favorite is the amazing "That Big Bottling Plant Up In The Sky," in which frustrated Coke bottlers sing about how much easier and better everything will be when they're bottling Coke in the afterlife. A wild concept (which also turns up in one of the Exxon shows I'm offering), and it allows for details that Coke wouldn't usually be heard saying, like their irritation with the FTC, the EPA, and OSHA.

The cover of this copy is very sharp and excellent, with only the faintest traces of wear, and the vinyl is minty. Ahhhh refreshing.

A great later-era industrial that belongs in any industrial musicals collection, and a wonderful item for Coca-Cola collectors.

Check out my other listings for many more killer examples of this deliciously strange and secret slice of American musical and corporate history, as well as an assortment of other miscellaneous weird records from my hoard.

Buyers of multiple records get a break on shipping charges.