Rupert - Magic Spaceship/ Dance With Rupert

 

The Syn's Steve Nardelli masquerading as a cartoon bear

Label: Warner Bros
Year of Release: 1976

Just before Christmas, Left and to the Back reader Dave Whiting got in touch with me to ask if I knew anything about a "psychedelic" Rupert The Bear single written and performed by The Syn's Steve Nardelli? I responded with regret to say that I'd never heard it nor heard of it, but while we've never met, Dave obviously knows my weak spots well - the marginal crossover between seventies Childrens TV music and popsike is a topic I could bore for Britain about.

The faultlines between what should be two fairly distinct genres for very different audiences became pretty obvious when Bam Caruso put out the first volume of "Circus Days", a compilation designed to showcase obscure and unknown (and mildly psychedelic) recording studio acetates they'd found. Kid Rock's "Ice Cream Man" found its way on to that LP - incorrectly credited to Clover - presumably without the compilers realising that the target market for that track (and the group's other featured ditty "Auntie Annie's Place") were wee folk who had yet to leave Infant School, and not Pink Floyd and Blossom Toes fans. It was an accident that worked freakishly well, though, as it's subsequently gone on to become one of the most referenced tracks to feature on the series, loved by more people with beards to maintain than their children who have yet to shave. I also wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that another "mystery track" from the series "Father Good's Space Flight" is actually an out-take from "Doctor Snuggles" or something. 

There are other interesting cases besides. Patrick Campbell-Lyons of Nirvana [UK] dabbled in children's soundtrack work in 1978, writing the theme tune for the stop motion animation series "Cloppa Castle" which frankly shared many similarities with the twee end of popsike from ten years before (and I still frequently get that song and "Happy Castle" by Crocheted Doughnut Ring mixed up). Then, of course, Ed Stewart saw fit to cover Jeff Lynne's slightly disturbing "I Like My Toys" for children who presumably couldn't pick up on the "mental health difficulties" subtext of the song. 

The simple fact is that a lot of British psychedelia looked out into the world with the kind of pie-eyed and wary fascination children could relate to - that's why it's easier to believe Lennon's reasoning behind the origins of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" than anyone's accusations that the song title was special code for LSD. It shouldn't in theory be difficult to pen a psych track which also appeals to the junior set.

And that's where we come in with this one. Besides having his adventures published in The Daily Express, Rupert The Bear seems to have had two distinct stabs at a recording career, once under the guidance of producer Barry Ainsworth in 1973, and then again in 1976 with Nardelli writing (or co-writing) the tracks. The 1976 singles appear to have been released to coincide with the launch of a Rupert TV series, with Warner Brothers presumably hoping that a halo effect from the television show would result in airplay and presumably sales. 

In reality, nothing of the sort happened and both "Magic Spaceship" and the other single "Rupert's Song" sold very poorly. I'd be willing to bet very few copies even found their way into the mitts of the children they were designed to be enjoyed by, as very few "VG" or "G" graded copies seem to ever be on sale (toddlers are seldom careful with their record collections). 

All the more for the rest of us to enjoy, then. "Magic Spaceship" is a piece of swirly, choppy, spacey pop with phasing, mentions of goblins and a floaty chorus. Anybody expecting a full-blown trip is going to be sorely disappointed, but it's certainly likably daffy and cheery. Tune out the mentions of the tragically dressed bear and you could even convince yourself it's one of your underground sixties heroes merrily messing around in a seventies studio... because of course it is.

It's a shame this project came to nothing and Nardelli didn't become to Rupert The Bear what Mike Batt was to The Wombles, but sometimes a surefire winning combination doesn't always deliver the results expected. Not that it was any skin off Rupert's nose, who seemed content to wait until 1984 to have a huge smash hit with Paul McCartney in the form of "We All Stand Together", then retired gracefully from the music business with his work presumably done. 

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