This Month's Thrift Store Vinyl Sharity

Little Jimmy Osmond, Killer Joe (MGM, 1972)

So, if Osmond was born in 1963, he's eight or nine when he recorded this. The issues one might have with this record have less to do with Little Jimmy himself than the very idea of giving an eight-year-old a solo project. Or, to put it another way, the adults are to blame here--and I'm looking at you, Mike Curb. Why would you have a child who might not be able to actually sing strain so hard to reach the high notes in the chorus of "My Girl"--resulting in a song so shrill you can't help but wish that Auto-Tune had been invented three decades earlier?

While I think "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" remains in print--it was a 1972 Number One UK Single--the complete album does not seem to be. And, while you're thinking about how such a song could be that popular, remember it is Jimmy Osmond Summer in the UK right now (or at least it was in May). Turn on the radio, Gloucestershire! He's on John Rockley!

In America, the Osmonds mostly hover about in Third-Tier Casinos and Branson. No excitement over that concert DVD here: but like the rest of the world, we, too, can celebrate the career of the youngest Osmond, the former host of Branson Jubilee, and inventor of the Hummy Bear by downloading these tracks and album art.

Side 1
1. Killer Joe
2. Little Girls are Fun
3. My Girl
4. Mama'd know What to Do
5. Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear

Side 2
1. Long Haired Lover from Liverpool
2. If My Dad Were President
3. Tweedlee Dee
4. Mother of Mine
5. Rubber Ball