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| Italian Scorpio Record Sleeve Front |
Packaging:
The photo-sleeved 45 rpm record has the standard 7 1/4" x 7 1/4" dimensions. Copyright is 1978 SAAR sri, Milan. Italian translations by Paul Vreede. Click each image to enlarge.
Italian Record Sleeve Front
A great photo of Scorpio adornes the Record Sleeve, while UFO robot by Gli Atomini is written across a lightening bolt across the top.
- UFO Robot - UFO Robot
- Gli Atomini - The Little Atoms
Record Sleeve Back
The back features three children in colorful checkered garg holding hands, with flowers at their feet and "Giro Giro Tonda Gira Il Mondo" arched above in blue.
- Giro Giro Tonda Gira Il Mondo - Turn Turn Round Turns the World
- Distributed & Marketed by SAAR sri, Milan - © Proprietà Artistica e Letteraria Riservata - (P) 1978 - Made in Italy - Artistic and Literary Rights Reserved.
Contents:
This is a 45 rpm record, just as you would find in the US, that fits on a regular 45 rpm spindle.
Record Vinyl
Here's the near-mint condition, unscratched record. The vinyl has very typical marks around the inner ring "S 719 A" and 9 - 8 - 78 (probably the date pressed). Notice the Label below...
Record Vinyl Label Detail
The label is adorned with small line drawing of various cartoon and fairy-tale characters. Also note the Signal logo...the record label and the (P) 1978.
- UFO Robot - UFO Robot
- Gli Atomini - The Little Atoms
- (Albertelli-Tempera-Tavolazzi) - Names of the song writers.
- Distributed & Marketed by SAAR sri, Milan (P) Disco Depositato © Proprietà Artistica e Letteraria Riservata - Registered Record (as in Registered Trademark) - Artistic and Literary Rights Reserved.
Variations:
This is the first record of this type ever reported.
John's Notes:
I bought this record from a collector who was selling other MMM items on eBay. He mentioned that he was going to place the rare Scorpio record on eBay for sale. I saw this tantalizing tidbit and emailed him directly to inquire about the record's origin and feel him out on his asking price. He told me that he had bought the record while visiting Italy years earlier, and that it was extremely rare, even in Europe. He stated that Scorpio was an extremely popular figure in Italy and was marketed well after the Mattel Major Matt Mason line ended there. This may be a further clue to the Alien Space Station that Simone swears to having seen and almost bought. Perhaps the Station was actually produced by another company, like Nicoral (which also produced knock-offs of Mattel's Shogun Warriors line in the late 70's).
It turns out that he had originally contacted me several years earlier about both Major Matt Mason and Shogun Warriors. He wrote:
"You were very helpful in providing information relating to both Matt Mason and Jumbo Machinders way before you had a web site. If you are interested I would be more than willing to sell it to you before it is offered on eBay since you were so helpful in the past. Please let me know soon because I already have 15 emails from people interested. I knew this would be a hot item because any Matt Mason fan would love to hear Scorpios voice."
It turns out that he had originally contacted me several years earlier about both Major Matt Mason and Shogun Warriors. He wrote:
"You were very helpful in providing information relating to both Matt Mason and Jumbo Machinders way before you had a web site. If you are interested I would be more than willing to sell it to you before it is offered on eBay since you were so helpful in the past. Please let me know soon because I already have 15 emails from people interested. I knew this would be a hot item because any Matt Mason fan would love to hear Scorpios voice."
2023.11.23 Follow-up. The songs from this record was reused later in France with Goldorak graphics.
French Record Sleeve Front "UFO ROBOT" on Vogue
An anime rendering of Goldorak in his Solar Saucer with "UFO ROBOT" across the top..
- UFO Robot - UFO Robot
- Actarus - Goldorak's pilot's name - apparently his name is also the band name.
- (Disques) Vogue - the French record company that is known for its Jazz releases
Record Vinyl Label Detail
Fairly simple label with the 70's style Disques Vogue record company logo and the (P) 1978. The 2'50 indicates that the song is 2:50 minutes. There's also info regarding duplication and "Made in France" in the fine print.
- UFO Robot - UFO Robot
- Actarus - Goldorak's pilot's name - apparently his name is also the band name
- (Albertelli-Tempera-Tavolazzi) - Names of the song writers.
- Inregistré en Italie par S.P.A. Fonit-Cetra, Italie - Registered in Italy (as in Registered Trademark) to S.P.A. Fonit-Cetra, Italy (seems to be the licensee during the time the record was released in France, probably the early 80's as that's when the Goldorak cartoon was at its height of popularity.
Paul's Notes
Somebody in Italy told me this record was part of the Signal "Cartoon" series, which I gather was a line of novelty-type music.I really doubted that the song had anything to do with Scorpio at all. There's no reference to Mattel, and the record was copyrighted in 1978, well beyond the timespan of MMM availability.
I later discovered that “UFO Robot” was the title of the Grendizer/Goldrake/etc TV cartoons in Italy.
Here’s what is on your single which sounds remarkably similar but not identical:
Here’s the official single (also from 1978 when the show first aired) where the same writers are credited as on the single.
Which leads me to conclude the Scorpio single is a cover version of the official Italian Grendizer song. Where they used Scorpio to avoid original & licensed imagery for the cover. I rest my case. :).
All Mattel images and captions are copyright Mattel and used without permission. All other content, including images and editorial, is Copyright © 1997-2024 John Eaton and/or contributors unless otherwise stated. If there are any comments or objections, please contact John Eaton and/or Paul Vreede.
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