Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The Search for Prince Michael Har-Meggido

Medinah, Illinois. Home of Temples, Golf Tournaments and Xavier Records.
Whilst brousing the shelves of Medinahs finest resale shop/converted car wash a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a record that I had never seen before.
Now, let me tell you, I have seen countless numbers of records in my life, particularly of the "local" variety. And I consider myself quite the savant when it comes to such things. Beside the fact that I had never seen this before, what intrigued me most was the cover and what mysteries that may be held within it. The title was Fly-Flag-Fly, and it is performed by Prince Michael Har-Meggido and The Archangels. Turning it over only enhanced the mystery. In glorious black and white was a picture of quite the clean-cuttest of young men, holding a sabre. Above him were the song titles, with whom they each are dedicated to, and what style of music they are performed in. For example, "The Man with the Hoe" is dedicated to Miss Dolly Parton, in the "folk ballad" style. The lead off track "Saturday Morning" is dedicated to Teenagers Everywhere, and is a "Classic Blues-Dixieland" style of song. The entire album is dedicated to the Eternal Memory of those lost on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Another song "Ulysses" is dedicated to Archbishop Makarios, in the Grecian Rock Patriotic Ballad style. Wha? Wha? and double wha?? Boy, I could not wait to hear it. And once I did, it did not let me down. Being the lover of classic American Song-Poems, this record delivered. From the Hava Nagila/Handels Messiah mash up that is "Gloria In Excelsis!" (dedicated to Pope Paul VI, inna Gragorian Rock Chant stylee), to the title track Fly-Flag-Fly's guitars as screaming bombers at Pearl Harbor sound effects, this record is 25 minutes of pure insanity. Well, I had to find out more. Googling the artist only lets me know that Har-Meggido is spelled wrong. It should have been Har-Megiddo, the mountain that Archangle Michael will battle Satan. Therefore, (all you Old Testament nuts are ahead of me on this one) Har-Megiddo=Armageddon. Ahhh...Well, thats all well and good, but as to who did this record, zilch. The sleeve gives a record label as Xavier Records in Medinah. Let's Google that. Hmmm...nuthin'. The record's from 1977. Thats not too long ago. Maybe if I call the phone number listed on the back. 313-529-7571. Well, even in 1977 I knew Medinahs area code wouldn't be 313. They must have meant 312. And since then they became 630 area code, therefore that is the number I tried. Disconnected! So, now I am asking, oh great interweb browsers, does anyone have ANY information on this record or this person (people?). And if anyone wants a copy of this, please ask.