News

It was one of the most unusual novelty records of the decade – not to mention one of The Second Disc’s first Reissue Theory posts – and now it looks like it’s coming back out on CD. That’s right: Fuel 2000 is reissuing Buckner & Garcia’s Pac-Man Fever.

Such was the mania for the classic arcade game in 1981 that Columbia released this most unusual of singles, which hit the Billboard Top 10 in 1982. An LP of other game-oriented novelty tracks followed. What added to the kitsch value was the authentic sound effects from each game mixed into the songs; in the pre-digital, pre-emulator days, they were sourced from recording in front of the arcade cabinets themselves. (That led to one of the more interesting goofs in music history: one can hear a deli order being placed in the intro to “Pac-Man Fever.”)

Now, one of the sticking points about the LP itself and this new reissue: it’s not yet been confirmed if this is going to be a reissue of the original, long-out-of-print Columbia LP or the just-not-as-good re-recording released on K-Tel in 2002. We’ve sent a message to the label asking confirmation, and we’ll of course let everyone know once we find out. There will be some bonus tracks on here as well: the duo’s other attempted 1982 novelty “E.T. I Love You” and “Hostage” – both of which appeared on the group’s latter-day compilation Now & Then.

Order the set here (it’s supposedly out today) and hit the jump to get the track list.

Buckner & Garcia, Pac-Man Fever (Fuel 2000, 2010)

1. Pac-Man Fever
2. Froggy’s Lament
3. Ode to a Centipede
4. Do the Donkey Kong
5. Hyperspace
6. The Defender
7. Mousetrap
8. Goin’ Berzerk
9. E.T. I Love You
10. Hostage

Tracks 1-8 released as Columbia LP RC 37941, 1982
Track 9 released as Columbia single 18-03167, 1982
Track 10 released on Now and Then (Garbuck, 2009)