Would You Like A Ford With That?

I had no idea what I was going to get when I bought this record. Well, I thought I did, but I didn't. I found the empty cover in a huge stack of records, and decided I needed to find the actual vinyl. Half an hour later I found it further down the pile inside the gatefold of another LP. (Usually I don't find the records missing from empty sleeves, but that's going to be another series of posts sometime soon...) The music is almost exactly what you think it is just by looking at the cover above, but you don't know the rest of the story. A little internet research told me that The Going Thing were actually a manufactured band, put together by Ford for use in marketing campaigns and promotional tours. I guess they took the idea from The Monkees. They recorded a few albums that were only released to Ford employees, then went their separate ways when advertising trends changed. Rumor has it that Karen and Richard Carpenter were members for a brief time, but their career took off before they had to wear too much velour. Anyhow, I think you'll enjoy the smooth, inoffensive sounds of Christmas 1968 With The Going Thing (Private Pressing for Ford XCSV-141473, 1968). Note: The first track on here (and longest) is a spoken introduction and holiday wishes from John Naughton, a bigwig at Ford at the time. The whole record is only 17 minutes long, and it's only recorded on one side.