Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Original Soundtrack)

If a radio series, book series, and television series weren't quite enough for you, there's also this, a series of records based on the Douglas Adams-penned Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The biggest problem with all of the above is that none of them is quite the same, and this one is no exception, though it's based most closely on the radio series (though a mix of the cast members from both the radio series and the television series appears on the record). Our hero, Arthur Dent, suddenly finds himself an interstellar hitchhiker after a fleet of Vogon spaceships demolishes the Earth to create an intergalactic expressway. Along the way, he's guided by his friend Ford Prefect and Prefect's copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Along the way, they get shot at and ejected from an airlock, meet up with old friends and enemies, and discover a mythical planet, for starters. It's fairly fast-paced (despite being stretched out over four sides of vinyl), but you never end up feeling lost. The sound effects used for the voices of the mice, which are a bit hard to decipher, are about the only misstep here; otherwise it's a very enjoyable journey. (In-joke spotters' corner: Check out the catalog number of the version of this record originally released on the Original label.)