Original Dreams: Songs from ShowBiz
Units Produced: 1200
Manufacturer: Terror Vision
Original Dreams: Songs from ShowBiz is a Rock-afire Explosion album released on April 12th, 2025.
History
Justin Ishmael, producer of the Vinyl 7’ Billy Bob Figure for Creative Engineering in 2019, would also partner during the development of the figure in 2017 to make an album for the Rock-afire Explosion. This would be teased in May of 2017 by Aaron, claiming the song “Too Shy” would appear on the album (Which it later did). Zero mentions of the album or its whereabouts would occur over the next 8 years until its reveal on February 6th, 2025 set for an April 12th launch. The album would be set to release on ‘Record Store Day’ as an exclusive album. The album would feature songs from when the Rock-afire played in ShowBiz Pizza, rather than their later 90’s Family Entertainment Center offerings and post-millennium internet songs aside from ‘It’s Time To Go’ from 2017. The songs would ripped from their highest quality source, something Aaron Fechter had already been working on since moving all Creative Engineering assets to the Creative Engineering Workshop. The album’s art would be set to feature photography and easter eggs from the ShowBiz era, alongside cover art that can be swapped out to present multiple different characters. The album was additionally released on CD and cassette through Terror Vision’s website on April 13th. Quantities were limited to 500 units for the CD and 200 for the cassette. Casette orders would later arrive in late May.
Tracklist
Side A
Welcome In To ShowBiz
Banana Hill
Goofy Gas
Dragstrip In the Sky
Mardi Gras City
Sittin’ Too Long
Magic Keys
Don’t Say Howdy
Kerry’s Waltz
Side B
Child of the Rock
Dreamer
Too Shy
Louisianna
Sal’s Birthday
It’s Time To Go
Overall, I really like this album. Terror Vision did a fantastic job designing and presenting it, and the linear notes give some interesting insight. However, where it lacks is in sound quality (which is probably the most important factor at the end of the day.) Some songs sound great, while others clearly haven’t gotten the treatment they deserve. “Too Shy” and “Dreamer” in particular. The latter has multiple odd cuts and is in fake stereo, and to be quite honest, I’m not even sure what happened to “Too Shy.” It’s a great song, but it sounds borderline unlistenable on this release, especially when compared to something like Gee, Our 1st Album! where it sounds substantially better. There’s also some strange and fairly prominent omissions from this release. “Goin’ Crazy” and “Strain Your Brain” always spring to mind when I think of original Rock-afire content. But nonetheless, I would still recommend this to any fan of The Rock-afire Explosion. I’m just glad we have a new album released in the 21st century, even if it’s a subpar compilation.
The biggest problem is the fact the album is really restricted on what songs it can use given the Rock-afire’s massive catalogue of copyrighted songs they played, which were also usually their best performances. I think this is the best possible album in the case of working around that, so its good, and the songs are placed well, but sometimes the transitions can be rough due to skirting around skits or other songs in the audio. A really great decision was having Sal’s Birthday at the end followed by It’s Time to Go, that re-contextualizes the album as someone listening to songs at ShowBiz, having their birthday celebration, and having to say goodbye after their party. Its a novelty, nothing new in it, but for what it is the execution was the best they could manage.