Friday, July 28, 2023

Mike Viola - Ghoul (update 2023 - with cards scans)

In 2013 Mike Viola released a new album .... Well, sort of.... 
GHOUL is not a traditional record, it is a collection of - trading cards!

It worked like this: GHOUL is a very limited edition set of 24 collectible cards. Each card contains autobiographical stories written by Mike Viola and a download code for an exclusive unreleased song. You can buy a pack for 5 USD. Each pack contains 5 cards - which means also 5 songs.
You may get doubles, and this is good because: You can trade them (see the links below)!
 
GHOUL is a project by Mike Viola and Steve Loter (an American director and producer known for "The Ren and Stimpy Show" or "The Penguins of Madagascar").


I won't go into details regarding the songs, just some facts: If you have all the cards you'll get a 24 track record (!), of completely new songs. There are five tracks from the unreleased COZY record, three cover versions and sixteen other new songs.
There is so much good stuff in there - just to name a few: Tonight, Rock'n'Roll Denny's, Moving Forward, Time For Everything To Change (with Kelly Jones), She Thinks She's In Love ... 
Ghoul could easily have been two full new records - and it's my power pop / indie pop record of the year 2013!
 
In 2023 Alexandra Pimentel Riflet was so kind to send me scans of all the 24 cards (front & back) - thank you Alexandra!
Look at these beauties here:


















































4 comments:

  1. Great write-up! Do you know where you can purchase or download songs from Ghoul now that the links on Mike's website are broken?

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    Replies
    1. Write me at powerpopsquare@gmail.com

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    2. Hi, I've been looking for the Ghoul tracks for years. Is this offer still open?

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    3. Yeah, sure - write me at the email above.

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