Touch Me by Belinda Sinclair
b/w
Over At The Frankenstein Place
by The Richard O'Brien Crusade
(1979)

*7" SINGLE*
1979, The Rich Teaboy Label, TEA 001

SIDE A-'Touch Me' (2:57)
performed by "Janet from The Rocky Horror Show" (Belinda Sinclair)

SIDE B-'Over At The Frankenstein Place (2:32)
performed by "The Richard O'Brien Crusade"

The 'Touch Me' single, also referred to by fans as "The Rich Teaboy Single" or "The Richard O'Brien Crusade Single" is a wonderful little disc indeed. There's quite a history to the release of this single.

'Touch Me' is performed by Belinda Sinclair (you won't find her name anywhere on the record though--it's credited to "Janet from The Rocky Horror Show") who was the second actress to ever play Janet Weiss. (The first being Julie Covington.) The song is a disco-ish cover version of the song.

The decision was made to issue a single from the RHS, and 'Touch Me' seemed like the right song to cover. This was around the time that TRHS was opening in Japan. The producers originally had Belinda sing it in Japanese, but that didn't seem to work, so it was re-recorded in English. The English version sold well as a single in Japan, and even entered the charts there. (I'm not sure if the Japanese-sung version was ever released--I cannot find any information on a Japanese-sung release anywhere.) The original single featured an instrumental mix on the B-side, with Belinda moaning and groaning.

The song was first released in the UK by Antic Records in 1975, and then it was released in Japan on the HMV/Victor label in 1976. The Antic release didn't sell at all, so the producers bought the rights back and issued it themselves on The Rich Teaboy label.

The flip side, 'Over At The Frankenstein Place' by "The Richard O'Brien Crusade" is pretty much a nice orchestration of the song with a nice string arrangement, and O'Brien and some friends having some fun with the song.

This version of 'OATFP' was originally intended to the the B-side of Kimi & Ritz's third single, 'Liebestraum.' But supposedly, the record company weren't interested in releasing the tune, so this version of 'OATFP' was placed on the flip side of the 'Touch Me' single.

So, this single is basically a re-issue of Belinda Sinclair's 'Touch Me' single, with a neat O'Brien version of 'OATFP' that was only released on this single.

This single is a must-have for any RH audio enthusiast. The disco mix of 'Touch Me' is somewhat dated, but it really grows on you the more you listen to it. 'OATFP 'is more of a novelty song, but it's a must for any and all O'Brien fans.

The original Antic Records single and the Japanese single of 'Touch Me' are pretty obscure and very hard-to-find. Despite the fact that the Rich Teaboy single was only released in the UK, many copies were imported into the US and sold through RH merchandise dealers in the very early 80's. So although there are quite a few copies floating around in the US, most have them have been snatched up by collectors, but they turn up on eBay from time to time and I've seen this single sold at conventions and record shops.

Neither of these sings have ever been officially released on compact disc. However, both songs are featured on the bootleg CD Dark Refrains. The instrumental B-side of the Antic Records and Japanese release is also available on this CD. 'Over At The Frankenstein Place' is also featured on the bootleg CD Bride Of Rocky Rarities.

--kev j.b.
11 February 2000

*****AVAILBILITY*****
This single was only released once on vinyl in 1979. It has been out-of-print for several years. Some people have a very hard time finding this disc, and others seem to be more lucky in tracking it down. If you're looking for the songs on CD, they are available on the bootleg CD Dark Refrains and the 'Over At The Frankenstein Place' single is available on the Bride Of Rocky Rarities bootleg, but both of those CD's had very limited pressings and the best one could do would be to get a CD-r copy or cassette dub of the tunes.