LP - Peeping Tom - Petroffied - Original 1983 Pressing
Still sealed. Mint, unplayed 1983 pressing.
First off, let’s address the elephant in the room immediately…this is NOT Mike Patton’s Peeping Tom. This band is WAY more enjoyable than that Peeping Tom.
This is Peeping Tom (14) of an untold number of artists with the same name on Discogs. This Peeping Tom has exactly one release, the excellent “Petroffied” LP from 1983. Fans of Heavy Metal and AOR take note…this Peeping Tom deserves a pardon.
If you’ve ever been to Pittsburgh, you’ve certainly come across other records on the label that released this LP. Jeree Records, formed by Don Garvin and Jerry Reed (get it? Jeree?) and based out of the PGH ‘burb New Brighton existed from the 60s through the 80s and during it’s tenure released over 100 records. As far as I can tell, Jeree was primarily a recording studio that side-hustled as a music publishing firm, hence their subsidiary record label. This sort of thing wasn’t terribly unusual at the time and quite possibly is the only reason this LP exists. Thank goodness for in-house studio labels like Jeree!
Anyhow, Peeping Tom certainly wasn’t the last band Jeree worked with, but they definitely came after the labels most prolific period and are a far-outlier in the catalog. There are very few records on the label that get as heavy as this record does. Peeping Tom certainly weren’t pushing the Heavy Metal envelope the way Metallica was with “Kill “Em All” at the time, but they certainly could’ve, should’ve, and maybe would’ve opened for Def Leppard, Motley Crue, or Quiet Riot back in ’83. The also could have just as easily been supporting Rush, Styx, or REO Speedwagon at the same time. The lines were very blurred back in the day and local support for those bigger names was often unusual, at least by today’s standards.
I dig this record. It’s metallic, but not quite heavy metal. It’s not straight AOR either. There’s a female singer on at least some (if not most) of the tracks and I love that. Although it was released on a “record label”, it very much has all the charms of a private pressing, right down to the title of the album. The executive producer, lead vocalist, and bassist on the album is named Tom Petroff and the album is called “Petroffied”. It doesn’t get much more cheeky that than. The album art is quintessentially DIY and (literally) eye-catching, especially if you know what to look for in this realm. The album lacks focus, for sure, but that’s the name of the game when it comes to vinyl calling cards like this one. The band made this record to showcase their abilities and, in that sense, it was a successful endeavor.
I have no idea what happened to the people behind Peeping Tom or Jeree Records, but I’d like to thank all of those folks for making this record. Without physical documents of the era like this, we would all be worse off. By the way, as far as I can tell, the only way to hear this entire album is by owning the original LP. It’s never been reissued and there’s only one track streaming on YouTube currently. Now that’s what I call DIY. That may also be why this record generally sells for a premium. Money well spent in the digital age, I say.. - Words by Lance Barresi
