The Firesign Theater "Dope Humor of the Seventies"

 

(Stand Up Records, 2020) I am as big an advocate for comedy LPs as you'll find, so I have heard a number of Firesign albums, and the fact that I can't remember anything about them probably tells you a lot about my opinion on them. After listening to over two hours of bits from their 70s radio show I still can't say I'm down with the FT, and I really didn't laugh listening to this, but I do feel I have a better idea about where they fit into comedy history. The general vibe I get is sort of those comedy duos/teams you would see on Ed Sullivan footage doing Nichols and May type skits, but not as funny as N&M. But everything also has the kind of dank scent of 70s comedy for stoners, where general silliness mixed with sounds-like-smartness (without making any actual clear points), appealing perfectly to a slowed down, giggle primed brain. When they do an old man voice it is such an homage to Jonathan Winters that there's also a revival of the kinda chaotic manic madness that Robin Williams later ruined. All that said, while I didn't love this, they seem to be amusing themselves pretty much, which is fun to hear. Also, for fans, buy this instead of streaming for free because the booklet, featuring tons of fantastic reproductions of handwritten and typed scripts, notes, scripts with notes, scripts with doodles, and some great photos is my favorite part of this package 

Mr. Boop Volume III: "Cease & Exist" by Alec Robbins

 

(Mr. Boop, 2020) I'm sure you are aware of the whimsical, erotic, fair use-defying comic Mr. Boop, in which Alec Robbins chronicles his life as the very happy husband of naughty nonagenarian cartoon legend Betty Boop, to whom he is married. But have you ever asked yourself what would it be like if he was NOT married to Betty Boop? Well no need to blow your own mind, Robbins does it for you in the latest collection of his romantic escapades. Past volumes have been the Ready Player Ones of cartoon orgy books, but here the copyright laws catch up with Alec in some very unexpected ways that you will hate to love (and vice versa). If you want your heart broken, if you want mainline true love and devotion, and if you want to see multiple drawings of Mickey Mouse's erection, cease and desist not buying this modern masterpiece. 

Lady Saw "Give Me The Reason"

(VP Records, 1996) Lady Saw was one of the biggest names in Dancehall, ever, when she forsook secular music a few years back (she now goes by Minister Marion Hall), and I am familiar with her raunchy, rousing hits. But until recently I never listened to her sophomore album all the way through, and subsequently, I did not listen to much else for the next week. As far as her bold, strutting take on Reggae that would make her a legend, it's all here. Her phrasing on the spare, hypnotic "Darnest Things" is dancehall gold, and "Good Wuk" features some great work. On tracks like "Life Without Dick" we hear the explicit lyrics that became her signature, though the sexual content is mostly pretty mature, in the non-dirty sense of that word (advocating monogamy and contraception on "Condom," for example). But what makes this album so magnificent is how seamlessly, convincingly, and intoxicatingly it bounces around diverse musical styles. It is not unusual for Reggae artists, and Lady Saw in particular,  to make a Country song, but "Give Me A Reason" is not only the title track, it is also so twangingly Country, and more importantly, it is so good.  Few folks in Nashville were making tracks this traditional or this impressive in '96. The bouncing, grooving "Glory Be To God" is one of the banging-est sacred songs I've ever heard (it makes me want to check out her current gospel work).  And what really knocks me out is that side two opens with an un-ironic cover of the Drifters "Saturday Night at the Movies." While male singers cover the entire song, Marion pops in between verses to hype Denzel and Stallone and Sharon Stone and movie snacks, and the joys of getting down in the balcony with her date  ("You are my Batman, baby, so please keep me warm").  Sly and Robbie play on most of the tracks, though they are not credited with any production or arrangement, Garfield "Sampalue" Phillips is the main dude, a prolific producer who did a lot of her records in the 90s, but it really feels like it is the flexibility, creativity, and personality of Lady Saw that makes all these different tracks feel contemporary, powerful, and cohesive. While she will be making no new albums as Lady Saw, I am really grateful this one was new to me.

Dolly Parton "Holly Dolly Christmas

 

(Butterfly) I LOVE Dolly Parton! I have 80 Dolly records in my collection; I binged that entire Netflix series where they act out her songs; I've journeyed to Dollywood; and if they let you choose COVID vaccines I sure as hell will choose the Dolly one. But this is not her finest moment. It ends strong with a powerfully sacred rendition of 'Mary, Did You Know," "Comin' Home For Christmas," which came out a few years ago but has not been on an album to my knowledge, is some prime Dolly songwriting, and that's a helluva top she is wearing on the album cover. But there's a lot of musically uninteresting hokeyness here (Dolly has done fascinating hokeyness scores of times) and a lot of uninspired duet pairings.  The only duet with any pop is with her brother Randy, while the others just don't rise to the season (I would love to have heard Dolly and Willie's voices melding on "Pretty Paper," but the production drowns out Willie's voice, and Miley Cyrus needs a certain kind of production and song to shine, and doesn't get them here). If you are excited to hear Dolly duet with Jimmy Fallon on "All I Want For Christmas Is You," complete with a ton of awkward chastely romantic banter between them, then God bless you, but I have never met you or anyone who shares your opinions in my life. First off, while that song is a legit contemporary Christmas classic (it might end up the last song to make the Christmas Canon), it doesn't really need to be covered - no one can touch the original. Second  - Jimmy Fallon? I am not a complete hater (his pseudo hardcore song about a snowball fight is a novelty record that scores high on my Demento-meter), but c'mon, is this who we want to hear sing with Dolly? I bought this on vinyl and the best I can say is the second side is way stronger than than the first, so I may bust it out on occasion, flip it over and listen Fallon-free. Not sure I can recommend this on another format. That said, there is actually an $55 Amazon-exclusive 8-Track edition of this album, with a bonus track! 2020 is a very weird year. And I love Dolly Parton.

Karl Meyer "No Mask No Music"

(KarlMeyer.Bandcamp) Novelty Pandemic Pop Punk was obviously an inevitability, as Karl gets his best Dr. Demento-meets-Fat Records groove on while joking about the benefits of covering your ugly face with  a mask and the horrors of quarantining with someone your sick of. Less droll than New Yorker cartoons, funnier than Jim Carey and Alec Baldwin on SNL, and approximately one millionth as vital as the worst anti-Reagan hardcore record from 1982.

Johnny Cash "A Night to Remember - May 5th, 1973 at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, CA.

 (Third Man, 2020) I am not 100% a fan of those comedy LPs that are just soundtracks to TV specials, and sometimes come packaged with the DVD. Other than the Richard Pryor concert films, which were next level brilliant (and in the case of the post freebase explosion Sunset LP, ultra-historic) I can't recall ever listening to a comedy record with the expectation that I would (or had already) watch(ed) a video of the same concert. That said, this is the best LP/DVD set I have ever experienced. The video is more incredible than the LP in some ways, because it visually recognizes the perfect minimalist brilliance and pure magnetism of early 1970s Cash. Doing this one off label showcase performance in Los Angeles in 1973, the event was shot on film and lit as starkly as possible, with just Johnny in a moody spotlight (when he tries to introduce Carl Perkins the techs struggle to locate the band members, as they are completely invisible in the stark darkness (were they wearing night vision googles to play?). The concert footage is just a few stoic cameras appreciating Johnny's monument of a head - perhaps the most expressive stone face in pop culture history - as he goes through some of the best songs ever written (by himself, Kristofferson, Steve Goodman, and others, including his cohorts for that night, Perkins and Larry Gatlin). He briefly talks about his family, his Biblical history project, and his life, and he musically travels back to his Sun days, and also back to American music from decades before his career. This is within a year of Cash's Columbo episode, so just think of the charisma he was yielding those days! The LP is not redundant only because these are timeless songs that should be listened to over and over, and the recording is resonant and lovely, memories of the spare visuals help you appreciate these beautiful interpretations on your 4th, and 7th, and 18th listen. While the Third Man packaging is, as expected, design forward, it is also (like Cash) spare, with tiny liner notes, and a DVD menu that looks like it's from before DVDs existed. This was available as a deluxe package with a nice single featuring the Lumineers and Ruston Kelly covering deeper Cash cuts than you'd expect, but any way you can hear or watch this will be worth it. The video ends with Cash getting his son's coat, and fishing for coins for a candy machine as he exits the arena, casually going about his business as if he hadn't just recorded one of the best concerts of his career, one that would be, absurdly, locked away for almost fifty years. 

Willie Nelson "Red Headed Stranger - Live From Austin City Limits"

 

(Columbia/Austin City Limits, 2020) This album sees Willie and his amazing Bicentennial band (featuring Sister Bobby on piano, and, of course, Paul English on drums [whom Willie introduces as "The Devi]) performing the Red Headed Stranger LP in sequential order, in its entirety (in case you thought full album shows were a recent destination festival innovation). Because this was shot for the Austin City Limits TV show the sound is pristine, and other than an explosion of applause at the opening notes of "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain," the audience is not an audible presence for the most part. But even if this was mic'ed differently, you wouldn't hear much crowd noise. Unlike live recordings from a decade earlier when Willie was clowning and making show like the Nashville heroes he was writing for and playing with, the Willie who wrote, recorded, and is playing on this album has found his own voice (even when interpreting other songwriters). He believes in these songs, and these arrangements, and this album, so much that his performance has him concentrating and contemplating the music, while presenting intimate, personal renditions that the audience is receiving with equal reverence. There are so many live Willie LPs, and a lot of them are very good, but I can definitely say that this none sound like this one, and any Willie fan (which I assume is everyone) would do themselves a favor by cozying up to this Stranger.

Destroy All Monsters "Hot Box"

(Munster, 2014) I guess because Mike Kelley not only became an art star (whose dolls on tables I saw transform numerous galleries into spooky flea markets), or maybe it's because I have actually seen their videos and visual art as literal art installations in galleries, but Detroit's influential weirdos Destroy All Monsters have long been the definitive Art rRock band in my mind. Which I now realize is not fair. In my universe there's a whiff of pejorative to that term, while there is nothing but magic emanating from such soothing subgenres as Monster Rock, Trash Punk, Psyche Noise, and Imaginary Horror Movie Soundtrack-core, all of which I realize are far more suitable cate-gore-ization safter immersing myself in this epic collection. Formed in the early 70s by Ann Arbor college misfits/comic book fans/noisemakers, eking through the mid-70s making messy explosions of creativity, then changing up personnel going into the 80s as the charismatic frontwoman/visual artist Niagra recorded and toured most that decade with various lineups featuring herself and Ron Asheton of the Stooges, as anchors. They reunited in the mid-90s and played reunion shows and released recordings until Asheton died in 2009. This collection is mostly dynamic, joyously chaotic, fully rocking live material from all eras of the band (some from the huge Thurston Moore-curated release from 2009, some taken from reunion show videos). Niagra's paintings and the band's art zine (of the same name) and the museum exhibits certainly mean this band earned that A-word, but listening to two hours or righteously ridiculous rock'n'roll messes means they don't have to wear any of the respectability or bullshit associated with that scarlet letter. Thank the Devil that despite being officially curated into institutions, they were, fundamentally, a gruesome 1950s horror comic of a rock band!

Hubie Halloween

 

(Netflix, 2020) Someone I admire has created a chart of all of the defining recurring attributes (in plot, casting, specific jokes etc.) that appear in Adam Sandler movies (featuring him, or from his production company), attributing point values to each one. For example, an out of his league love interest, typical for many male stars, earns a low point value, while having Rob Schneider portray a non-Caucasian character is such an Sandlerverse staple, and something other producers would wisely never consider, that it yields a bunch of points. Casting Steve Buscemi gets a point (any filmmaker would be lucky to land him), but casting Alan Covert, a personal Sandler pal with a lengthy IMDB page that ONLY features Sandler movies (plus one appearance in Sandler's former roommate Judd Apatow's first movie back in 1995) is a jackpot of points. This project was conceived basically to create a pandemic activity: close watches and rewatches of the dozens of Sandler/Happy Madison Production titles, and debates about scoring (does it count when Schneider plays Filipino -which he actually is? Yes Does it count when the character Schneider mystically body switches with subsequently non-mystically pretends to be a Mexican gardener? No.) Anyhow, Hubie Halloween did not gain the most points (the project is still in progress, but it's nowhere near  I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry or Grown Ups), but it certainly seems to have been made with a goal of being Ultimate Sandler. While that might be scary prospect to some, this film really demonstrates all the most positive point earners (underdog becomes a hero to many), few of the most odious (Schneider does appears as a mental patient, but not as a racist caricature), and none of the laziest (Adam never just wears his own clothes). It also pays homage to his most beloved movies, by having Ben Stiller call back his villain from Happy Gilmore; Sandler speak in way that is recalls his odd Cajun accent from The Waterboy, that makes some sense considering his name is DuBois (which makes less sense since his character is overtly Jewish in the movie [1 point]); and we even meet relatives of some of Billy Madison's rivals. Also Julie Bowen tries her very best to justify a VERY out of league love connection, and Covert only makes an innocuous cameo (as opposed to a five minute shot of him soaping his ass in Mr. Deeds). Laughs and good stuff abound, including Buscemi shining as a neighborly wolfman, Adam weaponizing a near magical thermos, and less bathroom humor than a Disney show. If you do decide to force yourself to watch hundreds of hours of cinema that happens to include cringy David Spade vehicles, snail-paced Netflix originals, Deuce Bigalow 2, and testicle joke upon testicle joke, you truly appreciate when a breezy, silly, funny entry racks up the pleasant points.

The Destructors "Greatest Misses"

(Rowdy Farrago, 2015)  These are re-recordings of the band’s favorite original songs from the previous  nine-year re-launch, and I’m not sure all are better than the first time (the older you get the harder it is to chant “Existence is Resistance’ without getting winded or losing the tempo) , but they absolutely needed a chance to change their Jimmy Seville song about their beloved TV fave to  a new lyric skewering the outed predatory pedo, so that was an opportunity well played.