Just relax, baby, and me and this other cat are going to straighten you out. Absolutely unique, and brilliantly funny, this pioneering comedy concept album was recorded in 1959 by improv-comedy legend Del Close (playing professional hipster Geets Romo) with John Brent as the delightfully square narrator. Its double-barrel fun - a superb satire on the then-popular phenomenon of language-instruction records, and a wry send-up of the paternalistic and exploitative media treatment of fringe cultures, which would later reach new heights with the Flower Power phenomenon. I have no doubt the Geets character was a major inspiration for Maynard G. Krebs, and I cant help wondering whether this record was also an influence on Frank Zappa? I first heard of it about ten years ago - it was mentioned in one of the studio chatter tracks on the Pet Sounds Sessions boxed set - Brian Wilson quotes from it just before a take, and since none of the session guys appeared to know the album, he talks about it in some detail. It was clearly one of his favourite records, and now I know why. There have been some great comedy concept albums, but this is the grandaddy of them all and remains an enduring masterpiece.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 03:36:24 +0000