Michael Hurley : Slurf Song
Jeffrey Fredericks and the Clamtones : Sweet Lucy
At the end of 1976 the dean of rock critics, Robert Christgau of the Village Voice, gave only two albums his highest rating of A+: Brian Eno's late 1975 release Another Green World and a certain freak folk show called Have Moicy! featuring the graduates of the 60's Greenwich Village scene artists Michael Hurley, The Unholy Modal Rounders and Jeffrey Fredericks and the Clamtones.
Christgau praises the "thirteen homemade, chalky, fit-for-78 songs that renew the concept of American folk music as a bizarre apotheosis of the post-hippie estate. No losers, though--just loadsa laffs, a few tears, some death, some shit, a hamburger, spaghetti, world travel, crime, etc. "
There's an Amazon reviewer who writes Have Moicy! is "like an Appalachian cubist painting". It is in places goofy, earnest, radical, blasphemous, tongue-in-cheek and full of heart. There are fans who claim it is the greatest rock album ever recorded. And those who listened to half of one side before flinging the disc across the room. Perhaps it is the ultimate "you had to be there" recording.
Yo La Tengo would later cover "Griselda" on their phenomenal 1990 album Fakebook, introducing many of us to this bizarre collection of artists.
I'm one of the "fling it across the room" brigade. Although Sweet Lucy is a very very good song
ReplyDeleteI don't think "Midnight in Paris" is the strongest Side A track 1 taster. Too goofy!
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