The Get Downs, Vol. 1

Murray Saul | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Taurus Gold
• ASIN: B00000J5QC
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,318 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. 10/10/75

2. 11/17/75

3. 12/19/75

4. 1/16/76

5. 5/15/76

6. 6/11/76

7. 10/22/76

8. 5/11/79

9. Taurus Gold ('82)

10. 5/6/94

11. 2/4/99

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bacchanalian Call to Arms!!!!!, June 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Get Downs, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Fasten your seatbelts. Pack a lunch. We're going on a trip back through time. It's not so very long ago. However, if you're one of those who've forgotten how to live life full-tilt, it may as well be the last millenium. But wait. There's hope in the form of "Murray Saul, The Get Downs: Vol. 1". Read on.Throughout the '70s and beyond, WMMS-FM was the number one radio station in Cleveland, home of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Of far more importance, when it came to cutting-edge, groundbreaking programming, 'MMS was, arguably, the foremost station in the nation.The heart and soul of 'MMS was one Murray Saul, that by virtue of a mere few minutes on-air weekly. Here's how it worked:Every Friday at 6 p.m., Murray would launch into a combination rant/call to revelrie, ushering in the weekend with a fire-and-brimstone denunciation of the "slave driver" -- the bane of everyone who ever had to toil for a living. This would be followed by the "antidote": a Bacchanalian plea to live for the moment (or at least the weekend) before having to return to working-class hell come Monday morning.To read Saul's modus operandi is one thing. To hear him growl it from the very depths of his being is something no words can adequately describe. Veering wrecklessly from anger and righteous indignation at the state of the world, to the sort of frenzy known only to those who've re-written the record books in the quest for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (which back then of course meant "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll"), Murray was controversial, you bet. But, man, did he ever strike one great, big, fat, philosophical power chord. And he didn't even need a Gibson Les Paul to do it. The only way to experience Saul in all his vessel-busting glory is via "The Get Downs...", a spoken-word, best-of collection named after Murray's weekly coda, "We gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta.....get down, damnit!!!!!" If the rap sounds familiar, that's because over the years, numerous stations around the country, Q-104 here in NYC for instance, have replayed Murray's chant without giving any credit. Shame on them. They'll get theirs. (Tip: In a showdown between karma and radio, always put your money on karma.)You've heard the expression, "You had to be there"? Not in this case. The message is as timeless now as it was then. Earlier in this review, the term "rant" was used. To the contemporary reader, this may conjure up Sam Kinison, Dennis Miller, Howard Stern.Hey, Murray beat 'em all to the punch. Whatever he upchucked over the airwaves, you can be sure he lived it, breathed it, owned it. The proof's in this CD -- a contact high if ever there was one. Teddy Roosevelt: Spoke softly. Carried a big stick. Murray Saul: Spoke loudly. Carried Thai sticks. But you gotta love him."The Get Downs". It's the thrill ride of the summer. And, ironically, it's legal. Raj BahadurNew York City

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spread the Word, June 21, 2003

By 

Zippy (Detroit, buy my heart's still in Cleveland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Get Downs, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

There's still a buzzard hanging out my window, but I think he's waiting for me to kick now. I was caught up in those groovy wavy gravy kinda days, in Cleveburg, when the Get Down Man was raving and slathering the call to the weekend.

There was nothing like it then and still is nothing like it now. Five minutes of every Friday night was dedicated to the not-so-harp-like tones of the rabbi of rock, the cantor of cool. A classy verbal taunt unlike anything the great Wolfman or any other rock iconoclast has equalled. I was lucky enough to have a good friend, still employed in Downtown Cleveburg, who had Harmon Cardon reels of virtually every word. At the turn of the millenia, we listened to hours of this stuff and it was like a wake-up call. If you don't have the luck to know someone who had this kind of adulation to the supreme Friday theme of the 70's--pick this one up. Pop it in the CD-player on your drive home Friday--and let your soul fly free!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You gotta, gotta, gotta get this cd!, December 11, 2004

By 

jordanny (las vegas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Get Downs, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Never in the history of radio has there been anyone quite like Murray Saul. The heart and soul of the #1 rock station in america, WMMS Cleveland, for years, Murray was an icon with few peers. He wasn't a dj. He wasn't an artist. He was the 'GET DOWN' man. Every friday night at 6 o'clock,it seemed like every radio in the city tuned to WMMS to hear him. Young people, old people, white people, black people, rich people, poor people--- everyone listened to the 'GET DOWN' man. It was amazing! You'd hear him blasting from the radios in passing cars. You'd hear him in every electronics store and department store. I even remember walking in downtown Cleveland one friday evening and hearing him echoing between the buildings, the sound eminating from office windows above. It was our call-- our call to forget the troubles of the past week. Forget the hassles at school, at work, at home. Forget anything that was getting you down. It was friday! It was the weekend! It was time to party-- to let down your hair, cast aside your inhibitions and go nuts. Enjoy life, enjoy sex, drugs, rock and roll, or whatever made you happy. And we did... Buy this cd and listen to it. It will make you feel good. From his rants about the 'slavedriver' (your teacher, boss, mom, dad...), to his 'recipies' or turning your lover into everything from a tossed salad to an ice cream sundae ( "add a little whipped cream, mmm...and don't forget the nuts!" ) you'll find it at once entertaining and relevant. It isn't one of those things that 'you just had to be there'. You can be there now. Listen. Enjoy. And, above all else--" Get Down, Dammit!"