Customer Reviews

Hokey Pokey

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...not sticking your leg in and shaking it all about, thank you. A little historical perspective: "Hokey Pokey" here, subtitled "The Ice Cream Song," refers to a bastardised version of the Italian for "Ice cream--I have some," a frequent cry of ice cream sellers on the streets of New York City and elsewhere early in the 20th Century. Trust Richard Thompson to come up with the most double entendre-laden song to ever come from something so innocent!

This, the second album Richard and Linda made together (from a total of six), tends to get rather short shrift in Thompson's catalogue--more's the pity, as this is quite a fine album. Linda's vocals are as good as ever, and she sings lead on more than half of the tracks here. Aly Bain's fiddle drives the title cut along with some searing leads from RT, and Richard's darkly humourous (and sometimes just plain dark) lyrics take quite the twist here--note the punning "turn a blind eye" lyric in "Smiffy's Glass Eye," which is about a young boy who is the perennial school bully's victim for having a prosthetic orb; or his rather backhanded paean to whiskey in "I'll Regret it All in the Morning." And how about his ode to the many kinds of poverty in "The Sun Never Shines on the Poor"?

Of the original 10 tracks, there is but one cover, the wryly humourous closer "Mole in a Hole," written by Mike Waterson. Then we come to the five bonus tracks included on the remaster; of these, three are covers, the best being Merle Haggard's "I'm Turning Off a Memory" (to whose drinking-to-forget lyrics Linda does full justice--one might be tempted to say she missed her calling by not making a career singing country music, but then when was the last time you heard of a British C&W singer?) and the rollicking "It'll Be Me." This is unquestionably a must-have.

"Hokey Pokey" is generally regarded as the weakest of Richard and Linda's early albums, but I regard it as only slightly less great than "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight," which is their best. In fact, I like it better in a way because it's more fun. Richard has said that he and Linda made a conscious attempt to be more upbeat with "Hokey Pokey," and that he's not sure if it was successful. Well, I'm here to say that it WAS successful, although in an odd way because even the most upbeat songs here have dark undercurrents.

Richard and Linda's music has never sold well in the U.S., and that may be partly due to the fact that it is so British. And their England has more in common with the England of William Blake than that of the Beatles. An exception here is "Georgie on a Spree," which sounds like "Maxwell's Silver Hammer." But this sort of material sounds much more natural coming from Richard and Linda than it does from the Beatles. (I think John Lennon would have agreed.) The final song, "Mole in a Hole," is another music hall-style number, but with a very odd chorus: "I want to be a mole in a hole digging low and slow/I want to be a fly flying high in the sky." It was not written by Richard (or Linda), but it is the perfect album closer, summing up the sardonic worldview of everything that comes before it.

The first track, "Hokey Pokey (The Ice Cream Song)" features great interplay between Linda's voice and Richard's guitar. The lyrics mix images of innocence and sexual suggestion in a way that would be very difficult for most singers to put across without it turning into low comedy, but Linda nails it. The very next track, Richard's "I'll Regret It All in the Morning," is an ironic answer to the song about innocence and ice cream, with lyrics like, "Whiskey helps to clear my head/Bring it with me into bed/If I wake up nearly dead/I'll regret it all in the morning." Another highlight (lowlight?) is "The Egypt Room," with its images of sleaze and guilt punctuated by a tantalizingly brief guitar solo at the end.

"Smiffy's Glass Eye" and "The Sun Never Shines on the Poor" continue themes that were introduced in "The Little Beggar Girl" from the previous album. The idea seems to be to contemplate the very worst that humanity has to offer, and Richard and Linda even drag us listeners into the muck by making a cheap (but funny!) joke at poor Smiffy's expense.

"A Heart Needs a Home," sung by Linda, is a surprisingly melodic ballad, and at the risk of turning a few people off, I will say that it reminds me a little bit of The Carpenters. It is one of the most beautiful ballads the Thompsons ever recorded.

This album, quite simply, is a knockout. Do not be fooled by its seemingly uneven tone. It all makes sense if you keep listening. I have it on LP, and my copy has a gatefold sleeve with all the lyrics printed inside, so hopefully the CD copies include this. "Hokey Pokey" is a must-have for fans of the Thompsons, and it deserves to be more widely available than it currently is.

OK, so they weren't really twins but Linda often said they sounded like siblings when they harmonized. Don't dwell on it too much it could get creepy if you do. Anyhow, another great album from the duo, "Hokey Pokey" features Thompson's brilliant double entendre comparing ice cream to sex. According to Thompson, "A little poke is all you'll need" although you'll get greedy after hearing this song and want to hear every single track. AMG rates this as four stars stating that it doesn't reach the "lofty heights" of "Lights". I disagree. It remains a stunning album that might be a bit sunnier than "Lights" but every bit as captivating.

The reissue has 5 bonus tracks four of them from John Peel BBC sessions that have never been released. Linda's beautiful vocal on the remake of "Wishing" and the remake of Merle Haggard's "I'm Turning Off a Memory" both only enrich an already great album. "A Heart Needs A Home" sounds terrific here as well with We also get the title track from the album played live at the Roundhouse. The sonics on the BBC sessions aren't quite as stellar as those on the album but that's not a surprise. The album is rounded out by "It'll Be Me" recorded live (and previously released) live at Oxford is taken from "Guitar, Vocal".

Featuring the lyrics to the songs and some brief liner notes this is worthwhile picking up if you have the previous edition primarily for the previously unreleased tracks although the sound is extremely good as well.

During the two short years 1974-75, and a decade before the monolithic "Shoot Out the Lights," Richard and Linda Thompson crafted three magnificant records. "Hokey Pokey" had the misfortune of following their stunning debut, "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight," and in comparison seems a lesser work of art. The sweeping beauty of its predecessor is glimpsed only in spots, as in the oft-recorded "A Heart Needs a Home." The album never establishes a comfortable tone, and instead ping-pongs between comical, hard Celtic romps like "Smitty's Glass Eye" and "Georgie on a Spree," and evocative lamentations like "I'll Regret it All in the Morning" and "Old Man Inside a Young Man." Still, there is very little to be disappointed in, for each song stands up well on its own, and a few are classics. Richard's guitar work, always unique in the way it engages the vocals in a dialogue, is plentiful and of course fascinating. If your constitution can handle the up-and-down sequencing of these brilliant songs, you'll find yourself playing this short disc frequently.

Some radio broadcast about Fairport Convention led me to purchase Liege & Lief. From there I picked up Hokey Pokey on a whim. I Could've gotten Shoot Out The Lights, but the album (CD) cover was more interesting on this one. I wasn't disappointed. The subject matter jumps from deadly serious to deadly humorous, but the music and especially the harmonies are amazing. This release is one of the treats in my collection. It reminds me on one level of Peter Paul and Mary being played to my puff-the-magic-dragon kindergarten classroom. At the same time, there's a deeper and darker side to it ( as to everything, no?). I highly recomend this addition to your collection. I also suggest you play it for the parents and kids (and crank it up for the neighbors if you're of the mind...)

Nearly half of this album is as happy and upbeat as anything Richard (and, of course, Linda) Thompson has ever done, but true to form, he balances it with two or three of the bleakest songs in his catalog. The resulting album lacks the consistency of the best R&L albums, but is still full of classics.

The funny and/or happy songs ("Hokey Pokey," "Smiffy's Glass Eye," "Georgie on a Spree," etc.) tap into the English musical hall style that was in vogue among early '70s rockers (the Kinks especially). Of course, Linda sings all of these. Her real highlight on this album, however, is the achingly beautiful "A Heart Needs A Home," which is very good here but an even better take can be found on the "(guitar, vocal)" album.

Leave it to Richard to add the gloom with the dark, dark "I'll Regret It All In The Morning" and "Old Man Inside A Young Man." He also sings the intriguing, slightly sinister "The Egypt Room."

All in all, "Hokey Pokey" is a fine album, but it helps if you're in a schizophrenic mood to fully appreciate it.

Richard and Linda's most under-rated album consists of very gloomful tunes such as "Old Man Inside a Young Man" and "I'll Regret It In THe Morning" and very upbeat tunes such as "Hokey Pokey" and "Smiffy's Glass Eye." This is a powerful album that should not be over looked by any RT + LT fan! It is a brilliant piece of work, get it!

I agree with the previous reviewer-the remastering is pitiful! It is muddy, not bright, no high end clarity. Shame on Island/Universal for botching this! (note: I also purchased "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight" from the same 2004 re-master releases and it sounds muddy as well. I would guess the whole remaster series is bunk!)

This is my favorite of the R&L Thompson albums and I was looking forward to the bonus tracks (good) and the newly re-mastered recordings. Anyone else think this album now sounds worse than ever? My LP sounds better, the bonus tracks I have from other sources and the original Ryko issue of this CD sounds at LEAST as good as this so-called "re-mastered" issue. Disappointing, to say the least.