Customer Reviews

Murray The K's Holiday Revue

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

 

 

The sound is flat mono, the band could be better, and some of the performances don't measure up to the hit studio versions, but so what? For those who were there, this is a treasure chest of memories. For those who were not, it's a chance to hear these artists when they were 16, 18, and 20 years old, not 56, 58, or 60 (or, in so many cases, not here at all).

This CD gathers most (not all) of the cuts from two LPs recorded at live shows produced by the flamboyant and cheesy Murray the K, a NYC radio fixture. The first was from a Labor Day 1963 show (cuts 1-13), the second from Dec. 1964 (cuts 14-27).

Aside from the sheer joy of "being there" and hearing the music when it was fresh and new, presented with a naive enthusiasm that is endearingly corny, the most interesting thing about this compilation is that when the artists are live, the cream rises to the top. For example, the Miracles, the Drifters, Chuck Jackson, and Dionne Warwick are outstanding-- extremely polished and entertaining. The seasoned professionals generally sound the best, while some of the younger groups are a little, well. . . rough. Also, you'll be reminded what a genius Phil Spector was, because no matter how well Ronnie sings, it just ain't the same "Be My Baby" without the Wall of Sound. Ditto for the west coast production that's lacking on Jan & Dean's "Surf City." By the way, compare this with the series of Alan Freed shows recorded in 1956, and you'll see that Alan paid a lot more attention to the quality of both the name artists and the back-up band than Murray did.

So, if you don't mind hearing some of your favorites with all the warts, and for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I strongly recommend this CD (and the Freed LPs/CDs as well). If you just want to hear the hits the way you remember them, stick to your local oldies station.

If you're a baby boomer you remember those wonderful times in the 1960's when rock 'n' roll was whole lot more accesible than it is now. Then, it was new, it had to market itself. We kids bought singles based on a song. Once we had the disc, the chance to see our heroes was icing on the cake.

Every big city had their DJ that MC'd the package tour that gave us our fix of experiencing live music.

Murray the K did it for The City (displaying my bias, huh?).

This marvelous little CD contains exerts from the December, 1964, show at the Brooklyn Fox Theater. The timing makes it intriguing as to its content. The British invasion has been on for 11 months, but it is invisible on this recording. Dick and Dee-Dee, the Las, and other US groups perform - to varying degrees of replication - live versions of their hits.

Sound quality is tinny. It's far better than Live at Pacoima Jr High School, but far worse than The Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl. And it speeds along at the "wham-bam-thank-you-ma'm!": rate that was the cynsure of these shows. You can almost visualize the next group stepping out and passing the preceeding group as it leaves the stage; menawhile the band is struggling to change their sheet music.

Should you buy it? Yes...it's a slice of the soundtrack of our lives.

This CD was produced in England and is a pirated version of the original 2-disk vinyl set. While it has most of the material from the original, it's put together in the very slapdash way. If you can find the LP records (and still have a phonograph), you'll get a better sense of the live event.