Customer Reviews

Pampered Menial

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album has to be one of the most underrated and underappreciated albums in the history of popular music. I remember years ago taking a flight of stairs up to one of my favourite record haunts. I could hear the wafting sounds of an incredibly different type of music coming from the store's speakers as I approached. I asked the clerk who it was and was introduced to Pavlov's Dog. He told me that they were selling the album for half price because nobody was buying it. Weather the record company wasn't promoting it or it just couldn't get any airplay I don't know. But the best way that I can think of describing the harmonic ballad "Julia" and the multi instrumental "Late November" is the vocals of "Rush" meeting the instrumentation of "Kansas" with a little "Jethro Tull" thrown in. Now if we can just get Amazon to put up some sound samples for these tunes I'm sure that there will be a lot more appreciative fans out there. Let's not make the same mistake with these guys again by not being able to hear their music.

While I wouldn't consider it a masterpiece or 5 star deserving Pavlov's Dog debut is a remarkably intriguing album since it's hard to see where they're coming from or where they're heading to with their invulgar fusion of classic rock(Blue Oyster Cult styled)with baroque embelishments,topped off by the outrageous wails of banshee like singer David Surkamp.It doesn't always work but at least in half of the tracks they come out swinging with their unusual formula in a way that's nothing short from brilliant.

I had been searching the local record shops for this album ever since CD's were available to no avail. When a friend suggested Amazon, my search was ended. A great melodic rock album debut that could have given Suprtramp a run for it's money if there was a little more commerciality to it. Regardless, fans of great music will appreciate this gem. I loved all the tracks on this album but especially "Julia" and "Of Once and Future Kings" are standouts. If you like this album, definitely check out their second disc, At The Sound of The Bell.

I remember this album from my college days (ABC Dunhill, if I recall) and it is sort of a little "guilty pleasure" treasure - I enjoy the high vocals and the pomposity, although I was never a fan later of Rush or Journey's Perry. It is meshed blend of prog and old fashioned 70s "classic" rock. I enjoy it.

The band's sound is quirky and this album was put out at the first blush of the punk movement ...punk menial it is not. It is "middle america" prog.

The bonus tracks are lo-fi samplings of the band live. They are poorly recorded and somehow endearing, although they would not be on any iPod playlist. The record overall is well remastered. Love went into the project.

Packaging is well done - I am glad I picked it up before it goes out of print.

St. Louis progressive rock band led by singer David Surkamp, had a cult album with "Pampered Menial" #181 in 1975. Produced by BOC early masterminds Murray Krugman and Sandy Pearlman. I remember in college, a few people had this album, loved the cover and always wanted to hear what was on the vinyl. What I found out after several years was some fine rock 'n roll with a very distinctive voice, that sounded like a man on helium, but I got used to it pretty fast. When you got great numbers like, "Song Dance", "Fast Gun", "Natchez Trace" all great rockers, and some fine ballads like, "Late November", "Julia" a classic and "Of Once And Future Kings". Excellent lead guitar on this album by ex-REO guitarist Steve Scorfina.

I was a teenager in the mid '70s, and I used to listen to WXRT (when they were a good, late night station) on my FM transistor radio with the tiny, yellow plastic earpiece at night when I went to bed. I remember one night, waking up to the sounds of Pavlov's Dog. I don't really remember which tune from Pampered Menial it was, all I knew was what a sound! I was blown away. I never did buy the album, and years later, something triggered that memory and I told my wife about it. She found the CD in a record store in downtown Chicago and I have been grateful to her, and for the music on that album.

Of course, the first thing everyone says that hears the Dog for the first time is that they sound like Rush or Surkamp and Geddy Lee are brothers or something. The bands are similar, in a way, but definitely have their own sound. You really can't mistake one for the other. I love them both dearly. For some reason, I have always been fond of singers of Surkamp's and Lee's ilk. But I digress.

This first effort is melodical, emotional, driving and simply excellent. Not a clinker in the lot. Whenever I play this CD, I have to listen to the entire disc. People will debate whether this or their second are better, I will cast my vote for Menial. every time I listen to it, it grabs me just like it did that late night 35 years ago.

A very distinctive sound from a band that really never got enough promotion outside the Midwest.

Although this album was released in the mid 70s I did not encounter it until 20 years later when a friend of my then husband loaned him the cassette. I must admit I couldn't get beyond the first song at the time. David Surkamp's singing style was a little too unique for my more conventional tastes.
Then late last year I came upon a 1981 CD/DVD set by Hi Fi, a short lived dance band featuring Surkamp and British folk rocker, Iain Matthews. I just couldn't get enough of it. Surkamp's stage presence intrigued me. He's only a little guy, sort of a cross between the Monkees' Davy Jones and Richard Hammond from British motoring show, Top Gear, in looks. But he throws himself into his performance with complete abandon. The man clearly enjoys his work.
So that inspired me to give his Pavlov's Dog set a second chance. And I'm glad I did. The songs are actually quite good, taking me back to an era when lyrics had something to say. I particularly like Late Noveber and Of Once And Future Kings. The latter has a slightly medieval feel to it.
The vocals are quirky, and some may find them irritating, but if you can get beyond that, Pampered Menial is good, listenable 70s rock.

I was 18 years old when this album first hit the airwaves in Kansas City. The track was "Julia", and I was at once seized and held rapt by this early power ballad. The hook is, in a word, unforgettable. There is so much pent up power and emotion in David Surkamp's soaring castrotti vocal, it still makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck almost 35 years later.

Truly one of the least appreciated and most overlooked Prog Rock albums of all time. Pavlov's dog was one of several Midwestern practitioners of Prog Rock, and they were undoubtedly overwhelmed by the more prolific Kansas, but if you miss listening to this album, you will have missed a rare moment in American music.

First of all,let me say that this is one great CD.I first bought this record in 1975 when it first came out.Every song stand out on this CD.The sound quality is good,but the only drawback I see is the cover.It looks like it was Xeroxed or something...A sticker on the CD wrapper claims it was re-released in 2007,but I have my doubts..On the CD itself,it says Made in Australia...It also says Columbia,Sony Music,and CBS records on the cover,but dispite all this it is still a bargain due to the sound quality and low price for this hard to find CD...

David Surkamp is billiant.Buy this cd,and you will not regret.