Customer Reviews

Pharaohization! The Best Of Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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As anybody can tell, this CD has a problem despite the good sound quality. I have this CD, and am not happy with the fact that all but two of the tracks are mis-titled. For example: The track that is said to be "Medicine Man" happens to be "Ju Ju Hand".

From what I found out by listening to the CD and looking at the back of the case, this is the true order of the tracks:

1. Wooly Bully
2. Sorry 'Bout That
3. Ju Ju Hand
4. Medicine Man
5. Ring Dang Doo
6. Don't Try It
7. Monkey See, Monkey Do
8. Red Hot
9. A Long Long Way
10. Big Blue Diamonds
11. Li'l Red Riding Hood
12. Green'ich Grendel
13. Pharaoh A-Go-Go
14. The Hair On My Chinny Chin Chin
15. (I'm In With) The Out Crowd
16. How Do You Catch A Girl
17. Oh That's Good, No That's Bad
18. Take What You Can Get
19. Black Sheep
20. Banned In Boston
21. Money's My Problem
22. Let Our Love Light Shine
23. I Never Had No One
24. I Couldn't Spell !!*@!

I don't think anybody who is purchasing this CD would want to find out that most of the tracks on the back of the case are listed in the wrong order. The only two that are correctly listed are "Wooly Bully" and "Li'l Red Riding Hood".

Okay, so they weren't Egyptian, or even Arab for that matter. But "Wooly Bully" was one of the defining songs of 1965. And follow-up hits like "Ju Ju Hand" and "Ring Dang Doo" continued the band's Tex-Mex brand of rock 'n' roll with its pumping organ and rollicking sax.

Their last big hit was 1966's semi-novelty number "Lil' Red Riding Hood," which sold a million copies on its way to No. 2. A similar style was used on the next single, "The Hair on My Chinny Chin Chin," but it would do no better than No. 22. By 1967, the band broke up and Sam began a solo career under his given name, Domingo Samudio. [He would have no chart success as a solo act, but he would receive a Grammy for his liner notes to his 1971 album "Sam, Hard and Heavy." He also has two songs on the 1982 soundtrack to "The Border."]

If you enjoyed the hits of Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs, this album is a treat. Stellar sound, informative liner notes and each song is a glorious reminder of what made pop music fun in the Sixties. Ready? Sing. "Uno, dos, one, two, tres, cuatro..." (Enjoy!) RECOMMENDED

Not only were they not the greatest R&R band ever, as one reviewer boldly suggests, but I doubt that they'd make the Top 25 in any poll. However, they were loads of fun and they did accomplish something that not even The Beatles could with their long string of hits: they had one of their top songs cross over to the R&B charts [Wooly Bully which reached # 2 Billboard Hot 100 and # 31 R&B in summer 1965 for the MGM label].

With its opening UNO, DOS, TRES, QUATRO it is one of the most identifiable sounds of the 1960s and was written by the group's leader, Domingo "Sam" Samudio of Dallas, Texas and actually released the year before on the small XL label before being picked up by MGM.

Following that auspicious beginning their next three offerings dipped considerably on the charts, with Ju Ju Hand reaching # 26 in August, Ring Dang Doo topping out at # 33 in November b/w Don't Try It, and Red Hot, the legendary rockabilly tune first recorded in 1955 for Sun by Billy "The Kid" Emerson, peaking at # 82 in February 1966 b/w A Long Long Way.

But they returned to the # 2 position with Lil' Red Riding Hood in the summer of 1966, and in November the sequel The Hair On My Chinny Chin Chin climbed to # 22 b/w their comical take on The In Crowd, (I'm In With) The Out Crowd. Early in 1967 they were back with How Do You Catch A Girl? [# 27], and in April of that year came the funny Oh That's Good, No That's Bad [# 54] b/w Take What You Can Get.

Their final Top 100 came in summer 1967 when Black Sheep struggled to reach # 68, although you have to wonder why the funny Banned In Boston could not climb higher than # 117 Hot 100 "bubble under" in 1967 b/w Money's My Problem, and the equally-hilarious I Couldn't Spell Pthhht did not fare better than # 120 "bubble under" in 1968.

The B-sides omitted are Ain't Gonna Move [b/o their first hit], Love Me Like Before [b/o Lil' Red Riding Hood], The Love You Left Behind [b/o How Do You Catch A Girl?], and My Day's Gonna Come [b/o Black Sheep]. Track 19 was a failed 1968 single, while tracks 3, 5, 7, 14, 17, and 20 are from their several albums.

The sound quality is excellent, and with the insert you get the original vinyl-version notes written by Peter Zaremba of New York in 1985, six more pages by Bob Kruse of Boston written for this edition in 1997, a complete discography of the contents, and several more photos of the group, which also included Ray Stinnet, Jerry Patterson, Butch Gibson, and David Martin, who passed away in 1987 at age 50.

Just a fun album to have.

Forget about the order of titles published on the liner--the songs are in a different order on the disc--and just listen. Wolly Bully is on virtually every "best of the 1960's" CD, but there are a lot of other great (and some so-so) Sam the Sham numbers here. The audio is great. So, put the convertible top down, put on some shades, skip ahead to "Ring Dang Do" and curise by the nearest High School and let those insufferable preppies know what real "cool" is.

Rhino as usual has compiled a generous dollop of the works of Domingo "Sam the Sham" Samudio and his band the Pharoahs and it's difficult to argue with very many of the cuts as being outright "bad". The problem (as with much of this vintage) is there's not enough distinction cut to cut.

Add just about anything here to a mix CD of oldies and someone will ask you "What's that song? I like it!"

But play this front to back and the same person will say "Didn't you just play that one?!?" (i.e. Most of these really DO sound like "Wooly Bully")

HIGHLIGHTS:
The biggest singles are the best: party perrennial "Wooly Bully", a hipster 'goosing' of children's fables in "L'il Red Riding Hood", and ahead-of-my-time lament "(I'm in with) The Out Crowd". Outside of those, "Sorry 'bout that" berates an ex-lover hoping to reconnect, anti-fad "Monkey See,Monkey Do", and the age old question for pubescent boys everywhere: "How Do you Catch a Girl?" "Black Sheep" hides some clever social commentary within it and also is one of the few here that doesn't cop too much musically from "Wooly..". "Banned in Boston" reprises the outsider sentiment. ("I'm weird and bearded,baby/Wild and wooly/Can't you see?")

LOWS:
"Pharoah-a-Go-Go" is a pretty undistinguished instrumental. "Oh That's Bad, No That's Good" is somewhat amusing but its hard luck tale doesn't wear well with repeat listenings once you know the punchline is coming.

BOTTOM LINE:
Out of all the single disc comps available, this is the best bet despite some of the filler found here because the better tracks include stuff that's just not found elsewhere. (MILLENNIUM's not bad but you miss out on "Black Sheep","Banned",and "How Do you Catch..". If you know more than "Wooly Bully", this is the one to get.

Burn your own CD-R minus the mush and add the best of the Rhino Mitch Ryder comp (which suffers the same 50-50 fate), sprinkle a few other tunes in (perhaps "Double Shot of my Baby's Love" and "Quarter to Three"?) and you'll have a killer oldies party soundtrack.

I've been a Sam the Sham fan for a long time, and I had listened to this album on the Rhino LP. Well, I heard that Rhino was reissuing it on CD and I was probably one of the first to buy it! Sam had one helluva drummer (Jerry Patterson)!!! If you're one of those people who get high on music by just listening to it, you'll be higher than a kite after Sam the Sham. It's one of my favorite bands. Some trivia for other Sam the Sham fans: His name is really Domingo Samudio and he is now a prison preacher.

But it's a damn great song! Yep, "Wooly Bully' and 23 variations of that theme.
The surprising thing is the social commentary of some of these songs: "Black Sheep", "Monkey See, Monkey Do", "Green'ich Grendel", "The Out Crowd". Unlike Bob Dylan's stuff, you can actually dance to these songs (always a plus).
This disc is a great example of garage rock, but... buyer beware! You really have to love this type of music to get through this disc. I've played it for people who have begged me to shut it off because... it IS the same song over and over. I can't stress that enough. If two dozen songs sound like too much I recommend MCA's 20th Century Collection... 12 songs and it goes down in 28 minutes. I bought that one first but 12 songs was not enough... so I picked up 'Phaorahization'. I'm very glad I did!

This CD has everything your looking for in a Sam the Sham and the Pharaos CD. If you've only heard Wooly Bully you are missing out. The problem is there are so many songs that you can't just listen to the whole thing right through. Indiviually they may all be great but together they start sounding the same. I have this CD and am happy with it. But I'd recomend just getting the 20th Century - Millenium collection Sam the Sham and the Pharaos CD. I has all of the good songs.

If it's even possible, Sam the Sham's music is even more heroically stupid than the Ramones'. After all, those four boys from Brooklyn wrote coherent songs, with different melodies and lyrics about cars and girls and hamburgers. The Pharoahs, on the other hand, didn't even try. Not only did all of their best songs sound the same (I mean, literally, the friggin' same), but seriously, what hell was "Wooly Bully" supposed to be about? Or "Ring Dang Do?" Or "Ju Ju Hand?" The answer, of course, is who cares?! If you actually find yourelf looking for deeper meaning in songs "Monkey See Monkey Do," "Red Hot," or "Sorry 'bout That," you're probably wearing a tin foil hat. And as for the songs sounding the same, again, who cares? Why mess with a winning formula.

And it is a winning formula. See, unlike the Ramones, the Pharaohs actually managed to hit the charts. Twice! Just goes to show ya that record buyers in the 60s had waaaaaaaaaay better taste than the kid o' the 70s. The first hit was the now world famous "Wooly Bully," a pounding dumb-dumb anthem with a ludicrously catchy vocal, a hypnotic pounding drumline (it seriously sounds like some guy was just hitting a snare drum over and over again), and a hypno-riffic organ (played by Sam himself, who, as legend has it, only knew five chords!). The only thing more incredible than the idea that anyone thought that this would work is that it actually does- it's so damn infectious that you won't believe it. It also sets the template for a buncha the group's other songs- "Medicine Man," "Ju Ju Hand," "Sorry 'Bout That," "Ring Dang Do," "Don't Try It," and others are all barely noticable alterations of the same template, and they also rock. The group's other hit was "Little Red Riding Hood," which is closer to "serious" rock n roll (but only in the same sense that a bicycle resembles a Ferarri more so than does a cow), but it's still a really, really cool song, with a great creeping guitar line and vocals that produce actual tension. It doesn't really set a template for the other songs to follow, but "The Hair On My Chinny Chin Chin" sounds like "Wooly Bully" meets "Little Red Riding Hood." And then there are gut-butsingly funny sing-alongs like "Oh That's Good, No That's Bad" and a wonky juke-joint isntrumental called "Pharaoh A Go Go," and a bunch of other mas-durr-pieces on that level. There's enough grease-coated rock n roll here to keep you busy until you turn uncool. Rock out!

This CD is like a shot of B-12. Ring Dang Doo, Red Riding Hood, Green-ich Grendel (beatnik queen)... I defy anyone listening this to sit still and not sing along. Sam, marry me?