Customer Reviews

Second Coming

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

 

 

Jerry Samuels has put together the definitive collection of Napoleon XIV classics and previously unreleased hits. If you are a fan of off-beat humor, the music and lyrics on this album are a must for your collection. The unlisted 21st track was a wonderful surprise (hint: it was on the flip side of the original "They're Coming To Take Me Away, HA HAAA!" single.) All the selections were ahead of their time with special effects. The results were well worth the effort that obviously went into recording this technical masterpiece. This album was intended as a parody and not to offend anyone. It does poke fun at mental illness, so the buyer should be aware of this.

Back in 1966, Napoleon XIV (Jerry Samuels) had a hit with one of the greatest novelty songs of all time, "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!". This CD includes all the material from the subsequent "They're Coming To Take Me Away" album, plus three tracks from his unreleased second album, the 1990 sequel to his hit, and four newly recorded songs. Although Samuels has dismissed the "They're Coming" album as a quick cash in product, most of the material is actually quite funny. You wouldn't think a whole album of novelty songs about mental illness would work, but somehow it does. The three tracks from his second album are very ambitious and well produced, but they aren't actually all that funny. Samuels apparently feels that "The Explorer" from that album is the greatest thing he ever recorded, but I have to respectfully disagree. "They're Coming To Get Me Again, Ha-Haaa!" is a worthy sequel to his hit. As for the four new songs, only one of them, "I Owe a Lot To Iowa Pot", is actually a full length song. The others are brief, rather silly, song fragment jokes. The hidden bonus track is the original b-side of "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!", "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT", which is the a-side played backwards. This CD is a worthwhile purchase for all fans of novelty records.

Pop songwriter and studio wizard Jerry Samuel's 1966 novelty masterpiece "They're Coming To Take Me Away" was perhaps the toughest act to follow in the history of pop music. And, unfortunately for those of us spoiled by this work of Top 40 brilliance--a wonderful combination of Dolly Kay's 1949 "Hooray! Hooray! I'm Going Away" and Edgar Varese siren effects--Samuels never concocted anything remotely in the same league.

So, is this collection a waste of money? Not at all. There are amusing, if fairly ordinary novelties; there are ingenious productions... and we're talking about Jerry (Napoleon XIV) Samuels, the man who gave us the greatest novelty track of all time. So, if nothing else, purchasing this CD is a way of saying "Thank you" in the best possible way--from the wallet.

Samuels addicts may want to track down his two big pop hits--1954's "To Ev'ry Girl, To Ev'ry Boy" by Johnny Ray, and the considerably better "In the Shelter of Your Arms" (1966) for Sammy Davis, Jr. The Dolly Kay track mentioned above is also essential Samuels-history listening. Too bad they weren't included on this collection!

Napoleaon XIV (I forget his real name) played piano in a little bar in town in 1969. He could pound out just about anything that was rewquested, and would make up complex lyrics and music for any requested subject. When I found out that he was also a recording engineer, (one of my interests at the time) I approached him and he was kind enough to invite me to a few sessions in NYC. I observed two nights of laying down tracks for a band named "The Fort Mudge Memorial Dump." Boring! After the second night the subject of "Psychedelics to heighten the creative process" came up. That's when I decided this was not the career for me! The man was a songwriting, recording and creative genius, though!

I'm 14 and this CD shows that there is good music thats old. Its very funny and mindless but who cares. Its just fun and thats it. I would recomend this CD to anyone who enjoys a good laugh even the teens.

I really didn't know what to expect but this was not half bad. I liked 'Doing the Napoleon', 'The place where the nuts hunt the squirrels', 'The song I wrote for Robert Goulet', 'Dr psyche, the cut rate-rate head-shrinker' and 'I live in a split-level head'. And of course the hidden track (#21) which is the backward version of the hit song 'They're coming to take me away' which was only ava as the flip side of the 45. That alone was worth the cost of the CD as it has not been ava since 1966. Some radio stations BANNED the orginal version when it became a hit.

I must say that I first found out about Napoleon XIV when I was going through my dads old records. I looked at the goofy cover, then tried it out for laughs to see how bad it could be, and I was shocked at how funny it was. That's why I ordered this ASAP. I must happely say that all of the old songs are on here, as well as 2 really funny unreleased songs, Goofin' on the Job and Photogenic, Schizophrenic You.

Sadly though, most of the new material by Jerry Samuels borders from tolerable to just downright awful. It's clear that this is one humor artist that hasn't graced well over the years vocally or humor wise, as demonstrated in his short moronic songs/poems like Ode to a Farmer Boy and It May Appear Ridiculous that you'll skip every time after one listening. Other new songs like The Song I Wrote For Robert Goulet, and I Owe a Lot to Iowa Pot make the listener question as to why he even wrote them, and confused me and my dad as to why Jerry decided to add them.

Other cut tracks like The Explorer and Can You Dig It? show why they wern't released to begin with. They just are not funny, get on your nerves fast with "comedy" bits that should end in 30 seconds and move on, but drag on for 2 minutes. They just don't fit in at all with the rest of the CD. The newest song that actually fits into Jerrys old style, They're Coming to Get Me Again, Ha Haaa!, is Jerry trying to do some new material that's justice to his legacy. Sadly though, it comes off as yet another not as funny rehash of his 1 hit. I must praise him for actually trying with it, and not just gargling through with jokes that seem like they were taken off of Laffy Taffy, or stolen lyrics from a gansta rapper like his other new material, but it is only marginally funny at best (when he starts slipping into his old hits lyrics by accident and sounding confused as to why he's singing them is pretty funny though).

Luckly though the whole They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha! record is here in its full glory. I'm really dissappointed that only 3 of the 7 added tracks are even worth the time of day. But for those of you who want to preserve your record collection, had the record get bad over the years, or just never heard it before this is worth every dime to hear some of the funniest stuff from the 60's, and it included a rather interesting info book for his songs.

For those with a sharp sense of humor, and fine tastes in music. Unlike the previous statement, I haven't found one poorly made set in the bunch. Definitely a product for your your most moody pals.

I bought this cd for one song, which is somehow fitting for me - "They're Coming to take me away". The rest of the stuff is really out to lunch, no wonder the guy rapidly faded away into oblivion. Oh! Oh!, gotta go, here they come ( in their little hite coats, ha ha! )

What fun!