Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music

Various Artists (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 15, 2002)
• Original Release Date: September 15, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Gammon
• ASIN: B00006NSX1
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,666 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Shaggs -- "Philosophy of the World"

2. Daniel Johnston -- "Walking the Cow"

3. Lucia Pamela -- "Walking on the Moon"

4. Peter Grudzien -- "Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere"

5. Jack Mudurian -- "Downloading the Repertoire" (excerpt)

6. Shooby Taylor, the Human Horn -- "Stout-Hearted Men"

7. B.J. Snowden -- "In Canada"

8. Eilert Pilarm -- "Jailhouse Rock"

9. Song-poem -- "Virgin Child of the Universe"

10. Wesley Willis -- "Rock n' Roll McDonald's"

11. Joe Meek -- "Telstar" (demo)

12. Sri Darwin Gross -- "At the Grass Roots"

13. Congress-Woman Malinda Jackson Parker -- "Cousin Mosquito #1"

14. Luie Luie -- "El Touchy"

15. The Legendary Stardust Cowboy -- "Standing in a Trash Can (Thinking About You)"

16. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band -- "Vampire Suite"

17. Arcesia -- "Butterfly Mind"

18. Jandek -- "They Told Me I Was a Fool"

19. "Dusty Roads" Rowe -- "Baby, Your Love's In Town"

20. Tiny Tim (with Miss Sue) -- "True Love"

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This collection is a companion to Irwin Chusid's book of the same name. It celebrates outsider music, music "so wrong it's right," and if you're drawn to sounds that make you wonder just what the musician was thinking, this collection is for you. The compilation is enthusiastically, if not always respectfully, annotated by Chusid. His selections range from the output of blissfully un-self-aware but basically functional individuals to the certifiably insane. Among the former are Lucia Pamela, an Ethel Merman sound-alike who contributes an infectiously enthusiastic celebration of "Walking on the Moon," and Congress-Woman Malinda Jackson Parker, a late Liberian lawmaker whose "Cousin Mosquito #1" cautioned against contracting insect-borne disease. The latter include Daniel Johnson, whose "Walking the Cow" weds a sublime melody to puzzling lyrics and a toy keyboard arrangement, and Wesley Willis, who pays tribute to Chicago's "Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's." Some of the artists are quite famous (Tiny Tim), some anonymous (the unknown writer and performers of song-poem "Virgin Child of the Universe")--they're united by their blithe certitude that the world needed to hear their unlikely but singular creations. --Bill Meyer

Product Description

"OUTSIDER MUSIC" refers to a genre of sonic exotica that in some ways is so wrong -- it's right! Outsiders could be the product of supernatural possession, damaged DNA, drug fry, psychosis -- or none of the above. These often self-taught artists may lack conventional tunefulness and self-awareness, but they display an abundance of earnestness and passion. And they're worth listening to, often surpassing all contenders for inventiveness and originality.

This CD is a counterpart to the book SONGS IN THE KEY OF Z: THE CURIOUS UNIVERSE OF OUTSIDER MUSIC (A Cappella Books/Chicago Review Press), and it was produced by the author, Irwin Chusid. The text explores such avatars of outré sonics as The Shaggs, Daniel Johnston, Harry Partch, Syd Barrett, the Song-Poem industry, Jandek, the Cherry Sisters, Captain Beefheart, Florence Foster Jenkins, Wesley Willis, Wild Man Fischer, and countless other musical eccentrics with cult followings.

This CD features songs by artists profiled in the book. From the uninhibited howling of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy to the arrested-adolescent passion of Daniel Johnston; the LSD-cabaret crooning of Arcesia to Joe Meek's rare, wobbly "Telstar" vocal demo; the Shaggs aboriginal backwoods rock to Lucia Pamela's vertigo-bent outer space lunacy -- SONGS IN THE KEY OF Z promises an unforgettable romp through music too strange for radio but too fascinating to ignore.

For more information on the artists featured on this CD, buy the book (available on Amazon.com). Then behold the magic, the visionary nature of outsider sonics. You may never want to come back inside again.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Songs in the Key of Z: It's the Real Thing, Baby, March 17, 2004

By 

Charles A. Miller "Educating the entire plane... (Kings Mountain, NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music (Audio CD)

About a million years ago, when our far-from-human ancestors were still huddling together in a damp hole in the ground, picking lice from each other's armpits, music was born. Those peabrained hominids found they enjoyed barking and howling at the moon together, harmonizing as it were, and gradually incorporated a whole range of yelps, shrieks, farts and belches---which they could and did perform for the sheer exhilaration of the act. Yeah, this was the essential music, the primal music, with a weight and currency all its own, long before the spoken word polluted our ears. So, here we are a million years later, and we've forgotten the primal origin of music, it's been bred out of us---now we PAY a relative handful of polished schmucks to serenade us, because we fear that our own music, our own barking & yelping frenzy, is somehow unworthy. And this is what we now call the REAL world. Thank Christ for schizophrenia... Indeed, only a complete retreat from "reality" can deliver us to the roots of REAL music---and this is where I finally get around to endorsing "Songs in the Key of Z"... This is the real thing, baby, unencumbered by social dictates, false morality, political agendas... My most excellent advice: Don't try to rationalize the contents of this album WHATSOEVER. Don't just TRY to sing along, but really get INTO it, and howl your ass off if it feels good. Rock over London, Rock on Chicago, Northwest Airlines: Some People Just Know How To Fly.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoy it for what it is...., June 18, 2003

By 

cookieman108 "cookieman108®" (Inside the jar...) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music (Audio CD)

I read a review on here that stated people should avoid this CD because 'it's not funny'. I feel that the reviewer may be missing what I think is the point. I don't think this was put out as a worst song CD, but as a glimpse into what has been labeled 'outsider' music. The songs on this CD are certainly bizarre, and even incedentally funny, but the people on this CD made thier music not as a joke, but because they felt the need to do so, an urge from within. Granted, some urges should be supressed, but I welcome the diversity of the music on this CD. Listening, you will understand why none of these people will probably ever see a contract with a major record label. To me, these songs and artists represent the fringe of the music world. And I did laugh at a number of the tracks, but I also kept it within the context of this is not a novelty record, but a glimpse into a world many of us don't get a chance to see. If you want novelty, go get a Dr. Demento CD. but if you want something different, bizzare, odd, and an all around unique music experience, check out this CD.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Musical Eden?!, November 8, 2001

By 

"eido" - See all my reviews

This review is from: SONGS IN THE KEY OF Z (Audio CD)

This album is billed as a sort of return to Eden-- the Purity of Music before being tainted by the dirty hands of our commercial society. Yet, if this is what purity sounds like, well, I don't know... Why should you buy this album? It isn't the sort of music that you will find stuck on infinite repeat in your CD player. Nor will you need to hold yourself back from belting out "Rock n' Roll McDonald's" while browsing your local library. Rather, this album will emerge from your collection to meet an intense and incurable craving for the fabulously unusual. Certainly you need a sense of humor, and being slightly bizarre yourself helps too. While you would be hard pressed to find someone who loved every song on this album, there is something for everyone (or at least everyone with a taste for this sort of thing). Personal favorites of mine include B.J. Snowden's "In Canada," the lyrics of which scan with such misfortune as to create a hitherto unknown experience of the English language. Despite countless listening, "Virgin Child of the Universe" continues to delight due to the incongruity of the naively generic setting of the slightly disturbing lyrics. There are sounds captured here that you certainly will not find elsewhere-- both humorous and inexplicably attractive. And I must admit, there is something appealing about the seeming unselfconsciousness about the whole thing.