Customer Reviews

Strictly for Music Lovers

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the big one, folks! Four discs; 96 sides of musical mayhem! Gunshots, cowbells, bleating goats, Sigourney Weaver's Uncle Doodles, this is the biggest Spike Jones collection commercially released! (An inferior 8-disc set of his radio shows is out there in EBay-land, but only mentioned for the hard-core City Slickers enthusiasts.) This one is NOT for the slightly interested listener who recalls "Der Furher's Face", "My Old Flame" and little else--there are several good single-disc compilations out there that they should start with. This one is for the real fans, as a one-time buy to fill in most if not all of the gaps in their Spike Jones collections.

Spike Jones was a very sneaky man--combining an overview of the finest classical music with Swing, Dixieland, Jazz, Country, Hawaiian, and Western musics and adding the ZING, POW, CRASH! of the finest slapstick humor. He combined highbrow music with lowbrow comedy and radio-theatre style sound effects and gave America a musical mayhem that's never been equaled.

For those of you wading through the tracks lists, yes, there is some repetition...this set contains both Jones V-disc recordings done for the Armed Forces Radio Service, and the subsequent RCA-Victor studio remakes of some of those recordings. There also seem to be some outtakes perhaps from the previously mentioned radio show. However, this is *not* a complete collection; in particular, several of Spike's holiday pieces are not present-- his immortal take on "The Nutcracker Suite" for example. There's a dozen or so other loose 78s not found here, nor are all the V-disc sides appearantly present. You'll have to wade through several other anthologies to get all of *those* if you absolutely *must* have them, personally, I wouldn't bother. Not that a few of the missing sides aren't gems, but with a treasure chest like this, who's to notice?

For those of you curious about Spike's radio shows, I'd reccomend Rhino's "Radio Years Vols. 1 & 2" if you can find them--they have four of the classic City Slicker's shows, with special guest stars Peter Lorre, Lassie, Boris Karloff and Frank Sinatra. For those of you curious about Spike's *TV* Show, (and he MUST be seen to be believed) I'd reccomend "Best of Spike Jones Vols. 1, 2, & 3." (Some of you may recall the original episodes being re-aired on the Disney Channel a dozen or more years ago)

My five-star rating is for the music, which includes a number of V-Discs, live material, RCA Victor sides, and who knows what--recordings made for radio, maybe. The shoddy packaging is of no consequence, considering that the price includes four discs' worth of material. My complaint is with the annoying reverb in the sound reproduction, which occurs on any number of tracks. It's enough to ruin the sound at times, especially on the late-40s masterpieces "Laura" and "William Tell Overture." Were the engineers trying to add depth to the recordings? If so, imposing late-70s, Sansui-style reverb is NOT the way to go about it.

At any rate, the V-Discs are a joy, especially the riotous "As Time Goes By," which features clock effects (what else?) and splendid Red Ingle vocal effects. This is one Jones classic that will never grow old, with an arrangement that uses the verse of the tune as the calm before the storm of interpolated sound effects, a la "Cocktails for Two." And the live material proves that the City Slickers' musicianship was as dead-on in person as in the studio, though "G.I. Haircut" does have the singer trying to come in one measure too early. How often do we get to hear a screw-up on a Jones recording? Who would have known these guys were capable of error? Anyway, a great buy if the listener doesn't mind a bit of mud in the mix. Five stars for the greatest musical parodist of the 20th century.

Why was this titled "Strictly for Music Lovers" it makes it sound as if you would only enjoy these CDs if you were an absolute Spike Jones fanatic! To enjoy these CDs you just have to have a slight familiarity with Spike in order to enjoy them!

While this collection isn't as great as "The Musical Depreciation Revue" or "Spiked!" (both are essential to any fan of Jones by the way) this collection does come close. These FOUR discs :o) cover Spike's early days to his songs in the late 40's which in my opinion, are the best. In short these discs cover Spike from silliness to insane genius.

Disc 1: This disc contains many early V-discs. A few are not silly at all! (ex: Cheatin' on the Sandman) If you don't own any of Harley Quinn's Spike CDs, most of these songs might be new to you. (That is unless you were around in the 1940's). Der Fuehrer is on almost EVERY Spike CD so that's not too special.

Disc2: (The disc I'm listening to right now as I type). This is a great CD because it contains many live "in concert" recordings. I haven't seen many of these songs on any other CDs. The first 10 or so songs are from V discs.

Disc 3: Two versions of "Cocktails"! This CD starts to really show some insanity towards the end. Great stuff! This CD also contains an almost crystal clear version of "Black Bottom."

Disc 4: This is the only CD that doesn't contain any "straight" songs. All of them are great and crazy. Plus there are a few on here that I haven't seen on any other CDs.

All in all a great collection, not as great as ones previously listed but still great. I only wish that this collection went into the 1950's a little, possibly into the 60's. Another disapointment was that I already own most of these songs on other CDs. Oh well!

Hope this review was helpful! :-) LONG LIVE SPIKE!

Before Stan Freberg, before PDQ Bach, before Weird Al Yankovic, there was Spike Jones and His City Slickers. This four CD collection containing much of his work exposes the listener to a broad spectrum of the different styles he was capable of performing.

It truly is unfortunate that many people are unaware of how talented Spike Jones was--his work went far beyond music parodies. He was a popular studio drummer, and he assembled some of the finest jazz, swing and big band musicians of the day: the incomparable George Rock and his trumpet,along with his Little Kid voice [heard in All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth and Bubble Gum]; Freddy Morgan on banjo, Del Porter and his clarinet, Doodles Weaver with his silly comments and puns during the William Tell Overture; Mel Blanc providing the hiccoughs and a drunken rendition of Clink, Clink, Another Drink--picture an inebriated cartoon stork here and you'll get the idea.

From WWII there's In Der Fuhrer's Face; Little Bo Peep Has Lost Her Jeep; an updated version of Come Josephine, in My Flying Machine, Leave the Dishes in the Sink, Ma; as well as the rarely-heard You're a Sap, Mr.... The title of the last is not exactly PC by today's standards, but it was typical of the country's sentiments toward Japan during WWII and was even utilized in a Popeye cartoon.

Then there are the 'serious' songs: John Scotter Trot, Love for Sale, Moanin' Low, Cheatin' on the Sandman and still more. The beginning of his rendition of the ballad Laura is beautifully performed in a Rhumba style--effectively showing how very good his musicians were--before reverting to the audio slapstick format they were most known for. This song is particularly unusual because it is not the City Slickers who were credited as the performers, but rather Spike Jones and His Orchestra.

Several of the songs in this collection are repeated because of their different recording dates. Some are live concert recordings and others are studio. If there is any fault to be found with this set, it's just that. I can't understand why it was so important to include alternative recordings when there are other recordings that were omitted. Songs like Alto, Baritone and Base, and my personal favorite, Pal-Yat-Chee were not included.

Each disc in this set presents every song chronologically, that is, according to their recording dates. The twenty-three page booklet included in this collection provides the listener those details as well as some pictures of the City Slickers [wait until you see what Sir Frederick Gas does to his hair!], the Jones family and a brief biography about Spike himself.

Be aware: although this collection has been produced on CDs, the songs will sound flat because they were not recorded in stereo. However, this is a small matter.

If you enjoy brilliant song parodies and so much more, then this is a worthwhile investment and addition to your collection.

Spike Jones is a magical word, in not just the musical world but indeed in the whole entertainment world. His ability to blend sound effects into the song arrangements have never been equaled. And not just sound effects for the sake of noise-no it all had a purpose and a point. Anyone can make noises for the sake of noise, but Jones was able to make gunshots, belches, trombone fonks, cowbells, shattering glass, screams, glugs, horns...you name it, work for the enjoyment of the listener to evoke not only listening pleasure but laughter.
These recordings are all great, giving you an almost evolutionary vision of Jones through the years. His early work is nowhere near as raucous as is his middle years work. In fact, many of the recordings on the first three discs is tame by his reputation.The fourth disc has more examples of his better musical offerings that he is more well known for.
However, the notes accompanying the discs have several errors in them,and are rather blandly written. But then again, I guess it is hard to truly capture on paper the true scope of this artist. Perhaps the author of the notes should have been a little more careful of facts though. It is stated that Jones quit drinking in the early fifties, whereas it should be stated that he quit around 1946. That was during the time of the great purge of the heavy drinker from his band once he realised that he and his group were on the rise to something greater. Once he quit drinking, he expected the same of his sidemen...to be sober and respectable, even if their music wasn't!
Also, the notes have George Rock listed as the vocalist on "I'm In The Mood For Love". It was not George, but rather Billy Barty, and the song was recorded not in 1946 but rather in 1954. Also, the vocal credits for "Rhapsody From Hunger(Y)" are given to Jones, whereas it is obviosly Freddy Morgan and Helen Grayco, spike's second wife.
Oh well, mistakes will be made. But careful research should be employed to give proper credit to everyone and to keep the record straight.
So, high marks to the recordings, but the notes left me "flat". All in all, a very good buy with some of his more obscure recordings included in the set.

For puncturing musical pomposity actual and alleged, few did it with the shameless enthusiasm, genuine respect, and pinpoint comic timing of Spike Jones. The relentlessly serious surely pondered what would become of Civilisation As We Know It from the moment this percussionist-bandleader hit the airwaves and recording studios in the 1930s, but five decades after he made the last of his truly classic demolitions, it is even more possible to see that Jones and his merry mental cases (who were, one and all, supremely capable musicians, well aware of what they were doing and nearly flawless in their own comic sensibilities) had done nothing more heinous than teach a self-conscious audience how to laugh at its own pretensions. If you consider him as the man who was just knocking what was good for the music, Jones indeed stands now as one of the most genuinely radical talents American music has ever yielded.

This four-disc set will probably be impossible to top for the sheer completeness, without lapsing into excess, of the way in which it tells the Jones musical story with little encumbrance and plenty of plain fun. (If you think it's a little bizarre to fret about lapsing into excess when it comes to Jones, be reminded that, for all his bedlam, Jones was actually one of the most precise bandleaders and theoreticians of his generation - and that precision is probably the most important ingredient in why his musical assassinations still work today, to the continued laughs, when most of what followed him dies the minute the tracks end.) That it took a British label to make such an effectively complete anthology of Jones might seem striking, but you might care to keep in mind that Jones's influence turns up in more British music comedy than you might have thought - the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for one, perhaps the greatest musical satirists England has yet known, seem to have been as well influenced by Jones and the City Slickers' ensemble playing and device timing as they seem to have been by ancient radio, music hall, and Peter Sellers and the Goon Squad.

Indeed, just about any effective musical satire since Jones's prime periods - from Allan Sherman and the early Mothers of Invention through Weird Al Yankovic - owes a debt to Jones, even if it became very unhip to acknowledge him for about three decades after his last big hits. Even the obvious period pieces ("Der Fuehrer's Face," of course, and a few others) now sound perversely timeless. In ways that their catalyst and his critics probably thought unthinkable back in the day, the whoopee cushion Spike Jones stuck under the worst pretensions of American popular music (and no few of the classics, actual or alleged) has actually transcended many of their sources. The fact that Jones's repertoire is actually funnier than about 70 percent of what has since passed for pure comedy, too, is even more striking.

And it only begins with stuff like "Cocktails For Two," "Five-Foot-Two, Eyes-of-Blue," "As Time Goes By," and "That Old Black Magic." That's the really frightening part, if you don't count the apparent steal of a price attached to this set. His critics would never understand, but you can do an awful lot worse than making people laugh repeatedly who weren't even alive when you were committing your musical crimes. And, unfortunately, an awful lot of performers have done an awful lot worse. For that alone, Spike Jones belongs in the Hall of Fame. As soon as we can figure out which asylum is hosting the proper one.

This wonderful 4 disc set of Spike Jones material running from 1941 to 1947 is a set to be cherished by long time fans and a fantastic starter set for those trying to find out what Spike was all about.For 95 songs, four discs,a 23 page booklet and at a price like this you'd be foolish to pass up this bargoon!!
The set features alot of his major material from his RCA catalogue with the rest made up from his transciptions,various live performances and V discs.Some rare,some not heard often,some heard quite frequently over the years but all a delight to the ears.
Keep in mind that none of this material is direct from the major labels who own the masters but are derived from 78s culled from private collections.There are more than a few cuts that are of inferior quality and/or have had some annoying reverb added to the remixing but overall the sound is quite acceptable and generally satisfying.I recently reviewed another Jones CD by the name of "Fonk" put out by another similar company as this one(Proper Records) called Harlequin Records(another indie company),both coincidentally produced in England.To make a long story short I would take this CD set,sound wise, over that poorly and unevenly mastered one.And "Fonk"(one CD) is not that terribly less in price than this (four CD) set.
One other minor criticism I should mention is that while each CD comes in its own protective cardboard sleeve I have had a devil of a time(every time) taking a CD out to be played.They seem to get stuck in the sleeve easily and I've had to learn how to carefully cajole them out without scratching the playing surface.If this should happen to you just keep practising you'll soon find out what works best for you.But indeed a minor annoyance.
So if you're a Spike Jones fan like myself and legions of others what are you waiting for......Feetlebaum ??? Get out there and get this bargain priced set and enjoy every last loving "crash","fonk" and car horn honk that Spike and his zany but talented troupe have to offer up in this must get set.

The Spike Jones box CD set is good but doesn't quite hit home for me. The CD "Spiked" has a more concentrated selection of the typical Spike Jones songs you would want to hear. I was disappointed in the fact the song "Pal-Yat-Che" was ommitted from this set. There are songs selected for this CD that are outdated and do not fit todays culture but where fine during WWII. There where other, more forgetible songs they did leave on this CD that I can't even remember as I write this. Spike Jones also butchered the entire Nutcracker Suit and it was ommitted from this collection. The biographic book that comes with the box set is very well written though.

I enjoy the siliness of Spike Jones. We are too serious in the world of today. Listening to him makes you smile and appreciate the simple life

The Spike Jones "Strictly for Music Lovers" CD was a wonderful collection of Spike Jones and his band songs from over several years. Almost any of the bands songs are included in this large collection. The recordings have excellent sound and are very enjoyable.