Spike Jones - Spike Jones in Hi-Fi (Spike Jones in Stereo)

Our Price: $14.47
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $9.94 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases

Music CD Cover

Free Music Notes for Spike Jones in Hi-Fi (Spike Jones in Stereo)

Free Music Review: High recommendation for Monster Boomers
Hit: 5 Stars

It is a great showcase for Paul Frees, the genius who did Boris Badenov, the voice of Disney's Haunted Mansion, George of the Jungle's Ape, the Orson welles-style intro to George Pal's "War of the Worlds", and a zillion other things. Frees outdoes himself in 3 segments as Dracula (doing a hilarious, deeply nuanced Bela Lugosi impression), singing witty, morbid love duets with "Vampira", voiced with old-fashioned flair by the flawless Loulie Jean Norman. Frees' song as the Frankenstein Monster (in Karloff's lisp) is not as good as Bobby (Boris) Pickett's "Monster Mash", but still flavorful. His Germanic Mad Scientist uses his Verner von Drake voice from the Disneyland TV show, only not speeded up.

Some of the humor is not so much funny as it is a nostalgic trip back to the late fifties, when remarks about death were cause for uncomfortable, Charles Addams-esque giggles. Frees' Alfred Hitchcock is good, but the gags are hit-or-miss, like something from a Halloween edition of the Milton Berle show. Frees reprises his Peter Lorre for another go at "My Old Flame" in a recording with interesting variations from the one we've all heard on Jones' perennial Greatest Hits album. Thurl (Tony the Tiger) Ravenscroft does a nice parody of "Young Doctor" TV shows, second only to his turn in Chuck Jones' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". When these guys try to do Rock 'n' Roll, as in "Monster Movie Ball, the results are as unhip as Pat Boone, but still fun. Their musical strength is vaudeville and surreal parodies of romantic ballads and swing hits of the '40s and '50s, and in this they hold their own with the greatest bands of that era.

The highlight for me was the two-headed beatnik who speaks each word of his sentences out of alternate sides of the stereo speakers. Then he does an incredible version of Poe's "The Raven" sung to a lighthearted and very familiar (but maddenly unnameable) tune.

This really took me back to the days of my childhood when monsters and the fantastic were mysterious and fascinating. I played it over and over, savoring every texture as though I were still 10 years old. I'm into this sort of stuff, but very picky about quality and creativity. This represents a moment in time that will never be repeated.

Jazz Music CDs

• Music > Styles
• Miscellaneous
• Pop