With this rather eccentric and bizarre record, we introduce an equally eccentric, and famous record producer, Kim Fowley.
Mr. Fowley is perhaps best known in modern times as the original manager of The Runaways in the 1970's. Some of his many production and/or writing credits include working with the early lineup of Paul Revere And The Raiders, and much later he co-wrote songs for Alice Cooper and Kiss. He also worked in Britain producing The Hellions (containing Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi), and he co-wrote the B-side of Cat Steven's first single.
He was also a rather-avant garde recording artist and rather unpredictable in personality as well. He recorded what is one of the first lyrically psychedelic songs, the bizarre "The Trip" released in July of 1965.
So with that understanding of how versatile and eccentric Fowley was, you can be sure that his character fully resonates in one of his first productions, "Alley Oop". A song about the caveman comic character of the same name. Today's equivalent would be if someone recorded a song about Garfield.
Gary S. Paxton, who sang with future Byrd, Skip Batton, is the lead singer in this song. The Hollywood Argyles were strictly a studio creation, so everyone singing background and playing instruments are friends of Fowley and co. It was the equivalent of inviting your best friends for a party in the studio to record a song just for the fun of it.
Musically and lyrically, the song is VERY non-serious and the recording sounds very lo-fi, almost like a field recording. The production is very minimalist, with a stand up bass, piano, and percussion. Lyrically, the lyrics are either nonsensically bizarre, or satirical genius, even I'm not quite sure, but somehow, it all works.
If you listen to the song and think, "What were they smoking when they created this?" You're almost right. It would appear that all of them were drinking hard cider and gradually got more tipsy as the session progressed. As a result, Paxton apparently ending up singing his lead vocal while lying down sideways on the studio floor!
One must remember that this song is not meant to be taken seriously and even seems to be a bit of a satire. It's not surprise then that in 1966 Fowley got to work with the king of satire, Frank Zappa. Fowley is credited with playing, "Hypephone" (sic), on The Mothers Of Invention's Freak Out album.
Final Verdict - "Alley Oop" sounds like nothing that came before or after it. It's bizarre, it's crude sounding, it's got cooky lyrics, it's sung in an authentically lush manor... and yet, all those elements together just make the song strangely enjoyable for me. Your mileage may vary but I find this song to be a good one in my books. Definitely give it a listen, and perhaps you'll like it too.
Coming Up Next - "I'm Sorry" by Brenda Lee.
Until Next Time - I'm Dr. Caveman...er...Rock -
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