Score: 130 100 means excellent. 130 is beyond comprehension. Scores range from 0 to infinity, infinity being best.
Comments
Overall rated: Cool, Far Out, Outa Sight. To quote from Track
14, "Film @11/ Roto in the News", "They brought it on themselves in Century
City when they invited this band to play carols for last year's Christmas
shopping rush. The group has been grateful to Christmas ever since."
"Besides Century City, they've disrupted many famous places." The
RRGTCB must be grateful to their plumber too because the CD label shows
a toilet plunger. The band is made of 4 trombonists and 3 saxophonists
with classical, big band and pop backgrounds. Other instruments are
included too, either during the performance or added later. The mixes
all sound good with good microphone placement for a wide but natural stereo
sound.
This album includes ten 8½" x 11" pages of info about the songs
and the band. The pages do not fit in the &@%$ jewel case.
Plus there's already another freakin' booklet where a booklet goes in the
jewel case.
Only 200 shopping days left until Christmas, so order your "Retro Rooter"
today.
The Roto Rooter Goodtime Christmas website: http://members.aol.com/DbMabuse/rotorooter.html
The best 10 or so songs in descending order.
Program your CD player with these red hot party tunes.
Best
track
number
03. Bumble Boogie 02:02
Yeah, it definitely boogies. And bumbles. Bumble effect
created by Awf-the-Walleé destroying his tongue in the trombone
mouthpiece. Nice editing for stereo effect. The song goes silent
suddenly and starts up again as if there was a problem with the CD, but
I guess that's the way they wanted it. I didn't like that part.
22. The Buick LeSabre Dance 01:22
A semicolossal demented epic that predates the Texas Chainsaw Orchestra
by about 25 years.
27. Jungle Boogie 03:19
Jungle Boogie get down! A funny cover or "deconstruction" of
the Kool & The Gang song.
11. March Of The Dead Brain Cells 01:26
This is your CD player. This is your CD player on drugs.
(Plays track 11.) Any questions?
15. Did I Remember? 02:20
That's sweet big band crooning music. Not much abby, mostly normal.
06. Strawberry Fields Forever 02:06
A jazzy version of the Beatles song. groovy shooby doo wah, yeah
24. The Martian March 02:16
All right! Do you know what the first 3 songs I heard on The
Dr. Demento Show were? This one! And two others.
04. Boss Hit Bound/ Bubbles In The Wine/ 21st Century Schizoid
Man 04:01
(the sound of flushing toilet) What? Aw shit bound???
No, they said "boss hit bound". This piece of sound was sprinkled
around the announcements on The Dr. Demento Show.
/ Bubbles In The Wine sounds a lot like Stan Freeberg's "Wunnerful
Wunnerful" spoof of the Lawrence Welk show.
/ 21st Century Schizoid Man is a cover of the King Crimson tune. Good
oddness gets better at "And now the boys are going to get heavy."
09. Little Orphan Ollie's Dance Lesson 02:25
I laughed at this one. "... if you don't have a suitable dance
partner like an old lady or something...". I used to ballroom
dance and there was no shortage of old ladies, so I never needed the other
options, vacuum cleaner, pole lamp, etc.
05. March of the Cuckoos 01:24
This track includes an intro by Dr. Demento recorded off the radio
from KMET.
19. Brahms Hungarian Dance #5 02:31
The duck calls put this one on the list.
02. Pico & Sepulveda 02:27
A pretty good version of the old Felix Figueroa demented classic.
It's impossible for me to listen to this without thinking of The Dr. Demento
Show. Know why? Because the opening theme song for the show
is Pico & Sepulveda by The Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band!!!
The song on this CD has the lyrics, while the song on Dr. Demento's show
is an instrumental. I heard a RRGTCB version that was an instrumental
one time (that's not on this album), and my imagination would insert the
lyrics "Doctor Demento, Doctor Demento". The RRGTCB also does the
Top 10 / Funny 5 fanfare and "It's time for number 1."
25. Stylo ROTO 00:09
A homage to the "supreme sultans of sewage". "Roto Rooter that's
the name, and away go troubles down the drain. Roto Rooter."
Least best of the best
The remaining possibly misunderstood nuggets need love too, commented
or not.
Miscellaneous other comments:
2001
That was a weak performance. There are better serious versions
and there is The Portsmouth Sinfonia for a better bad version.
07. Beethoven's 9th 06:05
Funny. It started out that way anyway. Kinda went downhill
though. It lasted too long. The beginning could be surgically
removed and implanted on your radio show or party.
10. Let Me Call You Sweetheart 00:57
It's a song sung backwards to tape and then played back in reverse
so the words come out forward but with a weird backwardish sound.
14. Film @11/ Roto in the News 02:48
They never say "film @ 11" on TV anymore.
23. Earth News Radio Story 03:11
These media clips are kinda interesting even if I didn't have anything
else to say about that.
29. Fazoo (Their Backmasking Satanic Majesties Request)
00:36
?flow dab gib eez fo diar fazoO :)
30. Home Sweet Home 01:45
A small portion of this is Groovy shooby doo wah, Part 2. The
rest is boring The last few notes of this song are used as the final notes in The Dr. Demento Show.
31. 2001/ Taps ...etc. 03:37
An odd combination of 2001 theme and "Taps" lasting 18 seconds.
Silence follows to enable the semihiddentrackness of "...etc.", another
song played backwards and then reversed on tape to play back forward and
weirdify "Joy to The World".
Tracks listed in track order
| 01. 2001 01:15
02. Pico & Sepulveda 02:27 03. Bumble Boogie 02:02 04. Boss Hit Bound/ Bubbles In The Wine/ 21st Century Schizoid Man 04:01 05. March of the Cuckoos 01:24 06. Strawberry Fields Forever 02:06 07. Beethoven's 9th 06:05 08. Buick LeSabre Dance (Santa Claus Lane Parade) 01:29 09. Little Orphan Ollie's Dance Lesson 02:25 10. Let Me Call You Sweetheart 00:57 11. March Of The Dead Brain Cells 01:26 12. Ragtime Cowboy J 01:34 13. That's Demented/ Overture to "William Tell" 03:03 14. Film @11/ Roto in the News 02:48 15. Did I Remember? 02:20 16. Night On Bald Mountain 04:26 |
17. Wolfman Jack 00:13
18. On The Banks Of The Wabash 01:59 19. Brahms Hungarian Dance #5 02:31 20. In Turkey 02:03 21. The Stars & Stripes Forever 03:06 22. The Buick LeSabre Dance 01:22 23. Earth News Radio Story 03:11 24. The Martian March 02:16 25. Stylo ROTO 00:09 26. Peter Gone Meets The MaHaHaVishnu Good Time Christmas Band and Then Goes Surfing 01:37 27. Jungle Boogie 03:19 28. The Rite Of Spring 06:16 29. Fazoo (Their Backmasking Satanic Majesties Request) 00:36 30. Home Sweet Home 01:45 31. 2001/ Taps ...etc. 03:37 |
Total playing time (including silence in track 31): 74:04
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 23:00:26 EDT
From: DbMabuse at aol.com
Eric: Thanks so much for the review link. All ROTOS have seen it and are thrilled.
Geoff ("Dr. Mabuse") Cooper