I really don't know what to say about this record. It's so strange, but not. Bill recruited a super funky band, The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, to play songs by some amazing writers (Lennon/McCartney, Dozier/Holland, Jagger/Richards, Hayes/Porter, Toussaint and and maybe some Hendrix) and does some silly kind of ad-libs over 'em. What's not to like? The whole thing.
I'm torn about if this is a joke or not. It might be Bill doing what Eddie Murphy said to Rick James; something to the effect of, "You can just do whatever you want over a funky beat and the kids will buy it". Just listen to his version of the classic "Funky Broadway", which he changes to "Funk North Philladelphia". It also might be the 'Coz really trying to be Funky. I keep going back and forth.
However this is meant to be taken, it is essential listening for anyone interested in anything funky, strange or celebrity.
Thanks to Frank for hooking me up with this one. Track listing:
Side A: 1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 2. Sunny 3. Reach Out (I'll Be There) 4. (I'm A) Road Runner 5. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction 6. Get Out of My Life, Woman
Side B: 1. Hooray for the Salvation Army Band 2. Funky North Philadelphia 3. Hold On, I'm a Comin' 4. Ursalena 5. Time Brings About a Change 6. Stop, Look & Listen
This time of year is musically one of my least favorites. I hate hearing the same old Christmas songs year after year after year. As a remedy for this I'm offering up Andrew "Dice" Clay's train-wreck of a Christmas Album The Day The Laughter Died.
Okay. This is horrible. Seriously. Just horrible. It's an hour and forty two minutes of the most hate-filled, misogynistic, misanthropic, bitter, angry, sexually depraved, childish, immature, nonsensical and upsetting words ever committed to tape. This is not recommended for anyone.
Now that we have that out of the way, this record is fucking hysterical. It's laugh-out-loud-even-after-hearing-it-50-times funny.
The first time I listened to this I was pretty offended and really didn't think it was that funny. I get it. He's being gross. But then I found myself thinking about it a lot and laughing out loud. I found myself telling other people about the things Dice says on this recording.
Dice had released his first record thoughtfully titled Dice in early 1990 and quickly made a name for himself. Not necessarily a good one, but he was becoming something of a phenomenon, none the less. He was known and hated for his crude sexual humor, his even cruder and more sexual re-telling of classic nursery rhymes and his mistreatment of just about every demographic (except The Jews; could it be because Dice's real name is Andrew Silverstein?) It's some pretty dumb stuff, the not-that-funny kind. Maybe a little silly here and there; but, all in all, not really worth listening to.
His next move was either an amazing accident or a stroke of genius. Either Dice or Def-American Producer and Owner Rick Rubin, I've heard both accounts, decided to book a relatively small club, Dangerfield's in NYC, and not advertise that Dice would be performing. The idea was to get a group of people who would not necessarily be familiar with or comfortable with Dice's act and really lay it on thick for them. It seems as if it was fairly common in the late 80's to go to a comedy club, not to hear a comedian, but to just socialize, so a good portion of the crowd would just show up to see a comedian tell some safe jokes while they eat diner or have a few drinks. Things didn't really end up going down that way on the nights of December 26th and 27th, 1989....
The first entire minute of this record sets the tone for what will follow. Silence. No jokes. Just Dice lighting a cigarette, exhaling loudly and making some mouth noises (or probably doing that stupid cigarette trick routine). That's it. No Danish. From the proverbial word "Go", he is on a mission to be the last man standing.
I really don't want to say too much about the content of the record because the beauty (yeah, it is kind of beautiful) of the record is in the way it unfolds. It's pretty obvious that Dice did very little preparation for this show on purpose. He keeps all the jokes, insult and sex gags off the cuff, allowing him breathing room to let the show take him and the audience wherever it wants to go. A few times he tries to wrangle this comedic monster in some kind of direction with what can only be described as jokes that don't work, like The Catfish Bit. The thing that makes this record so great is that even when he falls flat on his face, it's still a triumph. The humor comes from how utterly stupid the joke is; and from how long he can keep it up for. The man is relentless. It's almost as if he knows he has no jokes, just a hook. A hook that after just one album is already wearing thin.
The Day The Laughter Died makes no sense most of the time and the rest of the time just isn't funny. Now that might sound like a negative comment to some people, but coming from me that is serious praise. The show meanders, stumbles and falls at times, but I can't stress enough how much I love that about this record. Arghhh! I really don't want to spoil any of this record. Let me just say that the payoff at the end is pretty unforgettable. I'm going to stop before I ruin this for anyone who might be interested.
Let it suffice to say that this recording is not for everyone. I feel a special bond with people who don't really like Dice and still think this record is as funny as I do. You've been warned.
For those of you who might not know, Attila was a 'hard-rock' band formed in 1969 featuring Jon Small on drums and some guy named Bobby Joe who though it would sound bad-ass to play a Hammond keyboard through some kind of Marshall stack. Jon and Bobby were in a band called The Hassles in the mid sixties together. When The Hassles broke up, the two of them decided to try out their psychedelic hard-rock chops. Thus Attila was born!
It could have been worse. The bassist from The Hassles joined Ram-Jam....
This record has been called "the worst record in the history of recorded music" by people other than myself; I'm actually just surprised that anyone else had made it through the whole album. Bobby Joe was so embarrassed of this record that he tried to ice himself by drinking furniture polish shortly after it's release. Thankfully, Jon was able to keep the rock alive by rushing him to the hospital. Bobby later commented "I drank furniture polish. It looked tastier than bleach." I'm pretty sure he just thought it was really cheap vodka, though.
I'm very unsure if this record is a joke or a serious artistic statement. Sometimes it feels like two kids who had achieved some success within one genre trying to have a little fun with music that they know very little about writing, but have enjoyed listening to. It could also be an attempt by confused musicians to grasp onto a budding craze in hopes of reviving some resemblance of a career. I really am lost. All around lost. I can't tell I like this because it's kind of catchy and rocks a little, or if i like it because I like to see musicians try and fall flat on their faces; actually, i really enjoy seeing anyone fall flat on their face, especially old people or babies.
At their best, whenever that is ('Tear This Castle Down' maybe?), Attila sounds like a lonely 12 year old playing Black Sabbath tunes in his room on a 'First Act' brand electric guitar while his mother yells from downstairs to "turn it down" and at their worst ('Wonder Woman') sounds exactly like Led Zepplin. 'Brain Invasion' might be the first, and hopefully the last, heavy-metal-calliope-jazz song I've ever heard and also a contender for one of the worst, or best, song titles i have ever seen. One can only imagine what trash, or possibly thrash, Attila might have turned out on future albums if Billy, I mean Bobby, hadn't married Jon's wife; pretty much breaking up the band.
Believe it or not, there are actually some slightly impressive things going on with the keyboards (the end of 'Rolling Home' and 'Amplifier Fire'). It's interesting to listen to how Bobby adapts the sound of a real band to just a Hammond organ and he does a rather nice job filling in the bass parts, Ray Manzarek style, too. I genuinely think that some of these songs could rock pretty hard if they were played by a full band and utilized a new singer; they could be better than some Kiss songs, like 'Hard Luck Woman' and 'Beth' (well maybe not 'Beth'). I'm considering putting together an Atilla tribute band with full costumes and meat on the stage. Any takers....?
Read the song titles, look at the artwork and tell me this record isn't worth 40 bucks! 'Cause it's not worth 40 bucks. Even if it's signed....
I've already spent too much time listening to and commenting on this album. Get it out of my head.
Download and try to enjoy.
Track listing:
Side A: 1. Wonder Woman 2. California Flash 3. Revenge Is Sweet 4. Amplifier Fire (Part I - Godzilla; Part II - March of the Huns)
Side B: 1. Rolling Home 2. Tear This Castle Down 3. Holy Moses 4. Brain Invasion
First off, welcome to Vinyl Dump. A way to revitalize some forgotten records. This site will only post digital copies of records that never had an official pressing on CD and also some hard to find, out of print albums. If a link is no longer active please email me and I will repost it unless it has been permanently taken down. If you are the rightful owner of a recording I am linking to and have a problem with the music being shared please let me know and I will remove the link. If anyone has a specific album that they would like to mail me to rip and post please let me know. I'd be more than happy to do it. As long as it doesn't suck.
I really don't know what to say about this record. It's so strange, but not. Bill recruited a super funky band, The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, to play songs by some amazing writers (Lennon/McCartney, Dozier/Holland, Jagger/Richards, Hayes/Porter, Toussaint and and maybe some Hendrix) and does some silly kind of ad-libs over 'em. What's not to like? The whole thing.
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