Asylum Street Spankers
As they used to say in the old days: Now that's entertainment! And The Asylum Street Spankers are all about older musical styles and stage performance modes, like a vaudeville or medicine show on acid. Plus there are few acts today as deliciously entertaining in concert, which is why this two-disc package documenting their live set recorded at New York's Barrow Street Theatre is the ultimate Spankers release. And as much fun as a barrel of weed-toking, wisecracking musical monkeys.
The in between song patter, banter and tales here are almost worth the price of admission alone. And then there's the sprightly, richly filigreed and delectable music, from classics they revivify like "Everybody Loves My Baby" and "Big Noise From Winnetka" to their own songs in old school spirit like "Why Do It Right?" and "Asylum Street Blues." And if their folkie singalong on Black Flag's "TV Party" doesn't get you revved up and chuckling, then you need some Viagra for your funny boner. Plus a lungful of laughing gas makes the social commentary go down as well as stick to the ribs of your political consciousness on tracks like the zesty "Winning The War on Drugs" and bouncy "Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV" (which may well be the sharpest song commentary by anyone on the inane Iraq war).
But don't let the humor fool you. There's some serious musical shit going down here. The ensemble playing and singing is as tight as a Vulcan death grip. Clarinetist Stanley Smith's trickily mellifluous flights of melodic fancy bring vivid splashes of neon color to the songs, and singer/writer Wammo sucks and blows the harmonica - the people's instrument too many people "play" but really can't - like an imaginative master on the order of the great Toots Thielemans. And when singer Christina Marrs soars through the chorus of "Amazing Grace" as a mere aside, one can't help but be awed by her potent pipes and concise delivery. And who else but the Spankers could even get away with the suggestive double entendre of "You Only Love Me For My Lunch Box" as a children's music tune?
On the surface, it seems rather amazing that this all-acoustic act that started as a small Austin club gathering of friends renewing archaic styles for fun would have become a national act and ongoing phenomenon - by now with a long list of alumni - with more than a decade and a half under its belt. But on further consideration, this smart and cheeky troupe's success is a no brainer. Just give the people what they want and sometimes what they also really need - gen-u-wine entertainment.
Standout Tracks: "Everybody Loves My Baby," "Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV," "Pakalolo Baby," "Monkey Rag" ROB PATTERSON
