Michael Hurley, The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jeffrey Fredericks & The Clamtones “Have Moicy!”
This is a special record. If you can’t figure that from the amount of online chatter, user reviews and critical reviews declaring Have Moicy to be one of the best records of all time, or at least proclaiming some kind of undying allegiance (Moicy made the New York Times’ top 20 LPs of 1976), you’ll get it falling in love after just a couple spins. Count me in on the converted! Sometimes I fall so deep for a record that listening to the music isn’t enough, I wish I could touch or hold the sound itself. If it were possible, Have Moicy would get a hug.
A collaborative and joyous meeting of out-there minds, the founders of freak-folk hadn’t lost a touch of steam by 1976. Michael Hurley, known by fans as Snocko (see his official homepage), was a Folkways recording artist while Peter Stampfel was one half of the Holy Modal Rounders, Steve Weber absent from these sessions. This would be Jeffrey Fredericks and the Clamtones’ first official recording but all were essentially part of the Rounders family, and best of all, Have Moicy! is merely a gateway into the fine solo recordings of all the artists involved.
Stampfel’s numbers drive with clawhammer banjo, washboard and ratchet percussion, and unconcerned fiddle and mandolin leads. Half the other songs are electrified with pre-Meat Puppets unaffected treble licks and interlocking rhythms. The players never fill too much space, giving each instrument enough breathing room to act as genuine ear candy. The band somehow converges to create a clean renegade folk constantly teetering on the edge of chaos. Some undefinable bit of magic holds it all together. The tunes have unserious and silly lyrics but are never overtly comical or embarrassing, just fun, unpretentious, and honest folk music.
It’s impossible to pick two standout tracks from such a solid lineup. If you like what you hear, don’t delay in grabbing the 1992 reissue or the mp3 download, you won’t be disappointed. Every tune is positively great, and for the initiated, few other records will bring as much cheer.
mp3: Midnight In Paris
mp3: What Made My Hamburger Disappear
CD Reissue | 1992 | Rounder | buy from rounder | amazon
Original Vinyl | 1976 | Rounder | search ebay ]
MP3 Album | download from amazon
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aaahhhh, I need to get this album!! I’ve been wanting to hear it for a while now…thanks for a the taste.
Sir Thomas of Brooklyn June 17, 2008 @ 4:02 pm
Agree it is difficult to pick standouts and as good as Micheal Hurley is, he seemed to inspire premium blend out of the rest. Robbin’ Banks by The Clamtones is just…well brilliant. As is Hamburger. The best album of the 70s.
Louder than Milk June 19, 2008 @ 9:27 am
One of my all time favourite albums. Great to see someone write it up, I’ve been banging on about it for years.
Fave tracks: Robbing Banks, Jackknife/Red Newt, What Made My Hamburger Disappear.
(Also a fan of Spiders In The Moonlight and Long Journey.)
Tony T June 23, 2008 @ 11:45 pm
Hey Folks… time for an update. Several actually:
Most of you are talking about ol’ Jeffrey Frederick. (the “s” is a misspelling by Rounder Records). Now, Jeff passed 11 years ago (here in Portland, we call the date, “St. Jeffrey’s Day”).
1. Jeffrey Frederick’s widow, Kathryn, has been remastering and publishing CDs by Jeffrey and his bands for several years now — see http://www.jeffreyfrederick.com, or the MySpace profile, Jeffreyfrederickandfriends. There are six songs up on the MySpace profile for you delectation and delight.
2. Frederick Productions remastered and expanded “Spiders” which is now, finally, available on CD with a new Michael Hurley cover as “Resurrection of Spiders In The Moonlight.” We’d prefer if you got it through the website or CD Baby, but you can get it anywhere CDs are sold. We also just released on our sublabel, Red New Records (get it?), Teddy Deane’s new CD “So Far So Good” — actually it is being commercially released next week by Burnside Distribution (more standards and swing than Clamtones stuff, but great)
3. We just put up 7 videos of Jeffrey performing, including a 1993 Clamtones reunion from which we took “Robbin’ Banks,” “Rotten Lettuce” and “Beer Shits.” There are six videos up on YouTube and a seventh, the wonderful “Saturday Night” up only on MySpace (too long for You Tube)
4. The next big event will be the release of “St. Jeffrey’s Day: The Songs of Jeffrey Frederic, Volume I” in a month or two. All the surviving Clamtones — including Jill Gross — plus various members of Les Clams and Jeff’s pals and proteges have contributed, doing amazing studio versions of his songs. At least two more volumes are planned — Jeff was a prodigious and wonderful songwriter. Volume I is being remastered this very day…
5. Finally, if you’re here in Portland, OR or catch them on a McMenamin’s tour, you can hear the Freak Mountain Ramblers doing Jeff’s songs most every show and on most of their CDs. In fact, they have “Picnic” up on their MySpace profile. Three of the Freaks were Clamtones/Holy Modal Rounders and the others all played with Jeffrey.
If you love Jeff’s tunes, you’ll definitely get off on the Freaks.
DeHypnotist July 11, 2008 @ 8:16 pm