Comments on: Michael Hurley, The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jeffrey Fredericks & The Clamtones “Have Moicy!”

By: Dehypnotist

Dehypnotist — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:12:59 +0000

Despite the loss of too many family members — Jeff and Paul Presti come to mind — the divine madness continues. As gdash knows and I mentioned last year, you can now find many videos of the Have Moicy principals up on YouTube, Facebook and MySpace — Jeffrey Frederick, Michael Hurley and Peter Stampfel/Holy Modal Rounders. “St. Jeffrey’s Day” has been out for a while (and includes many of the folks responsible for Have Moicy covering Jeff’s tunes). There are also numerous videos of the Freak Mountain Ramblers up on YouTube, sometimes doing songs from Have Moicy. Dave Reisch, who plays bass and sings on Have Moicy (and produced St. Jeffrey’s Day) is one of the Freaks. Hurley plays continually around the US and, sometimes, Europe — he’s become one of the heros of the “freak folk” movement. Peter Stampfel has been extremely active, mainly in the New York City area, performing with any number of ensembles, some of which include Sam Shepherd and his son, Walker. Oh, on “Clamtones B.C.,” Jeffrey Frederick and the Clamtones did many of the tunes from Have Moicy live (it’s from a 1976 radio broadcast from Rohan’s Rockpile in Vancouver, B.C.). If that’s not enough, Jeff’s tunes, Robbin Banks and Red Newt are pretty widely covered by everyone from Scots folksingers to Ekoostik Hookah.

By: gdash

gdash — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:18:24 +0000

My only objection to Brendan’s write-up is his description of the lyrics
as unserious and silly. While I get what he means, they are assuredly
not those things, just as Duck Soup isn’t, or The Importance of Being
Earnest, or Clarence Carter’s “Making Love (At the Dark End of the
Street)”. This is serious stuff indeed, all the more because it is so
funny and left field. And we shouldn’t neglect the melancholy undertow,
particularly in Hurley’s songs.

By: Ixmi

Ixmi — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:40:18 +0000

After a rough day at work, I was lounging in the bathtub. I started blowing bubbles in the water and the song came back to me… “Lord, lord, lordy have you ever blowed bubbles under water when you’re feeling bad”… (or something like that). I have not heard this album in over 25 years, but it was one of the formative records of my childhood. I remember my brother and I dancing around the living room and singing the songs, entertaining our friends by belting out the intro to Jackknife and Red Newt. Great stuff. I was thrilled to find this review. Thanks!

By: DeHypnotist

DeHypnotist — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:16:23 +0000

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.

By: Tony T

Tony T — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:45:48 +0000

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.)

By: Louder than Milk

Louder than Milk — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:27:28 +0000

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.

By: Sir Thomas of Brooklyn

Sir Thomas of Brooklyn — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:02:12 +0000

aaahhhh, I need to get this album!! I’ve been wanting to hear it for a while now…thanks for a the taste.