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Pussycat - Bootleg Series Volume Two: Live Rarities 2000-2004
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The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
Unfortunately, it SOUNDS too much like a bootleg... at 2006-05-30
I bought this CD mainly for the Pussycat Song. Heard it on the radio a while back, its hilarious. However, I think anyone who attempts to listen to the CD might need a radio stations gear and/or expertise to resurrect the vocals, which are buried deeply in the background, with lots of crowd noise, laughing, etc. in the foreground. Could barely make out what was being sung. I had to look up the songs lyrics on the web, just to follow along (printed lyrics arent included with the CDs front material, by the way). A bit of a disappointment, Im afraid. Too bad...
The Asylum Street Spankers Album Editorial:
Volume Two in the Spanker#146;s Bootleg Series represents the second half of their life from 2000 to 2004. A rotating cast of characters was a defining trait of the band in these years and the songs came and went with the musicians who brought them. Most of the songs in this collection are no longer in the repertoire and for whatever reason were never recorded in a proper studio setting. Included are covers of Dylan Louis Armstrong Ann Cole and Nine Inch Nails as well as Spankerized versions of songs from some solo albums.
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Strawberry: Bootleg Series+ Vol. 1
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Mercurial
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The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
On a roll! at 2004-02-12
This album continues the legacy of the Spankers, a well known Austin favorite. If you liked My Favorite Record youll love this one too. More of the same stuff that makes them the top all acoustic band around. Whether just plain fun, or superb musiscianship, they cover it all. Got My Mojo Workin comes a long way from Muddy Waters, but has a great groove. Dance This Mess Around takes the B52s into uncharted waters. Hick Hop combines gansta rap and country murder ballads to create a unique vibe. (Play some Skynrd man!) These guys take no prisoners, everyone is fair game for a satirical take on their songs. Oh yeah, and they can flat out play!
The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
My New favorite record at 2004-02-23
This is the next best thing to a live performance. The recording at the Mercury Hall lends wonderful acoustics and I truly hope they record there again. Unlike most albums, where there is usually at least one bad or so-so tune, Mercurial is, from first to last track full of excellent music. Having seen the Spankers live on many occasions, the only thing missing is seeing them perform and watching the sparks fly. For those who are uninitiated to the wit and charm of the Spankers, this is an excellent first pick. Mojo, alone, is worth the full price. For those of us who are among the Spankers growing list of fans, its their best yet.
The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
One of their best at 2006-05-22
The first time I saw the Spankers was in 1998 in Austin. To me, that incarnation of the band will always be THE Asylum Street Spankers. But thats not to say that they still arent the best thing to happen to American music since Bessie Smith. Mercurial, of course, is quintessential Spankers--just listen to the scatting on Tight Like That, as Christina Marrs and Wammo counterpoint with one more voice (that I admit I cant identify)...Does it get any better than that? Or note how the group uses their genius to approximate (and improve upon) Dance this Mess Around, using only acoustic instruments--if youve never heard a steel guitar banging out the chords for a B-52s song, you havent lived. Or listen to Christina Marrs belt out Got My Mojo Workin. Does it get any better than that?Well, yes, actually, but youll have to see them live. Until you can, Mercurial is a great way to get the Spanker experience.
The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
Pure, polished, irreverent fun. at 2004-03-14
The Asylum Street Spankers defy easy categorization. Sticking resolutely to acoustic instruments including clarinet, harmonica, banjo and at times even musical saw, the Spankers perform a bewildering array of songs in just about every popular style extant in America since the end of World War I. Though the bands lineup changes with each recording, the two leaders have remained constant: Christina Marrs, whose vocal tone and range remind me of Barbara Cook with touches of Aretha Franklin and Betty Boop, and Wammo, who is truly one of a kind. The Spankers MO is to take absolutely nothing seriously except their musicianship (which is polished to the point of glowing) and to celebrate all forms of pleasure, not excluding those that are generally considered to be either immoral, illegal or fattening. (For their sake, I hope John Ashcroft never gets hold of a copy of Spanker Madness.) Their new album, Mercurial--so named for Mercury Hall in their home town of Austin, where this CD was recorded--basically is a sampler of everything that makes the Spankers great. They perform everything from true old-time numbers such as Shine On Harvest Moon and Digga Digga Doo to a hilarious cover of the B-52s Dance This Mess Around. Christina Marrs lights up the torches in such down-and-dirty blues numbers as Got My Mojo Workin and Sugar in My Bowl, but its Wammo who is the albums standout in his wonderful original, Hick Hop, best described as a rumble between the posses of Toby Keith and Snoop Dogg. Sadly, Mercurial probably marks the last appearances of Stanley Smith and Korey Simeone as regular Spankers--Smith quit the band because of ill health, Simeone to pursue an acting career--but the new touring group of Spankers is as tight an ensemble as ever, and bodes well for the bands survival as a living monument to the Pleasure Principle.
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My Favorite Record
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The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
Keep on Spankin at 2002-09-27
The Spankers have become an Austin institution. Their live show is a must-see, and this record is a great example of that. They rely on no electronics whatsoever, just fiddles, resonator guitars, a hand saw (?!), and just about anything they can beat on. Many songs will have you crying... because you cant stop laughing. The musicianship is incredible only to be surpassed by the vocals. My favorties are Whatever and Wammos Blues. Buy this record... and if you can go see them live, you wont be disappointed! Check out their other stuff too!
The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
Just getting better at 2002-09-27
The Spankers are just getting better. My Favorite Record demonstrates some real growth and polish of this original all-acoustic, non-categorizable Austin band. The new songs--music and tunes--are great; the musianship of Christina, Wammo, Stanley, Corey and the gang is outstanding. If you are a Spanker fan, or think you might want to be, this album is a must!
The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
Tremendous talent with a soft spot for silliness at 2003-01-13
While their musical chops steadily improve, the Spankers devotion to novelty songs remains wholly undiminished. Clearly, they want to hit the magic formula to have a long-remembered goofball hit along the lines of Euphoria, Wahoo!, or Marijuana Boogie -- something that college radio DJs will play for decades to come. On one hand, theyll probably succeed -- this discs title track comes pretty close. On the other hand, though, the sheer relentlessness of the pursuit is in itself a bit dreary, with the predictable application of time-worn, on-the-nose attention-getting themes such as irreverent religious references and druggie humor, etc. The songs I wound up playing off this record were the more or less straight swing-jazz tunes (mostly those written and sung by Christina Marrs)... Id be interested to hear them try at least one full album where the repertoire tilts in this direction, showing off their musical chops rather than their sophmoric sense of humor.
The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
There aint nuthin better! at 2003-01-03
The Spankers are one of the VERY few bands who perform with no electronic enhancement whatsoever, and are all the better for it. As opposed to popular singers, who shall remain nameless, who couldnt carry a tune in a bucket with the lid nailed shut if they didnt have soundmen with magic hands! Their sense of humor, style, performance level and downright sexiness are off the scale (on the positive end, that is) and they are an absolute necessity for any blues lover who wants that old-time, Nawlins sound. Their licorice-stick player, and steel guitar player have to be heard to be believed and Wammo is bedda dan poi, bedda dan pig! Go for it, you wont be dissapointed.
The Asylum Street Spankers Album Editorial:
Music about loving music. Declaring the best music is funny joyful moving and adventurous the worlds greatest all-acoustic band loaded the album with musical and lyrical references to their favorite records and shoot them at you faster than bad jokes in an Airplane! movie. This record will have you laughing tapping your foot dancing in your underwear and rooting through your record collection to track down another one of the Spankers sources of inspired amalgamation.
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Dirty Ditties [EP]
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The Asylum Street Spankers Album Review:
Wow! at 2002-10-07
I cant belive that no one has reviewed this cd yet. I first heard of the street spankers on mancows morning mad house, and have loved them ever since. Gor-don, loves them too, and so should you! I whistle the scrotum song constantly, and you will too once you hear it. It may be the finest song ever recorded by humans. Ever! Its my wrinkly crinkly bag of skin. Thats all that needs to be said.
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