Spike Jones

[Durium]

SPIKE JONES

Strictly For Music Lovers

Who has a copy of this 4CD set?

Keep swinging

Durium

[captainwrong]

SPIKE JONES

Strictly For Music Lovers

Who has a copy of this 4CD set?

Keep swinging

Durium

I have a copy of it, yes.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I always enjoy listening to the occasional bit of Spike Jones. But I'd never want to buy an album, much less a 4CD set.

Same goes for Slim Gaillard. But I do have one Slim album, and play it occasionally.

MG

[BillF]

I have a 1970s LP of Spike Jones and his City Slickers called Thank You Music Lovers. Having only heard the Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker versions of "My Old Flame", I was completely thrown by Spike Jones's "incendiary" version!

[Christiern]

As I recall, "My Old Flame" was done as if sung by Peter Lorre. I liked it back then. The band was quite jazz savvy, just listen to sides like "Cocktails for Two." Like the Firehouse Five gone over the edge. As a kid, I remember that his spoofs on Hitler were popular in school.

[Teasing the Korean]

Bumping this older thread. Currently listening to "Spike Jones is Murdering the Classics" on RCA. Early 70s compilation LP. Fake stereo, but much milder than the extreme fake stereo RCA used in the 1950s.

Hilarious stuff.

[Big Beat Steve]

Search out the "Murders Them All", ""Murders Again" and "Can't Stop Murdering" 2-LP sets from the same period if you like that and come across these records cheaply.

I can only take Spike Jones in small doses and until I came across the above sets very cheaply I was firmly in MG's camp (see above)

Yet Spike Jones is an intriguing character and as hinted at above, must have been quite jazz savvy - in more ways than one:

I remember a record hop at some rockabilly concert almost 20 years ago where the DJ spun a catchy big band swing tune that had everybody up and jiving. I asked him who exactly that was and to my surprise that tune came from the Spike Jones LP released in that "The Uncollected..." series on Hindsight. Can't recall the name of the tune and needless to say so far I have been unable to find a copy of that particular LP from that series at a nice price but anyway, there you are ...

[Teasing the Korean]

I remember a record hop at some rockabilly concert almost 20 years ago where the DJ spun a catchy big band swing tune that had everybody up and jiving. I asked him who exactly that was and to my surprise that tune came from the Spike Jones LP released in that "The Uncollected..." series on Hindsight. Can't recall the name of the tune and needless to say so far I have been unable to find a copy of that particular LP from that series at a nice price but anyway, there you are ...

It is funny how jazz academics and "serious" jazz guys downplay the contributions of artists like Spike Jones, Louis Prima, Raymond Scott, or anyone else who injected fun and humor into the music.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Teasing the Korean

[Big Beat Steve]

I for one just wasn't aware of that side of him up to that point. And his spoofy antics just need to be taken piecemeal, lest the novelty effect wears prematurely thin.

As for Prima, Scott and all the other "rest", as far as I am concerned you're preaching to the (long-)converted!

Nothing academic here. After all I can find some enjoyable swing interest in Fred Schnicklefritz Fisher too!

[johnblitweiler]

Spike played straight drums, no smiles, while accompanying Hoagy Carmichael on recordings from 70-odd years ago. Some are in the Indiana Hoagy boxed set.