Rating:
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 03/09/2004
Spike Jones in Hi-Fi (Spike Jones in Stereo) (1959) is among the musical satirist's most effuse efforts during his post-
City Slickers era. Unlike contemporaries such as
Stan Freeberg,
Jones' seeming dismissal of
rock & roll -- or perhaps inability to embrace change -- would ultimately result in the decline of his career. However, the artist's ear for the unusual as well as his quick wit and practically flamboyant sense of the macabre are central to the unmitigated success of this long-player. It certainly didn't hurt that
Jones surrounded himself with the all-star support of the legendary and instantly recognizable vocalists
Paul Frees,
Loulie Jean Norman,
Thurl Ravenscroft,
Ken Stevens, and
George Rock -- each of whom is prominently featured throughout. Thematically, the platter works well as a sort of kiddie Halloween-type offering. The real payoff is for those old enough to get the inferences and parodies of
pop standards "I Only Have Eyes for You," "My Old Flame," and
"Everything Happens to Me," which are uniformly brilliant. The primarily dialogue-driven
"Poison to Poison" is a spoof of the Person to Person interview program hosted by news journalist
Edward R. Murrow.
Frees adopts the roles of both interviewer "
Ed Burrow" and the interviewee, who is simply referred to as "
Alfred" -- aka
Alfred Hitchcock. The entire premise sets up a series of rapid-fire jokes, executed with the adept timing and pacing of
Abbott & Costello,
Allen & Rossi, or
Rowan & Martin.
"Teenage Brain Surgeon" is a
doo wop-style
ballad sung by
Ravenscroft, whose throaty bass is best remembered as the original voice of
Tony the Tiger in the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes adverts or as the singer of
"You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" on the animated adaptation of the seasonal
Dr. Seuss classic
How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The most in-depth sendup is
"This Is Your Death," a takeoff of the TV show
This Is Your Life, which segues into another unmitigated highlight,
"Two Heads Are Better Than One." The track features a multi-noggin beatnik and fully utilizes stereophonics for maximum effect. In 2003 the boys and ghouls at
Collectors' Choice Music sent
Spike Jones in Hi-Fi (Spike Jones in Stereo) kicking and screaming into the digital domain, releasing this luminous bit of nostalgic
novelty onto CD for the first time.
~Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide
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