Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Meet the Oop!

Psurgery of Pst. Jude (Morgan-Spring)
Hello (Sookman)
Rock Hard (Morgan-Sookman-Spring)
Experiment #17 (Morgan)
Gimme Back The Cadillac (Sookman-Spring)
Synthetic Woman (Morgan-Sookman-Spring)
Do Ya! (Lynne)
Tony Donn and the Fracture (Morgan-Sookman)
Blun (Morgan-Sookman)
Hours of the Night (Morgan)
Flash in the Panties (Morgan-Sookman)

Well, I'm sure I whetted your appetite for the legendary "Oop!" album back here, so what the hey, here's the whole darned ever-lovin' thing for ya. Heck, I owe you some tracks, so this'll actually put me ahead. Note that some of these tracks are all Sook; I've added them to preserve album continuity, but won't have them count on the 365 tally.

Listening back on this, it's actually funnier than I remember. Performance art lives! And now, some short comments on the songs themselves:

Psurgery of Pst. Jude:
Same song as last wek's post, but the original mix complete with "Strawberry Fields Forever" fade in/outs and spoken bit at the end.

Hello:
Sook's original demo, included as a bonus track on the original album. A Pop Machine signature.

Rock Hard: We attempt to get all Rolling Stoney in the privacy of our cheap Hollywood apartment. Not nearly as excitingly seamy as you might think.

Experiment #17: Hey, Bill came up with the song titles (and lyrics for the first half), so I had to come up with something suitably arty here. I believe you'll notice that later in the album Sook and I actually start yelling "Art! Art! Art!" to underscore the point. Subtle we're not.

Gimme Back the Cadillac: This is all Sook, and all good. Showing his unabashed love of glam, the man strips the beat down and delivers several minutes of Bolanian goodness. This one worked out very well in concert.

Synthetic Woman: An early space rock/ELO opus. Reach exceeds grasp here, but surprisingly dense for something recorded on 4-track cassette (and appropriately enough, not the first or last time I've been labelled "surprisingly dense").

Do Ya: I love Sook's deadpan Brit piss-take on this Move/ELO classic, complete with sound effects. Don't get me wrong, we both love the song (we've covered it several times in the past), but I forgot that this was a lotta fun.

Tony Donn and the Fracture: Written and recorded in record time, I actually revisited this one later, incorporating a faux-Santana Latin percussion break. (Sook's take on this: "Uh....OK.") I believe it was this track which later resulted in an almost knock-down drag out argument between Sook and I about whether we used macaroni or rice as percussion. (Our friend Dan's take upon witnessing this: "Uh...OK.")

Blun: Featuring buddy and fellow Syracuse alum Tommy G. via phone. Hey, Tommy G!

Hours of the Night: Not part of the original album, the lyrics for this came to me in a dream (I know that happens to artists on occasion...I'm willing to take inspiration from wherever it flows). I can't remember how many times I bounced the tracks on this one but it winds up being pretty thick with sound...might even be a dropout or two in there. Still, I remember getting the most kudos for this direction and have been following up with atmospheric stuff ever since...which anyone who has been following this site can attest to. So I guess I've been trying out the same stuff for almost 20 years now...

Flash in the Panties: Sped up voices and goofy lyrics? Sign me up! Now you understand the Pop Machine experience.


Al & Sook: Vocals, keyboards & percussion
Special appearance by Tommy G. on "Blun"

4 Comments:

Blogger Scott said...

Good Lord. Is the world ready for The Oop Album in all its inglory? I guess we'll find out.

I'd like to note that the cover of Do Ya is by something I like to call The Thrift Shop Boys. 80s electro-pop on a budget. Apparently the biggest influences on this record are E.L.O., Marc Bolan and Robert Fripp.

Er, okay.

P.S.: It was rice.

6:45 PM  
Blogger Allan said...

I don't know if the world is ready for the whole Oop! album yet (which is one of the reasons I subsequently reposted songs of more recent vintage as a palette cleanser) but it makes me feel better having gotten it off my chest.

P.S.: It was rice!! Oh, wait, you said that...

7:11 PM  
Blogger Scott said...

I actually did enjoy that version by Ace Frehley. Quite unexpected but welcome. Actually, anybody covering E.L.O. is welcome in my book.

And hey, did you know that "Back in the New York Groove" by Ace Frehley was also a cover? It's originally by a British glam rock group called HELLO. Check it out and see if you like it.

8:57 PM  
Blogger Scott Mercer said...

Listening back to this original version of "Gimmie Back The Cadillac" 20 years later (OUCH!!!)
it sounds like it would be at home in other lo-fi greats like the first LP by WEEN. Hilarious.

7:52 AM  

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