Recommended New Releases for August 11, 2009
We're doing something a little different and recommending some of what we consider to be the better and/or more unusual new music you'll find at Vinyl Fever this week.
Del Close & John Brent – How To Speak Hip
I'd been on the hunt for this record ever since hearing "Basic Hip" on The Beat Generation box set that Rhino put out 20 or so years ago. Finally found one on eBay last year for a mere $80 only to have Vinyl Feverite Gabe E. tell me, "I think I have that." And he generously gave it to me!
Timeless while still very much of its time, this brilliant disc both satirized and cashed in on the “How To…” and “Teach Yourself…” album craze that hit America in the late 1950’s, combining some great “knowing” humor with a couple of fantastic characters and concepts. John Belushi called Del Close "My biggest influence in comedy"
Del Close plays the "square" instructor who relies on the guidance of a Mr. Geetz Romo, beatnik. Here's a clip: "Ladies and gentlemen … each hip word or phrase carries with it an implication of the speaker's background and involvement in hip society. In other words the phrase, 'I dig' not only means 'I understand,' but 'I am a special sort of person who understands in a very special way.' In other words saying, 'I am hip.'"
The CD even comes on with a "mini-book," the "Hip Manual," which came with the original 1959 side. It's a ball, and nutty to imagine that this album is FIFTY years old!
Fall in — here's a stream.
Some other recommended CD releases of this week:
This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2009.
