--- In martinmullappreciationsociety@y..., b5guy1 <no_reply@y...>
wrote:
> Chet: Please contact me.
>
>
> --- In martinmullappreciationsociety@y..., faroffdistantplace
> <no_reply@y...> wrote:
> > Hi -
> >
> > Sorry for the "commercial", but I figured
> > you folks would be interested...
> >
> > I'm currently selling a brand new CD release
> > from "Double Standard String Band"
> >
> > It's old-timey music (banjo, guitar, fiddle,
> > mandolin, string bass) recorded in 1966 (!)...
> > The master tapes we're recently discovered
> > and have never been available anywhere before.
> >
> > The two songwriters are Les Daniels (banjo,
> > vocals) and Martin Mull (guitar, vocals).
> > Back then, Les was a student at Brown University
> > in Providence while Martin was studying next
> > door at the Rhode Island School of Design.
> > The two collaborated again on the 1974 Soop
> > record, but these recordings pre-date those
> > sessions by almost a decade and this gritty,
> > country-folk-grass picking is the real deal!
> >
> > The "Double Standard String Band" was fully
> > restored and mastered for CD - there are
> > 16 tracks in all, 12 of which feature Martin
> > Mull. It's all professionally packaged in
> > full-color (except for the B/W period photo
> > of Les and Martin performing live in 1966)
> > and features liner notes by Les himself.
> >
> > This is a small, limited pressing that is
> > not available in stores - mail order only:
> >
> > $14 money order payable to "J. Alexander"
> > PO Box 170, Barrington, RI 02806
> > ($20 if outside the USA)
> > Please include your shipping address with payment.
> > Thanks!
> >
> > ----
> > "...Les also sings, plays banjo, and writes songs...a
> > combination of bluegrass, folk and country, with a heavy
> > emphasis on sophisticated Tom Lehrer-style parodies.
> >
> > "...[five] of these tunes were written with comedian/actor
> > Martin Mull. [also two others written solely by Mull]
> > The first of the Mull-Daniels collaborations, "Cleveland,"
> > is a Stephen Fosterish paean for the joys of Ohio: "Oh me,
> > oh me-oh-my-o/I miss the life I loved down in Ohio."
> > "The Great Bellvue Murder Mystery" is another
> > rural-rube-in-the-city-missing-his-home-place parody, and
> > "Country Lass" switches between major and minor as the narrator
> > searches for a tongue-in-cheek "good ole country lass."
> >
> > "The songs that Daniels has written himself are equally fun,
> > if not even more so. "First Base" compares love to baseball:
> > Now I'm just a little farm team boy,
> > and I'd like to fill your heart with joy,
> > But I'll have to get my uniform dyed blue,
> > The way I'm cryin' they'll have to call the game on account of
rain,
> > 'Cause I can't seem to get to first base with you.
> >
> > "Cowboy Song" is a minor key ballad, with a jilted lover
> > imagining what it would be like to be a fearless cowboy.
> > It's droll and wistful, with a sweet, traditional-sounding
> > melody. The dryly humorous tone continues with "Beggars Can't
> > Be Choosers," in which the narrator has to be content with the
> > ugly girl who's just bailed him out of prison, and "I Just
> > Broke Jail" (does Daniels, like Hitchcock, have a prison
phobia?),
> > which tongue-twistingly tells of a moonshiner and his travails
> > with the law. "Mr. Moonshine" looks at the illegal practice
> > from the point of view of a woman who sings plaintively,
> > "Lips that touch whiskey will never touch mine, Mr. Moonshine /
> > Hands that make whisky will never get frisky with me."
> > The gorgeous melody belies the ironic lyrics, and one could
almost
> > believe this to be a turn-of-the-last-century prohibition ballad.
> >
> > "Another more serious song is "Sentimental Value," in the same
> > antique vein as "Mr. Moonshine." My favorite, however, is
> > "The Coyote Kid," which begins with a rhythmic guitar line which
> > leads into a far more complex chord progression than many of the
> > other songs. The story the song tells is equally complex and
> > haunting."
> >
> > -- Chet Williamson
> > -----