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There are more recordings on the way…some more live on the radio recordings, studio recordings from Ann Arbor and San Francisco and maybe even live recordings.
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CD&PLC
SHAMPAIN
The greatest metal band of all time? Shampain was some of the guys from the Lounge Cats with the two Lounge Cat dancers, Andy the clown dancer on guitar and Jimmy the meat dancer on vocals. These are just practice tapes, but it’s hard to believe they even exist. Listen if you dare.
• Battle of Gods and Men
A song about the Battle Between Gods and Men, or so it’s titled. I’m not sure if it was instrumental or the vocals just weren’t recorded that day.
• Invocation
If I recall correctly, the lyrics are being sung in some Runic language or invoking an ancient spell or something. We played this at a Halloween party and half the block almost burned down.
This post will be updated as live recordings trickle in from the Archive.
• Roy Came to Dinner
Roy Sullivan was in the Guinness Book of World Records for being hit by lightning 9 times. They say people would get up and leave when he came into the local diner for dinner.
• Trippin’ Bill, Citizen of the Universe
Trippin’ Bill was a weird character the band knew in Ann Arbor. He had once swallowed a vial of liquid LSD to hide it from the cops, probably the equivalent of thousands of hits of acid. The amazing thing is that the exact same thing happened to him a second time. Some people never learn.
This cassette was a demo, but maybe sold at the very beginning. The recordings are taken mostly from the first recording made live on the radio, WCBN 88.3FM out of Ann Arbor, in October of 1989 (yes, 20 years ago!). Some notable excerpts presented herein.
Side “Steve”:
• Tale of the Seven Minstrels – Lounge is Love – Cherub
Marty Ebner’s elaborate band intro is followed by a jam labeled Lounge is Love on the cassette, and then into the Butthole Surfers’ Cherub. You don’t hear live music like this on the radio these days! Ebner was the designer of the famous “Mr. Guitartender”, a seemingly innocent guitar case that had the inside converted into a small mini-bar for backstage refreshments.
• Phil was Possessive of his Silverware
One of Captain Dave’s well-loved a capella ditties.
• Shake Your Booty
The disco hit with psychedelic jam. This was recorded at a live show.
Side “Austin”:
• Barbra Streisand-Marty Plays the Guitar
Yet another epic rendition of Barbra, featuring Ebner on vocals, followed by the arena rock styled Marty Plays the Guitar.
• Free James Brown
Here’s an extended version with the funky breakdown.
• BBQ Pope
A Holiday In styled rendition of the Butthole Surfers classic.
Instrumental studio recordings from San Francisco, 1993. These were recorded live with no overdubbing around 4am after the multi-tracking session was completed. These were never issued. Until now.
• Disco Insensitive
From the great Antonio Carlos Jobim.
• Bok CHiPs
An instrumental based on the 70’s action soundtrack genre. At some point an actual instrumental chase scene from the “ChiPS” episode Falling Rocks was grafted into the middle, as recorded here.
• Do You Know the Way to San Jose?
The Lounge Cats were well known to be Burt Bacharach fans. Here’s his classic with a faithful arrangement. For some reason the first note is cut off on this recording, gone forever.
• Space, 12/8 Jam
A song about spaceships taking off. This song was really more of a transition used to connect songs in live performance.
Weird time signature alert.
• Action 70
Another song based on a non-existent 70’s movie soundtrack.
INFANT LAMBERT
A three song cassette with cover art by Captain Dave. Not to be confused with the song Infant Lambert.
Side A:
• Barbara Streisand is the Vodka of My Restaurant
The first song ever played or composed by the Lounge Cats was an intoxicated improvisation titled “Barbara Streisand is the Vodka of My Restaurant”, featuring Marty Ebner on vocals. This song set the band’s basic template, a bit of hokey jazz chords devolving into trippy mayhem. Ebner decided not to continue with the band and was immediately replaced with Captain Dave. A couple of years later, Ebner was brought into the studio to re-create the song. Barbara sometimes segued into a tribute to Ebner called “Marty Plays the Guitar”, but on this recording it goes into what was loosely known as “The Weather Channel Jam.” Years later, the band worked up a faithful arrangement of the actual Viacom Weather Channel background music.
Side B:
• Cuando, Cuando
Discooo…
• Morey’s Head
During a boring design class in 1987 we noticed a fellow student named Morey peeping in the window, his head looked like a strange balloon floating outside. Laughter ensued, lyrics composed. The main chords are cribbed from Stairway To Heaven, believe it or not. The jam was inspired by something from the Butthole Surfers, combined with a melody from a classical Persian piece, believe it or not, again. This became one of the band’s most well known songs, often a climax of their live show with much strobing of strobe lights, spraying of fog machines and projecting of odd films.
A DECK OF WINKLERS
Recorded Live on the air at Ann Arbor’s WCBN in September on 1991. The set was mixed live by Paul Townsend.
Side A:
• Lisa’s Tapeworm
A Lou Rawl’s styled samba about a tapeworm.
• Xlnt Genies’ Journey to Valhalla
A heavy “strobe light” song. The bass line is played in triplets in the first part and then in 4/4, a la Steve Reich.
• Fairies Wear Boots, Crazy Train
A tribute to the king of metal.
• Fat Albert’s Neighborhood
A well loved funk original.
• King of Courdoroy Trilogy
A swinging ditty, an epic ballad set to the music of MacArthur Park by the incomparable Jimmy Webb and a 70’s era Bert Kaempfert style instrumental.
Side B:
• Ralph Schloff
Ode to a pizza store manager.
• A Man and a Woman
An arrangement of the classic title song Un Homme Une Femme from the film of the same name. Composed by Francis Lai.
• Chili’s Eye, Scurvy Headed Saxon
Theme to a non-existent 70’s show, followed by a melody based on a commercial produced by the Canada Tourism Board. The band would experiment with combining different songs, here they segue to Scurvy Headed Saxon, a strange funk song with a trumpet solo based a piece of music from an episode of the original Star Trek series.
• Ballad of the Midget Boy
He’s short but tough.
• Cherish
A version of the Butthole Surfers’ Cherub.
First Edition:
Second Edition:
This rare eponymous 7 inch (33rpm) single by the Lounge Cats is their only vinyl release. It was recorded in 1989 and released the following year.
Side A:
• Free James Brown
Captain Dave was a connoisseur of 70’s funk bands. When James Brown was arrested Capt. Dave quickly responded with this timeless lyric; “So what if he’s a junkie, he’s so DAMN funky!”
Side B:
• Tropicalismo
Tropicalismo is a prototypical Lounge Cat song…a bossa nova that goes crazy, eventually returning to normal. The title is a wink to the psychedelic rock movement of 1960’s South America.
(Thanks to John Moore of Shrimpanzee for the scan of the first edition)
