Spike Jones - Spike Jones in Hi-Fi (Spike Jones in Stereo)

All Music Guide

Spike Jones in HiFi (Spike Jones in Stereo) (1959) is among the musical satirist's most effuse efforts during his postCity 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 longplayer. It certainly didn't hurt that Jones surrounded himself with the allstar 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 Halloweentype 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 dialoguedriven "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 rapidfire jokes, executed with the adept timing and pacing of Abbott Costello, Allen Rossi, or Rowan Martin. "Teenage Brain Surgeon" is a doo wopstyle 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 indepth 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 multinoggin beatnik and fully utilizes stereophonics for maximum effect. In 2003 the boys and ghouls at Collectors' Choice Music sent Spike Jones in HiFi (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 Read more Less