Louis Prima swung in the 20's, swayed in the 30's and bopped in the 40's. After decades of inspired composing, trumpeting, bandleading, singing and vamping, Prima hit his creative peak in the late 50's and early 60's where he rightfully ruled the musical roost in Las Vegas, Planet Earth and the swingin' galaxies beyond. There was no one alive or dead that didn't dig the sounds of Louis Prima. The late 60's and 70's weren't as sympathetic to his talents, but as long as there was a dark cocktail lounge and the broads ran hot and cold, Prima valiantly swung on through the love beads and the incense and when duty called, the peppermint schnapps. No slouch in the progressive jazz department, Prima jumped on the hippie/experimental sound with the dizzy ferocity of a beatboxing Joe Franklin. Keeping it contemporary, Prima traded in his Gleeby Rhythm for two suitcases of the finest tan Naugahyde threads and hit the 70's like a custard pie on a mound of shit. The liner notes to The Prima Generation '72 say it all:
The PRIMA GENERATION is now, yesterday and tomorrow. If you're 2 or 82, there is a place for YOU in the PRIMA GENERATION.
I picked up The Prima Generation '72 a few years ago at the WFMU Record Fair. I rode back home on the subway, pretending nonchalantly to be holding the Greatest Record of All Time, little realizing the vinyl mystery that I newly possessed. Conceived to cash in on That-Which-Cannot-Be-Cashed-In-On, Prima slides through a dozen rotten cow pies on this LP, surfing a musical smegma at the tail end of a long and storied career. From questionable covers ("I Never Promise You a Rose Garden," "It's Impossible") to inept originals ("What you Hear is What You've Got"), Louie ladles on the charm like flies on day old shrimp scampi, all the while employing an impeccable artlessness that borders on narcolepsy. As late career-defining hunks of glop go, Louis and the gang confidentially nail several coffins shut all at once on this clunker. Truth is, this record kinda stinks.
One crummy instrumental on the album is distinguished by its tantalizing title: Sympathy for the Devil (M. Jagger-K. Richards) A bizarre hybrid of Hugo Montenegro and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Prima's take on Sympathy is a bewildering, jazzy mess that shares a similarity to the Stones original in name only. It starts out like the Schenectady Playhouse production of Jesus Christ Superstar and then it devolves into a soundtrack for a porno movie featuring squirrel puppets--and you wanna know something? It's the best track on the LP. I guess this is the equivalent of The Surfsiders recording Bitches Brew.
Sympathy for the Devil (mp3)
So what's on the other side? Someone posted a version of Mrs. Robinson by Prima, maybe WFMU, that is more up his alley. Was it this disc?
Posted by: Primavera | October 15, 2008 at 11:03 AM
I posted "Mrs Robinson" on my blog Music For Maniacs recently. It's a different album, but same late-career/life time period. That album, "Blast Off!," is really good, a real swinger, nothing like this. I've been meaning to record the rest of it (along with a million other things I've been meaning to record).
Posted by: Mr Fab | October 15, 2008 at 03:56 PM
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Louis Prima fan but I was disappointed when I heard his cover of "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden." Perhaps it was an outtake.
Posted by: Krys O. | October 16, 2008 at 08:11 AM
This LP is very strange. My version was released on Louis Prima's own label Prima One, a division of Louis Prima Enterprises, Inc. 279 E. Warm Springs Rd, Las Vegas. On the back cover, bassist Rolly Di Iorio is credited with vocals on both Rose Garden and I left my heart in San Francisco. Louie sings four of twelve songs on this. His voice is still pretty good.
Posted by: Johnny V | October 17, 2008 at 01:33 PM
I remember as a kid watching Louis sing part of Rose Garden on Merv Griffen. At the age of 12 or so I can remember feeling that this was a man well beyond his prime. But he can be forgiven - I saw the video "The Wildest" and cannot think of any performer who was on top of his game as long as he was.
Posted by: Michael Lerner | March 13, 2009 at 09:02 PM
Have to put in my two cents here...I'm so happy to own this record, especially for the version of "rose garden", as it puts the term "unbelievable" to new heights. Sure, if you are a die-hard Prima fan it's kinda tough to visualize this once great performer on the stage of a run down, seedy side street casino, playing a nearly empty room with only one drunken elder couple smooching over the dancefloor - this is how this track sounds. But if you file it under "incredibly strange music" it is SO MUCH FUN to listen to it!
Posted by: JensOmatic | January 13, 2010 at 05:12 PM