Carl Abraham Zimring wrote:
>Seriously, it seems to me the
> point of this exercise is to throw out an artist one despises and dare
> anyone to find artistic merit in it. Granted Ray Stevens is eons above,
> say Journey on the artistic scale. I however, have never liked him, and
> I particularly hate his novelty songs like Ahab the Arab and the Streak.
> By throwing his name out, I *want* to hear defenses of his work. Give
> me a reason to appreciate him, as I haven't found one yet
>
> Carl Z.
How old were you when "Ahab the Arab" came out? I was a kid/teen and it
was cooler than shit to us. Lots more goofy novelty stuff was on radio
then and it was just more of the same silly but fun era. 'Course it also
paved the way for the return of good rock & roll too, by ultimately
being unsatisfying. "The Streak" was just a late, boring attempt to make
that dog hunt one more time, which was futile and demeaned the earlier
stuff, which at the time was rather inventive and fresh, if you can
believe that. In his earliest incarnation, he was much like Roger Miller
would be thought of later. It is a distortion to lump his later junk in
with his earlier hits because he eventually ran out of gas and began to
repeat himself and become tiresome and clownish.
--
Joe Gracey
President-For-Life, Jackalope Records
http://www.kimmierhodes.com
