Sometimes there's one moment on a record when you think to yourself... "I'm gonna like this album." On Have Moicy! it happens about two minutes into opening track "Midnight In Paris" and it was a timely intervention. I was questioning whether I was going to be able to get over Peter Stampfel's unique vocal style (my girlfriend asked me if I was listening to The Muppets) when all of a sudden he yells "Awwwww kick it..." and from there on I was hooked.To be honest I had a good feeling about this album before I listened to it. I read about it while looking up Michael Hurley whose mesmerising "The VT- Ore. Floor" is a song I was obsessed with for a while. This album is credited to Michael Hurley, The Unholy Modal Rounders and Jeffrey Frederick & The Clamtones and despite the amount of cooks around the broth it works brilliantly.
However, if you're coming to this with your serious hat on you can forget it. The subject matter in these songs is quirky to say the least but it endears you to the personalities involved. If you get it you feel like your in on the joke, almost part of the session. Never does it distract from the quality of these fantastic songs.
"The Slurf Song" is a highlight while the start of "Jackknife/Griselda" has the finest use of a yodel this side of Michael Nesmith's "Mama Nantucket." One of the best songs on here though is Hurley's gorgeous "Sweet Lucy." The soulful backing vocals put me in mind of Ry Cooder's definitive version of "Little Sister" and when I hear it I pray for an alternate music history where this was the benchmark for popular 70's folk/country instead of The Eagles.
The truly great "Robbin' Banks" is the kind of song that would sound great soundtracking an early Tarantino film. In fact the whole album sounds like it could be a soundtrack to some little know cult road movie. Something like Vanishing Point meets The Dukes Of Hazzard with the protagonists blazing a trail cross country leaving a trail of empty banks, poached chickens and police in their wake. I for one would pay money to see it.
