5.29.2006
Ahbe Casabe
Marti Barris Ahbe Casabe (Keen, 1958)
Oh! Much do I love musical fakery! Well, kind of. The endless river of bland post-teen mall-punk bands churning out faux-angst pop tunes is very tiresome, as are the shallow hacks who throw a hick accent on top of alt rock songs and call it "new country." Something about modern day fakery that leaves me cold. Perhaps not being alive when Marti Barris's Ahbe Casabe was made makes this song so listenable. Perhaps, but I tend to think it is the sound. Ahbe Casabe's production is perfect. In fact, it is the analogue created warmth that saves this from sounding like some crisp, commercial Anglo-Mambo. I am guessing that the failure to make this slick sounding has something to do with this being the B-side.
Marti Barris was an actress and singer. She was Peppy Mint on the Howdy Doody Show. Barris recorded a lot of pop songs in the late 50s and 1960s but never had a big hit. Her father Harry Barris was a songwriter, musician, & actor, who worked a lot with Bing Crosby. The most famous of the Barris clan is probably cousin Chuck Barris, known as host of the Gong Show, creator of the Newlywed Game, and self-proclaimed CIA assassin who went by the name of Sunny Sixkiller.
# posted by Scott Soriano : 10:43
