Frank Zappa loved '50s doo wop music. He grew up with it, collected it, and it was the first kind of pop music he wrote ("Memories of El Monte," recorded by the Penguins in 1962). Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, the Mothers of Invention's fourth LP, is a collection of such music, all Zappa originals (some co-written with MOI singer Ray Collins). To the unexperienced, songs like "Cheap Thrills," "Deseri," and "Jelly Roll Gum Drop" may sound like an average doo wop song. A closer look reveals unusual chord sequences, Stravinsky quotes, and hilariously moronic lyrics - all wrapped in four-way harmony vocals and linear piano triplets. A handful of songs from the group's 1966 debut, Freak Out, were rearranged ("How Could I Be Such a Fool" and "Anyway the Wind Blows" give the weirdest results), and old material predating the Mothers was recycled ("Fountain of Love"). "Love of My Life" and "You Didn't Try to Call Me" became live staples.

This 26-song anthology is almost identical in track selection to the most comprehensive prior Scaffold collection, Abbey Road Decade 1966-1971, released just four years before this CD. And indeed, the track selection isn't too different from the only other Scaffold anthology, See for Miles' Singles A's & B's. It's a bit puzzling as to why this body of work, not in terribly high demand at any rate, was packaged with such slight alternations so soon after the Abbey Road Decade 1966-1971 disc. Anyway, assuming this is the first Scaffold best-of you come across, it does its job well, spanning 1966 to the early '70s, and naturally including their two big British hits of the late '60s, "Thank U Very Much" and "Lily the Pink." The music, frankly, is an erratic mix of comedy and rock that's much patchier and rather more twee than, say, that of fellow U.K. humorists the Bonzo Dog Band.

Figgatta de Blanc is the tenth studio album by Italian rock band Elio e le Storie Tese, published in 2016. The name is a parody of The Police' Reggatta de Blanc.

These two albums are released on CD for the first time ever. Founder member Peter Langford has been interviewed by Mojo's Daryl Easlea for the extensive notes, on a release that promises to bring back the fun into music! The Barron Knights are a British humorous pop group, originally formed in 1959, they became the Barron Knights on 5th October 1960. Although the Barron Knights undoubtedly had their own style and produced regular `beat group recordings' in their own right, it was their production of comedy parodies that brought them the greatest success. In fact, their catalogue of recordings - although impressive - does not reflect their success as stage entertainers. By adapting their act to each new wave of emerging performers they were able to survive longer than their more conventional contemporaries, and even today can still be regularly found in cabaret or performing a seaside summer season.

An extremely rare live recording of the scaffold in 1968 when they were top of the charts, this album has been long deleted and never before released on CD. The Scaffold emerged from Liverpool’s early 1960s bohemian scene, the same environment that had nurtured the Beatles. The McCartney brothers linked the two, Paul’s younger brother Mike, under the pseudonym McGear, teaming up with entrepreneur John Gorman and poet Roger McGough in 1963, Britain’s most famous poet whose book of sixties beat poetry “the mersey sound” has sold an unprecedented one million copies. Their stage show, fusing softly satirical sketches with music hall bawdiness, was a hit at the Edinburgh Festival and formed the basis for several successful tours through the rest of the decade. The Scaffold enjoyed the Christmas number one in 1968 with “Lily The Pink”, perhaps the most famous of all novelty songs. They had four other hits including “Thank U Very Much” which reached number 4 on the hit parade, a live version of which is included here. The Scaffold’s versatile output during the boom years of UK pop culture stands as a testimony to the qualities of a long-vanished age.

"Monster Mash" is one of the all-time great holiday songs, resurfacing (and sometimes charting) every Halloween without fail. The Original Monster Mash is the accompanying Top 20 album from 1962, on which Pickett leads off with his big hit before plying his Boris Karloff shtick for another 15 songs. Pickett's other Top 100 monster hit, the Christmas novelty "Monsters' Holiday," is here as well, along with dated jokes about Fabian ("Rabian - The Fiendage Idol") and then-current dance crazes ("Transylvania Twist," "Skully Gully"). "Let's Fly Away" is a brief Stan Freberg send-up that replaces "John and Marsha" with Dracula and Vampira. The Crypt-Kickers were an all-star band that counted Leon Russell, producer Gary Paxton, and other famous folks among its members, and the album remains a fine Halloween party platter year and years later. Unfortunately, the album was remixed for CD release in 1991, and the vocals are obscured in the mix so that the generic rock backing often prevails over the "spooky" dialogue and singing, which defeats the point for a novelty effort such as this.

The 6th studio album from Steel Panther. From the opening synth intro of "Never Too Late (To Get Some Pussy Tonight)" to the thunderous outro of "Sleeping On The Rollaway", Steel Panther is back with the infectious riffs, pounding drums, unforgettable vocals alongside the witty humor that has earned them a global audience. Songs like "On Your Instagram", "Magical Vagina" and "One Pump Chump" are sure to fit in on the biggest live stages next to the band's most memorable songs. "1987" is an incredible retro look at that unforgettable year and the band even slows things down on the reflective "Ain't Dead Yet". 2023 release from the heavy metal jokesters. Includes "Never Too Late (To Get Some P* Tonight)", "One Pump Chump", and more.

Soundtrack album for arguably the Python's best film (or at least their most controversial, talky, and profound). The group's take on the biblical epic focuses on Brian (Graham Chapman), mistaken for the messiah by a group of easily impressed locals. All the best bits from the movie are here, including the "Sermon on the Mount" (as misheard by "Mr. Big Nose"); the People's Liberation Front of Judea (or is it the Judean People's Liberation Front?); Brian's impromptu preaching ("He's making it up as he goes along!"), and the concluding song, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," sung by the cast as they hang crucified. The album offers little apart from the clips from the film, except for some studio banter between a producer (Eric Idle) and a useless announcer (Graham Chapman).

The result of the meeting of Michael McCartney (brother of Beatle Paul), who would work as Mike McGear to avoid accusations of coat-tailing, and Post Office engineer John Gorman, the Scaffold took a blend of absurd humor and catchy songs to chart-topping glory throughout the 1960s. Their lineup filled out with Roger McGough and Adrian Henri, the group was briefly known as the Liverpool One Fat Lady All Electric Show, to the horror of everyone around them. Henri soon departed. A change of name later, they were gaining a reputation as one of the most amusing outfits on the scene, with a residency at Peter Cook's Establishment Club (where the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band also held court). The Scaffold's biggest successes were their cheerfully silly singles, starting with "Thank U Very Much" and continuing with "Lily the Pink" (a sterilized adaptation of an old rugby song, featuring Jack Bruce on bass) and the somewhat incomprehensible "Gin Gan Goolie," all of which had a knack for sticking in the mind on endless repeat without causing undue annoyance. These three songs, in particular, are well remembered even as the 1990s draw to a close.