35 Years In The Making
David Jacobs | Queens, N.Y. | 03/09/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A desert island disc for me, this one. In the mid 70's during the reign of the Unholy Modal Rounders here in N.Y.C. I tried to make it my mission in life to get this thing reissued. I constantly talked (pestered) Peter Stampfel that this record was one of the best things since sliced scrapple. At the time he was very jazzed about making a new record with Micheal Hurley and Jeffrey Fredricks which would eventually become Have Moicy. God bless Rounder for releasing it. Why Rounder did not follow up with a real Unholy record is anyone's guess. It's coming soon, but I digress. It soon became apparent that Peter was just too busy to be bothered and besides, he expressed contempt for it, saying the mix sucked, the bass couldn't be heard, and worst of all the master tapes were lost to the ages. All or some of this might be true. When one thinks of the Holy Modal Rounders, they think Stampfel and Weber, but it would be decades before the two could get back into a studio to record together. Everything in between included others that would become permanent members including Euphoria writer Robin Remaily, Micheal McCarty on drums, and the wonderful Richard Tyler on keyboards. That is the band heard here. Lets not forget that Scotty Moore (Think Elvis' Orignal Guitar Player!)in the studio engineering this thing with this ragtag group of folky hippies. It's no wonder Stampfel expressed the band being nervous during the sessions. As for the production...well the other guy here has a point. Peter tried to intervene but was unsuccessful in the process.I kept in touch with Peter just for the sake of having my dream come true. Going to record fairs, I got to know Bob Irwin from Sundazed records. I put forth the idea of reissuing Good Taste Is Timeless on his label. He usually does not issue anything like the Rounders, but to my delight it turns out he was a fan. He expressed dismay about the lost tapes and told me to try to find them. Yeah Right! I called Peter and begged him to listen to the record again. He did...twice! Hey It Sounds Pretty Good! A connection was made and Bob put out the CD in 2003 mastered from a mint copy of the LP, which is why there is no re-mastering. But don't let that stop you from the sheer joy of listening to this wonderful mix of traditional folk, rock, hippie hybrid disk that only the Rounders could create. There is not a bad apple in the bunch. Steve Weber's guitar never sounded better and his original Generalonely is just beautiful. Black Bottom, Spring of '65, and Alligator Man, sung by bassist John Wesly Annas are standouts. Have I convinced you to get this yet? Now that you know the whole long story, I hope you do. Don't forget to look for my name on it. Yes, some dreams do come true."
Well, It's On CD At Least...
AudioObscurica | United States | 06/24/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"For starters, if you've heard of that 'horrible mix job' of the original album, that's the mix used here (sounds mono most of the time, but close listening reveals MINIMAL, and I mean minimal stereo separation). In this age, I would have hoped a fully remixed version would have been done, but you can't have everything. Maybe there weren't any tapes available for that purpose? Who knows. Anyway, this is a good album, it's no INDIAN WAR WHOOP or MORAY EELS... but instead it's a twisted country-rock album with occasional relapses of Rounder craziness. If you're not used to the Rounders this may be an odd album for you since other band members take vocals (Stampfel and Weber only get half the album), but on it's own merits, and if one can cast aside the bother of the mixing, GOOD TASTE IS TIMELESS may well prove to be, well, timeless."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1