In any case, I was browsing one of the books, about This is Spinal Tap, the other day when I was mildly surprised to learn that before both Tap and The Barbusters (the group in Paul Shrader's actually pretty good Light of Day), the great Michael McKean had already played, on record, in another fake rock band. I refer of course, to Lenny and the Squigtones, the stars of a 1980 LP released to cash in on Mckean's (and co-star David Lander's) Laverne and Shirley TV fame.
What made this even more intriguing was that it seemed Christopher Guest had made his first recorded appearance as future Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel on said LP.
So naturally, I simply had to find a download of the damn thing somewhere on the intertubes.
I've since located the album credits, and sure enough -- the guitars on that track (and the rest of them) are by McKean and Guest/Tufnel. And to be fair, the songs aren't bad in a sort of upscale Sha-Na-Na way.
That said, I think it's not necessarily a cultural tragedy that the album's never appeared on CD.
7 comments:
Note to self:
Music from crappy TV show spinoffs less appreciated by readers than anticipated.
:-)
I actually have this vinyl. I haven't listened to it in years, but it still has the Lenny & Squiggy poster/insert. There may be some other big-name session guys on it, I'll have to check it out tonight.
I remember first hearing tracks from this on the Dr. Demento show when it first came out (I still have a cassette with songs I taped off Dr. D containing them.)
Took me many, many years to track this down later, but I find I go back to it occasionally. As you say -- it's not bad and has a place in Spinal Tap history
Somewhat repulsive, yet strangely compelling. Like the painting of Kramer.
Trey
Whew - That was cute.
I'm glad McKean decided to ditch the Lenny character in Spinal Tap.
That being said, Guest wasn't bad on the guitar solo.
The lettering on the cover is great. Is there a credit for it?
I would LOVE to have that Telecaster Deluxe!
Post a Comment