Omnibust / 60 Years of Music America Hates Best

Album Review

Omnibust/60 Years of Music America Hates Best pairs two of Spike Jones' Liberty albums from 1960 on one disc. Omnibust is a largely spoken word parody of television programming that takes a swipe at Lawrence Welk, children's programming, commercials, soap operas, and the then-popularity of detective show theme music. "I Search for Golden Adventure (In My Seven Leaky Boots)" manages to parody adventure shows and Martin Denny's "The Quiet Village" at the same time, while "The Wonderful World of Hari Kari" revisits the Asian stereotypes that Jones employed a decade earlier with his hit "Chinese Mule Train." Although recorded after the breakup of Jones' City Slickers, his old cohort Doodles Weaver returns to reprise his performance of the "William Tell Overture" in "A Mudder's Day Sport Spectacular." 60 Years of Music America Hates Best is a more pointedly musical effort on which Jones and his studio crew lampoon a variety of 20th century popular songs and styles, replete with his trademark horns and whistles. Much of this music would sound like something from an earlier era if not for the sparkling stereo sound. "Three Little Fishies" and "Hut Sut Song" are naturals for Jones' wit, and "Mairzy Doats" is so disorienting it could provoke flashbacks in a reformed LSD user. Turning toward rock & roll, Jones turns "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" into a Halloween song, and spoofs "Tequila"-style instrumentals with "Pimples and Braces." In a strange move, Collectables reissued this two-fer in 2006 while the Taragon edition was still available.