AMG Review of Spike Jones: The Man Who Murdered Music

Jordan R. Young
All Music Guide

What would you do if you had the chance to produce a compilation album of music by one of your favorite artists? I found out when Good Music Record Co. gave me the opportunity to put together a Spike Jones album for their mail-order catalog. When I told them about all the rare previously-unissued material available, they said, "Never mind rare, give us the most entertaining material you can." So -- bored by seeing the same old stuff surface on one compilation after another -- I gave them the most entertaining rarities I could find. Four tracks had never been issued in any format; three others had been issued only in Germany on a much sought-after LP, and many others were first-time reissues. The major revelations were "I Wuv a Wabbit," which went on to become the top-requested song on a popular Philadelphia-area kid's show after languishing forgotten for 50 years in Jones' archives; and a brilliantly inventive instrumental version of "Carmen" from one of Jones' last unfinished album projects, which was given its world premiere on Dr. Demento's nationally syndicated show when the CD was released.