- Audio CD (Feb 26 2009)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Collector's Choice
- ASIN: B001O2ZVJS
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #142,870 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Details |
Track Listings
| 1. Kingpin |
| 2. Date with Danger |
| 3. You Can't Judge a Book by Its Hair |
| 4. Public Service Announcement |
| 5. Lance Learns to Box |
| 6. 16 Golden Bits |
| 7. Evening with Sly Stone |
| 8. In Someone's Sneakers |
| 9. Where's Johnny |
Product Description
Album Description
The Credibility Gap's third album, 1974's A Great Gift Idea, was recorded at a time when the troupe's radio career was on the wane and they were looking for a new avenue for their comedy. As a consequence, the material on this album is somewhat less topical than their radio work and the routines, for the most part, are barbed reflections of the state of popular culture, circa 1974. Anticipating Harry Shearer and Michael McKean's later forays into musical parody, A Great Gift Idea features a wicked R&B parody, "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Hair" (which concerns the youth culture's swing to the political right) and a canny satire of Curtis Mayfield's music for Superfly in the trailer for "Kingpin," a fictive blaxploitation movie based on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. (Lowell George and Richard Hayward of Little Feat are part of the backing band.) The album also includes a PBS "interview" with a surprisingly bourgeois Sly Stone, an outdated educational film about the dangers of VD and premarital sex (with Michael McKean as a gloriously awkward teen), and "Where's Johnny?," a venomous take-off of The Tonight Show with Shearer offering a withering yet accurate impersonation of Johnny Carson as his chat show hits a typically low ebb during an episode devoted to the gay liberation movement. A fair percentage of A Great Gift Idea is more clever than laugh-out-loud funny, but the best moments are both smart and acidly witty, and the Credibility Gap's no-quarter take on the world around them has dated very little in the decades since its release, and few studio-bound comedy albums of this era are as accomplished as this. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
At Last! At Last! Hooray! Hooray!, Feb 19 2009
By Mark Arnold "movie/tv, comic book and animati... - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: A Great Gift Idea (Audio CD)
Yes! The Credibility Gap's best album (along with The Bronze Age of Radio make this comedy album collector's dreams come true! This is one of the best comedy albums ever made...period!!Tracks like "Kingpin" and "16 Golden Bits" are enough to qualify it as a classic, but "A Date With Danger" and the "Tonight Show" parody truly bring it over the top...
It's great to have this finally in high fidelity on compact disc instead of listening to my old vinyl recordings.
Highly recommended...
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
finally available, Mar 28 2008
By David Breger "dbreger" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
i'm astounded to find this album available for download. the credits provided indicate a 2005 release but i can testify that it hasn't been in the rhino or the greater warner's catalogue since then.in any case, the gap are harry shearer, michael mckean and david lander, all of whom have gone on to great success since the recording of this album in the early '70's (well, not so much lander - i can only hope squiigy hasn't been forced into a day job. he must of really pissed the other two off, doncha think? i mean, they coulda thrown him in as a singer in mighty wind or a scooper in best of show or something). it was the funniest record i knew then (not the more popular, more cryptic, less funny firesign theather) and its still hilarious today. it helps (alot) if you're old enough to remember johnny carson's tonight show, playboy after dark and the release of martin luther king's fbi files but my kid's 17 years old and she likes it too, especially the golden bits and lance learns to box.
what else to say? you should fry up a couple of steaks and listen to the record, you should live and be well and you've got to stop eating with those clydesdales - you're getting too much roughage in your kibble.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great job on this reissue!, July 23 2011
By J. Schwartz - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A Great Gift Idea (Audio CD)
At a time when older or obscure albums are prepped for CD re-release by simply playing an original LP into a computer and applying some digital restoration, this comedy gem was obviously remastered from the original tapes (thank you Warner/Reprise for hanging onto them!) So for anyone who loved and still quotes lines from this album, and wishes they had a pristine copy... this is the real thing!Some of the bits will be lost on people under 40, particularly the classic "Where's Johnny", so this may not appeal to a younger person. It's one of those 'you had to be there' things I guess. And having been there, I'm glad this has surfaced. There are new liner notes in the booklet, but grab a magnifying glass if you want to read the original printed text on the 'back cover' art.
If you happened to live in L.A. around 1970-71 and heard the Credibility Gap 'news' broadcasts on KPPC FM, you'll also like The Bronze Age Of Radio, reissued on Varese in 2007. Available through Amazon as well!
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