Customer Reviews

NEW Mason Williams - Phonograph Record (CD)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was really surprised to see the negative comments on this album. My father bought this when I was a child in the sixties and I grew up with it so perhaps that is why I remember it so fondly. This is the album that introduced Mason Williams to the world and it is arguably his best work.
Perhaps the people who do not care for this album find it hard to relate to the period from which it came, in that sense it is dated. This is a sixties album no doubt. Mason Williams presents pop music with a full orchestra as backup, something that was just not done until Williams and other acts such as the Beatles decided to break the rules. The Phonograph Record also has some other gems as well; I personally like All The Time more than Classical Gas, although that is a personal preference. Wanderlove is picturesque and one of the most beautiful songs he ever wrote. Baroque-A-Nova is an excellent tune although you might prefer the instrumental version he later released. The Prince's Panties is one of the funniest songs I have ever heard, and Sunflower is the perfect vehicle to end the album.
Of course, the album does have it's low points, She's Gone Away proves once and for all that Williams is not a Rock N Roller, fortunately, he seems to have learned that lesson and avoided that pitfall on later albums.
Here Am I is an interesting experiment in psychedelic imagery, but in the end fails to deliver, and Long Time Blues shows that Williams doesn't even know what the blues is.
Other than that, the album really is joy to listen to, even after all these years, it stands as a testament to a time when pop artists were willing to break the molds and experiment, when anything seem possible.

I've always liked Classical Gas, it was the reason I bought this CD, most of the rest of the album is a disappointment. 12 selections are on this thing and ten of them sound like something from a 60's TV soundtrack, not very interesting in my opinion even if they did seem to be well handled. The only other selection I cared for was #3 Dylan Thomas, 30 seconds long starting out with some good banjo playing then finished (spoiled)by someone singing a few words.
There's a note on the back of the CD about the album being recorded on analog equipment with the CD preserving that sound as closely as possible which might reveal the original limitations. I thought it all sounded very clear, Classical Gas was the only selection I'm familiar with and I heard unfamiliar detail, no static.

The Mason Williams Phonograph Record yielded but one hit, "Classical Gas". And it's true that "Classical Gas", as a pop hit, resounded with many people; however, it would be unfortunate to leave Mason Williams as a sort of "one-hit wonder" merely because of his one and only smash!

The Phonograph Record is a concept album that influenced a lot of contemporary orchestral "rock" music like Manheim Steamroller and even (gag!) John Tesh. Williams, however, had the edge. He and the arrangers (like Mike Post, composer of TV themes like Magnum PI and Hill Street Blues) put together a somewhat random but overall different sounding album. Its 60s-ish "bap ba ba" choruses and bossa nova beats are dated, but it's the variety of textures that remains fresh and enjoyable. The Phonograph Record is silly, it's serious, and it's just *different*. Good sound quality for 1968, too. Just remember that reviews classifying this record only in terms of "Classical Gas" are placing Williams' music in the wrong category. I've introduced this album to several of my friends (college students) and they were all quite impressed with the sheer variety and humor in the music. If you're interested in hearing the original orchestra rock, or want to explore some deeper 1960s culture beyond the surface hippie/Woodstock/drug explosion, try Mason Williams or the Smothers Brothers and be surprised at albums that actually offered songs that differed in sound and texture. It might be quite a culture shock.

Mason Williams would compose musical jokes on his guitar for his stand-up routines. As a sketch writer for the Smothers Brothers, his "Classical Gas" was the theme for a display of classic paintings on the show. On the ablum, the gags in "Overture", "Dylan Thomas", and "The Prince's Panties" mix poorly with the other earnest attempts and make for a very uneven album. The combination of french horns and guitar riffs do make for a nostalgic return to late 1960's theme muic. 2 stars for the overall album.

I first heard this in 1968, in a high school English class. It's the one good thing I got from that class, and the record has never been very far from my stereo ever since.

Mason Williams does things differently. It's his own music, produced with help from others. The combination works well, it's well crafted and very much worth repeated listening because the music is also interesting.

This is a pretty unique record... and sadly, quite under appreciated as well. Everyone knows "Classical Gas" but few know his "Baroque a Nova" or "She's gone away." Mason Williams wrote poems and recorded several albums ranging from sixties pop to country. He has a pretty goofy sense of humor and that comes out in songs like "The Princes Panties." On the cover you see Mason standing in front of a cardboard bus that folds up into a book shape. He also had a plane draw a stem in the sky so that it looked like it was under the sun, to create the worlds biggest sunflower. He then wrote a song called "sunflower" which is on the album. Classical Gas is a great song, and it sounds better in the context of this album. when you hear Mason Williams' "Phonograph Record" you will see that he was onto so much more than that song.

I love Classical Gas, and this is the version I expected. I was really disappointed in the rest of the album. I guess I was hoping for similar accoustic guitar and such. Lame vocals in many songs. I am going to have to break down and get a CD burner so I can keep this song in my carousel along with other singles from albums aren't good (like Don Henley's "Boys of Summer").

I've always loved Mason Williams' "Classical Gas." Back in the '70s I had it on a 45 RPM, and I also enjoyed the flip-side's "Baroque-A-Nova." It wasn't quite as good as "Gas," but it was in more-or-less the same vein, and sufficiently enjoyable. When "The Mason Williams Phonograph Record" was re-issued on LP, I jumped at the chance to buy it, but ended up very disappointed. On balance the music struggled to reach the lofty heights inhabited by Lawrence Welk, and when Williams went to the trouble of putting lyrics to his tunes they were painfully pretentious. The album liner notes quote Williams as saying, "I didn't try anything pretentious. These are just kind of non-commercial jottings." This is doubly-ironic, since "Classical Gas" proved one of the greatest commerical successes in popular music, while the bulk of the album was one of the most pretentious collections assembled in the late 1960s. A case in point is his "Long Time Blues," which was also covered by the Kingston Trio (although I never heard their version). The production ultimately kills this little number, as it does on most of others. Williams' arranger, Mike Post, seemed to mistakenly assume that if violins worked in "Classical Gas," they should also work in most of the other pieces. The result is that "Long Time Blues" aims for lush but ends up with mush. At least the combination of violins, nickelodeon-style piano, the chorus of background singers who sound lost somewhere between Nashville and Hollywood, and Williams trying his best imitation of Jay from Jay and the Americans, are enough to keep the lyrics from destroying the song all by themselves. Williams' voice isn't all that bad, but he should have gotten someone else to write for it. Stan Cornyn's sycophantic liner-notes (helpfully reproduced for the CD) didn't add much to the album, either. Williams promoted himself (or got others to promote him) as a sort of "Renaissance Man," back when such jacks-of-all-trades/masters-of-none were in vogue. Okay, okay! So Williams was a good writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, wrote some books, and dabbled in (what was then considered) avant-garde art. And we shouldn't fail to mention that "Classical Gas" picked up three Grammy Awards (one that went to Post for the arrangement), although -- as great a piece as "Gas" is, that may simply mean it was a bad year for music. And while all this is very interesting, it doesn't make the album any better. On the other hand, if you love "Classical Gas" as much as I do, two other pieces make the CD release a reasonably good buy: "Baroque-A-Nova," and "Sunflower." They were enough for me.

This CD has the version of "Classical Gas" most widely heard on the radio...that is, with orchestra accompanyment. The orchestra is okay but seems a bit overbearing at times; Still, this is a better version of "CG" than the re-make done with Mannheim Steamroller 20 years later (too much electronic sounding schlock).

I personnally prefer the version that is ALL classical guitar with NO orchestra.

This is a great album no matter what kind of music you usually listen to as it has classical, jazz, folk, pop, country, rock influences throughout the album. While "Classical Gas" is the hit single that people would buy this album for, other songs on this album that are classics are "She's Gone Away" which is an uptempo goodbye song, "Wanderlove," "Long Time Blues," "Sunflower," "Baroque-a-Nova," and an "Overture" introducing the album. It should be repeated that this album was produced by Mike Post, who would later write many hit TV themes of the 1970's and 1980's. If you like guitar, and have a variety of music tastes, add this album to your collection.