RSSJeffrey Frederick & the Clamtones [extended]
- Have Moicy! [Rounder, 1976] A+
- Spiders in the Moonlight [Rounder, 1977] B+
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Consumer Guide Reviews:
Michael Hurley/The Unholy Modal Rounders/Jeffrey Fredericks & the Clamtones: Have Moicy! [Rounder, 1976]
A dynamic trio. Hurley's sleepy LPs for Raccoon flaunted their homemade triviality, while the work of Peter Stampfel (and Steve Weber and the other Rounders) for Prestige and Metromedia and Rounder managed to make music out of chalk scraping a blackboard, or a needle scraping an old 78--quite a feat, but not one I ever wanted to witness daily. This time, however, both forces combine with Fredericks for thirteen homemade, chalky, fit-for-78 songs that renew the concept of American folk music as a bizarre apotheosis of the post-hippie estate. No losers, though--just loadsa laffs, a few tears, some death, some shit, a hamburger, spaghetti, world travel, crime, etc. A+
Spiders in the Moonlight [Rounder, 1977]
Fredericks is the secret hero of my beloved Have Moicy!, but I had to penetrate a whole lot of received music before I could be sure that his own album was more than hippie cute. What it is instead is insanely funny. Dedication: "We would like to apologize to our mothers." B+