Come on Everybody Let's Twist!--Steven Garrick and His Party Twisters (Golden Tone 3092; 1962)

 

Come on, everybody--let's twist!  And that means everybody.  An unexpectedly excellent twist LP on the Golden Tone label--a label which resulted from the 1958 merger between Tops and Precision Radiation Instruments Inc. Evidently, PRI was a very shady outfit, though I forget the sordid details.  I just know that much of their LP output consisted of reissued Tops material, albeit in trimmed-down editions.  This 1962 release, however, is clearly not a reissue, since it's contemporary with the twist craze.  And the music is exceptionally good, owing, no doubt, to the talented conductor and arranger Steven Garrick.  The track titles are unusually imaginative and mostly amusing, though I don't quite get "Intimitwist."  "Psychoanalytwist," however, is genuinely fine wordplay.

These tracks rock the needle out of the grooves, and this may be the best-ever budget twist-ploitation effort--it certainly musically outdoes the "Original Twisters" on Mercury, as fine as that one may have been.  The fidelity is outstanding, too, though I did boost the treble a bit.  Not much I can say beyond my estimation that the music is exceptionally well done, and the fact that it's always a pleasure to encounter a recorded effort that's way better than could logically have been suspected.  A thrift find that's been sitting in my rows for a while--something I bought probably because, despite the banged-up jacket, the vinyl survived in more than acceptable condition.  For some reason, that fact conveyed, "Buy me."  I felt a kind of duty to do so.  Photoshopping did wonders for the front and back covers--the back cover, in particular.  Golden Tone used the kind of cardboard that forms brown spots over time--real bottom-of-the-barrel paper.  And what a totally nothing label design, no?  But Steven Garrick didn't let any of these factors hold him back, and we should be twistfully grateful.  In regard to twisting along, I can't instruct you one way or another.  That's your call.

Excellent fidelity, excellent music.  Some nice Tequila-style numbers tossed in, too.  "Each and every selection in this superb album will fascinate you," the liner notes promise.  The musicians are identified on the back, including Cheryl Blythe, who provided the "vocal chant."  To be regarded as a plural phrase.

Tunes written by Sanford Bellini. Wonder if he came up with the titles, too?

UPDATE: I accidentally omitted track 9 (Thou Shalt Not Untwist) in the original file.  This has been corrected.  Sorry about that!

DOWNLOAD: Come on Everybody Let's Twist -Steven Garrick and His Party Twisters (Golden Tone 4092; 1962)

Psychoanalytwist

Sister's a Twister

Intimitwist

A Twist of Lemon

Ten Cents a Twist

Astrotwist

Strictly Informal Twist

Don't Holler on Me Twist

Thou Shalt Not Untwist

Doublemint Twist

Chalah Twist

Scientwist

Tunes written by Sanford Bellini.

Lee