C I N C I N N A T I P O S T L I V I N G
Sly 'lost tapes' appealing '60s send-up
The Word by Rick Bird, Post music writer
Cincinnati musician Roger Klug today releases one of the more ambitious, clever and entertaining local projects in memory.
''Where Has the Music Gone: The Lost Recordings of Clem Comstock'' is an 18-track collection of the work from Cincinnati producer Clem Comstock spanning the '60s.
We are told this incredible body of music was put out from Comstock's Gilbert Avenue studios (above Doc Fanning's Knitting Factory and Chinchilla Ranch).
Klug explains in his elaborate liner notes that he discovered the tapes when they were included with an old tape machine he bought at a second-hand store.
Of course, Comstock is entirely Klug's creation. And while such Spinal Tap-style spoofs can become boorish, Klug's invention of the little-known record producer turns into a delicious tour de force recreating the best and worst of '60s music.
Klug invents a stable of Comstock artists - the Coney Islanders, the Schulte Sisters, Rita and the Sweets, the Stalagmites, Gnorman and the Gnats, and more - that become his alter egos.
Klug's stunning production mimics, salutes, and satires virtually the entire '60s music scene from girl groups and one-hit wonders, to garage bands and the psychedelic sound.
Perhaps the standout cut is ''Sport Utility Vehicle'' sung in classic Beach Boy car-song style, which we are told came from ''the incredibly clairvoyant'' Comstock in 1963.
In Klug's treatment, the familiar '60s melodies sound fresh, even as they are often treated with a campy, wistful nostalgia. Klug's witty liner notes on Comstock's ''unappreciated, obscure career'' alone are worth the purchase.
The disc ends with ''Where Has the Music Gone,'' the only cut officially attributed to Klug. It plays as his lament to the loss of pop innocence, and his affection for the era's musical hubris.
The CD is available at area mom-and-pop record stores, or check out the Clem Comstock Appreciation Society Web site at http://www.mentalgiant.com.