 Roger Klug Where Has the Music Gone?: The Lost Recordings of Clem Comstock MMMM This is a staggering compilation of various bands produced during the 1960's by forgotten Cincinatti producer, songwriter, engineer, and studio genius Clem Comstock. Comstock was a studio mega talent in the same mold as Phil Spector and Brian Wilson and the range of music styles he wrote and produced is truly impressive. His musical legacy certainly would have been forgotten were it not for Roger Klug. Klug, who compiled this CD, found the tapes in several crates of reel-to-reels that came with an old 3-track tape machine he had purchased. At the time he couldn't have imagined the significance of the motherlode he had just stumbled across. The scope of Comstock's talent was truly mind boggling. The Coney Islanders' inspired performance of a song about an SUV would have made Brian Wilson proud. Leslie Gore would have frothed at the mouth to cover The Schulte Sister's "Never Gonna Get Married" , and Herman's Hermits had nothing on little Billy Action's "Baby Teeth". Around 1966 or '67 Comstock (who,by the way, looks likes Brian Wilson's father Murray) began trying his hand at writing tunes that would appeal to the Flower Power generation. "Tilt-A-Whirl" by Brave Sir Knight and the Squires and "Counting to Infinity" by the United Federation of Brotherhood and Sisterhood show that Comstock's musical grasp had no bounds. The most amazing track here is "Reed Pipe Boogie" by Gnorman and the Gnats. Reportedly inspired by the Chuck Berry line "tell Tchaikovsky the news" , it is an amazing surf guitar version of the Nutcracker theme. The most impressive thing about these songs and Comstock's story (chronicled in 7 pages of liner notes!) is that this is all one big gag concocted and recorded by none other than Roger Klug himself. And judging from all of this, he could definitely have a very promising future as a session musician or writer for The Weekly World News! Visit the Clem Comstock Appreciation Society |
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