Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Swirling Eddies - "Outdoor Elvis"


The Swirling Eddies - Outdoor Elvis
1989, Alarma

1. Outdoor Elvis
2. Driving in England
3. Urban Legends
4. Tiny Town
5. Attack of the Pulpit Masters
6. Mystery Babylon
7. Arthur Fhardy's Yodeling Party
8. Hell Oh
9. Blowing Smoke
10. Hide the Beer, the Pastor's Here
11. Hold Back the Wind, Donna
12. Knee Jerk
13. Don't Hate Yourself
14. All the Way to Heaven
15. Rubber Sky
16. Coco the Talking Guitar
17. Yer Little Gawd
18. Billy Graham
19. Potential
20. Strange Days
21. Elimination (The Band That Won't Go Away)

It's amazing that the Eddies have been out all this time and I had no idea they actually wrote songs. Let me explain. The first and only Eddies album I've heard was Sacred Cows which was funny, but nothing that I really want to listen to regularly. Well, I saw this on Mike's Blog over at In Defense of His Hands (link at bottom) and I thought I'd check them out. Holy Crap! I didn't know the Eddies wrote songs, let alone such awesome ones! Really the Eddies are just Daniel Amos with a few guests (like Gene Eugene from Adam Again) so it shouldn't surprise me so much. Imagine Daniel Amos with a bit more craziness and you have a good idea of what the Eddies sound like. Some of these tracks like "Outdoor Elvis," "Mystery Babylon," and "Rubber Sky" became instant favorites. Ol' Camarillo has a way of fusing deep spiritual meaning with silliness. Again, special thanks to Mike over at In Defense of His Hands for providing me with another band to add to my growing CD want list!

Useless Fact: "Hide the Beer, the Pastor's Here" is a protest song of sorts against some bible college's rules against drinking and R rated movies. Several colleges are mentioned in the lyrics including Taylor University and Fort Wayne Bible College. I graduated from Fort Wayne Bible College (though it was called Taylor University when I went there).

4 comments:

  1. You should get ZOOM DADDY by the Eddies. IMHO it is the absolute best thing Mr. Taylor has ever done and I have been a fan of everything DA, Eddies, etc. for a long time. You can still find it cheap on Ebay. I recommend listening to it several times before deciding - it is different than the usual Eddies fair.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful, funny, serious, brilliant album. What a ride.

    Supposedly, the Swirling Eddies project was started after Daniel Amos' masterpiece Darn Floor, Big Bite only sold a heartbreaking 7,000 copies. And when the first Eddies album, Let's Spin, outsold Darn Floor..., their frustration and astonishment provided the fuel for the extra helpings of needle sharp sarcasm found on Outdoor Elvis.

    "Don't Hate Yourself!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Okay... now I'm fillin' my pants. You graduated from Fort Wayne Bible College?!?! ME TOO! Well, from Summit Christian College, which was the FWBC curriculum but with a shiny new name. 1992, I think. It changed to Taylor my last year. LONG LIVE DR. WES!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my word... small world indeed!

    Yeah Dr. Wes.... what can be said about Dr. Wes?

    Frustratingness
    Rigidness
    Not Ever Listeningness

    My opinion of him wasn't ever as high as a lot of students, but now that I'm not a bitter college student I hope to have some chats with him in heaven.

    ReplyDelete