(Oldies 50's / Novelty / Psycho / Country) Nervous Norvus - Stone Age Woo (The Zorch Sounds Of) - 2004, MP3, 160 kbps

Великий и "ужасный" Nervous Norvus (наст. имя Jimmy Drake, 24 марта 1912, Мемфис, штат Теннесси - 24 июля 1968) - американский автор и певец, музыкант-экспериментатор. Его песня "Transfusion" стала одним из главных хитов 1956 года. В ней повествуется о переливании крови после каждой аварии, где горе-водитель обещает больше никогда не превышать скорость, однако снова попадает в автокатастрофу. Песня была запрещена на многих радиостанциях. Кстати, в самом треке присутствует звуковой эффект автокатастрофы, который был позднее использован в таких знаменитых композициях, как "Dead Man's Curve" (Jan and Dean) и "Leader of the Pack" (Shangri-Las). Вторым хитом исполнителя стала песня "Ape Call". Nervous Norvus также был приглашён на Шоу Эда Салливана, однако пойти туда так и не отважился. Момент славы певца длился всего около шести месяцев, после чего "Нервный" сосредоточился на работе с другими исполнителями. Умер в 1968 году от цирроза печени в возрасте 56 лет.
Nervous Norvus was the performing name of Jimmy Drake (1912 in the Oakwood district of Los Angeles, California – July 24, 1968). His novelty song "Transfusion" was a major hit in 1956, as was a second song, "Ape Call," released later that year.
The lyrics in his song called "Transfusion" concern a careless driver who (cheerfully) receives blood transfusions after each accident. Graphic sounds of a car crash are included after each verse. Each stanza concludes with the refrain "Never never never gonna speed again" followed by lines such as "Slip the blood to me, Bud" or "Pour the crimson in me, Jimson." The song was banned on many radio stations of the '50s. The song was later played on the radio by DJ Barry Hansen, which reportedly led to Hansen's eventual nickname of Dr. Demento. The car crash sound effect from this song, dubbed from the Standard Sound Effects Library, can be heard on "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan and Dean.
The song received a review from an unlikely source — personal-injury lawyer Melvin Belli — in his 1956 book Ready for the Plaintiff!, in which he says: "The ghoulish lyrics hiccup hysterically" but "wind up with a gem of jive-y wisdom that is strictly in the groove: 'Oh, barnyard drivers are found in two classes / Line-crowding hogs and speeding jackasses / So remember to slow down today!'" There was irony too, as Drake was employed as a truck driver, prior to his recording fame arising.
Nervous Norvus was born before World War I started, and was over 40 by the time he had his two hit singles in 1956. His records were made with input from radio personality Red Blanchard, to whom he was sending demos in the hope of finding an artist to record them. Blanchard had been an influence, particularly with the "jive" language employed in the lyrics.
After his brief time of glory, which amounted to less than six months, he concentrated on his demo service, providing music for other people's songs. He would charge around seven dollars to make these demos, some of which led to publishing contracts for the songwriters.
Contrary to popular belief, Drake was never a member of The Four Jokers, who also recorded "Transfusion" (with a group harmony vocal sound) on the Diamond record label in 1956. He was very shy and even turned down a chance to perform "Transfusion" on The Ed Sullivan Show. After a final single on the Dot record label ("The Fang" b/w "Bullfrog Hop"), the artist had his contract dropped. He only recorded sporadically thereafter for a series of independent labels like Embee ("Stoneage Woo" b/w "I Like Girls") and Big Ben, up to 1960. Nervous Norvus died in 1968 of cirrhosis of the liver, aged 56. A CD including hits and rare tracks, Stone Age Woo, was released by Norton Records in 2004. "Transfusion" also appears on Kenny Everett's "The World's Worst record Show"

Norton's Stone Age Woo: The Zorch Sounds of Nervous Norvus is a long-overdue collection of the novelty songs and song-poem demos of "Singing" Jimmy Drake, whose wilder moments were ascribed to Nervous Norvus. The album features not only his best-known songs, the "Dot Six" (including the million-selling novelty classic "Transfusion"), but many, many other songs, including some that existed only as single-copy or small-pressing acetates. Most excitingly for die-hard Nervous Norvus fans, Stone Age Woo also includes the original demos that Drake sent to his inspiration and eventual mentor, novelty radio DJ/performer Red Blanchard. Drake's admiration for Blanchard even pops up in a few of the songs here: set to the tune of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," "I Listen to Red in Bed" is an homage to Blanchard that follows a fan who listens to Red on a radio hidden in a teddy bear as a little boy to avoid the wrath of his parents, and switches to a shortwave radio concealed in a jug of booze as a grown man to avoid his nagging wife. "The Bully Bully Man," meanwhile, sings Red's praises more generally, and appeared on Drake's initial demo tapes; indeed, Drake sent Blanchard the tapes with the intention of becoming a songwriter for him. However, Blanchard liked Drake's shaky, appropriately "nervous" (which also meant cool or hip in Blanchard's distinctive radio lingo, which he called Zorch) delivery of his own songs so much that he helped Drake develop the Nervous Norvus sound with the use of some well-timed sound effects, which became the trademark of virtually all of Drake's best songs.
Their collaboration was most spectacular on 1956's "Transfusion." The audio equivalent of the gory driver's-ed films of the '50s, the combination of Drake's one-liners like "Put the crimson in me, Jimson" and Blanchard's car crash sound effects (which, according to Stone Age Woo's extensive and colorfully written liner notes, were also used on the Shangri-Las' "The Leader of the Pack") make the song impossible to forget. The rest of the Dot Six are nearly as good, particularly the lusty "Ape Call," which boasts Tarzan-like yodeling, and "The Fang," a tale about a lady-killing Martian backed with jet-like sounds. Even when Drake tackled themes and motifs used by other novelty songwriters in the '50s and early '60s, his music still managed to stand out as particularly weird. "Stoneage Woo" itself is a nonsense-language caveman love song, but it's much rawer and looser than, say, the Hollywood Argyles' "Alley Oop" or David Seville's "Witch Doctor." However, many of these songs are uncharted territory, even in the realm of novelty music: "The Clock Shop" traces the growing insanity of a clerk in a clock shop surrounded by ticking, tocking, and chiming all day. Still other songs, like "Wild Dogs of Kentucky" and "When I Hear the Honkin' of the Diesel Train," have a mutant folk feel, which could be a holdover from Drake's years riding the rails as a hobo in the '30s.
Most of the collection, though, is '50s through and through, from song subjects like sci-fi creatures, dance crazes, and daddy-os to tracks like the gleeful "Elvis You're a G.I. Now." These glancing references to the world of pop culture make Drake's work that much more surreal, especially considering the fact that he was well into his forties by the time he stumbled into being a novelty songwriter. Drake's day job during this time was recording demos of songs by amateur lyricists, some of which are also included on Stone Age Woo. "I Like Girls," for example, could almost pass for innocuous '50s pop, were it not for Drake's charmingly creepy vocals, kissing noises, and a harpsichord and banjo breakdown. Though this is a generous collection at 33 songs long, it's just a drop in the bucket compared to Drake's overall recording career, which numbered into the thousands of versions of other peoples' songs. In some ways, Nervous Norvus could be seen as Drake's very creative way of blowing off steam about work. A thorough -- and thoroughly entertaining -- set, Stone Age Woo is a must for anyone with a serious interest in one of the best performers of highly unserious music.