1968 Canned Heat/Chipmunks

.....In the early days of the CD, labels at first asked people to buy their new music in a more expensive but more durable format, then seemed surprised that those consumers most responsive to the promise of longevity wanted older material. Store bins became dumping grounds for hastily transferred albums lazily packaged. By the late 1980's we saw entire imprints created by labels to distinguish proper restoration and reissue projects from the flood of overpriced CD's offering albums that had never gone out of print on vinyl or cassette in the first place. Trips through the archives, once sneered at as a waste of personnel time better devoted to flogging Milli Vanilli singles, yielded gems the public probably would have asked for if anyone other than fanatical record fetishists had known they existed. Here's one.

• 02:59 "THE CHIPMUNK SONG" (Ross Bagdasarian)
• 02:34 b/w "CHRISTMAS BLUES" (Fito de la Parra, Skip Taylor, Henry Vestine, Alan Wilson, Larry Taylor, Bob Hite,Jr.)
• performed by Canned Heat (and the Chipmunks, side A)
• original source: 7" Liberty 56079 (US) November 1968
• and my source: VA CD LEGENDS OF CHRISTMAS PAST, A ROCK N' R&B HOLIDAY COLLECTION EMI Legends 0777-7-99987-2 2 (US) 1992

.....Despite the A-side's title and credit, this is actually not the recording, or in fact even the song, released ten years earlier, but a playful nod to it done with Bagdasarian's cooperation on the anniversary. Liberty Records was hurting financially in 1958 when producer and sometimes-artist Ross Bagdasarian,Sr. convinced them to issue a novelty song he recorded with variable speed vocals, called "WITCH DOCTOR". He used the same pseudonym, David Seville, he'd used a half-dozen times before without notice but scored huge. A few more such singles and he closed the year with a Christmas single in which a beleaguered 'Dave' tries to teach a cute innocuous holiday song to three singing chipmunks too hyperactive to stay on task. Ross named the chipmunks after two Liberty executives (Al Bennett and Simon Waronker) and an engineer (Ted Keep). He had been hoping to squeeze a few more miles out of the fad before it faded, but Alvin, Simon and Theodore gave him the start of a whole new franchise. The Chipmunks led to albums, merchandising, an animated television series (and the further merchandising tied to that) and more singles right up to 1965, when it appeared that even covers of the Beatles and "The Sound Of Music" weren't going to keep the idea going.

.....In the fall of 1968, Liberty act Canned Heat was in the process of recording their third album, LIVING THE BLUES, a double that would be half-live, half-studio. Producer Skip Taylor bumped into Bagdasarian and suggested that the Chipmunks be dusted off for their tenth anniversary in a way that would bring them up to date. The new recording opens as the original did, minus the Seville character's narration and about half the instrumental vamp that ran under it. The Chipmunks began singing as before but are interrupted by Canned Heat, who have booked the studio to record a song called "A CHRISTMAS BOOGIE". After some characteristically bratty behavior from Alvin, the groups end the song with a Canned Heat-style electric blues jam. At only three minutes, the whole thing manages to be cute without being corny.

.....Having found their A-side (recorded October 15th), they needed a B-side to match it. According to Taylor, Fito de la Parra come up with the basic tune on the piano while he himself wrote the lyrics. The rest of the band then jammed over the part part, which is probably why the song sounds vaguely like a Fats Domino number despite the fact that the recording is filled with electric guitars. "CHRISTMAS BLUES" was recorded October 17th. Except for whatever anonymous personnel made up Bagdasarian's source recordings for the Chipmunk voices, the line-up for both sides was:

• Bob Hite,Jr. on vocals
• Alan Wilson on vocals, harmonica and slide guitar
• Henry Vestine on lead guitar
• Larry Taylor on electric bass
• Fito de la Parra on drums (and piano, B-side)

.....Recorded in true stereo during the album sessions, these songs were mixed down to mono for 7" release to encourage AM radio airplay in 1968. The CD that I noted above as a source claims that they are presented in stereo there for the first time. Thereafter it would become easier to find them coupled on CD, at least it would if you lived in Europe. They appear on:

• CD BOOGIE WITH CANNED HEAT Magic Records 4980302 (France)1999-- Bonus tracks on a remastered CD of the group's previous, second album. The album contemporary to the single was a double, but unable to fit on a single disc. Why they weren't amended to the third album, I don't know.
• CD FUTURE BLUES Repertoire REP4889 (Germany) 2000-- Bonus tracks on a remastered CD of the group's fifth original album from 1970, not counting the compilation album and live album that followed the fourth. This album was even a different line-up, since Harry Vestine left shortly before the Woodstock concert and was replaced by Harry Mandel.
• 2CD FAR OUT Akarma AK 115/2 (Italy) 05/01-- A very well rounded compilation of the first few years of the bands recordings.
• CD CHRISTMAS ALBUM RUF Records RUF 1135 (US) 11/07-- A hybrid album of old and new recordings. The only member from the single's line-up to still be available for the new ones was Fito de la Parra. Check their website for details.