Author: cjvinyl

The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra 0

Firesign Theatre — The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra

The Firesign Theatre got back together in 1973 after a not-terribly long breakup, to put together this absolutely brilliant Sherlock Holmes parody, their seventh album, released in January 1974. Less surreal (but no less...

How Time Flys 0

David Ossman’s How Time Flys

If anyone thought that the Firesigns had completely come apart based on “Not Insane,” this 1973 release should have provided comfort that they did in fact still know how to construct a story and...

Not Insane front cover 0

Firesign Theatre — Not Insane

Their sixth album could well have been their last. The group was splintering apart. Boy, does this sound like it. This is, and Firesign Theatre acknowledges it, a complete mess. It is a mix...

Dear Friends front cover 0

Firesign Theatre — Dear Friends

Dear Friends was Firesign Theatre’s fifth album, and by pure coincidence, it was also the fifth album of theirs that I procured. Instead of the surreal “theatre of the mind” approaches they had taken...

Beat Noir front cover 0

Fingerprintz — Beat Noir

This third album from Fingerprintz came out in 1981, just about the time we discovered the band. It’s hard to say how hard it was to get information about non-mainstream music acts at the...