FOLLOW US ON:
GET THE NEWSLETTER
CONTACT US
Snatch and the Poontangs: Johnny and Shuggie Otis’ filthy, hilarious blues/soul party record
01.23.2015
10:32 am
Topics:
Tags:


 
In 1969, an eponymous LP appeared by “Snatch and the Poontangs,” first as a self-release (catalog number SNATCH 101), and later on Kent Records. Given the band’s name and its unabashedly profane and oversexed lyrical content, there was no chance of airplay for the record even in as indulgent a period as the late 1960s. The band was doomed to obscurity until it came to light that Snatch and the Poontangs were in fact the great R&B producer/bandleader/impressario Johnny Otis (credited as “The Hawk”), his gifted guitarist son Shuggie Otis (“Prince Wunnerful”), and vocalist Delmar Evans (“The Mouth”), which made the album a collectible. The misapprehension that R. Crumb drew the cover surely moved a few copies, too, but he did not. The artwork is by Johnny Otis himself.

As bluesy rock of the period goes, the album (there’s a 7” single as well, but it may be a later release, I can’t find information on its provenance anywhere) is fairly unremarkable—buying it because you like Shuggie Otis’ Inspiration Information might be ill-advised, though talented, he was still only 16 when this stuff was recorded—but the outrageous lyrics do the heavy lifting of making the record totally worth it. Check out “Hey Shine,” a ribald re-working of Otis’ classic “Willie and the Hand Jive.” Do I even still need to tell you it’s NSFW at this point?
 

 
The album opens with a lengthy version of the classic “Signifyin’ Monkey,” an American adaptation of an African trickster story. The trio had already recorded it a year earlier for the Johnny Otis album Cold Shot!, and a version would be released by Rudy Ray “Dolemite” Moore only one year later, on his second LP.
 

 
And the audacious album-closer “Two Girls in Love (With Each Other)” is little more than Shuggie meandering on guitar and organ (heh) while two women moan orgasmically.
 

 

 

Posted by Ron Kretsch
|
01.23.2015
10:32 am
|
Frank Zappa and Shuggie Otis: Shimmering, gorgeous 9-minute acoustic jam, 1970
05.20.2013
10:17 am
Topics:
Tags:


 
One of Frank Zappa’s personal heroes, name-checked in the famous “Freak Out” list of his formative influences (“These People Have Contributed Materially In Many Ways To Make Our Music What It Is. Please Do Not Hold It Against Them”) is the legendary R&B singer, bandleader, promoter and DJ, Johnny Otis. As most Zappaphiles are also aware, Zappa copied the “Imperial”-style mustache Otis sported, a crucial bit of iconic borrowing that!

At one point during the recording sessions for Zappa’s 1969 solo album Hot Rats, Zappa called the bandleader, then doing a popular R&B radio show on KPPC in Pasadena, for some help in tracking down violinist Don “Sugarcane” Harris, who was then, it was discovered, currently sitting in the county jail (apparently Zappa bailed him out). Zappa invited Otis to the sessions in Hollywood and he brought along his musical protege son, Shuggie, who had been playing with his father’s band since he was twelve.

Otis the younger, credited incorrectly as “Shuggy” on Hot Rats, played bass on “Peaches en Regalia,” one of Zappa’s most famous numbers and on November 2nd, 1970 the two brought out their acoustic guitars for a delicious nine-minute-long jam session on-air during “The Johnny Otis Show.” There was also a blues jam with Ray Agee during that same radio show.

Shuggie Otis would later turn down an offer to join the Rolling Stones. His new album, Wings of Love, has recently come out and the seldom-seen Otis is currently touring the world in support of the slow-baked long-player that has some songs dating as far back as 1975.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
|
05.20.2013
10:17 am
|