LP - Sun Ra And The Blues Project - The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale: Batman and Robin
Jon - Permanent Records Chicago
"No joke -- this album is a little glimpse of heaven. This reviewer
has imagined the latter as having (among many things) its own version of
Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, circa 1964-1965, with Fred Neil,
Jimi Hendrix, Phil Ochs, Gene Clark, the Serendipity Singers, Art &
Paul, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, and a hundred other acts playing
every night, any night; the music on this album makes me think of
something like I'd probably hear if I walked in on a Blues Project
rehearsal in that celestial sphere. It is the Blues Project (possibly
without Al Kooper, who says he didn't make the session, regardless of
what the CD and our ears say), with Sun Ra on the Hammond B-3 organ,
John Gilmore and Marshall Allen on tenor and alto, respectively, Pat
Patrick on bass, and Jimmy Owens and Tom McIntosh on trumpet and
trombone. And apart from the first track and the packaging (which
probably cost more, for the licensing of the Batman images, than the
session did), none of it has anything to do with Batman or comic books.
The story is this -- sometime in 1966, producer Tom Wilson persuaded
(probably with the offer of some quick bucks) Sun Ra and members of his
band, and the members of the Blues Project, to lay down 35 minutes of
music for a Batman and Robin album credited to "The Sensational Guitars
of Dan & Dale." It was a quickie exploitation effort sponsored by
some toy company in New Jersey (where these sessions were cut) intended
to sell some dance music for discotheques and parties by cashing in on
the craze surrounding the Batman television program. The album, showing
the Caped Crusader and his partner swinging down on bat-ropes, has been a
denizen of dollar-record bins and nostalgia shows for decades, and just
happens to feature some of the hottest musicians in New York City;
beyond Sun Ra and his band, there's Danny Kalb, Andy Kulberg, Steve
Katz, and Roy Blumenfeld, who at that time was one of the best bands
working in the city. Most of side one is attributed to Sun Ra and his
band, though Kalb and Katz seem to be all over the place, assuming
they're the only guitarists (and it sounds like them), while side two is
attributed principally to the Blues Project -- certainly "The Joker Is
Wild" is the Blues Project, and if Al Kooper wasn't at these sessions,
then Sun Ra turned down considerably on this cut. "Batman and Robin Over
the Roofs" features Jimmy Owens prominently, along with Sun Ra and the
two guitarists, in the longest jam on this record (which, as a statement
of quality, is also one of the best cuts). No, Batman and Robin doesn't
match the importance of the Blues Project's own official recordings, or
anything that Sun Ra was doing officially, but what a chance to hear
these guys kicking back for a half-hour's anonymous blues jamming.
Everything here, apart from the Neal Hefti "Batman Theme" is public
domain blues built on some familiar material (including Chopin,
Tchaikovsky, and Bach), one cut, appropriately entitled "The Riddler's
Retreat," quotes riffs and phrases from a half-dozen Beatles songs, and
another, "The Bat Cave," that's this group's answer to "Green Onions"
(and a good answer, too). Along with Sun Ra, who dominates every passage
he plays on, Steve Katz and Danny Kalb are the stars here, romping and
stomping over everything as they weave around each other, while Gilmore,
Allen, and Owens occasionally stepping to the fore, Blumenfeld makes
his percussion sound downright tuneful in a few spots, and some
anonymous female singers throw out a lyric or two on a pair of cuts,
just as a distraction. Andy Kulberg and Pat Patrick alternate the bass
chores, and at times they're practically playing additional lead
instruments. It's all almost too good to be true, catching the Blues
Project when they were still playing together happily -- maybe this
isn't the jam they would have wanted preserved 35-plus years later, but
neither is it embarrassing, and fans of either Sun Ra or the Blues
Project might well want this record just for the sheer strangeness of
it. Italy's Universe records has reissued Batman and Robin in gorgeous
sound, re-creating the original cover art and making it into a gatefold,
with some irrelevant '70s-era Batman panels printed inside. Note: Some
of these same tracks, or others out of the same session, were repackaged
as horror film-focused albums, which are less well known and have yet
to show up on CD." - Allmusic.com
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