The classic album by Stripmine Crooner Rev. Fred Lane first issued by Shimmy Disc - now (finally) reissued on tangerine vinyl by Goner Records.
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Of a handful of records you could
drop the needle on from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, as anyone who
worked in a record store during that era can tell you, two Shimmy Disc
albums released by the Rev. Fred Lane were the weirdest, most bizarre,
abstractly enigmatic releases any of us had ever heard. From the dadaist
titles and surrealist cover artwork to the absurdly peculiar lyrics and
dementedly brilliant musical bent that careened from country to jazz to
Morricone-inspired tunes, From the One That Cut You and Car Radio Jerome bewitched
listeners with Lane’s eccentric take on American music. Anyone who
happened to overhear Lane croon the ridiculously radical lines to “I
Talk to My Haircut” or “The Man with the Foldback Ears,” experience the
nonsensical scat of “Fun in the Fundus,” or endure the cacophonic sax
solo on “White Woman” stopped in their tracks, baffled, then immediately
purchased one, or both, Lane albums.
“These records are just so odd—they
don’t really fit in anywhere at all,” recalls Goner Records co-owner
Eric Friedl, who became a huge fan of Lane’s work when he discovered the
Shimmy Disc records as they were released. Recalling the “anything
goes” philosophy of the label’s roster, Friedl notes, “You’ve got Daniel
Johnston and GWAR and Bongwater, and then Rev. Fred Lane, who somehow
fit into that strange soup. And somehow, his music touched a nerve and
created an entire network of people.”
Simultaneously dark and comedic,
Lane’s albums were life-changing for fans who sought to uncover the
story of Lane himself. Early internet chat rooms and message boards were
devoted to solving the mystery. For decades, rumors swirled about From the One That Cut You,
which was originally released under the moniker of Fred Lane and Ron
Pate’s Debonairs on the tiny Say Day-Bew Records in 1983, before
reissues on Shimmy Disc in 1989 and 1999, and Car Radio Jerome,
recorded by Fred Lane and his Hittite Hot Shots and released on Shimmy
Disc in 1986. “We would just stare at the album covers and kinda make up
our own stories,” Friedl says of the misleading recording notations,
fictitious back catalogs, and vague artistic allusions that dropped
mostly fake clues for Lane’s most astute fans to decipher." -Andria Lisle
