This was the first album released from a whole gob of tracks cut over a marathon two-day recording session. The title song was so totally bizarre and out of step with all the British Invasion material of the day that it was something of a shock how much of a hit it became. Roger Miller's talent... [+] Expand

This was the first album released from a whole gob of tracks cut over a marathon two-day recording session. The title song was so totally bizarre and out of step with all the British Invasion material of the day that it was something of a shock how much of a hit it became. Roger Miller's talent was so unique, and the results so different than anything anyone else was doing in country or pop, that it was as if he had carved out his own dominion to rule with nary a challenge, although there were attempts to imitate him from time to time. With all this richness of talent, Smash records herein doles out portions of Miller as if serving up the vegetable sides in a French restaurant. Perhaps the label was scared that too much of Miller at once would send the audience scrambling for their old Hank Williams records. This entire album could easily fit on one side of a slab of vinyl. A quick glance at the songs and their timings might lead one to believe that this is a punk album, since half are under two minutes. Two classics from the Miller canon are here, "Chug-a-Lug" and "Dang Me," and among the lesser-known numbers is the catchy "Got Two Again," a children's song disguised as a Roger Miller song. Make no mistake about it, the playing is top notch, the concept original, and the delivery as sparkling as a slab of crystal from Miller's Arkansas homeland, but the brevity of it all is a bit like trying to get there from Nashville on half a tank of gas. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide [-] Collapse

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