John declined at first, saying he didn't want people to think he was a bigot! Redd said, 'Shoot, man, (only he didn't use the word 'shoot,') make the money first then explain!' Comedian-social activist Dick Gregory, a major force in comedy and the movement at the time asked to do John's liner notes. So, with their prodding, and the assistance of a few prominent Jazz musicians, Pacific-Jazz, a jazz only company, cut the album. John wanted the cover to be similar to something Lenny Bruce might have done; he wanted to show himself picking cotton while being whipped by a Black Slave-Owner. Pacific Jazz thought that was a little too extreme. They felt the title was bad enough, so they just photographed John holding a cigarette. John looked at it and said, 'I look like billy Graham! ' So, to make him look less liike an evangelist and more like a comic, even though he doesn't smoke, they stuck a cigarette in his hand. Commercially, in the white community, it was a sit in! The only white dj who would play it was Bob Crane at CBS in Los Angeles, who went on to star in TV's Hogan's Heroes!' He loved it, but the LA Times described it as the depths of bad taste! On the other hand, Ebony magazine also loved it, and arranged for John to be booked into the California club in Watts where he was a smash. The album was subsequently heard on countless Black stations across the country...and disappeared. Since John was a novice at the time, and the material hypersensitive, John's performance is nervous; however, surprisingly, a lot of the material and observations hold up, and on the back side, the piece about Viet Nam, (a subject never talked about comedically at the time,) is a classic.
It did lead, though, to John's first appearance on Art Linkletter's 'Talent Scouts,' where he became only the second performer to make a second appearance! Needless to say, he had to use other material! (See Chronicles)
This album was encouraged by fans of John's reviews on the Six O'clock News who not only looked forward to Barbour's barbs every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but who recalled his appearances on Dean Martin's Variety Show and Merv Griffin.
It was Produced by Dean Martin's favourite producer of comedy albums Lew Bedell, also one of Dean's golfing buddies. Dean once said of Lew's office, 'After this place gets a nice cleaning, it'll just be filthy!' The album's cover shows John standing by a barber's chair with a razor in his hands, and the heads of the celebrities he's decapitated rolling into a bucket and onto the floor. It did reallywell in Southern California, but Lew had no distribution outside California, so it's sales stopped at the border. While a lot of the references to the famous then may sound dated, because many are still seen in the late movies, much of the material remains sharp! One bit on the front side, 'The Abominable Snowman,' will hold up forever as a classic bit of really funny nonsense; and on the backside, 'The Champagne Flight' could be taught in comedy writing classes on how to craft the perfect bit in it's construction and performance. It would be hard to hear a piece this funny today, especially one that's clean! The liner notes on this were written by Neil Simon, Burt Reynolds, Joan Rivers, and a performer John opened for, Paul Williams.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|