The Coolies

Last updated

The Coolies
Genres Alternative rock, post-punk, laffabilly
Years active1986–1989
Labels DB, Casino
Past membersJeb Baldwin
Billy Burton
Rob Gal
Clay Harper
Frogg Jaguar Mellonball
Teddy Murray

The Coolies were an American alternative rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1986 to 1989. They derived the name from a dictionary definition of coolie, which defines the derogatory word as "one who does heavy work for little pay".

Contents

dig..?

The Coolies' first album, dig..? was released in 1986 by DB Records, and consisted of nine tongue-in-cheek covers of Simon & Garfunkel classics plus a version of Paul Anka's 1974 No. 1 hit "(You're) Having My Baby". While Anka's version received criticism for perceived sexist undertones, Coolies lead singer Clay Harper added a brief spoken interlude at the end of the song in which he reveals that she is not the only woman in town having his baby. Thus, he must leave town. "Scarborough Fair" was released as a 7″ single.

Doug

dig..? was followed up in 1988 by the rock opera Doug. Doug contains 13 original tracks, mostly written by guitarist Rob Gal, in the style of various previously existing bands. For example, "Cook Book" is reminiscent of the Who's Tommy , and "Pussy Cook" is more-or-less a reworking of the Beastie Boys' "Cooky Puss". Other bands paid homage to or spoofed include Led Zeppelin, John Lennon and The Replacements. [1]

Doug is the story of a skinhead, named Doug, who kills a drag queen short-order cook, steals his recipe book and becomes a "culinary giant" when the cookbook becomes a nationwide bestseller. Doug embraces the celebrity lifestyle of stretch limousines and partying. Soon, his guilt drives him to become paranoid, and he's certain that the entire food service industry knows of his crime and is out for revenge—so he decides he will stop eating, and subsist solely on crack cocaine and alcohol. Having squandered his fortune on luxuries and drugs, Doug ends up back on the streets in poverty. IGN rated Doug the thirteenth greatest rock opera of all time in 2006. [2] A comic book version of this tale, drawn by singer/songwriter Jack Logan was included with the LP record and could be acquired by sending a dollar to DB Recs.

Original drummer Billy Burton, who essentially was moon-lighting from his full-time gig with The Swimming Pool Q's when dig..? was recorded, [3] is replaced by Frogg Jaguar Mellonball on Doug. The album also features John Cerreta on keyboards, but he is not credited with being a member of the band. Cerreta also played keyboards for "I Am a Rock" on dig..?

Take That You Bastards!

The Coolies disbanded in 1989 while working on a third album. Three tracks recorded during sessions for this album were released in 1995 as Take That You Bastards! on Harper's Casino Records label. [4] Take That You Bastards! is a two disc set containing both Coolies albums in their entirety (with the exception of "Mrs. Robinson" from dig..?), the three previously unreleased tracks and the Simon & Garfunkel cover of "The Sounds of Silence", which was the B-side of "Scarborough Fair". [5]

Other musical ventures

Following the break up of the Coolies, Gal and Harper formed the short lived bands Lester Square, and later Ottoman Empire. After two albums also released on DB Recs, Ottoman Empire also disbanded. Gal joined 6X, while Harper embarked on a solo career with the ten track East of Easter. After this, he recorded a children's record, Not Dogs...Too Simple (A Tale of Two Kitties) with his brother, Mark (who was also a member of Ottoman Empire) in 1998. [6] The album featured guest appearances by Ian Dury (of "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" fame), Drivin N Cryin's Kevn Kinney, former Georgia Satellites guitarist Rick Richards, former Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker, Murray Attaway of Guadalcanal Diary, and the B-52's Cindy Wilson. [7]

The Harper Brothers recorded The Slippery Ballerina, a second children's album, in 1999. A year later, Clay Harper wrote and produced the concept album Main Street: the Original Soundtrack to the Motion Picture (there is no such movie in spite of this name), but does not appear on it. [8] In 2013, Harper released Old Airport Road , his second solo album,. He's also released several singles on Casino over the years.

Harper has gone on to become something of a culinary giant himself. [9] He is the owner of the Fellini's Pizza chain and La Fonda Latina Restaurants in Georgia. [10]

Gal has moved into audio engineering, with Sugarland's Gold and Green among his credits. [11] Teddy Murray joined Donkey shortly after the Coolies broke up. The band released a live album called Slick Night Out in 1993 on Atlanta independent label Steam Records, [12] followed by the studio album Ten Cent Freaks in 1994 on Amphion Records. Jeb Baldwin and Frogg Jaguar Mellonball went on to start The Mighty Fine Slabs as the house band at Fat Matt's Rib Shack from 1991 until 1999.

Discography

[13]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bookends</i> (album) 1968 studio album by Simon & Garfunkel

Bookends is the fourth studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Produced by Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and Roy Halee, the album was released on April 3, 1968, in the United States by Columbia Records. The duo had risen to fame two years prior with the albums Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and the soundtrack album for the 1967 film The Graduate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Garfunkel</span> American singer, poet, and actor (born 1941)

Arthur Ira Garfunkel is an American singer, poet, and actor who is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, Garfunkel became acquainted with Simon through an elementary school play of Alice in Wonderland and sought a partnership. Their combined presence in music began in the 1950s, and throughout the 1960s, the duo of Simon & Garfunkel achieved great chart success with tracks such as "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", "Scarborough Fair", and "Bridge over Troubled Water", whose title also served as the name of Simon & Garfunkel's final album in 1970. Simon & Garfunkel split for personal reasons, but the pair have occasionally reunited in the years since. Both Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon experienced success in solo careers in the years following the duo's breakup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Anka</span> Canadian singer and actor

Paul Albert Anka is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including "Diana", "Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". Anka also wrote the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; one of Tom Jones' biggest hits, "She's a Lady"; and the English lyrics to Claude François and Jacques Revaux's music for Frank Sinatra's signature song "My Way", which has been recorded by many, including Elvis Presley. He co-wrote three songs with Michael Jackson: "This Is It" "Love Never Felt So Good", and "Don't Matter to Me", which became posthumous hits for Jackson in 2009, 2014, and 2018, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camel (band)</span> English progressive rock band

Camel are an English progressive rock band formed in Guildford, Surrey, in 1971. Led by guitarist Andrew Latimer, they have released fourteen studio albums and fourteen singles, plus numerous live albums and DVDs. Without achieving mass popularity, the band gained a cult following in the 1970s with albums such as Mirage (1974) and The Snow Goose (1975). They moved into a jazzier, more commercial direction in the early 1980s, but then went on an extended hiatus. Since 1991 the band has been independent, releasing albums on their own label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Sound of Silence</span> Song by Simon & Garfunkel

"The Sound of Silence," originally "The Sounds of Silence," is a song by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel. It is said that the song was written by Paul Simon over several months in 1963 and 1964. The duo's studio audition of the song led to a record deal with Columbia Records, and the original acoustic version was recorded in March 1964 at Columbia Studios in New York City for their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. Released on October 19, 1964, the album was a commercial failure and led to the duo disbanding; Simon returned to England, and Art Garfunkel to his studies at Columbia University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Wilson (record producer)</span> American record producer

Thomas Blanchard Wilson Jr. was an American record producer best known for his work in the 1960s with Bob Dylan, the Mothers of Invention, Simon & Garfunkel, the Velvet Underground, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Eddie Harris, Nico, Eric Burdon and the Animals, the Blues Project, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and others.

Josh Joplin Group was an Atlanta, Georgia-based rock band led by singer-songwriter Josh Joplin. Initially a trio, Joplin hired Geoff Melkonian (bass/viola/vocals) and Jason Buecker (drums/percussion/vocals) to accompany him to play shows together. They simply called themselves Josh Joplin Band. In late 1995 they began pre-production on their first album together. Recorded at Furies Studios with producer Ed Burdell (Magnapop), Projector Head was released, January 6, 1996. Based on local critical success and some airplay on local radio Joplin, Buecker, and Melkonian, began touring vigorously, starting in the south, continuing through the northeast, and beyond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Clayton-Thomas</span> British-Canadian musician

David Clayton-Thomas is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and in 2007 his jazz/rock composition "Spinning Wheel" was enshrined in the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame. In 2010, Clayton-Thomas received his star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Am a Rock</span>

"I Am a Rock" is a song written by Paul Simon. It was first performed by Simon alone as the opening track on his album The Paul Simon Songbook which he originally recorded and released in August 1965, only in the United Kingdom. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, as the American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, re-recorded it on December 14, 1965, and included as the final track on their album Sounds of Silence, which they released on January 17, 1966. It was released as a single in 1966, and subsequently included as the B-side of the 1971 A-side reissue of "The 59th Street Bridge Song ".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Kinks</span> English rock band

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)</span> Single by Simon and Garfunkel

"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" is a song by folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon and originally released on their 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Cash Box called it a "sparkling, spirited lid."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana (Paul Anka song)</span>

"Diana" is a song written and first performed by Paul Anka, who recorded it in May 1957 at Don Costa’s studio in New York City. Anka stated in his autobiography that the song was inspired by a girl named Diana Ayoub, whom he had met at his church and community events, and had developed a crush on. Session musicians on the record included George Barnes (musician) playing lead guitar, Bucky Pizzarelli playing the "Calypso" riff on guitar, Irving Wexler on piano, Jerry Bruno on bass, and Panama Francis on drums. The song was recorded in May 1957 at RCA Studios in New York. Backup singers included Artie Ripp.

"The Only Living Boy in New York" is a song written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon & Garfunkel. It is the eighth track from the duo's fifth and final studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water. The song was also issued as the B-side to the duo's "Cecilia" single.

Baratos Afins is a long-established Brazilian record label and store, based in São Paulo city.

Randy Sharp is an American, three time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer. He has major success in many genre of music with his greatest successes in Pop, Country, and Alternative. He has composed for film and television as well. Over the past 40 years Sharp has been signed as an artist to major record labels as well as producing in the Pop, Alternative and Country genres. His songs have been recorded by artists including Linda Ronstadt, Art Garfunkel, Blood Sweat and Tears, Delaney Bramlett, Glen Campbell, Exile, Anne Murray, Restless Heart, Reba McEntire, Alabama, The Oak Ridge Boys, Holly Dunn, Tanya Tucker, Edgar Winter, Clay Walker, Kathy Mattea, Dixie Chicks, Kenny Rogers, and Emmylou Harris, as well as his daughter, singer-songwriter-artist Maia Sharp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkel song)</span> 1970 single by Simon & Garfunkel

"Cecilia" is a song by American musical duo Simon & Garfunkel. It was released in April 1970 as the third single from the group's fifth studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970). Written by Paul Simon, the song's origins lie in a late-night party, in which the duo and friends began banging on a piano bench. They recorded the sound with a tape recorder, employing reverb and matching the rhythm created by the machine. Simon later wrote the song's guitar line and lyrics on the subject of an untrustworthy lover.

<i>The Concert in Central Park</i> 1982 live album by Simon & Garfunkel

The Concert in Central Park is the first live album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on February 16, 1982, by Warner Bros. Records. It was recorded on September 19, 1981, at a free benefit concert on the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City, where the pair performed in front of 500,000 people. A film of the event was shown on TV and released on video. Proceeds went toward the redevelopment and maintenance of the park, which had deteriorated due to lack of municipal funding. The concert and album marked the start of a three-year reunion of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

Adam Mitchell is a Scottish singer-songwriter, most notable for writing "French Waltz", which was a hit for Nicolette Larson; "Dancing Round and Round", which was a hit for Olivia Newton-John; and for his later co-writing work with Kiss on the albums Killers, Creatures of the Night, Crazy Nights, and Hot in the Shade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Swimming Pool Q's</span> American new wave/jangle pop band

The Swimming Pool Q's are an American new wave/jangle pop band formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1978. They released five albums: The Deep End, The Swimming Pool Q's, Blue Tomorrow, World War Two Point Five, and Royal Academy of Reality.

Clay Harper is a musician and restaurateur from Atlanta, Georgia. He is known for his work as a songwriter and frontman in the band the Coolies, and for co-founding the Atlanta-area restaurant chains Fellini's Pizza and La Fonda Latina. He also founded and owns the barbecue chain the Greater Good.

References

  1. ↑ "Doug - The Coolies - Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Top 14 Greatest Rock Operas/Concept Albums of All Time". May 9, 2006. Archived from the original on December 11, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Billy Burton". Swimming Pool Q's Official Website.
  4. ↑ "Casino Music Home". Casinomusic.com.
  5. ↑ Stewart Mason (July 4, 1995). "Take That You Bastards! Review". AllMusic.
  6. ↑ Stewart Mason. "Ottoman Empire Biography". AllMusic.
  7. ↑ Russell Hall (October 8, 2000). "A Tale of Two Brothers". Casinomusic.com.
  8. ↑ "Main Street: the Original Soundtrack to the Motion Picture". Terminusrecords.com.
  9. ↑ Jamie Allen (September 16, 2000). "Main Street Man: Clay Harper's Prolific Muse Offers Up an Imaginary Soundtrack". Creative Loafing.
  10. ↑ "Fellini's Pizza & La Fonda Latina". Fellinisatlanta.com.
  11. ↑ "Rob Gal". Artist Direct.
  12. ↑ Greg Baker (January 12, 1994). "Kiss My Ass: Donkey is Stubborn When It Comes to Sounding Like Anything Else". Miami New Times Music.
  13. ↑ cool bee movie
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.