The Holy Modal Rounders and Friends

Veteran occasional freak-folk band, starring Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber; friends include their boss Michael Hurley, weird-even-by-their-standards Jeffrey Frederick, mutual ex Antonia, and a host of others.

Holy Modal Rounders 1 & 2 (recorded 1964) A

Michael Hurley/The Unholy Modal Rounders/Jeffrey Frederick & the Clamtones: Have Moicy! (1976) A+

Michael Hurley: Snockgrass (1980) A–

Too Much Fun! (1999) A

I Make a Wish for a Potato (2001 comp) A

1. (Hurley) Slurf Song
2. (Stampfel) Midnight in Paris
3. Euphoria (1964 version, though the one on Too Much Fun is also vital)
4. (Paul Presti) Jealous Daddy's Death Song
5. (Hurley) You're Gonna Look Just Like a Monkey
6. Bad Boy
7. Griselda
8. (Hurley) Sweet Lucy
9. Nova
10. Year of Jublio
11. Mr. Spaceman
12. Flop Eared Mule
13. Random Canyon
14. (Hurley) Hog of the Forsaken
15. Coldest Woman
16. (Stampfel) Hoodoo Bash
17. Junko Partner
18. Goodbye to Booze
19. (Hurley) I Heard the Voice of a Porkchop
20. Sail Away Ladies
21. Synergy

There's still tons of stuff I haven't heard (e.g. almost all of Stampfel's solo work) so the list should be longer.

Movie: The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (Sam Wainwright Douglas and Paul Lovelace) A–

This starts out as the funniest rockumentary Christopher Guest never made, thanks to Steve Weber, to whom the word "mercurial" doesn't do justice. Weber's onscreen antics pale compared to stories of his even chemicalier past: a Fug claims that Weber once treated a toothache by dropping acid. One running joke is that no one can believe Weber is still alive, least of all his long-suffering 40-year bandmate, Peter Stampfel. (The other running gag is that almost everyone thinks the band sucks.) Even before he went straight in the mid-Seventies, Stampfel, considered by most the better musician (though Weber's no Ringo), had to deal with Weber's epicurean and Bacchanalian tendencies, which naturally precluded practising.

The movie (which evolved out of, of all things, a documentary about Stampfel's champion and lookalike, Robert Christgau) isn't a history, so swathes of Stampfel's and Weber's lives are left unexplored, and inevitably some of these abscences are cause for regret: Hurley/Stampfel/Frederick's Have Moicy!, a strong case for existence of collective genius, isn't considered, and the Rounders' mutual ex Antonia is only mentioned in passing. What is there is a depiction of a very odd couple. Early on, they're shown light-heartedly needling each other on stage; later, though, their arguments are weirdly passive-aggressive, like in Some Kind of Monster. Stampfel obviously has a lot of affection for his pal, but experience has taught that relying on him is unadvisable. Weber's mind is unreadable: what's going on there beside working out where the next drink will come from? Whatever it is, he doesn't let anyone know. Near the end, it's heartbreaking when Stampfel comes to the conclusion that although he'd like to play with Weber again, it's alright if he never does.

You get the Rounders' music or you don't, only be warned that in either case you'll be totally disorientated after a first listen; the best way into the catalogue of the Rounders and friends is still Have Moicy! The soundtrack here includes comparatively well-known classics like "Euphoria", "Boobs a Lot" and "Griselda", as well as rarities like the Holy Grail of Rounderdom, "Fucking Sailors in Chinatown" (if the filmmakers are reading this, "Chinatown" on the DVD; this is not negotiable). Stampfel's wedgied funnyvoice (which turns out to be more or less his normal speaking voice) balances Weber's lackadaisical ease. The music evokes Weber's idea that enjoying the present moment is everything, especially if it's lunchtime. But it requires Stampfel's professionalism to sustain the illusion. So in the end, guys, does it really matter that much who wrote those songs?