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The Best of Norman Greenbaum: Spirit In The Sky "Scratch That Itch"

Prof Jud Cost

"I always had a sense of humor", Norman Greenbaum told me recently, discussing Dr. West's Medicine Show & Junk Band for the liner notes I was about to write for the Sundazed Music reissue of the "Eggplant That Ate Chicago". "So", he added, "I wrote songs with senses of humor." Even Norman's monster hit, "Spirit In The Sky"- a song that outwardly might seem serious-unwinds with a sly wink at 'tent show' televangelists and the "back to nature" movement sweeping the decaying hippie cult off the urban sidewalks and into the rural outback in the early '70's. Besides all that, as everyone with half an ear can tell, the song-floating on a kelp of handclaps and riffing fuzz guitar-just sounds great, the kind of thing you can never play just once. The only gripe I've ever had with Greenbaum's masterpiece is that it's just too damn short, ending at least five minutes before it should. It's one time when the "leave 'em wanting more" rule should have been suspended.

But a gunny sack full of dusty gems accompanying "The Big Hit" on this English Greenbaum career catch-all CD, also awaits those who have never had the pleasure. "California Earthquake" retains "Spirit's" fuzziness but dresses it up in Creedence flannels stained with a couple of shakes from a bottle of Bayou Pickapeppa sauce. And who else but Norman would rock out to the tale of a "Canned Ham"-with funky chick-singer vocal chorus? The tune, however, remains a must for Greenbaums's 16-bar, echo-laden lead guitar break-a signature item from this highly underrated axe wielder.

"Marcy" opens with a dramatic "Tommy" kind of lick, then sends the listener careening somewhere else entirely, ducking theremin laser bolts from out space. "Hook And Ladder", with its backwoods counterpoint, puts lit matches between the toes of McGuinness/Flint and runs like hell,. "Junior Cadillac" sound like the template Boz Scaggs used to create his his persona. And "Petaluma" is a finger-pickin' mini-masterpiece dedicated to the Egg Capitol Of The USA. This Limey package skims off the very best of Greenbaum's four classic albums: "Spirit In The Sky", "Back Home Again", "Petaluma" and "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago". There's a surprise around every bend, a chicken in every pot, and it's guaranteed to scratch itches you never even knew you had.

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