Genre: folk
Rating: 2 stars **
Title: Tiger rose
Company: Guinness
Catalog: GNS
36063
Year: 1977
Country/State: US
Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG+
Comments: still in shrink wrap
Available: 1
Catalog ID: 5844
Price: $50.00
Here's one of the rare Guinness releases I'd been looking to score for a number of years and then all of a sudden I came across two sealed copies ...
Like many of the artists on the Guinness roster, namesake Peter Zaharoff was a complete mystery to me. I've never found any kind of review on this album and due in part to the stripper cover art I thought this might be a funk outing. Nope. Not even close. Produce by Lou Guarino and with all nine tracks credited to Zaharoff, the album featured a collection of singer/songwriter material with a distinct social activist orientation. Imagine a younger Loudon Wainwright III on a Woody Guthrie bender and you'd have a feel for most of the collection. The singer/songwriter activist musical genre made this release a really oddity in the Guinness catalog. Interestingly though the title on the album cover was shown as "Tiger Rose" the inner labels carried the title "Emphysema Blues". Beats me, though the disconnect may have had something to do with common sense - a title like "Emphysema Blues" simply wasn't going to garner great sales (not that it really mattered for a tax scam label like Guinness).
- Hum, Woody Guthrie would have approved of 'Emphysema Blues'. Kicked along by a barrelhouse piano, as you'd guess from the title, the subject matter was coal mining and black lung disease. The hacking cough sound effects were a delightful and uplifting touch. rating: ** stars
- Borrowing a sea shanty rhythm (acoustic guitar, accordion, harmonica), 'Tiger Rose' found Zaharoff talking his way through a narrative of picking up a hitchhiker on his way to California - tiger rose was the name of a charm the hitchhiker had around his neck. Yeah, not the most exciting narrative you've heard. rating: ** stars
- 'Havin' a Good Time' was a standard acoustic singer/songwriter reflection on lost youth. Pretty tune and mildly entertaining, though you could hear something as good virtually any night at your local corner bar. rating: ** stars
- The reflective A Night Rider' found Zaharoff working with a full band. Musically the song sported kind of a supper club jazzy vibe, though the fuller arrangement gave Zaharoff and opportunity to crank up the vocal volume. rating: ** stars
- 'Ain't Gonna Stop Drinkin' was apparently intended to sound like a live club recording complete with audience noise. To my ears the performance was too clean to be anything other than a studio take. Like several other tracks, this sounded like something you'd hear on a Saturday night at your local Irish bar. The difference with this one was that the subject matter was mildly funny. rating: ** stars
- 'Out An Old Country Road' was another Saturday night at the pub song ... unless you wanted to hear a song with a lyric that included 'the smell of cow sh*t' this one was a complete zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and it was long, clocking in just under six minutes. rating: * star
- Crap, a banjo tune. 'Girl In a Shack' gave me flashbacks to early Loudon Wainwright III ... rating: * star
- If you were into super sensitive singer/songwriter material, 'Coming Home To You' was going to be something you treasured. Otherwise this one was going to be tough to get through. rating: * star
- 'No Pretty Song' found Zaharoff returning to coal mine industry injustices territory. Get out your union card and hit the picket line ... rating: ** stars
"Tiger
Rose" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Emphysema Blues (Pete Zaharoff) - 4:41
2.) Tiger Rose (Pete Zaharoff) - 5:59
3.) Havin' a Good Time (Pete Zaharoff) - 3:00
4.) A Night Rider (Pete Zaharoff) - 4:19
(side
2)
1.) Ain't Gonna Stop Drinkin' (Pete Zaharoff) - 3:02
2.) Out An Old Country Road (Pete Zaharoff) - 5:55
3.) Girl In a Shack (Pete Zaharoff) - 2:42
4.) Coming Home To You (Pete Zaharoff) - 4:13
5.) No Pretty Song (Pete Zaharoff) - 3:00
SRB 11/2009