ALBUM: Monkey Island (1977)
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$
This is one of those straight ahead rock and roll groups that through persistence, solid chops and staying together finally hit the big time.
This album was the precursor to their Top 40 sales of ‘Freeze – Frame’ and ‘Centerfold.’ MVC does’t care for these later ‘MTV’ hits so much. Monkey Island in 1977 was the album where they were straddling both worlds.
This album, Monkey Island, I bought as a cut-out in high school in Athens, Ga. Played it a fair amount actually. Some good old-timey songs like ‘I Do’ and the Louis Armstrong song, ‘I’m not Rough.’
‘So Good’ lives up to its title.
The title track is a little out of character. It’s a multi-part epic of a song with long (good) instrumental intro and oblique lyrics.
The album is a near-miss but the group’s following albums helped give the band — who never thought a harmonica shouldn’t be used — some retirement money. J. Geils, founder and guitarist, died in 2017.
The band caught my attention with an earlier single called ‘Must Have Got Lost’ in which singer Peter Wolf does a rap intro before rap was even a thing. See video below.
That’s not on Monkey Island. But I will include a Monkey Island video too.