ALBUM: ‘On a Slow Boat to China’ (1976)
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$$
And now for something completely different as Mr. Python used to say. A banjo record.
Sure enough all 11 songs on the Real Turkey Records label in San Francisco feature banjo and more banjo. By the cover it appears our six band members include an upright bass, a drummer, a singer, and three banjo players. There’s also piano on some tracks. Several try vocals occasionally but banjo is the theme.
And to put it on the turntable is to turn the beat around. Banjo is scene changer. And this one proves Steve Martin’s line: “The banjo is such a happy instrument–you can’t play a sad song on the banjo – it always comes out so cheerful.”
For that reason this might be fun throwing on when things need livening up or things are getting heavy. But I would recommend only one play (front and back) because too much banjo music has the opposite effect. In a longitudinal study, excessive banjo music (dubbed Banjomama) results in irrational fear of player pianos and suspenders.
Interestingly, I have another album that is based in banjo, but the two records couldn’t be more far apart. ‘Kaleidoscope’ is a California psychedelic album featuring future Jackson Browne guitarist and award winning banjo player David Lindley. Kaleidoscope was a jazzy progressive rock jam while Medicine Ball leans more on traditional songs and ‘happy’ playing.