Spinal Tap's "Jap Habit" - a real album!!

Yes, you heard me correctly.

The rarest item produced in relation to "This Is Spinal Tap" was the band's supposed 1975 live album, "Jap Habit". Only a handful exist (intended only for select members of the cast and crew), but the recipients received both the UK and US variations described in the band's back story - and yes, the 'UK' package was just as legend described it, with three LP's, a paper kimono, and samples of tuna sushi.

I learned about this when contacting record collectors in and around the Pittsburgh area in search of the "Break Like The Wind" picture disc. One collector (no, their name will not be revealed here) loved Spinal Tap, and had built up an enormous collection of material related to the band - including a battered "Jap Habit" set, which he purchased for a very high amount from a friend whose father worked on "This Is Spinal Tap." I mentioned that, at the time, I was working on a discography of Tap's fictional back catalogue, and he said that he was willing to let me listen to both versions of the album and take notes, so long as I didn't record it in some way. I said that was fine.

A week or so later, my parents dropped me off at a small apartment not far from the South Side; thankfully, the treasure trove of Tap in front of me made it worthwhile, because his apartment was small, disgusting, and had a ridiculously strong pot smell no matter where you went. But, nitpicking aside, I was able to take notes. So without further ado, allow me to describe the contents of "Jap Habit".

First, the UK version. Housed in the black cardboard box (think something like the LP box of "All Things Must Pass" but a little thicker) were three genuine albums, as follows. And if you're wondering, no, the sushi samples were no longer intact. :-P (The package still reeked of them, though, so I'm guessing that it was years before the father got around to throwing them away.)

I wanted to be as thorough as possible, since this was a one-off opportunity, so I transcribed the banter as well. Enjoy!

SIDE ONE

• Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight
• David St. Hubbins: "We're going to kick things off with another little number from the album before this last one, called 'Intravenus De Morphine'..."
• Intravenus de Milo [yes, a song by this title!]
• Saliva Of The Fittest
• Swallow My Love
• David St. Hubbins: "Here's a tune for all the ladies in the house, so feel free to shower the stage with knickers and aphrodesiacs..."
• Big Bottom

SIDE TWO

• David St. Hubbins: "Let's take a bit of a nostalgia trip, shall we?"
• Gimme Some Money
• (Listen To The) Flower People
• Break Like The Wind
• David St. Hubbins: "Feel free to sing along with this one. It's called 'We Are All Flower People.'"
• We Are All Flower People
• The Incredible Flight Of Icarus P. Anybody

SIDE THREE

• Brainhammer
• Lie Back And Take It
• Nerve Damage
• Blood To Let
• David St. Hubbins: "Are you ready for another visit from the Goddess Intravenus?"
• Rock and Roll Nightmare [I'm assuming that this song was meant to be from 'Intravenus de Milo', though no official discography describes it as such.]

SIDE FOUR

• Band Intros
• David St. Hubbins: "Anyone here want to help us stink up the Budokkan?"
• Nice 'N' Stinky
• Silent But Deadly
• David St. Hubbins: "We'd like to give you a taste of the album we're working on at the moment, so to get you jumping in anticipation, here's a little heavy duty rock 'n' roll featuring Mr. Nigel Tufnel, MBE on lead guitar..."
• Heavy Duty [featuring a lengthy Nigel solo]
• David St. Hubbins: "Nigel Tufnel, ladies and gentlemen!"

SIDE FIVE

• David St. Hubbins: "This is a little suite of songs from our new album, called 'The Sun Never Sweats'.... it's an educational piece about Britannia. I hope you enjoy it."
• Daze Of Knights Of Old
• The Sun Never Sweats
• Devil Take The Hindmost
• Nocturnal Mission [an instrumental, with pounding drums - resembled something from a movie score]
• Stonehenge
• David St. Hubbins: "Thank you, Japan! Hope to see you again soon!"

SIDE SIX

• Rockin' Robin
• Short 'N' Sweet [long version, around 15 minutes]
• David St. Hubbins: "We love you all! Good night and may the Devil bless all of you!"

From this tracklist, you can see where the titles in Tap's scanty official discography (seen in the back of the "TIST: Official Companion" book originated from; those were the songs that were actually written. (It makes one sad to think that we could've gotten these instead of remakes of familiar songs on "Back From The Dead". Oh well... perhaps a future album?)

Now, onto the "US version". This one had the same front and back covers as were pasted onto the UK box, but this time, the album had no goodies, and was housed in a simple gatefold sleeve.

SIDE ONE

• Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight
• David: 'Intravenus de Morphine' banter
• Intravenus de Milo
• Swallow My Love
• Big Bottom
• David: 'nostalgia trip' banter
• (Listen To The) Flower People

SIDE TWO

• Break Like The Wind
• The Incredible Flight of Icarus P. Anybody
• Brainhammer
• Blood To Let
• David: 'Goddess Intravenus' banter
• Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare

SIDE THREE

• David: 'educational piece' banter
• Daze Of Knights Of Old
• The Sun Never Sweats
• Devil Take The Hindmost
• Nocturnal Mission
• Stonehenge [followed by 30 seconds of applause, rather than the farewell from the UK version]

SIDE FOUR [Essentially, this version creates a fake 'encore' by combining material from the fourth UK side with an edited "Short 'N' Sweet".]

• Band Intros
• David: 'stink up the Budokkan' banter [edited rather awkwardly onto the end of the band intros]
• Nice 'N' Stinky
• Heavy Duty
• Short 'N' Sweet [edited down to seven minutes]
• David: 'thank you Japan' banter [originally from UK side five - replaces the 'Devil blessing' that originally ended the album]

One thing I couldn't determine from listening to these was whether or not it was an actual live performance, though I'm sure that I was just hearing overdubbed applause. (If Tap actually held a concert where they played a wealth of material otherwise unavailable on their legitimate albums, *someone* in attendance would have either recorded it or spoken about it. The 1984 concert held to promote the movie, wherein they played "Rockin' Robin", is circulating amongst fans.)

I just can't stress enough how wonderful it would be to have an official CD release of this finally, especially if the guys don't plan on making a true follow-up to "Back From The Dead".

Time will tell, I suppose.

Incidentally, if any other 'back catalogue' albums are found to exist, please let me know! (I've heard rumblings about "Smell The Glove", but given the confusion between that and the soundtrack LP because of their similar covers, it's possible that someone was just mistaken.)

This isn't Saturday Night Live! - a look back at November 15, 1980

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge Saturday Night Live enthusiast, and I take pride in being somewhat of an SNL historian. More specifically, I'm known to turn my attention towards a period of the show that most people aren't familiar with - the 1980-81 season, which NBC deemed such a failure that they refused to re-air any episodes from it. But, we are soon coming up on the 28th anniversary of the 1980 season premiere... a night when millions of viewers tuned in at 11:30 PM to see that their favorite show, which over the past five years offered a weekly dose of comedians such as Gilda Radner and John Belushi as well as legendary characters like the Coneheads, was no longer the "Saturday Night Live" they knew. In fact, they were greeted by a group of complete strangers, none of which had been in the cast before.

From 1975 to 1980, the public became familiar with this group of individuals who would forever change the face of comedy.

(clockwise from lower left) - Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Bill Murray, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, and Garrett Morris.

However, in 1980, producer Lorne Michaels and his cast decided that the show had run its course. NBC was determined not to let it die, so they recruited inexperienced producer Jean Doumanian, who in turn selected a fresh cast of six new individuals:

Like it or not, your old friends have been replaced by (from left) Denny Dillon, Charles Rocket, Ann Risley, Joe Piscopo, Gail Matthius, and Gilbert Gottfried. Yes, I said Gilbert Gottfried. God help us all.

To soften the impact of an almost totally unrecognizable show, Jean enlisted the help of frequent SNL host Elliott Gould, who arrived to Rockefeller Center, unaware that all writers and cast members had been replaced. On top of his unfamiliar surroundings, the press had already started viciously cutting into the new version of SNL, damning Jean and her new talents for having the audacity to call their brand new, inexperienced show "Saturday Night Live." However, the public had yet to form their opinion; and their chance came on the night of November 15, 1980, when the audience for NBC's smash hit late night show tuned in in anticipation of what the sixth season would have to offer. Let's take a look at this episode piece by piece...

From the opening second of this episode, a fan of Seventies SNL is in for a shock. Right in front of their face is a familiar host alongside a cast of six unknown actors. The opening sketch of this episode is said to have brought feelings of isolation among SNL fans, as one by one, each player introduces themselves, and tells which old SNL cast members they are supposedly similar to. In retrospect, this was a bold and extremely risky move, as from that point on, the audience would actually *expect* the cast members to act like the old gang. (Unfortunately, as the season continued, these comparisons turned out to be false; for example, Ann Risley compared herself to Gilda Radner, yet carried a completely different sense of humor and personality.) The sketch carries an air of innocence about it, as Elliott wakes up to find himself in bed with the entire cast, who take turns childishly asking questions about the old show and NBC in general. The five cast members in view suddenly realize that one of their own is missing, and overturn the blanket to reveal a lifeless Denny Dillon, who springs to life and yells the first "Live from New York..." of the season.

From this point until Weekend Update, it is clear that within forty-five minutes, the writers were trying to recapture all of the edginess and raunchiness of the first five years. Thus, the viewers are presented a long string of sex-related sketches - Elliott Gould shares his childhood underwear with the audience, Jimmy Carter (Joe Piscopo) laments over his lack of a sex life, Ann Risley is musically berated for "living in sin," Gail Matthius humorously demonstrates how to give yourself a breast examination, and a clever short film by "Grease" director Randal Kleiser depicts two shoes having sex on a beach. The only real rest the audience is given is in the form of the first 'What's It All About?' sketch, which presents a public access talk show hosted by an old Jewish couple, Pinky and Leo Waxman (Denny Dillon and Gilbert Gottfried). It is worth noting that these characters, with their New York accents and love of Barbra Streisand, were an extremely obvious inspiration on Mike Myers' Coffee Talk sketches.

After the first musical performance (by Kid Creole and the Coconuts, a comical group consisting of men dressed as witch doctors and three scantily clad women), Don Pardo introduces the first installment of Weekend Update hosted by Charles Rocket. Right away, Charles displays a very apparent air of professionalism that was notably absent in the previous versions hosted by Chevy Chase and Bill Murray, as if to erase the self-comparison he made to them in the opening sketch. The reaction of the audience is interesting to pay attention to, because they seem as if they are extremely put off that someone new is reading their fake news. Charlie is greeted with no applause whatsoever, and his humor is met with only scattered laughter. After a handful of jokes, the action moves to the White House, where Piscopo gets to perform his second political sketch of the evening as failed presidential candidate John Anderson. Field reporter Gail Matthius describes the ongoing events as Anderson wanders in a state of confusion around the White House gate, unaware that he lost the election. The piece isn't an enormous laugh riot by any standards, but is very charming, compared to the sleazy Carter sketch from earlier in the evening. However, with this sketch, it seems apparent that Gail was destined to become the next Laraine Newman, a factor that remained throughout the rest of the season.

After this comes the first of Charlie's pre-filmed man-on-the-street Rocket Report segments, and one of the more memorable. Destined to learn information about John Lennon's upcoming "Double Fantasy" album, Charlie is seen rummaging through the trash behind the Dakota building, and harassing a crew of New York garbage men. Through this outlandish piece, Charlie is distinguished from those before him once again, as he shows that he is not afraid to be outrageous and unique, something that would greatly strengthen his presence on SNL. We then return to Update for an awkward Gottfried commentary on how he can prove that Ronald Reagan is already dead; a confusing concept, but pulled off humorously, if not somewhat forced. (For example, Gottfried shows a picture of a man with his hand on Reagan, because the man is trying to "hold him up.")

At this point, roughly 50 minutes through the show, the cleverness that was lacking in the first half starts to show. Following Update is "At One With...", a talk show hosted by Elliott Gould that studies the taboo aspects of humanity. Gould's guests are Joe Piscopo and Charles Rocket, two members of a gay army brigade that is stationed at Fort Dix. (A great pun, yes, but the audience's groans are louder than anything else this season!) We then see "Heart to Heart," one of the short films created for the show by Mitchell Kriegman. In it, Kriegman expresses to his lover his worries about how she 'just doesn't seem like the same woman anymore.' With each change of the camera angle, the woman is played by a different actress. The effect is very funny, and contains a cleverness missing from many of the other films shown this season. This is followed by 'Nose Wrestling', a bizarre sketch which depicts exactly what you would think - two men wrestling with their noses. Unexpected, silly, and almost worthy of Monty Python.

Next, Gail's Vickie the Valley Girl character makes her debut as she shares a romantic date with an older man (Gould). Right from the start, the audience gets to see all of her usual mannerisms - flipping her hair, smoking, and saying phrases such as "fer shure" and "not too cool." The character seems to be in an undeveloped state, however, and would become a fuller portrayal as the season wore on. At this point, Vickie has very little substance to her, and uses the same mannerisms to an almost "broken record" effect, something that Gail would quickly improve upon.

Following this is the highlight of the evening, and, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant yet underlooked sketches in SNL's history - "The Accordion Killer," a thriller spoof in which Charlie plays a demented killer who drives women to death by squeezing out "Lady Of Spain" on his accordion. The sketch is executed beautifully (with the Accordion Killer being defeated in a very hilarious way - bagpipes!), and elicts a larger audience response than anything else in the episode. As the show winds down, we see two short pieces: the music video for "Gidget Goes to Hell" by the Suburban Lawns, and Denny Dillon as a music enthusiast relating the joys of playing records too fast. Both are typical one-joke bits, but are worth a chuckle upon first viewing.

Overall, not a terrible first episode, though it could have been better. The show seemed to rely a little too heavily on sexual innuendo, but nothing that didn't bring a laugh from the audience. Charlie's Weekend Update segment had a rough start, but he would make it his own after a few episodes, winning over the audience with his almost Dennis Miller-type persona. Undoubtedly, Charlie was the star of the evening, with a number of his sketches (the religious telegram, the gay brigade, the Rocket Report, and the Accordion Killer) being outrageously funny.

However, it is sad to say that despite (the retitled) "Saturday Night Live '80" having a generally funny start, it was already doomed. The press refused to give this new bunch a chance, completely obliterating the episode with every line of their reviews. Despite it being rather tame compared to some of the Seventies material (such as Buck Henry's recurring child molester character), they scorned the show for being overly crude and sophomoric. They claimed the cast was unfunny and unworthy of air time, obviously not noticing the generally positive audience reactions during the episode.

It would not help that with the very next episode, those enthusiastic bursts of laughter would quickly disappear; because when the new cast returned to the air with host Malcolm McDowell, they would find themselves facing a much different reaction: dead silence from the cold opening to the goodnights. Suffice to say, despite what the first week's studio audience thought, America was not willing to welcome the new SNL with open arms; and word had gotten around. Only two episodes into the season, it seemed that "Saturday Night Live" was doomed.