Crazy Joe The Doctor Is In! LP

TAS Super LP List! Special Merit: Informal

Crazy Joe (AKA Joe Tritschler) is by day an engineering lecturer at Wright State University in Ohio teaching everything from bioinstrumentation to linear systems. He's also worked as a freelance recording engineer and session musician and (briefly) in the defense industry. Crazy Joe has designed and built custom recording equipment for studios all over the country, including his own, and even recorded narration for an Emmy Award-winning documentary. He currently makes an all-tube phono preamplifier based on a design he's been refining for the last 17 years.

Crazy Joe has toured the world playing many styles of roots music, from rockabilly and surf to blues, jazz, and funk, and still tours and records every chance he gets. His 2013 rockabilly album The Doctor Is In! was recorded on a one inch 8-track analog tape machine in his home studio.

"Crazy Joe's latest album (the first one in five years) is an absolute must. And he deserves all the credit for this success. He wrote it, played all the instruments (but piano and organ), sang lead and background vocals, produced it and engineered the whole thing. 'Show Me Around' is a superb opener with sharp guitar and warm bass (electric that is!). The slower tempos like the 'Greatest Scam' and 'I Don't Believe' evoke a mix of the early 60's recordings of Gene Vincent with Sam Cooke. 'Wasted' remains in the 60's territory too but adds a good dose of rhythm 'n' blues and funk that suit Joe very well. Next is 'Right There In My Lap', an electric blues that features a superb solo by Ricky Nye on Hammond organ. After the doo wop 'Please Don't Call me' which makes you think, in case you hadn't already, that he's a terrific singer too, comes 'H-Bomb' a garage/ Kinks type of rocker. 'She's My Baby' also shows some British influences but on this one, they're to be found near the River Mersey. 'Snakebite' is an instrumental tour de force that could be best described by 'Les Paul took too much acids'. The poison of the snake gave him too much hallucinations or is it the beverage of the same name? The album ends on a high note like it begun with a great rocker backed by a Johnny Johnson piano. Did I tell you that this album was perfect?" - Fred "Virgil" Turgis, The Rockabilly Chronicle

I've never been so floored by 'analog warmth'...go, vacuum tubes and hand-built equipment! This album is a blast, and how often do you get to hear newly created, audiophile rockabilly?