Felix and His Banjo Band

Who could resist that face? Or these liner notes?

Congratulations!

You have just bought a copy of my new album and you are probably dying to geto home and put it on your record player. But before you play it for the first time I urge you to read these notes carefully as they will help you to fully appreciate this product.

In case you have just seen our show and bought the record anyway you might consider seeking professional help to try and get rid of your masochistic streak.

My Banjo Band, or The World's Worst Banjo Band (as it was formerly known), is a group of highly skilled professional musicians who, under my leadership and influence, have turned into a rabble of mediocre amateurs. No longer burdened by conventional musical guidelines we are thus able to play in previously undiscovered meters and produce sounds that frequently bring cries (usually of pain) from the mouths of our listeners.

I am particularly happy to include some vocal numbers in this recording as, so I am told, my treatment of a song is well known from coast to coast. As a matter of fact, my singing is often referred to as "The voice that bends glass".

Most of our performances take place in asylums, jails, universities and similar institutions and are usually well received by the inmates.

Only once did we encounter a disturbance, at a penitentiary where, during the intermission, near riot conditions developed when prisoners learned that this was not the end of the show.

It is not true that many of them requested isolation cells, and the flood of letters to the media with complaints about cruel and unusual punishment had absolutely nothing to do with our appearance there.

We are also available for fairs and festivals and we seem to start a boom in the economy wherever we go. I often get letters from the Chamber of Commerce telling me how local business (especially travel agents and service stations) picked up as soon as our coming was advertised.

UP WITH BANJOS!

Enjoy.


Contrary to the above, the record is filled with zippy and well-played banjo numbers, but a buyer's fears reading the above might be realized when he heard the opening cut.

Westmount Records, 1979
WSTM7914

(from the collection of Johnny Clarke)