Coctails Early Hi-Ball Years CD

THE EARLY HI-BALL YEARS includes the Coctails' first two LPs, HIP HIP HOORAY and HERE NOW TODAY, and the "Songs For The Children" single.
Long before this Chicago quartet traded in their musical saws and xylophones for a tedious, but thankfully short-lived college-rock phase, the Coctails were the ultimate lounge-garage act. Their gimmick not only consisted of a multi-instrumentation of pop and jazz directly imported from the 1960s; they also had a fan club that sent out exclusive singles, a newsletter, and even toys. The Early Hi-Ball Years perfectly captures the Coctails during this era when they were in their quirky prime. Taken from their self-released albums Hip Hip Hooray!, Here Now Today, and Songs for Children, each track has an unpredictable uniqueness of lounge and rock & roll nostalgia -- a result of their combined use of banjos, organs, bells, vibraphones, saxophones, clarinets, and other instruments. ~ Mike DaRonco
The Coctails started life in Kansas City when the four members were attending art school there. Moving to Chicago in the early nineties, they began recording and releasing exuberant and widely diverse takes on lounge music, jazz, rock, and more. THE EARLY HI-BALL YEARS collects most of their early vinyl releases (on their own Hi-Ball label) onto a one hour-plus CD. The music ranges from the Jonathan Richman-esque "Walkin' Down The Street" to the Raymond Scott-like "Road Hog" (they were later to record some of his music as well). The only outside material here further clouds the mirror, with their take on a Martin Denny number and their own pseudo-party anthem, "Waiting For Godot," which uses words from Samuel Beckett as its core. The Coctails were an intelligent band who also knew how to have a good time--their smarts never get in the way of the fun.Q (12/94, p.175) - 3 Stars - Good - "...droll, versatile, oddly-spelt lounge lizard quartet...mostly sax-driven party jazz, with some flakes of early Madness..."