Le Bonx

Won Out

Here's how Norman Famous tells the Le Bonx story:

 

    "I met Sparky back in 1977 when he was working on what eventually became his album, Won Out. He showed me the stuff he was doing and I said, "That's really nice, but how about really getting 'out there'?" He asked me what I meant and that led to a discussion of the current state of popular music (don't forget, punk was the rage back then) and we thought it would be cool to have a group that combined the best (or worst) of the Sex Pistols and Weather Report. We were going to call it Sex Report until Sparky changed it to Le Bonx to honor his old band, The Bonkeenies. In fact, Arlene, and Steve and Peter, who performed on the record, were all former Bonkeenies.
    "We recorded it in 3 or 4 crazy sessions over a couple of months. I wanted to put it out right away, but Sparky wanted to finish his album. When we finally did put it out it was only on a limited-run cassette. But that's for the history books. I think Mike Cogan did a fantastic job with the digital remastering...he and I were in the studio for the better part of a year with this, but it was worth the effort. It sounds great!"

Reviews of Le Bonx:

 

Peter at Expose Magazine says -
“This is either (a) the most deliberately amateurish release I've heard in a long time (up there with some Jad Far - No! Beyond that!) or else (b) it's a brilliant masterpiece that just went way over my head the first couple listens (like Meet the Residents) and won't reveal itself to me for another 20 years. Either way it was pretty annoying. Is that how it's supposed to be? Anyway thanks for the opportunity to hear it. We'll probably review it. If we do I'll send a copy of the issue with the review. Fair enough?”

Neo Zine has this to say -

Sounds like we have a bass guitar, drums and a piano, and they are all pretty much doing their own thing. This is amateurish sounding jazz, probably improvised (I hope), and I’m guessing that this is a release intended for the folks who enjoy home-tape trading and off-the-wall, exclusively underground releases. Oh, if you have delicate ears, this is not the “pile of poop” for you. If you are open to ridiculous experiences, you might try your brain out on this sloppy little bucket of yuck. Call it “scattered genius?”

 

...and this came from the internet radio station www.weirdsville.com -

 

Hello, Norman

Thank you for getting in touch and sending us Le Bonx - punk jazz tré cool. Sorry it took so long to write back - we recently moved so things have been chaotic for a while. Several tracks were added to the appropriate playlists, along with linking to the Sparky Grinstead webpage on our weirdoes links page.

 

Stay weird!

Erik Amlee

Sparky Grinstead's music is finally being made available on CD! The first out...and NOW AVAILABLE...is his punk-jazz masterpiece "Le Bonx".  It was produced by none other than Mr. Norman Famous and is truly a unique listening experience.

Sparky's second album, Won Out, has been remastered, retrofitted and released on CD!

10 facts about Won Out:

 

Fact #1 : Sparky Grinstead began work on what eventually became "Won Out" in early 1975, shortly after breaking up his band, The Bonkeenies of America.

 

Fact #2 :  The album was originally titled "Whatever You Want" but the title song didn't make the final track listing (it appeared as the b side of a single released the following year). Steve Hanamura suggested "Won Out". Other titles under consideration were "Meet the Beatles" and "Elvis Is Back".

 

Fact #3:   It took 4 years to record mainly because Sparky kept changing his mind about what songs to use. He eventually recorded nearly 4 albums worth of music. Despite the wealth of material, the original album featured only 9 songs and had a running time of about 20 minutes.

 

Fact #4: Sparky's first album "Le Bonx" was written, recorded and released in between sessions for "Won Out".

 

Fact #5: "Won Out" was originally part of a planned baseball-themed trilogy. The second release was to be titled "Too Down" and the third, "Three Aweigh". Just kidding.

 

Fact #6: Fall On Me and Love is All Right, the first two songs, are the only survivors from the original 1975 sessions. Another '75 song, Lend A Hand, was added to the CD release as a bonus track.

 

Fact #7: Although it doesn't appear on the track listing of the CD, the album's closing song, Big Ass, is included as a "hidden" track.

 

Fact #8: Sparky played guitar, bass and drums. Arlene Lee played piano and electric piano. Guitarist Greg Reznick appears on the song Ten Years along with Steve Hanamura, who barges into the session and apologizes. Peter Helgeson, who did "nothing" on the Le Bonx album, appears on No Magic, Breaking Point and Everything They Say doing the same.

 

Fact #9: Sparky and Norman Famous deny that they are the same person.

 

Fact #10: The CD release of "Won Out" includes the 1980 single Wa / Whatever You Want.

Sparky auditioning prospective band members

Norman Famous

Mysterious, Opinionated, Musician

Sparky Grinstead

takes a leap of faith

The Sparky Grinstead Project

 

Sparky Grinstead = Earl Grinstead = Norman Famous

FSGBOC

Musically uncluttered and emotionally direct, Sparky's third album is a concept piece of sorts, outlining the trajectory of a disintegrating relationship in his inimitable lyrical fashion.

A collection of quirkily rueful breakup songs, 1983's  FSGBOC (named after a favorite Elvis Presley album - you figure it out) is Sparky at his most accessible. The no-frills production (by Norman Famous) reveals an artist coming into his own as a singer, writer and guitarist. Although recorded, like 1979's Won Out, over a period of years, FSGBOC maintains a stylistic and emotional coherency that its predecessor, for all it's other charms, lacked.

 

Included as bonus tracks are "Rollin' Home" and "Major Networks", two songs released as a single in 1981. After the somewhat baffled response to his 1980 single "Wa"/ "Whatever you Want" (now bonus tracks on the Won Out CD) , these songs represent Sparky's attempt to make a "commercial" record that would appeal to more than just one or two people.

 

Sparky does most of the playing and singing, joined occasionally by Arlene Lee on piano and on one song by guitarist Bill Bergstrom. High points include the rollicking, Sun studio-styled opening cut, "Rockin' and Rollin' in Heaven", the jaunty, jazzy "Love Steps Out" and Sparky's unusual interpretation of Neil Young's "Don't Cry No Tears"

Reviews of Won Out:

 

Patrick the Lama in his Acid Archives states -

“Here’s a charming little pop album, 25 minutes of peppy melodies, acoustic guitars, simple arrangements, and lyrics about gurls. The best song by miles and miles is the opening “Fall On Me,” which has a lovely melody and some really cute-sounding fuzz guitar. It’s a triumph of low-budget recording, and by comparison makes early Shoes or the Toms sound like they were recorded at Abbey Road. The rest of the album isn’t as fantastic, but it’s fun straight through and Sparky has a really nice voice. The CD reissue doesn’t list the memorable “Big Ass” (he’s attracted to them), but includes it as a surprise bonus track. I wonder what his svelte girlfriend (pictured on the back cover) thought about that one. This is certainly not an album for psych or even folk collectors, but it’s recommended to pop fans and also fans of “real people” who can actually sing and write. [AM]”

 

“Sparky Grinstead --late seventies private press pop. Strangely affecting. Recommended.”

-Vinyl Vulture

As Norman Famous, Sparky is digitally re-mastering his entire catalogue at the rate of approximately one record per year. 2007 will see the release of his classic Rodent to Rodent.

 

Click here to go to Sparky Grinstead’s MySpace page and see lots of cool stuff!