Boyd Rice

Music, Martinis and Misanthropy is a mellow, apocalyptic folk and spoken word album that combines acoustic and electronic instrumentation with brutal, Social Darwinist lyrics and poetry. It was created by pioneer noise artist Boyd Rice and an assortment of dark folk all stars. Bob Ferbrache is the recording engineer. It was recorded in Tokyo, Japan and Denver, Colorado between July, 1989 and March, 1990 for NER/Tesco. This album is considered a classic, yet defies easy categorization. The music is lilting, hypnotic, and aesthetically quite pleasing to the ear. It features restructurings of works by The Carpenters, Rod McKuen, and Ragnar Redbeard, as well as original vitriolic and humanist pieces and misanthropic tunes by Rice. There is also a plaintive duet of sorts between Rice and McDowall (who would later record an album of suicide songs under the name of Spell) on the traditional murder ballad, "Down in the Willow Garden". A great deal of the music was arranged by Douglas P. in collaboration with Rice and Ferbrache. This album was inspired by Rod McKuen's spoken word albums and Jackie Gleason's romantic recordings from the 1950's. The title and album cover are a tribute to Gleasons's album, Music, Martinis, and Memories. The liner notes thank Anton LaVey, Rod McKuen, Ragnar Redbeard, Lee Hazlewood, Pat Purdy, Richard and Karen C., The Everly Brothers' Father, Walt Disney, Artie De Gobineau and "Big" Jim Huberty.