Song Of the Day: March 14, 2005
Curtiss A-I Don't Want To Be President
Twin/Tone Records 45, 1979
While to my knowledge neither of the major political parties ever formed an exploratory committee regarding the Presidential chances of Curtiss A, he nevertheless felt it necessary to nip any such notions in the bud via this number which sounds a bit like some journeyman soul shouter fronting the Damned. If you're geek enough to handle it, Twin/Tone Records has an incredibly detailed website, where they provide information on their early releases including to the exact number of copies sold. Several of these early records were by Curtiss A (real name, Curt Almstead), and feature his punk/R 'n' B fusion that surely must have made him at least a local legend. He made three LPs for Twin/Tone during the 80s which were once fairly ubiquitous in Midwestern used-record stores, but are no longer so common, especially the first, Courtesy.
5 Comments:
This guy must've been amazing live. My normal "sewing-machine leg" nervous tic sped up considerably on this one.
CW-
I agree, he was probably something to see. He had that reputation, as well as a few others of a less savory nature; see the entry for Curtiss A at www.trouserpress.com.
Best,
Jon
This reminded me of the Suburbs twitchy early stuff, which probably makes sense given time/place/label connection.
Hey Jon, is "Bob Dunlap" who plays guitar on this track any relation to "Slim Dunlap" the future Replacement?
cheers,
Mark
Yeah. Same guy. Supposedly he was sort of stolen from Curtiss A's band, which helped send his (Curtiss's) career into a tailspin. On the other hand, check out the Twin/Tone site; it's amazing how few records were sold by bands other than the Replacements, Suburbs, and Soul Asylum. I'm sure he was a dynamite performer, but maybe this train just weren't bound for glory.
Thanks for your thoughts,
Jon
Curtiss A and Bob "Slim" Dunlap are still playing gigs in Minneapolis/St. Paul!! Also, check out Twin/Tone's double LP compilation, Big Hits Of Mid-America Vol. III which contains tracks by Mr. A and various bands of the late 70s/early 80s Twin Cities music scene.
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