A Spike Jones Joint!

Finally, a good looking DVD collection of Spike Jones performances. The stats on this sound pretty good:

Renowned for "murdering the classics" and creating satirical original songs, bandleader Spike Jones is seen at his crazy best in this four-disc collection. In addition to four early NBC broadcasts, two 1951 "The Colgate Comedy Hour" programs and two 1952 installments of "All Star Revue," the collection features Jones hits including "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," "Glow Worm," "You Always Hurt the One You Love," and more, plus an audio CD of two 1945 pilots from NBC. 165 min. total.

Of course, it could be a lot better, since Wikipedia says "The band starred in variety shows on NBC and then CBS from 1954 to 1961." Maybe the "hits" mentioned above are culled from those shows. I can't find any real information online. So everyone buy this DVD, so that The Powers That Be will see the wisdom of releasing all that footage from The Spike Jones Show in big, beautiful boxed sets. If you're not familiar with Spike, here's a taste:



Cocktails For Two

In the Hall of the Mountain King

William Tell Overture ("Beeeeeetlebooooomb")

As excited as I am about this, it's also a bit of a problem. It's coming out the same day as the Twin Peaks set, AND the fifth volume of Looney Tunes, which all adds up to about $160! Why must all the good stuff come out at the same time (If I recall correctly, last year Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Dazed & Confused and Cemetary Man all came out in the same week, or a week apart or something). Well, I already have the first four volumes of Looney Tunes (long story), so I guess that's as much Looney Tunes as I'll ever need, but then again, this one has a whole disc of Bob Clampett stuff, AND a whole disc of early stuff. Why must the gods torture me so?