Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show "The Best of MusikLaden Live" DVD

What happens when a bunch of drunken, hard-luck Jersey boys sign a lucrative Capitol Records contract and are flown to Germany to film a live musical performance? Things may or may not be different in this RIAA-butchered age, but in 1974, they'd get loaded on the finest alcohol and pills Deutchland has to offer and bounce through a delirious set of sardonic blues-rock. Replete with violent tambourine solos, over-sized cowboy hats and a drummed named Popeye, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show's amazing set displays them at their peak and absolute weirdest, made possible by the AM radio atmosphere and carefree society of the '70's that reached its apex a few years later with disco.

Take one look into singer Dennis Locorriere's glazed eyes and it's clear that his ability to maintain consciousness is no small triumph, his glossy face wetted from the body's natural reaction to the many pollutants churning through his veins. A few songs later and he's vomiting off-screen, the poor camera work and remnants in his beard providing the clues necessary to reveal the ugly situation. It's alright, because the Manson-looking slide guitarist wraps the barfy microphone in his bandana before belting out a particularly creepy version of "Penecillin Penny", explained as an ode to women with VD, a problem the Medicine Show boys surely encountered first-hand. For such a contaminated group of guys, however, they sure were able to blaze through some infectious boogie-rock and have fun doing it, jamming it out when they felt like it and tightening up when necessary. It's clear from the between-song silence that this was taped without a live audience, one that obviously wasn't necessary for Dr. Hook and friends to really let loose. And if all this rockin' wasn't enough, a brief yodeling demonstration raises it to the next level. It's truly important that audio-visual documents such as "The Best of MusikLaden Live" continue to be made available for future generations, as this live performance is a shining example of music made solely for the sake of warts-and-all fun, without the slightest hint of pretension or overbearing A&R rep puppeteering the aesthetic.

Here's "Cover of the Rolling Stone" from the MusikLaden session. Enjoy it for it's hilarity and smooth country tone, but be forewarned; you're going to want more.