TIRnRR # 4, Track By Track: Mr. Encrypto, "Harmony Cathedral/Daisy Bang"

This is part of a series of short pieces discussing each of the 29 tracks on our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4. The CD can be ordered at Kool Kat Musik.

27. MR. ENCRYPTO: "Harmony Cathedral/Daisy Bang [TIRnRR ID]"



We'll be taking a bit about Bruce Gordon--aka Mr. Encrypto--in the chapter after next. For now, suffice it to say that Bruce is a good, long-standing friend of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, his work as Mr. Encrypto has been a consistent source of Fave Raves on the ol' TIRnRR playlists, and we're happy to hear he survived the recent solar eclipse without mishap. (That's an in-joke for DC Comics fans.)

Bruce has also done a lot of promos for us over the years. These have included variations on some of his own songs ("The Last Time" and "Rock And Roll Is Killing Me"), on "You Still Believe Me In Me" by The Beach Boys, and even a clever rewrite of Big Star's "September Gurls." There was his simple declaration that whenever he's in Syracuse he listens to Dana & Carl on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio...or he would listen if he ever came here. And there was the even simpler cross-promo of Bruce saying "This is Mr. Encrypto, and This Is Rock 'n' Roll IS KILLING ME! Radio."

A few of Bruce's IDs have been rich with the sort of go'geous harmonies that made us fall in love with the a cappella version of Mr. Encrypto's "The Last Time" (which appeared on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 2). We almost included one of those IDs on TIRnRR # 2, but our label at the time thought the a cappella sound didn't fit, and asked us to nix both the ID and "The Last Time." We conceded the ID, but held firm on the a cappella "Last Time," which has become one of TIRnRR's all-time classics.

We thought it was high time we included a Mr. Encrypto ID this go-around. So we grabbed one of his harmony-drenched bumpers, gave it an irrelevant title, and slapped it on TIRnRR # 4.

The title "Harmony Cathedral/Daisy Bang" is a tip of the hat to writer David Smay. David was the co-editor (with Kim Cooper) of Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth, a lovely book for which it was my great pleasure to provide some bubblicious writing of my own. The book included David's faux history of a fictitious bubblegum band called The Daisy Bang, a group which never existed outside of David's fully-formed imagination. It was a terrific piece, and we're proud to pay humble tribute to its harrowing cautionary tale by appropriating the name of that band and one of its make-believe masterworks, "Harmony Cathedral."

Reading David's compelling account of this band that never was, I longed to hear what The Daisy Bang's music would have sounded like. Consider this a short, teasing glimpse into that pretend world. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and puppy dogs too, we give you The Daisy Bang and "Harmony Cathedral."



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