(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)

Multi-instrumentalist Ralph Carney first came to prominence with Tin Huey, a legendary Ohio new wave band. After that chapter, he teamed up with the young Kramer and Mars Williams (later of the Psychedelic Furs) to record the album credited to the Swollen Monkeys, After Birth Of The Cool (Cachalot, 1981), one of the quirkiest entries in new wave—rooted in Robert Wyatt’s vocal experiments but infused with the irreverent spirit of the era.

Later, Carney and Kramer enlisted Daved Hild (ex-drummer of the Girls) for Happiness Finally Comes To Them (Shimmy, 1987), with contributions from Michael Cudahy (guitar), Garo Yellin (cello), Pete Plumbly (guitar), Suzanna Lee (vocals), and David Licht (drums).
The album’s sound—a zany, rough-hewn folk full of studio tricks—and its humor, sarcastic and rollicking, owe as much to the Fugs as anything else. Tracks like Hands showcase paradoxical arrangements: tribal African drumming, a singer screaming the lone line of lyrics like a possessed man, an exorcist-style chorus, and horns mimicking jungle animals. Clown twists into grotesque mutations: hard rock with rumbling bass amid a tangle of out-of-tune guitars, which, when the drums pick up in their tribal frenzy, veers into voodoo-billy and lycanthropic wailing. Bank conjures a hallucinatory Sabbath, with newborn cries, metallic cacophonies, floating guitar distortions, and funky lines that clash delightfully. Larry drifts into free-form psychedelia, evoking the acid-soaked codas of Day In The Life. And Lotto is a surreal, Brechtian sketch: a dense collage of Arabic clarinet, a riot of noises, snippets of conversation—almost a follow-up to Zappa’s America Drinks And Goes Home.
What animates the album is the same collage principle, though modern studio techniques let Kramer stack effects vertically rather than simply pasting them together horizontally, adding a new dimension to the chaos.

The project resurfaced seven years later with Black Power (Shimmy, 1994). Compared to the little operetta brimming with collegiate humor and elevated by eccentric, brilliant arrangements that was Happiness Finally Comes To Them (Shimmy, 1987), the album disappoints somewhat. The trio leans on nursery-rhyme melodies (Speaker Of The House), zany folk (The Ballad Of Soap, The Ballad Of Jim Jones), and music-hall parody (Dangerous Cult Following, in the style of a 1930s small orchestra). All the tracks are pleasant, but none have much depth.
When the trio actually tries to “play,” they rarely reach the harmonic brilliance of their debut. The result is mostly an earnest, if uninspired, nod to the grandiose progressive rock of Van Der Graaf Generator (Sweetheart) and little else. The one track that could sit alongside Happiness is Tears Come Down, where piano blends with percussion while melodic lines from saxophone and violin float over the persistent rhythm. Still, it’s not enough to match their earlier magic. Fortunately, Happiness is included on the CD, making the comparison clear.

Meanwhile, Carney had been building his reputation performing with Tom Waits, from Frank's Wild Years to The Black Rider.