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The Jig Is Up
Peter Stampfel & The Bottlecaps

Tracklist and sound samples

Reviews

1. The Squid Jiggin Ground
2. Busted
3. Minstrel Boy
4. Old Dog Tray
5. New White House Blues
5. Stupid Jerk
6. Freddy's Blues
7. New Riley The Furniture Man
8. Song Of Man
9. Way of Woe
10. Radar Blues
11. Running Pissing Man
12. Rhythm
13. The Werewolf
14. Me and Old Dog Tray

Bonus Track
13. Springtime in Alaska

Quicktime Movie for PC and Mac
Bridge and Tunnel Girls
(a rare video treat originally made for MTV back in 1990 but never shown, featuring cameo appearances by Maggie and Terre Roche, Betsy Wollheim, Antonia, Arlene Gottfried, Mary Lamont, Linda Simensky and Bobbi Dowd.)

PICK HIT
PETER STAMPFEL & THE BOTTLE CAPS: The Jig Is Up (Blue Navigator) Two wondrous songs: "You Stupid Jerk," as in "You are the kind of guy who hates support groups/But you're the kind of guy who needs support groups/That is so typical of those who need support groups/You cliché-monger stupid jerk," and "Squid Jiggin' Ground," a Hank Snow oldie set against a countermelody of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" about the jolly time to be had stabbing squid to death and then they squirt you. Estimable also-rans include "the first song ever about a repo man" (it's traditional), the misanthropic "Song of Man" (it's not), an unsentimental adieu to William McKinley, and Stephen Foster's rarely heard "Old Dog Tray," to which Stampfel provides a follow-up. There are also some lousy songs by various of the artiste's wasted '60s posse, perhaps to demonstrate (or celebrate) the limits of what his notes dub "Psychedelic Drug Wisdom." Recorded 1989-1999, sung with Stampfel's signature lust for life, and released by conniving alt-folk moguls Blue Navigator, whom Stampfel bribes with a cover of "Werewolf." A MINUS
Robert Christgau, Village Voice, July 2004

The last hurrah for the Bottlecaps, although Peter has already moved on to new fun. What a fine note to exit on. A long time in the making, “The Jig Is Up” is minstrely, Irish, old-time, good-time, wacky, sincere - lo, everything you expect from Stephen Foster’s very improbable heir. A mix of originals, covers, and traditionals, subjects covered include drug dealers, jerks, McKinley, repo men; folks covered include Foster himself, Michael Hurley, and Hank Snow. “Radar Blues” evokes the Holy Modal Rounders of the early ‘70s with its reverb and musical loitering. Give the fiddler a dram? Give the whole group a dram!
Adrienne Casey, Inversion Online

Anything Peter Stampfel (Holy Modal Rounders) does is likely to be wildly
fun. "The Jig Is Up" fits that bill with ease as an eclectic romp. There's
Hank Snow's bizarre (especially in Stampfel's hands) "Squid Jiggin' Ground",
a jiggy waltz about fishing for squid. For pure oddness it interpolates
"Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring". Thomas Moore's "Minstrel Boy" is an early
19th Century ode set to a jaunty martial air. Stephen Foster's "Old Dog
Tray", dedicated to a beloved pet, is joined by Stampfel's hilarious update
"Me and Old Dog Tray". It is extra funny since Stampfel avers he doesn't
like dogs much. "New Riley the furniture Man" is a funny rueful ditty about
a dogged repo man. Michael Hurley's "The Werewolf" receives a nice, needed
remake. There's lots more of the sublime, the peculiar, the outrageous and the
delightful here. Peter, guitarists John Scherman and Tim Overgard,
keyboardist Jonathan Best, drummer Peter Moser and bass man Alan Geller had
a ball making this album and they are fearless about sharing the fun.
MT, Sing Out, Winter 2004