Too Rich/ I Know A Child

From a warehouse find, this is a new, unplayed promo copy, in its original factory sleeve. So... did you know that Chuck Barris wrote "Palisades Park"? You know, the catchy proto-bubblegum number that's synonymous with Freddy Cannon? Apparently so. Knowing this, it comes as less of a surprise that the guy who invented all those TV game shows--"The Dating Game," "The Newlywed Game," "The Gong Show" (which he hosted), and others--also put out a handful of 45's. This one is actually quite amazing. I've classified it as Jazz because it's the closest category that fits. Barris has a sort of Paul Simonesque voice... you know, a very white-sounding, precise tenor... and in a way that anticipates Simon's various experiments with ethnic music, Barris puts his voice in the midst of an incredibly funky, rhythm-intensive groove here that at first seems odd but that actually works quite well. A definite keeper!