This recording was originally released on LP in 1983 and on cassette shortly after. It is now available on CD to the delight of a few and consternation of many.
Bob is well known to jazz fans everywhere but this record blows his cover completely and strips him naked (musically speaking).
What most jazz aficionados don't know and will be shocked to find out is that for many years Bob has been living two separate and clandestine lives: One as a famous jazz pianist and banjoist and two, as a famous nightclub performer. He has been forced to live in constant fear that someday, somehow, somewhere, sometime, someone would discover the seamy truth and confiscate his Spike Jones records.
This recording opens that closet door (musically speaking) and finally reveals Bob Ringwald blending his incredible talents, well, maybe semi-incredible talents, with his many years of internationally acclaimed nightclub performing, well, maybe semi-internationally acclaimed nightclub performing.
This recording boasts some of the finest musicians heard anywhere: Bob Ringwald, piano;
Bob Ringwald, banjo; Bob Ringwald, bass; Bob Ringwald, kazoo; and Bob Ringwald, percussion.
At the conclusion of the recording session for this CD, Bob Ringwald was overheard to exclaim, "Rish manowna pooh lauch a key kipoo".
Upon sober reflection the next day when asked by this reporter for a comment, Bob said, "Never before have I worked with, nor recorded with, a finer bunch of musicians, both musically as well as personally".
Bob is the leader of the Fulton Street Jazz Band, manager of the comedy band
THE BOONDOCKERS of Sacramento, California, and father of the actress Molly Ringwald.
The Critics Speak:
Cam Miller: The American Rag
"What we have here is a party time CD aimed at entertaining listeners . . . . It's pretty hard not to appreciate the multi-talented Ringwald, whose main axe is a piano but who is also heard playing kazoo, banjo, bass and percussion, and singing in a joyous voice. So, if all of this sounds inviting, then this CD is for you Bud."
Scott Yanow: Los Angeles Jazz Scene, May, 2007:
Ringwald Rated R-Bob Ringwald Plays and Sings the Songs That Have Kept Him Out of The Big Time For Years
(Mountain Gold Recordings MGR-003)
"Sometimes listeners who are unfamiliar with jazz consider the music to be overly serious,
dry, intellectual and a bit forbidding. While that description may fit some performances,
Bob Ringwald's Rated R is on a different level.
Ringwald, a veteran stride and ragtime pianist, who has played in many trad groups and festivals through the years, has put together a rather unusual program for this CD. Through overdubbing, he is heard not only on piano and vocals but banjo, bass, kazoo and percussion. The music he performs, with the exception of an occasional instrumental such as "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Dirtiest Boogie," emphasizes his singing and some rather bawdy humor.
His repertoire includes such tunes as Ringwald's "I Wanna Play Piano In A Cathouse"
(a classic of its kind), a couple of Tom Lehrer classics ("My Home Town" and
"The Masochism Tango"), "Hard Hearted Hannah," a greatly altered version of "Secret Love", and "Life Git's Teejus, Don't It."
The humor can be considered rated R although some of it is implied rather than actually stated, with Ringwald setting up rhymes and then humorously not saying the expected word/insult/obscenity.
Rated R will definitely put a smile on one's face. It gives one an excuse to hear a generous amount of Bob Ringwald's joyous piano."
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