Album Review:

Pressed on as a promotion for the Suzuki Motor Corporation, Mrs. Faruki's Suzuki is notable for mainly one reason - it contains three rare Avengers VI tracks. Mark 56 Records was a specialty label that released such oddities as Squirt Presents Music To Lift Your Spirits, Der Wienerschnitzel Presents - Do You Know The Way To San Jose?, and Music for Dancing Doctors. 

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'Mrs. Faruki's Suzuki' is a corny, folksy hot rod track sung in a nasal screechy tone. It's just short of a surf track and if recorded two years earlier, could have The Champs' 'Tequila' makes an appearance. 'Town and Country' and 'Greenback Dollar' by Barry McGuire are mild folk numbers. The Suzuki Swinger's second and final track, 'Uh-Huh,' is a curious organ jam. It's just plain strange. The Olympics' 'Hully Gully' closes out side 1. No doubt the oddest selection on the compilation is Elmer Bernstein's 'Walk On The Wild Side' from the 1962 film of the same name. McGuire's 'Doo Dah' is excruciating to listen to.

Surrounded by such an uneven assortment of genres, the three back-to-back Avengers VI are welcome thread to the record. 'Slaughter of 10th Ave.' is a cool late surf track with some great octane. 'Pipeline' is another sweet track with plenty of low reverb. Petula Clark's 'Downtown' also benefits from the new surfy vibe; the melody really lends itself well to the genre. All three of the Avengers tracks were fresh off of Mark 56's 536 Lp, Good Humor Presents Real Cool Hits. It's assumed the tape which held the trio of tunes was easily accessible (this is catalog 357) to the engineer and were included here out of convenience. No Avengers VI tracks appeared on any further 56 releases. The album closes with the Marathons' 'Peanut Butter' which itself is a rewrite of 'Alley Oop.'

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Should you seek out Mrs. Faruki's Suzuki ? It depends. If you want a 60s pressing of Avengers VI material, then this may be your only option, as the Good Humor album can go for figures upwards of $1000. But if, like me you're more of a vocal surf fan and you're only buying it for the title track, then I'd advise to look elsewhere...