Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus
by Bill Pitzonka

1968 was a banner year for bubblegum’s founding fathers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz. Their association with Buddah Records had produced two consistent hitmakers, the Ohio Express and 1910 Fruitgum Co., and they had a host of lesser lights waiting in the wings. As a spectacular publicity stunt, they threw all their “bands” together, rented Carnegie Hall for June 7, and billed the event as The Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus. The “original cast recording” claims a total of 46 musicians: Buddah’s 1910 Fruitgum Co. and Ohio Express; the Laurie label’s Music Explosion; Kama Sutra artists Lt. Garcia’s Magic Music Box, the Teri Nelson Group and J.C.W. Rat Finks; and the unsigned entities St. Louis Invisible Marching Band and 1989 Musical Marching Zoo. The "live" album was a particularly fuzzy-sounding affair consisting mostly of strange cover versions—Super K staples "Simon Says," "Little Bit Of Soul" and "(Poor Old) Mr. Jensen," as well as such stylistic stretches as "Hey Joe," "Yesterday, " "We Can Work It Out" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Joey Levine contributed the sole studio cut, “Down in Tennessee,” which bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 in single form.

Despite this relative failure, Kasenetz-Katz rode another Singing Orchestral Circus single to international success: "Quick Joey Small (Run Joey Run)," featuring Joey Levine and a chorus of gum-cracking Brooklyn chicks, hit #25 in Billboard that December and peaked at #19 in Britain soon after.

The far superior second album, with billing abridged to Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus, featured five proven chart commodities: 1910 Fruitgum Co., Ohio Express, and Music Explosion were joined by White Whale newcomers Professor Morrison's Lollipop and the Shadows Of Knight, who wound up on Team/Super K after their garage glory days on Dunwich. Though ostensibly a collective effort, the album is clearly the product of Joey Levine and sessioneers.

"Let Me Introduce You" is a chipper, almost Gilbert-&-Sullivanesque rundown of the “bands” who are allegedly performing, and "The Super Circus" is two-and-a-half-minutes of royalty-earning noise. Joey laid down new vocals over the original backing tracks of the Ohio Express's "Down At Lulu's" and the Shadows Of Knight's "Shake."

"I'm In Love With You" was the album's second single, credited to Kasenetz-Katz Super Cirkus. The mono single mix (which surfaced on the Buddah compilation album Bubble Gum Music Is The Naked Truth) features grittier lead and female vocals.

In addition to by-the-numbers fare like "Easy To Love," "I Got It Bad For You," and "Log In Fire," Joey took the opportunity to stretch beyond the bubblegum boundaries. "Up In the Air" ventured into political commentary—a deliberate over-the-top sendup of then-California governor Ronald Reagan, while "L.A. Woman" (a Levine original) handled sexual attraction and romantic confusion in a way that "Yummy Yummy Yummy" never could.

Joey made one final single under the Super Cirkus banner: his experiment in French chanson, "Embrasser." Soon thereafter, he left the Kasenetz-Katz fold. 1910 Fruitgum Co.'s Mark Gutkowski took over lead vocal duties on a Super Cirkus cover of Golden Earring's "Dong-Dong-Diki-Di-Ki-Dong" on the Super K label, but the carnival was over. The wheel was reinvented as the Kasenetz-Katz Fighter Squadron for a one-off on Bell ("When He Comes" b/w "Ah-La", 1971) and toss-offs on Super K ("Symphony No. 9" b/w “Blue Danube Waltz", Kasenetz-Katz Orchestral Circus, 1971), their own MagnaGlide imprint ("Mama Lu" b/w "Collide", Kasenetz-Katz Super Cirkus, 1975), and Epic ("Heart Get Ready For Love" b/w "Jungle Junk", Kasenetz-Katz Super Cirkus, 1977) but by then the concept was effectively grounded.