Vongole Fisarmonica is the debut album by American accordion band Those Darn Accordions, released in 1992 by Globe Records. The album was originally released only on cassette tape before later being made available for digital download on iTunes and similar digital media stores.

Vongole Fisarmonica
Studio album by
Released1992
Recorded1992 at Globe Studios
GenreRock, pop, polka
Length32:56
LabelGlobe Records
ProducerPaul Rogers
Those Darn Accordions chronology
Vongole Fisarmonica
(1992)
Squeeze This!
(1994)

Overview

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Showcasing a seventeen-member line-up, Vongole Fisarmonica documents TDA at the peak of their early formation as a mostly instrumental mass accordion ensemble, before bandleader Paul Rogers would start restructuring the group into a tighter ten-member rock band for their subsequent album, Squeeze This!. In contrast to the rest of TDA's discography, Vongole Fisarmonica primarily consists of cover songs, tackling TDA's typical fare of classic polkas and offbeat covers of hard rock and pop songs. The album contains two original songs in "Lithuania" and "Chicken Boy Polka", as well as a parody of Arthur Godfrey's "Too Fat Polka", re-written as "Too Smart Polka".

The title of the album is Italian for "Accordion Clams". According to member Tom Torriglia, musicians would often call mistakes "clams".[1]

Track listing

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No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Also sprach Zarathustra/Viva Las Vegas"R. Strauss/D. Pomus/M. Shuman4:03
2."Stairway to Heaven"J. Page/R. Plant4:13
3."Walk, Don't Run"J. Smith1:54
4."The Beer Barrel Polka"L. Brown/W. Timm3:04
5."Too Smart Polka"R. MacLean/A. Richardson2:19
6."Lithuania"P. Rogers2:22
7."It's Now or Never"W. Gold/A. Schroeder/E. di Capua3:18
8."Duck Dance"W. Thomas4:39
9."It's Not Unusual"L. Reed/G. Mills2:07
10."Chicken Boy Polka"P. Rogers/T. Torriglia2:23
11."Perry Mason Theme"F. Steiner2:34
Total length:32:56

Personnel

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Those Darn Accordions

References

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  1. ^ Stetson, Nancy (August 19, 1994). "Maybe They'll Play 'Foxey Lady of Spain'". Chicago Tribune.