Personnel: George Carlin (spoken vocals).

Recording information: Cellar Door, Washington D.C; Live-The Collar Door, Washinton D.C.

Photographers: Tom Wilkes; Barry Feinstein.

While FM & AM was reissued on compact disc as part of the George Carlin box set The Little David Years 1971-1977, it's important to have this early groundbreaking release available again, individually, at an affordable price. FM & AM found Carlin officially poking fun at, while incorporating, his early material performed in the lounges of America and on The Ed Sullivan Show. It also marked Carlin's metamorphosis from straight-laced to hippie, intentionally embracing the growing counterculture. The record is divided into two separate manifestations of humor, making it a sort of comedy concept album. One section focused on references geared toward the more wholesome commercial oriented AM radio audience: "Son of Wino," "Ed Sullivan Self Taught," and "Let's Make a Deal," while the remaining material was intended for the "hipper" FM audience: "Drugs," "Birth Control," and "Sex in Commercials." Carlin's unabashed wit, irony, and cynicism appealed to both audiences as FM & AM won a Grammy award in 1973 for best comedy album. ~ Al Campbell

Although George Carlin had recorded albums prior to FM & AM, including one with his original comedy partner Jack Burns, this 1972 release was the comedian's career-defining effort. While the second part of the record compiles (and puts to rest) the last of Carlin's mainstream lounge-act material, the first part consists of edgier counter-culture riffs like "Birth Control" and "Drugs." It also features the first of Carlin's language-based pieces, "Shoot," which sounds like a dry run for the epic "Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say on Television" sketch that was soon to follow.

Ironically, the older material, leading off with "Son of Wino," a lengthy revisit to Carlin's popular early routine, riffing on the cliches of manic AM-radio disc jockeys, is largely funnier and sharper than the less-rehearsed, meandering routines on the first side. Carlin had been doing this sort of semi-hip mainstream comedy, skewering the voyeuristic game show THE NEWLYWED GAME and local TV news, for years, and he reels off set-ups and punch lines with the timing and elan of a master. Soon he would be equally at ease with his new FM-oriented style; his next album, CLASS CLOWN, is probably his masterpiece, but FM & AM is a significant transitional effort.