Like virtually all of
Pigmeat Markham's albums for Chess,
Save Your Soul, Baby! captures the comedian live at Chicago's venerable Regal Theater, and the raucous energy of the crowd is infectious, galvanizing material that might seem hamfisted in the hands of a lesser talent.
Markham targets marriage and domesticity across the LP's six extended routines, his gravel-road delivery veering between buffoonery and subtlety with practiced precision -- riffs like "You've Got to Marry My Wife" and "Sleep with the Baby" crackle with vaudevillian energy and dirty-old-man innuendo. ~ Jason Ankeny