REVIEWS:
I consider soundtracks to be quite pointless other than making money for the record companies, as bands and artists just throw together a song or two with little relation to the actual movie it comes from - at least this is the way it's being going recently. Tribute albums I'm not sure about, as they generally seem to be hit or miss, while the same goes for hit collections from a particular genre in a specific year or era. The few of these compilations I have heard I guess I'll reluctantly review on this page.
--Nick Karn
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Dewback, Midnight Rain, Thorns. LOW POINTS: None.
I haven't listened to this album (or sampler, actually) in years, mostly because some time ago the CD itself became seriously cracked and therefore nothing I have will play it. How this actually happened I don't know, but I'm going to try my best to remember what I can. "Dewback" (by Snappy) stands out in particular as sort of a funky punk song, with some girl singing the line "And these the foolish things I say, because I know that we'll be heeeeeeeeeeeeere togeeeeeeether!" in quite a successful way, I think. Easily my favorite here. I was quite lucky to find an mp3 of it on Audiogalaxy. "Midnight Rain" (by Caprill) is another some with a female vocalist, slower with more emphasis on beauty (if I can remember right), with lyrics about "dancing in the graveyard again in spite of what my daddy told me."
Mood Ring's "Mood Ring" is a catchy song that gets a little too repetitive by the end, and therefore I can't call it a highlight. But "Thorns" (from Eyes Wide Open) has a great bass line to lead it into what I remember as a great song. And that's all I remember (and maybe all that's worth remembering, I'm not sure). I wish the CD wasn't in such bad shape, because I'd like to listen to a lot of this again, but all I can do is hope that one day all of the mp3s show up somewhere. If you want to know the truth I only reviewed this sampler because I like the title quite a lot, a humorous take off of Devo's debut.
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COMMENTS
1) I just recently got this disc for less than $10 from radrockers.com ( minimum $25 order, though )
2) I liked the Agatha Parker Sterling song "Father Boy" ( last track on the disc ) ,too.
I think thats all I had to say :)
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This is a compilation of mostly previously unreleased material that Beavis and Butthead would have probably liked. Usually, compilations like this juxtapose totally opposite types of music to try and reach a mass audience. Most of the material here is pretty consistent - with the exception of two old school rap tunes, a comedy number, and a remake of 'I Got You Babe', this is all crunchy heavy metal and hard rock. Most of it's really good, too. After a funny opening with Beavis and Butthead doing their own "Do you wanna rock?" style introduction, the album rages into an awesome Nirvana outtake, 'I Hate Myself And Want To Die'. It's at least as good as most of the material on the Nevermind album, and that says a lot.
Other highlights include a crunchy cover of the Beastie Boys classic 'Looking Down The Barrel of A Gun' by Anthrax (which is preceded by a hilarious sketch during which Beavis and Butthead meet the band), a fast and exciting Megadeth track called '99 Ways To Die' (which may just be the best song the band ever did), the standard issue White Zombie rocker 'I Am Hell', and a typically weird cartoony Primus song called 'Poetry And Prose'. I'm not a huge rap fan, but both of the rap tunes here, 'Bounce' by RUN DMC and 'Monsta Mack' by Sir Mix-A-Lot, are a lot of fun, especially the latter (though the former does include another hilarious Beavis and Butthead meeting incident).
The comedy material on this album highly depends on how much you like Beavis and Butthead. If you hate them, you'll find the material grating, but if you love them (like I do), you'll find it as hilarious as the TV show. Butthead even gets to sing a slow, seductive ballad, 'Come To Butthead', which cracks me up even though I've heard it more than a hundred times. Butthead tries and tries, and eventually just offers the person being serenaded 50 cents plus 75 cents (a dollar) to put out. Cher's reworking of 'I Got You Babe' is pretty funny, too. Butthead actually almost scores! Beavis and Butthead do their typical monologues before and after most of the songs, commenting on their quality. During 'Poetry And Prose', they actually talk over the instrumental coda (which actually annoys me, because I wanna hear Primus jam!) The only flaw is that the dialogue comes at the beginning of some tracks, so if you want to actually hear the song, you have to fast forward past 3 minutes or so of dialogue. Just like on live albums, I think they should put all non musical content at the END of tracks.
The biggest problem on this album is that some notable artists turn in very sub par songs. The Aerosmith tune is decent, but it's pretty standard latter day Aerosmith. Jackyl's tune 'Mental Masturbation', is horrendous. I don't like Jackyl anyway, and this track sucks even for them. The Red Hot Chili Peppers turn in an Iggy Pop cover with 'Search And Destroy', and it's pretty uninteresting. The Peppers sound pretty out of place doing proto punk. The rap tunes may turn a few people off, but they're fun, not like modern "Gangsta" rap. All in all, this is a worthy compilation if you like 3 or more of the bands included, because the material actually doesn't sound second rate (for the most part). You can get it cheap, too. Recommended.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
I guess you could call this the follow up to 1993's The Beavis And Butthead Experience, but it really isn't. First of all, there are no comedy numbers or dialogue, so you don't ever really get to laugh like you did on the last compilation. Secondly, the former was a consistent set of all one style of music, while this one has the common sountrack problem of slamming totally incompatible groups together to try and increase sales. Third, the first was meant to accompany the show, while this is a movie soundtrack.
This album is basically a typical sountrack - the only exceptions are the opening funk of Isaac Hayes doing the Beavis And Butthead theme song (which is cute) and the lame novelty number, Engelbert Humperdinck's 'Lesbian Seagull' (which was funny in its scene in the movie, but is unlistenable here). The first style of music covered, rap, is pretty much useless - LL Cool J's 'Ain't Nobody' is typical modern rap (which isn't good). Ditto for Madd Head's 'Pimp'n Ain't EZ' (which is laughable in every respect). The modern punk/ska scene is touched on by No Doubt and Rancid, both of whom turn in lousy, unispired cuts. Then there's the classic rock set, covered by old cuts by Ozzy Osboune ('Walk On Water') and AC/DC ('Gone Shootin'). Both are decent, but they're also slammed striaght off of old albums, and you'd probably do better with the original albums. The Primusy cut 'White Trash' by Southern Culture On The Skids is pretty bad - trust me, ripping off Primus is not a wise career move because no one else can play the style.
There are actually a few decent cuts here, though - the Red Hot Chili Peppers' run through of the Ohio Players' 'Love Rollercoaster' is funky and exciting. It was also one of the singles off the album, and it flopped (the LL Cool J cut was pretty popular, though). Finally, there are a couple of new heavy metal songs here, and both of them are good. White Zombie contributes 'Ratfinks, Suicide Tanks, and Cannibal Girls', which sounds exactly like White Zombie. Basically, if you like the White Zombie (which I do), you'll like the track. The other is the "rock version" of the Butthole Surfers' 'The Lord Is A Monkey'. I don't get why they called it the "rock version", because the original of the Surfers' ElectricLarryLand rocked pretty damn hard anyway, but this version is a bit crunchier. It's a weird, non-sequitur track that sounds very similar to the Surfers' big hit ''Pepper'. It rocks hard, though it doesn't sound too different from the original. Still, these good tracks don't outweigh the glaring flaws in this album. The chances that anyone will like half of the tracks on this album is slim. Even the best material is either repeats, covers, or alternate takes (with the exception of the White Zombie track). Unless you must have every note Rob Zombie ever wrote, avoid this album.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
This is probably one of the more successful soundtracks of the early 90s, not only because it has pretty strong ties to the movie that I vaguely recall as being hilarious (particularly on the closing "Reaper Rap" from Steve Vai, which is his other contribution in "The Reaper" instrumental with film dialogue in the background), but that the song quality is pretty impressive, with the lineup consisting of mostly established metal/hard rock acts (or at least ones that were at the time), and quite a few of them were recorded shortly before some of the bands arguably hit their absolute peak (Faith No More with Angel Dust, King's X with their self-titled fourth, Megadeth with Countdown To Extinction, Winger with Pull, etc). Interestingly enough, it also includes the complete lyrics for all the songs - somewhat unusual for a soundtrack.
The heavy-hitting, almost uncharacteristically demonic rocker from King's X in "Junior's Gone Wild" (some intense vocals and riffing on that one) stands out, as does the aforementioned, melodically uptempo and pleasant Steve Vai instrumental as well as Faith No More's contribution "The Perfect Crime", a catchy and intent-filled song which musically seems like an effective transition in between The Real Thing and Angel Dust. Megadeth's blistering "Go To Hell" (later appearing on their soundtracks and tribute songs compilation Hidden Treasures), one of the otherwise bland Richie Kotzen's better tracks in "Dream Of A New Day" and Winger's somewhat catchy and memorable "Battle Stations" are also good.
The only two weak cuts here are a fairly standard, generic 80s metal sounding song from a no-name band Neverland in "Drinking Again" and the funky, scat-singing Primus contribution "Tommy The Cat", which annoys the hell out of me, but then again, I'm not a fan. Rounding out the soundtrack is the other 'obscure band' contribution in Love On Ice's "Showdown", a mood-shifting, Jane's Addiction-esque 6 minute song (the sleeper track here as far as I'm concerned), the anthemic Slaughter tune "Shout It Out" (which opens the album) and Kiss' overblown but somewhat melodic and actually halfway decent ballad "God Gave Rock And Roll To You II".
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
This almost completely disasterous tribute album takes songs from one of the greatest and most monumental hard rock bands of all time, Led Zeppelin, and somehow manages to make them sound like generic alternative material. Watch in awe as Jimmy Page's masterful solos are laughably executed, the rhythm section is actually made to sound normal and the personality-less singers falling badly short even by Robert Plant standards. Among the lowlights here are the horrific versions of "Custard Pie" (Helmet w/David Yow), "Dy'er Mak'er" (Sheryl Crow) and "Misty Mountain Hop" (4 Non Blondes), which are all ruined mostly by horrible vocals, and the otherwise good until solo time Cracker version of "Good Times Bad Times".
Also featured are Big Head Todd And The Monsters and Blind Melon turning Led Zeppelin III tunes ("Tangerine" and "Out On The Tiles") into stale contemporary alternative songs, and the incredibly disappointing Robert Plant and Tori Amos duet of my favorite Zeppelin song ever, "Down By The Seaside". The only two respectable versions are Duran Duran's version of "Thank You", which is almost as great as the original, and "Four Sticks" (Rollins Band), although the latter's version, while actually superior vocal wise, is totally inferior in terms of the sections where there are no vocals. Rounding out the album is an easy listening version of "Going To California" and an unspectacular B-side "Hey Hey What Can I Do" by Hootie And The Blowfish. Garbage.
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COMMENTS
Hey, I agree with the low rating, mostly because of the laughably inept guitar work of Hootie on "Hey Hey What can I do", but you failed to mention the superb, better than the original job that STP did on "dancing days". I don't like the original very much at all, as Mr. Page's guitar is too piercing on that track. But the STP version? Very well executed.
Huh? What's this? Hootie and the fu*king Blowfish covering a classic Zep tune?
Most of this is horrible, and I'm glad I bought it cheap, some of it is decent, Duran Duran (a band that I never cared for) do a killer cover of THANK YOU, S.T.P. also do DANCIN' DAYS justice, but if you want to talk about the bad stuff, it probably does'nt get any worse than 4 non BLONDES covering MISTY MOUNTAIN HOP, and it's a good thing Robert Plant had a little help on DOWN BY THE SEASIDE, even if Tori Amos has no buisness singing anything by Zep, because he does'nt sound too good here, I give it a 3.
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Anti-Manifesto. LOW POINTS: The rest.
A punk compilation from Fat Wreck Chords and all of the bands that are on there, but I think we all know by now that a punk band should be on Epitaph if they want to be good. That doesn't really mean that these bands can't put out a few more or less interesting songs. Propagandhi's "Anti-Manifesto" in particular is an interesting little work, with a cool little riff in there somewhere. The others are either by bands I've never heard of, or band's I have no interest in (except for the other Propagandhi song entitled "Homophobes Are Just Pissed 'Cause They Can't Get Laid"). There are songs on here from bigger bands like Rancid, NOFX, and Lagwagon, while there are a couple bands I've never heard of (outside of this release at least) like Strung Out, No Use For a Name, and Bracket. But all of these songs use the same chords anyway so why listen at all? Nah, if your in the right mood this can be somewhat enjoyed, but it's mostly silly stuff. If there's going to be any punk worth a listen it has to be serious, for me at least. It's so often people fail so miserably in this genre, that you wonder how much of it is really worth it. Judging by Fat Music For Fat People, not very much.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This was a compilation of bands on TVT records that was sent to everyone who spent more than twenty dollars in the mail order catalogue. You could also buy it for about 4 bucks. Most of these bands are pretty unknown, but amazingly, most of it is really good. The opening ska cut 'Round Kid' by Buck-O-Nine is basic ska punk, but it's downright catchy and fun. The rest of the material is a tour of unknown modern rock in almost all styles, from pounding heavy metal (Geezer's excellent 'Justified'), R.E.M.-ish pop (The Connells' very catchy 'Pretty Rough'), dancy techno-industrial music (the interesting Gravity Kills remix of their own 'Down'), etc. Personal favorites include the really heavy Geezer cut, the very pretty Connells cut, a weird but intriguing number by Catherine ('It's Gonna Get Worse') and the crunching metal of the actually kind of well known Sevendust ('Black'). A few cuts are slightly less interesting (Birdbrain's offering doesn't do much, nor does Stillsuit's), but at free or 4 bucks, it's well worth your time and money. Who knows, you might even find a new band to really get into. A note - I bought a large chunk of these albums, and these songs are the highlights of each respective album (though each, especially the Geezer and Connells albums has its moments).
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
The soundtrack to Howard's self serving but still pretty funny film, this album is split between film dialogue, new hard rock, and classic hard rock. The dialogue is all pretty funny (especially the "my member is black/as black as night" poem), but some of it seems poorly extracted, as the match game skit is shortened too much to be funny, and the track 'Lance Eluction' doesn't inform the listener why it's supposed to be funny (it does in the movie). The classic rock is good for the most part (except for the Van Halen track 'Jamie's Cryin', but then again, I never liked Van Halen), but everybody knows it already (with the possible exception of the fantastic Ramones punker 'Pinhead'). The other tracks are 'Smoke On The Water', 'I Want You To Want Me', 'Cat Scratch Fever', and a live version of 'You Shook Me All Night Long' (which doesn't sound much different than the original). It sounds good, but if you tape your classic rock station for 3 hours, you'll have it all (except for 'Pinhead').
The new rock (of which there are 7 tracks) is the main attraction, but it's kind of spotty. The opening duet between Rob Zombie and Howard Stern is good, standard White Zombie. Green Day's cover of 'Tired Of Waiting For You' sounds exactly like the original, but I love the original, so I'll still take it. I'm not a big Marilyn Manson fan, but his contribution 'The Suck For Your Solution' is reasonably catchy and crunchy. LL Cool J (who is uncredited for some reason) and the Chili Peppers minus Anthony Kiedis turn out a decent funk metal track with 'I Make My Own Rules'.
Type O Negative's collaboration with Ozzy Osbourne on a cover of Status Quo's 'Pictures Of Matchstick Men' would be better without Ozzy - the backing track was an outtake from Type O's October Rust, but it wasn't used for some reason until Ozzy sang over it (the groups never actually met). The music is definitely a typical Type O cover, with the music sounding dark, depressing, slow, and nothing like the original. I would have preferred Peter's low voice, though - Ozzy doesn't fit quite as well. The track is still good, though. Porno For Pyros' 'Hard Charger' sounds like typical Porno For Pyros, which means that it's decent, but nothing special. The concluding track 'Tortured Man' is Howard rapping about his personal problems over a Dust Brothers backing, and it's moderately funny, but the music isn't much. All in all, if you're a fan of Howard or heavy metal in general, this is a pretty enjoyable album, though it does have all of the flaws of a typical soundtrack.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
The soundtrack to John Carpenter's laughably bad futuristic tale of outlaws and vaguely homosexual crimelords is basically a collection of modern metal that never really gets going. The best tune by far is White Zombie's 'The One', which fits the campy feel of the movie perfectly, as Rob Zombie loves campy, bad movies. It's standard Zombie, but that's never a bad thing. 'Pottery' from the Butthole Surfers is another exciting track in the style of the faster tracks on ElectricLarryLand. It's a weird punky sounding song with a good guitar riff. The rest of this album ranges from so-so (tracks by Tool, Sugar Ray, and Gravily Kills) to downright awful (tracks by Tori Amos, The Toadies, Sexpod) to simply uneventful and unmemorable (everything else). I wish I could say more about this album, but it's so boring and uninteresting that I can't remember a single damn thing about it except a feeling of sleepiness that overwhelmed my around the beginning of the second half. Don't bother.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
The soundtrack to the incredibly underrated film "Angus" is basically a collection of modern jangle punk, circa 1995. The best moments are compelling enough - Green Day's movie centerpiece 'J.A.R.' is jangle punk at its catchiest and most convincing. I'm not a huge fan of the band, but I can't help smiling whenever that track starts up. Similarly, the closing track, Love Spit Love's 'Am I Wrong' is downright beautiful, with excellent orchestral accompaniment over a simple, effective melody with lyrics of lost love. The Goo Goo Dolls' 'Ain't That Unusual' is good, too - another simple, catchy, jangly pop anthem that fits the spirit of Angst in the film quite well. The rest of the music, while not bad per se, isn't interesting at all. You know the drill - 3 chord pop songs played in a slightly heavy, punky style. The style of music can be at least good in the hands of excellent bands, but groups like The Riverdales, Ash, and The Muffs just don't cut it. It's a pleasant enough listen, and it makes for quite enjoyable background music, but it's nothing you ever need to hear again. Do check out the movie, though - it's nice to see a film about high school where the central outcast is an actual outcast, not a stereotypical nerd or hollywood outcast. Plus, it's nice to see the handsome quarterback be seen as something less than everyone should want to be. I'll never understand how that movie flopped.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
The soundtrack to the unbelievably excellent film Rushmore (which I recommend you seeing right now - it's very funny and touching, and the characters are truly original) is a great set of 60s rock tunes. Most of them are really obscure, but that just adds to the fun - it's got that awesome 60s vibe, but you haven't heard most of these songs before. The only really well known song here is Chad and Jeremy's "A Summer Song", which is quite pretty. I like it a lot, honestly. John Lennon's "Oh Yoko" is here, too. If you've never heard it, it has really dopey lyrics ("In the middle of a cloud/In the middle of a cloud I call your name/ Oh Yoko! Oh Yoko!/My love will turn you on!"), but the tune is great anyway and really contributes to the mood of the album (which I'll get around to in a bit). Rounding out the you-might-have-heard-them tunes is the Live At Leeds version of the Who's "A Quick One While He's Away", which was my favorite song on Leeds, which is one of my favorite albums. No complaints from me, no sir-ee!
The rest is obscure, but amazingly, often just as good, if not better.The Creation's "Making Time" is a GREAT mod rocker in the finest tradition of The Who (I'll have to get some of their stuff). Choppy guitar riffs and angst-y, angry vocals and all. Great, great tune. Unit 4+2's "Concrete And Clay" is a groovy, fun pop song, quite worthy of your time and attention. Cat Stevens has 2 songs on here, both of which are excellent. "Here Comes My Baby" is a fun, short pop song that sounds nothing like Cat Stevens, but it's fun and extremely sing-a-longable. His other tune, "The Wind", is as gorgeous as can be, featuring nothing but Cat's beautiful voice and guitar picking. The Faces' "Ooh La La" is lots of fun, too, and was a great tune to use at the end of the movie (where it aided the mood immeasurably). Very pretty and such. The weakest rock song on this album is probably the Kinks' "Nothing In This World Can Stop Me Worryin' Bout That Girl", which is kinda boring, but worked well in it's particular scene in the movie (featuring a typically hilarious Bill Murray). The movie included the Stones' "I Am Waiting", which I wish had made it here, because it ruled. Oh well, nothing's perfect.
The album doesn't just have great rock songs, though. The album also features a dancable, 50's like jazz tune called "Blinuet" by Zoot Sims, and it's pretty fun if you're into dancy jazz. It also features one big error, though - Yvez Montand's "Rue St. Vincent", a nearly acapella number with a guy with an average voice singing in a foreign language. It's totally incompatible with the rest of the album. They should have used "I Am Waiting". The rest of the album features the score by Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo fame), an unbelievably, I put this record on to hear this just as much as the actual tunes.
They all sound very similar, so listing individual names would be pointless, but they all lend to the surreal, darkly comic sense of the movie. They're all very pretty, too. And none of them get old, since they're short and pop up in between the rock songs on this album, creating a wonderful, happy, yet strangely foreboding mood. They even mesh PERFECTLY with the rock songs. The guy who selected these tunes obvoiusly knew what he was doing. All in all, this is a great album, even if you've never seen the film, and earns a very, very high 8. I'd give it higher, but a couple of the tunes aren't quite as good, and I don't quite feel right giving a 9 to an album consisting mostly of previously released tunes by various artists. Pick it up anyway. It's the rare soundtrack that got it right.
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(reviewed by Kevin Baker)
I feel like I ought to be wearing a leisure suit. A really tacky one. A PLAID leasure suit---can it get tackier??? Actually, it probably can, but this is not a fashion review---or is it? It seems like most people automatically connect disco music to the fashions and trends of the mid-to-late 1970s, specifically the dance clubs and the polyester clothes and the wide lapels and all the stuff that we look back 20-some years ex post facto and laugh at. My parents look back at that era (they were in their 20s) and laugh at how unbelievably goofy and gaudy almost everything connected to it seems now. A generation of people weaned on punk rock treat the whole disco scene like some sort of obscene punchline, a wastefully decadent music scene that was crushed by punk by the grace of God. Is it really fair to throw an entire genre, an entire musical scene into the garbage can?
I don't think so. I'll be the first to admit that I dislike rap music with a passion as a rule, but I haven't been exposed to much. Maybe someday I'll look into it more, but at the time being I'm not too interested. However, just because I'm not interested in the accoutrements and message of rap music doesn't make it some sort of unspeakable evil that needs to be shoved to the darkest corner of the closet of musical history. Bashing disco music just because "it's tacky" and not taking ANY musical elements into consideration is not fair in any way, shape, or form.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox now. Basically, the skinny on this collection of tunes is that it's a assemblage of disco ditties used for the movie Saturday Night Fever. Hence the name, but I'm sure you gathered that already. The BeeGees were asked to contribute very heavily to the soundtrack, with 6 of the 17 songs being performed by them and with two other artists' interpretations of songs by the BeeGees. If you're at all familiar with the band, you probably have seen that the BeeGees were definitely melodically gifted, if perhaps a bit inclined to lean toward the schlocky side of the spectrum. The same can be said of their numbers on here....catchy, catchy, CATCHY, but not exactly deep on the meaning side of things. I do side with those who say that the 4 uptempo BeeGees songs are their best offerings on the album---I mean, how can you argue with songs like Stayin' Alive, Night Fever, Jive Talkin', and You Should Be Dancing? I even like the two ballads, How Deep Is Your Love and More Than A Woman. The whole falsetto thing does make it sound more like they're having a prostate exam than tenderly declaring their love, but I can deal with it.
I'll even go so far to say that I enjoy the two BeeGees "covers"----Yvonne Elliman's take on If I Can't Have You (which the good Brothers Gibb wrote but never actually recorded so far as I know) and The Tavares covers More Than A Woman. Now, the rest of the album is a bit of a mixed bag. The two classical compositions-turned-disco-dance-numbers are amusing if nothing else, and Manhattan Skyline is a nice, pleasant little piece of background music from the movie. I even enjoy Boogie Shoes, Open Sesame, and Salsation, and I will be the first to say that the nearly 11 minute long blow-out known as Disco Inferno rules. However, I must take issue with Calypso Breakdown.....this groove would've been inoffensive at 3 or 4 minutes, but it drags on for around 8 minutes. From Calypso Breakdown to nervous breakdown is what I say!
Well, perhaps not THAT bad, but it's waaaaaaay too long. That's really the only bad offender out of the bunch; everything else is at least tolerable. I really can't give this more than an 8.5 though-----there IS one problem with disco music that can't be sidestepped, and that is the fact that an entire album of it starts to fall on the monotonous side. It's a singles medium----that's why compilations with names like "Ultimate Gold Disco Classics volume XII" fly off the shelves compared to, say, an original Donna Summer LP. However, Saturday Night Fever works almost like a compilation, so the boredom factor isn't TOO bad. But, it can get old, and the fact remains that other than "gee, let's go dancing and be cool!" there isn't much substance behind the music. It's catchy and fun, but really that's it. That's probably why people trash disco so much in retrospect----it had no deeper meaning, no big message other than "have a good time." But as for me, I say that having a good time is not a bad thing. Not at all.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
Yeah, it's a little kiddie album, but believe it or not some of the songs on here are pretty darn great, and none are especially bad, though I could've done without "I Am Chicken." Most of these are parodies of popular songs like the title track or others like "Barn in the USA" and "Honk Around the Clock," but there are some originals here too, or else maybe I simply don't know the original song. It doesn't really matter whether they are or not since even the parodies have something new to offer. The biggest problem in the parody choices is "Count it Higher." That should have been modeled after the Doors song "Light My Fire" instead of the Beatles' "Twist and Shout."
"Born to Add," in the other hand, is a fine title track, absolutely hilarious to hear the line "Kids like you and me baby, we were born to add!" Great stuff. The Cookie Monster-sung heavy number "Me Going to Munch You Munch You Munch You" is a really fun song to listen to, and its got a fine bass line in the background, and some nice female vocals in there during the chorus. This is a great song and I'm not afraid to admit it. Bert has a sad ballad "I Wish I Had a Friend to Play With" that is unfortunately a little bit too short, but manages to build up to be a decent entry. After a really cool organ intro "Count Up To Nine" is a just a little blues song to tap your foot to.
The finest one is "(I Can't Get No) Cooperation" which takes the original Stones riff and speeds it up a good deal, and also adds some new bits of its own. In my opinion it is ten times as good as the original Stones song and is the single greatest Sesame Street song I have heard yet. Lyrically Born To Add doesn't turn out as stupid as you mught expect. Only "Cereal Girl" has lyrics too dumb for me, and the rest are fine. I'll probably go after Sesame Road later on, since this album, while definitely not a classic, is something you should have for a day when you're in a very good mood.
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COMMENTS
Wow... now this is certainly an interesting twist - reviewing a friggin' Sesame Street album on the same day as Tourniquet. You must be schizophrenic. Anyway, I actually heard this album on vinyl a lot awhile back. I was quite the Sesame fan back then, and still appreciate it now for its' ability to connect with both adults and young kids, since a lot of the humor is subtle enough for older people to get. I'm almost positive this originally came out in the early 80's, not 1995 of course - though I would have never thought of actually listening to it again to write a review for it. I guess you see something new every day in this business.
From what I can remember, anyway, I agree with most of what you wrote here. This is such a fun album! I heard it way back before I knew of any classic rock bands of course, but I still very much remember the title track, the Cookie Monster song, and "(I Can't Get No) Cooperation", a nice uptempo rendition of the Stones "Satisfaction". Of course, if you're actually rating this on the same scale as the 7 you gave for Quadrophenia I'm just gonna have to kill you. But you probably wanna kill me for having anything positive to say about Limp Bizkit's Three Dollar Bill Y'All, so there.
[email protected] (Brad Langoulant)
While i do pefer there more experemental drug influenced stuff this is still a solid album.
Highlights includes Big birds guitar playing, Snufalufogases drumming and elmos bass playing
Geez, Robert, what next. Are you gonna review the Swedish Chef's "Bork Bork" song? ;-)
By the way Chef rules! I just wish he could been on Sesame Street so we couldve seen him more often.
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
A good chance wasted. This album combines hard rock bands with underground electronica artists. Sometimes this combination works, like on the slow, smooth Incubus track 'Familiar', but more often than not it doesn't. The worst offender is the DJ Spooky remix of Metallica's 'For Whom The Bell Tolls', which makes me wanna punch someone. It takes Metallica's old classic slow thrash song and turns it into fast techno. It's worse than it sounds, and that says a lot. Slayer and Atari Teenage Riot are another match made in hell, as Slayer + techno = unlistenable crap. Orbital and Kirk Hammett turn in a really boring instrumental called 'Satan' that it hurt even more by the electronic beats. Sometimes the techno band gets totally buried, like on the Korn contribution 'Kick The P.A.' (which sounds like the worst stuff on Life Is Peachy) and the uneventful Marilyn Manson track. The only combination that actually sounds comfortable is Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine and Prodigy, who turn in a decent track. The Soul Coughing track is entertaining only because it's laughably bad. Basically, track after track just sits there, trying to sound hip and innovative but weighed down by groups that probably hate each other inhibiting each other. Trust me, the Incubus track here is the only one anyone really needs to hear. The rest ranges from so-so to horrible. Pass.
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COMMENTS
i did have a spawn action figure! a barbarian woman with a sowrd and a bikini! the rest of those have a creepy twisted shape! i too have a metallica figure with drummer lars! the album was a bad mix of dance pop with nu metal! they killed for whom the bell tolls!
i do like tom morello's mix and incubus but the rest sucked!
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
A fine sampling of the music that the record company has to offer. Of course, since this is just a sampling that'll cost the album a couple points right there. But you usually can find samplers real cheap, and this can give you an idea about sixteen different bands on Tooth And Nail Records. So I'll go through the tracks and bands here one by one, and tell you which ones you might like, and which ones pretty much suck and deserve no attention at all. First off is Velour 100's "Bittersweet," a slow, mellow song that unfortunately isn't very interesting. It tries to be very beautiful, and I can certainly hear that, but this is a big failure in the end. Somewhat pretty, and that's all. They've got a female singer whose performance on this song is not terribly impressive, but certainly better than a lot of them out there. I don't know all that much about Velour's other work, but if it's like this then be sure to avoid it.
Starflyer 59, one of the most successful bands on the label, has "The Translator" to follow that up, and it's much more of a hard rock side. Starts out with an awesome riff and then drops into a slow and simple, but moody section. It's effective, very good, even if a bit too short. I actually have some other Starflyer 59 releases (She's the Queen EP and Gold), but I haven't listened to them in forever. Why not? I don't know. I'll have to give them a listen soon.
Several of their album covers are just a solid color, (Gold is Gold, Their self-titled debut is silver, and Americana, and that was before the Offspring release by the way, the album this song was taken from, has a red one, but no, they don't have a white album.) and I find that somewhat interesting. This song is awesome, so I'll have to find those other Starflyer releases I have. Then it's the catchy, but dumb "Smooth Death" by the Danielson Family, known for a more unique and silly style than a lot of the bands on the record company. It's a little too stupid for me, and I don't like the singer's style at all. It's followed by "Jamies Kisses" by Pep Squad, and it's sort a pop-punk song (or as the record company states "sour candy pop"), but it's quite good, though certainly not good enough to make me want to go out and buy the album. Pedro the Lion's "Nothing" is quite a misleading song, as with it's wonderfully quiet mood and gentle tone with and excellent melody it's a great song, but the EP it comes from, Whole EP, is much less structured or interesting. It's the only song from Pedro that I find to be really good, and since Whole EP was such a bore, I have no further interest in the band.
Then we have Sal Paradise's "Road Movie #57," which is easily the best on the sampler, and one of the greatest modern rock songs ever. It starts out with catchy and heavily melodic verses with the lyrics being random movies about a guy taking his girl to a road movie, but the final minute-and-a-half is one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. The rhythm section keeps the mood right as the solo moves along into an excellent finish. I've been meaning to pick up the album this is on for quite a while, but for some reason haven't. Hmm, I'll have to pick it up soon, because if the rest of the songs are even half as good as this one it will be a huge success.
The sampler moves on to Morella's Forest's "Tangerine Drops," described as "post-shoegazer girlie pop" by the little info sheet in here. I own, Ultraphonic Hiss, the album it's from, and the rest are similar in both style and quality, which is a good thing since this song is great. Then it's "Louise" by Delta Haymax, which is a bit too much like an late fifties/early sixties to be all that good. Maybe their trying to be like all of their happy favorite bands, but other than a good guitar solo they give nothing new. The second half opens with Luxury's "Metropolitan," a song that effectively combines several styles into one great song. I know absolutely nothing about any of the rest of their stuff, and haven't yet taken the time to look into it.
The good, but somewhat generic "Frustrated" from Damien Jurardo follows, and then we get thrown into a land of "lolly-pop trees and purple and flowers and things make believe" with the highly electronic music sung by a guy with teeth worse than Steve Howe. I guess it's good, for electronic music anyway. It's catchy, with some interesting moog parts or whatever, though I must say I was never crazy about the whole electronic movement. One of the most popular bands on Tooth and Nail, Plankeye, adds one of their songs to the sampler. "Struck By the Chord" from Commonwealth (which I did have a few years ago, but I think I lost it somewhere along the line), is a fine example of Christian rock at its best, which doesn't really mean a lot, but if you're under the impression that the Newsboys and Dc Talk are all that's out there, you might want to give this a try.Or better yet give Stavesacre a try. The darkest and moodiest tune on the album, "Sunken Anchor" from Roadside Monument follows, and I can't really say much about it since my sampler CD has been scratched on that particular song for a while.
Puller's "#1 Fan" is an AWESOME song, and while I don't have their Sugarless album (though I've also heard their song "6 x 6" from the same album, and it is even better), I'm guessing that it's quite good . Driver Eight enter next with "Strange," and this song rules. I do have this album (Watermelon), and it's just as good. So run out and get this now. Or buy the damn sampler and hear how great the song is then get the album. Closing off the sampler is "Baby Shoes" by Joe Christmas, which does nothing for me. It's just kind of there, and I hardly ever listen to it. But it finishes off a collection of songs that's certainly worth your money at only two bucks, and may even show you some bands worth your time.
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