REVIEWS:
The original brainchild of now world-famous composer Danny Elfman (funnily most famous for his timeless, excellent theme song for "The Simpsons"), Oingo Boingo began their recording career (preceded by an existence as a theatrical club band called "The Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo") as sort of a fusion of new wave, punk, and horns before moved to a more streamlined, shiny sound in the middle of their career and then ending it all by going all-out weird and attempting to merge psychedelia and grunge into one entity, with slightly mixed results. Though the band often garnered criticisms in their day that their music was over-orchestrated, this, in my opinion is where critics completely miss the point—the over-orchestration was, and is, the band’s entire appeal. Listening to an Oingo Boingo song was like listening to one of Danny Elfman’s little twisted, over-arranged symphonies, and at least three-quarters of the time it was interesting as hell, and though some of it may wear thin over time, it’s still always worth a listen.
Musically this band was an utter monstrosity, with eight members in the original lineup, the most significant of whom besides Elfman were Steve Bartek, who played blistering lead guitar like a madman, and drummer Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez, who mentally was a backup to Elfman’s insane genius, and he was a pretty frickin’ good drummer at the same time.
--Rich Bunnell
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(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
At first, Boingo sounded like a ticked-off, punked-up, horn-spiked version of early XTC, and even though this, the band’s debut EP, doesn’t seem very filling, in my opinion it would’ve been a travesty had the band stretched out for a whole album at this point. Four songs; three originals and one cover; and it’s very entertaining but not guaranteed to be as interesting as the band would become later.
The best song by far is "Only A Lad," a musically-tight, catchy-as-hell social commentary about a rebellious arsonist child who got away with everything he did because he was "only a lad" and "society made him that way." Even when viewed with most of the band’s later work it can be seen as completely equal—the problem is, not very much of the remainder of the EP is as filling. Still, that’s only because the songs can’t possibly live up to the one that came before them. The bouncy, charged "Ain’t This The Life" is the best of the other three tunes, and the sly "I’m So Bad" is great if you’re in the right mood for it, but the cover "Violent Love" doesn’t really present many reasons to exist. All in all, this EP is fun but it’ll either leave you wanting more or thinking "Ecch, what a typical new wave band"—still, it shows the band at a crucial point in their career, ready to enter the studio after years of being an exclusive live-only band.
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(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
The band somehow immediately pulled it together after the debut EP into a full album, and out popped an utterly hilarious full-length LP. Danny Elfman and Frank Zappa really would’ve had it out had they met this year, as while Zappa that very same year was mounting a carefully-constructed attack of conservatives with his You Are What You Is album, Elfman here blatantly defends the conservative point of view, attacking liberals who rebel against society just for the sake of complaining and whining about things. This is most obvious in songs such as "Capitalism" where Elfman defends the profit-making system and singing that people who slam it are just weak socialist whiners who know nothing about pain and suffering. It also shows up in songs such as "Little Girls" and "Nasty Habits" where Elfman seems to be trying to bring to the forefront subjects such as pedophilia and masturbation which are taboos in society, never to be discussed, yet they’re blatantly defended through lyrics such as "Where would we be without nasty habits?" and "I love little girls, they make me feel so good!"
Just the lyrics on this album make it a must-buy (reading the lyric sheet is a hoot) but the music is nothing to cough at either—the band has refined their approach since last time, charging up the horns and pumping the catchy hooks, which especially shows up in the amazing new wave single "On The Outside," one of the band’s catchiest songs of all time with instantly memorable horn fills and nicely-placed backing vocals, mixed with lyrics about the coolness of not fitting in (something which I’m sure Elfman was fairly used to). Aforementioned songs like "Nasty Habits" and "Little Girls" are among the best, particularly the former—it’s like a carefully-staged mini rock-opera! And one devoted to masturbation! In fact, every song on the album is catchy, including a wonderfully-warped cover of the Kinks classic "You Really Got Me," of course not as good as the original yet it’s very, very fun to listen to.
Overall, this is a very entertaining album, and though the band doesn’t sound as full and accomplished as it does on later albums, they manage to come up with the most pure fun they would ever create in the studio. The only gripe is that the re-recorded version of "Only A Lad" pales in comparison to the wonderful EP version, but it’s still a great song and the hilarious pro-capital punishment lyrics still remain. A classic.
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(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
Boingo’s second full-length album shows the band at the very peak of their talents, bashing out the jerky, horn-spiked melodies which by now had become synonymous with the band, and they do it with such apparent ease that one can’t help but gape at the band’s greatness—or at least, I can’t. The production is sort of muddy (most noticeably on the otherwise wonderful swirling semi-epic opener "Grey Matter") but it nevertheless works very well with the material, even though Danny’s voice is quite buried in the mix at a few singular moments.
This is quite a varied selection of tunes (a factor which Boingo would find harder to achieve a few albums on), ranging from the paranoid funk-rap of the hilarious "Insects"(featuring the immortal lyric "Insects make me, make me want to DANCE!"), the straightforward catchy new-wave pop of "Private Life," the slyness of "Whole Day Off," the dark, schizophrenic singalong of "Nothing To Fear (But Fear Itself)" and the playful swaying bounce of "Why’d We Come"(which features an excellent, unexpected, deer-in-the-headlights mock funk opening which rises out of a fairly bleak-sounding low-key melody).
Though some might find songs like "Wild Sex (In The Working Class)" over-arranged and go-nowhere, or tunes like "Islands" dark, melody-deprived dirges, I personally don’t belong to such a camp and respect this album for what it is: the epitome of Boingo and what basically sums up every single musical vision that Elfman had or ever would have in the band’s entire career. Some publications and reviewers (such as the All Music Guide, the Trouser Press Guide To ‘80s Rock, and the all-famous internet interactive music guru Mark Prindle) don’t seem to be too fond of this album, but I personally can’t see why—nowhere had I found such an appealing selection of melodies and dynamics all bunched into one package since the day I bought the Dukes Of Stratosphear’s Chips From The Chocolate Fireball. Buy that album, and this one too.
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(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
While the previous album is usually held in low regard by trendy critics who want to think they’re sophisticated by slamming the album for its over-orchestration, this one is usually rated with a "it’s the best of the early work but it’s still not that great" sentiment. I really can’t see how this album is better than Nothing To Fear, as it’s a bit too patchy. The album is more stylistically-varied than its predecessor, but that means that there are more failed styles, such as the dopey reggae of "Fill The Void," the nondescript cynical pop of "Little Guns," and the wild backwards interesting-but-not-musically-filling "Cry Of The Vatos."
The rest of the album is fine and ranges from great to excellent, however, and actually improves upon the band’s prior best work. The macho posturing factor is up a bit, as evidenced by the shouting in "Sweat" and the call-and-response chants of "Who makes the rules?" "Someone else!" in the wonderful fan-favorite "No Spill Blood," but it doesn’t hurt the songs. The title track and the rather unsubtle but catchy "Nothing Bad Ever Happens" on the other hand, show the band able to fill mellow soundscapes with great pop hooks, and "Who Do You Want To Be" and "Wake Up (It’s 1984)" are so biting that they practically snarl at the listeners’ throats.
So, all in all, it’s not as cohesive as the prior album and it seems more like a collection of songs instead of a big bouncy over-orchestrated magnum opus, but it’s still fine. Just don’t believe everyone who says it’s "the best of the early unstructured recordings" because honestly, does "Little Guns" -actually- do it for anybody or do they just turn off the album after the wonderful, spooky "Pictures Of You," assuming it’s the last track?
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COMMENTS
Isn't the "macho posturing" of "Who makes the rules? / Someone else!" in "No Spill Blood" actually taken from the book this song is inspired by, The Island of Dr Moreau by H.G. Wells?
(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
The Greatest Party Album Of The ‘80s!!! New Wave Mania!!! Fun Music For Nostalgic Dancing!!! I guess this is what some would call the "sellout," but I have my reservations on that because the previous albums had some very radio-ready cuts, but they just lacked the full production and the soundtrack inclusions that this one had on its side. As a result, this is Boingo’s only gold album even though they easily deserve a few more—but who am I to speak for the masses who at the same time were lapping up Wham!?
I’ll cut to the chase. The first five songs on this album are magnificent. Each one of them marries the new streamlined production feel and increasingly-well-crafted songwriting of Elfman in perfect harmony, and this especially shows in the first two tracks which each receive some amount of airplay: the fast, pleading, epic-sounding "Just Another Day" and "Dead Man’s Party," one of the band’s most famous songs due to a live version four years later which still gets heavy airplay to this day. The harmonically-complicated and cool "Heard Somebody Cry," the spooky death warning "No One Lives Forever," and the soulful "Stay" are also choice cuts and had the band decided to release these five songs on their own this would’ve been the band’s best release ever—all five have their own place in the Boingo Top 20 for me, whatever that is.
The rub is that after the first half, the album takes a great big nosedive into generica. "Fool’s Paradise" is the best of the lot, but it’s still just uptempo party music with no real hook; "Help Me" is just bland and unmemorable, and the same can be said about "Same Man I Was Before," which is too plodding to have any real impact despite a catchy Oriental-tinged chorus. And the closer, the soundtrack single "Weird Science," from the movie of the same name, is the most infectious of the lot but it wears thin pretty quickly due to a really repetitive song structure filled with a bunch of typical ‘80s songwriting techniques (the thudding synth-line for one) and the over six-minutes length presented here, which allows it to ramble on incoherently for a good three minutes after the actual song has ended. The single version is a bit better, however, because it’s decidedly shorter—but the album’s second half nevertheless isn’t very impressive.
Still, the album is worth buying for those first five amazing songs, and this one’s fairly widely-hailed, but I can’t give it a full recommendation because of those weaker tracks. Maybe if the song order on the album wasn’t so weighted towards the front the songs would sound better, but as it is the songs sound weak and make the album seem lopsided. Catchy, though, I’ll give it that!
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(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
Another step down in songwriting but a major leap forward in presentation—even though aside from the majestic, complicated opener "Home Again," none of the songs are as impressive on their own as before, the mere presentation of all of the songs makes the album worthwhile. The album mixes the newer, streamlined production with the band’s older tendency to pile any instruments onto the mix that they could, and the result is an exhilarating, if slightly bland at points, experience.
The best way to describe this album is that it’s a lot like Dead Man’s Party's bland second half, only the mere dynamics of the album keep the tunes from sounding as banal and uninteresting. For example, "Where Do All My Friends Go" and "New Generation" both don’t possess very inviting melodies, the first one sounding like it was made up by some corporate songwriter trying to sound like Boingo and the second sounding far too uneasy and hackneyed, but the day is saved by jerky, wild instrumental dynamics which make each of the songs a wild ride through the twisted overproduced mind of Danny Elfman. Plus, the aforementioned "Home Again," the fast funk of "Elevator Man," the cheesy-but-memorable pop of "We Close Our Eyes" and the stomping, abrasive "Pain" are fine in their own right!
The memorable melodies and hooks are without a doubt fewer than before, and the album has at least one unsalvageable song, the falsetto-laden, syrupy "My Life," but the album still manages to remain interesting primarily because it’s so shiny and wild and there’s such a "NOTICE ME!!! NOW!!!" vibe running through the album that it’s hard to resist. Maybe it’s mindlessly commercial and generic at spots, but this album is at least as good as the prior one and doesn’t deserve the non-recognition it garners.
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(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
Ergh. Sorry if it’s predictable to say this, but this album is boring. Generic. A load of clichéd melodies topped off with cheesy self-help lyrics does not a good album make, and it seems as if as a result of Danny Elfman’s soundtrack success since BOI-NGO, he suddenly said "Oops! It’s been three years! Time to make a new Boingo album!" and threw together some generic melodies, went on a tour, and then went back to the soundtrack work which actually gave him money.
The worst offender on the album is "Long Breakdown," certainly a listenable song but any complete idiot could’ve made that melody; something which couldn’t be said about any song from Nothing To Fear. Singles like "Out Of Control" and "Flesh N’ Blood" are almost as bad, seeming to attempt to turn the Boingo sound into a formula. "Right To Know" contains a disgusting falsetto worse than that of "My Life"s and "Run Away (The Escape Song)," though the title is a slightly-funny inverse of that Pina Colada song, simply repeats one boring musical idea for the song’s whole run.
Highlights? Yes, there definitely are some excellent songs, the best one being the hypnotic, wonderful "Skin," and others being the dark, world-beat-ish opener "When The Lights Go Out" (not to be confused with the terrible 5ive song) and the repetitively lulling "Dream Somehow" which boasts a beautiful "Come to the rescue now!" call-and-response harmony. "Glory Be" and "Try To Believe" come close to being okay but each one has sickening religiously-inspired lyrics (Come on, Danny! We want big, unsubtle political lyrics! NOW!), and as I stated before, most of the album just isn’t very impressive. It all sounds nice, that’s for sure, and the melodies are all pretty, but only a few are strong at all and this doesn’t hold a candle to the band’s earlier work. This is a better album than anything Matchbox 20 will ever do but by Boingo standards, an album this average is shockingly weak. And Danny looks like David Spade in the liner art! What’s with that?
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(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
The band’s final album sounds like a mixed bag at first, containing one excellent song and a bunch of filler, but my opinion of it has risen somewhat since I first got this in the used section of Wherehouse Music (Yes, this is the band’s cutout album. Sad.). First, let me explain the "one excellent song." "Insanity," which opens the album, is one of the band’s very best songs, an 8-minute, inherently Elfman composition filled with crashing synth, children’s choruses, tribal drums, string fades, and basically everything the band could throw into the mix, and it all comes together in an intense, wonderfully-satisfying, cynical socio-political epic, and on top of all that, it contains one of Elfman’s best lyrics: "The white folks think they’re at the top/Ask any proud white male/A million years of evolution/We get Danny Quayle."
The rest of the album obviously can’t measure up and the only songs which seem to stand out other than that are "War Again" and the 16-minute "Change," each with instantly-memorable melodies. The problem that keeps this album from really sounding great at first is that Danny seems to be obsessed with sounding like a snide British Invasion psychedelia singer, and it doesn’t work. This especially shows its head in the attempt at a Beatles-ish epic, "Mary," and a cover of "I Am The Walrus," the Beatles’ very best song ever, which replaces the excellent Beatles arrangement with loud, bombastic horns (which strangely are featured nowhere else on the album due to the lack of the famous horn section) and irritating vocals. Plus, "Hey!" and "Pedestrian Wolves," both over eight minutes long, both have -great- melodies at points but run out of gas at least three times each, particularly "Hey!" which starts out as beautiful complicated uneasy-sounding acoustic psychedelia but goes on into terrible off-key grunge bridges and a soft, stupid-sounding "Please, mother, forgive me" part which doesn’t fit in with the melody at all.
Still, after quite a few listens, I’d give this album my one-and-a-half thumbs up because some of the songs can grow on you and a few, such as "Can’t See (Useless)" and "Spider," are downright beautiful. I’m certain that lots of people hate this album (I used to be one of them), however, despite its shortcomings, and there are a significant number of them, the album works as Elfman’s last stab at album rock. It just needed to be trimmed a bit.
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(reviewed by Rich Bunnell)
A live album of the band’s very last concert before disbanding for purely logical reasons — namely, so the band didn’t become washed-up dinosaurs and so Danny could score more movie soundtracks. I stink at reviewing live albums (there’s not ever that much to say) so I’ll keep this short. Most of the songs are given wonderfully faithful treatments, except for "No Spill Blood" which loses the bite of the album version. "We Close Our Eyes" loses the shiny production gloss of the studio version to good effect, most of Nothing To Fear is represented, the Boingo songs sound much better here (except for "Hey!" which still sounds bloated) and Danny’s offhand comments are hilarious.
The new songs are wonderful too, especially the bouncy "Water" and the lyrically-vulgar but intense "Piggies." My only real complaint is that not all of the great stuff is represented; I for one would have really liked to hear "Nothing Bad Ever Happens," "Private Life," and "Home Again" seeing that it was the last time the band would ever play together. Still, this is a good live album and better than most out there, and from what I’ve heard the cassette version contains "Just Another Day" and "Nothing To Fear (But Fear Itself)," two of the band’s best songs—if only they were on the CD version.
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