Various – ‘Dead Band’s Party:
A Tribute to Oingo Boingo’ (Indianola Records)
The dollar bins of used
record stores all across America (and likely parts elsewhere) are overflowing
with copies of tribute albums. Whether this one joins its brethren or finds a
permanent place on the CD racks of music fans remains to be seen. If I were to
hazard a guess, though, I’d say the former is most likely. It’s not that this
is awful or anything, but most of the bands don’t really do anything interesting
with the tunes. I do like Clear Static’s version of “Dead Man’s Party”, which
gives the song sort of a Duran Duran feel, and the award for standout track goes
to Stairwell’s “Just Another Day”, a melancholy piano driven version of the
song. There’s a fine art to covering someone else’s song. Anyone can take a
song in one genre and adapt it to another. But making it sound like that song
was yours to begin with is something else all together. While most of the bands
on here sound like they’re just covering an Oingo Boingo song, Stairwell own
their track. So does Jessica Burgan, even though her blend of folk and pop/rock
isn’t my cup of tea. And Finch does a weird minimalist version (just a beat,
vocals, and some atmospheric electronics) of “When the Lights Go Out” that I’m
not sure how I feel about yet, but at least it’s interesting. Maybe this’ll get
some new listeners into Oingo Boingo, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing. If
you’re already a fan, though, stick with the originals. (Bob Ignizio)
This
is exactly what it says it is, although if they had wanted to toss an adjective
like “awesome” or “excellent” into the subtitle they could have gotten away with
it. Lest you’re thinking this is gonna’ be an album full of bands that sound
like Guitar Wolf, ‘Just Go Destroy’ allays your fears right off the bat with the
Ramonesy “Get Happy” courtesy of The Have Nots. That’s followed up by Jail
Guitar Doors more modern melodic (but still rockin’ and real) punk on “Fight it
Out”. But the comp really starts to grab me with the New Bomb Turks influenced
“Still Alive” by Coattail Rider and “What a Way to Die”, a slab of classic
garage rock offered up by Goggle-A. No Evacuations then proceed to rip your
face off with some blistering hardcore punk on “Hate of the City”. As you can
see, there’s a fair amount of variety in just the first 5 songs, and that
continues throughout this comp. There’s even an “oi” song (“Crispy Nuts” by
Regulations) and Dead Soul Supermarket get funky on “Das Boot”. Aside from
their country of origin, the only thing tying these bands together is quality.
Not a single track on here annoyed me (a rarity for me when it comes to comps)
and several really impressed me (the aforementioned Goggle-A and The Faceful’s
equally infectious track “Take Me to the High” in particular). One of the most
consistent comps I’ve heard in some time. Check it out. (Bob Ignizio)
Various – ‘Meet Me in
the Time Tunnel: Obscure Powerpop From the Land of the Lost (1978-1985)’
(Wizard in Vinyl)
If you’re wondering
what sort of stuff we’re talking about, some of the bands on here are kind of
the regional versions of stuff like The Romantics, Tommy Tune, The Cars, and The
Knack. Some of it is more or less punk rock, some of it’s closer to new wave.
But even the poppier bands on this compilation are still pretty raw – sloppy
drumming, budget production and all. This does for the eighties what ‘Nuggets’
and ‘Pebbles’ did for the sixties, digging up some cool regional bands that
otherwise would be unknown to the world at large. Most of the tracks on here
were self released at one time or another, but there are also a few unreleased
tunes. Dennis Most is the only artist on here I know, and his song “Life is a
Cruel Gig” is an expected highlight. But I also liked The Silencers
“Girlfriends Boyfriends”, the slow, jam heavy “You Go Home” by The Foreign
Objects, the upbeat new wave of “Take Me Down” by The Zips, the B-movie inspired
“Tribute to Dela Lagosi” by The Dunderheads, and the moody pop of The Spliff’s
“You’ll Know What They’ll Say”. With the rise of indie labels in the nineties,
you have to wonder if this isn’t the last decade that can be mined for rare gems
like this. Highly recommended for all you musical archeologists out there.
(Bob Ignizio)
If you are a fan of
Hayden, Beck, The Eels, or other lo-fi popsters, you will for sure love Woody
Whatever. They have an infectious pop sound that derives from acoustic guitars,
drum machines, and dueling harmonies. This 11 song record is raw and full of
emotions. From the upbeat opener "Drive An Uncle Through Mountains" to the Red
House Painters-esque "I Booked A Flight", these guys have a good variety to
their music. The record doesn't get dull with songs that blend together; each
song has its own identity. Standouts here are "I Was Afraid" and "Stephani",
but really, all the songs are pretty solid. I highly recommend this one. If
you're interested, you can actually get this from
Amazon.com. (Eddie Fleisher)
The dollar bins of used
record stores all across America (and likely parts elsewhere) are overflowing
with copies of tribute albums. Whether this one joins its brethren or finds a
permanent place on the CD racks of music fans remains to be seen. If I were to
hazard a guess, though, I’d say the former is most likely. It’s not that this
is awful or anything, but most of the bands don’t really do anything interesting
with the tunes. I do like Clear Static’s version of “Dead Man’s Party”, which
gives the song sort of a Duran Duran feel, and the award for standout track goes
to Stairwell’s “Just Another Day”, a melancholy piano driven version of the
song. There’s a fine art to covering someone else’s song. Anyone can take a
song in one genre and adapt it to another. But making it sound like that song
was yours to begin with is something else all together. While most of the bands
on here sound like they’re just covering an Oingo Boingo song, Stairwell own
their track. So does Jessica Burgan, even though her blend of folk and pop/rock
isn’t my cup of tea. And Finch does a weird minimalist version (just a beat,
vocals, and some atmospheric electronics) of “When the Lights Go Out” that I’m
not sure how I feel about yet, but at least it’s interesting. Maybe this’ll get
some new listeners into Oingo Boingo, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing. If
you’re already a fan, though, stick with the originals. (Bob Ignizio)
This
is exactly what it says it is, although if they had wanted to toss an adjective
like “awesome” or “excellent” into the subtitle they could have gotten away with
it. Lest you’re thinking this is gonna’ be an album full of bands that sound
like Guitar Wolf, ‘Just Go Destroy’ allays your fears right off the bat with the
Ramonesy “Get Happy” courtesy of The Have Nots. That’s followed up by Jail
Guitar Doors more modern melodic (but still rockin’ and real) punk on “Fight it
Out”. But the comp really starts to grab me with the New Bomb Turks influenced
“Still Alive” by Coattail Rider and “What a Way to Die”, a slab of classic
garage rock offered up by Goggle-A. No Evacuations then proceed to rip your
face off with some blistering hardcore punk on “Hate of the City”. As you can
see, there’s a fair amount of variety in just the first 5 songs, and that
continues throughout this comp. There’s even an “oi” song (“Crispy Nuts” by
Regulations) and Dead Soul Supermarket get funky on “Das Boot”. Aside from
their country of origin, the only thing tying these bands together is quality.
Not a single track on here annoyed me (a rarity for me when it comes to comps)
and several really impressed me (the aforementioned Goggle-A and The Faceful’s
equally infectious track “Take Me to the High” in particular). One of the most
consistent comps I’ve heard in some time. Check it out. (Bob Ignizio)
If you’re wondering
what sort of stuff we’re talking about, some of the bands on here are kind of
the regional versions of stuff like The Romantics, Tommy Tune, The Cars, and The
Knack. Some of it is more or less punk rock, some of it’s closer to new wave.
But even the poppier bands on this compilation are still pretty raw – sloppy
drumming, budget production and all. This does for the eighties what ‘Nuggets’
and ‘Pebbles’ did for the sixties, digging up some cool regional bands that
otherwise would be unknown to the world at large. Most of the tracks on here
were self released at one time or another, but there are also a few unreleased
tunes. Dennis Most is the only artist on here I know, and his song “Life is a
Cruel Gig” is an expected highlight. But I also liked The Silencers
“Girlfriends Boyfriends”, the slow, jam heavy “You Go Home” by The Foreign
Objects, the upbeat new wave of “Take Me Down” by The Zips, the B-movie inspired
“Tribute to Dela Lagosi” by The Dunderheads, and the moody pop of The Spliff’s
“You’ll Know What They’ll Say”. With the rise of indie labels in the nineties,
you have to wonder if this isn’t the last decade that can be mined for rare gems
like this. Highly recommended for all you musical archeologists out there.
(Bob Ignizio)
If you are a fan of
Hayden, Beck, The Eels, or other lo-fi popsters, you will for sure love Woody
Whatever. They have an infectious pop sound that derives from acoustic guitars,
drum machines, and dueling harmonies. This 11 song record is raw and full of
emotions. From the upbeat opener "Drive An Uncle Through Mountains" to the Red
House Painters-esque "I Booked A Flight", these guys have a good variety to
their music. The record doesn't get dull with songs that blend together; each
song has its own identity. Standouts here are "I Was Afraid" and "Stephani",
but really, all the songs are pretty solid. I highly recommend this one. If
you're interested, you can actually get this from
