While I love the original Columbia releases (okay, Not Insane kinda sucks, but other than that), some of the later work is awfully good, and the NPR stuff has been uneven but great at its best.
I forget if this weblog strips links–if it doesn’t, then this will take you to the Presidents’ Day piece on NPR.
It’s a slightly poignant piece, as it starts with the lads agreeing they’re out of ideas–and it is slightly sad to hear them recycle “the only President of the United States…who was never President of the United States”, the phrases “leather thighs” and “like a bridge” (though in a somewhat different context), and George Tirebiter–but there is funny and original stuff.
Besides, they’ve recycled before, most notably bringing George Tirebiter into In The Next World, You’re On Your Own, which really was a wonderful, underrated record, and reviving Nick Danger from time to time. You can view this sort of thing as a little tip ‘o the hat to the fans (good), or as just another in-joke (bad), or as a little something the producer at NPR wanted (ugly).
Two bits in this piece–the poetry slam, where “Burnt Desert Dawn” goes up against “I Am The President’s Man”, and Cabletown (“Where TV Goes To Die”)’s Presidents’s Day Foolish First Families Fearathon–are as good as anything they’ve ever done, and there’s nothing in this piece that isn’t at least serviceable–it’s pretty darn good for free.
As for the recent CDs, I recommend Boom Dot Bust, which came out about two years ago:
“Boom Dot Bust: Ride in on a boom–go home on a bus. Doom Bot Dust.”
Where Boom Dot Bust (and a lot of the later work) fails is in its overall coherence. There’s no doubt, when you listen to Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers, that you’re hearing a single, well-planned work with a narrative thread–a day, perhaps the last, in the senescent life of George Tirebiter. Tirebiter is cast in all the dramas that make up that work.
On Boom Dot Bust, the four major characters do things, usually unrelated. They’re funny things, but they don’t add up to something big, as they do on, say, Everything You Know Is Wrong.
By the way, I recently purchased Waiting for the Electrician (or Someone Like Him) and was appalled to discover the first few seconds of Side Two were missing! It now begins “Bath. Border. May I see your passport, please.” This ruins the circularity of one of their best pieces. (And there’s a question–were the LP-length pieces or the half-length pieces better, overall?)
Having carefully perused the Firezine site, I see the Four or Five Guys don’t like Boom Dot Bust as well as their preceeding work, Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death.
My memories of that one were fuzzy but unfavorable, so I dug out the copy a friend made (I told him, “Don’t bother making a cover–I’m only keeping this till I buy a legit copy.”)
It turns out Give Me Immortality or Give Me Deathis funny as hell. Their recasting of Princess Diana as Princess Goddess alone is well worth the effort of getting the CD.
I’m not so down on Boom Dot Bust as The Guys are–but then, the poor sales didn’t hurt me any (other than slowing down the release of whatever might’ve come next).
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I would want this so badly if I weren’t afraid it would simply confirm that they aren’t anywhere near the brilliance of their earier work. . . .
While I love the original Columbia releases (okay, Not Insane kinda sucks, but other than that), some of the later work is awfully good, and the NPR stuff has been uneven but great at its best.
I forget if this weblog strips links–if it doesn’t, then this will take you to the Presidents’ Day piece on NPR.
It’s a slightly poignant piece, as it starts with the lads agreeing they’re out of ideas–and it is slightly sad to hear them recycle “the only President of the United States…who was never President of the United States”, the phrases “leather thighs” and “like a bridge” (though in a somewhat different context), and George Tirebiter–but there is funny and original stuff.
Besides, they’ve recycled before, most notably bringing George Tirebiter into In The Next World, You’re On Your Own, which really was a wonderful, underrated record, and reviving Nick Danger from time to time. You can view this sort of thing as a little tip ‘o the hat to the fans (good), or as just another in-joke (bad), or as a little something the producer at NPR wanted (ugly).
Two bits in this piece–the poetry slam, where “Burnt Desert Dawn” goes up against “I Am The President’s Man”, and Cabletown (“Where TV Goes To Die”)’s Presidents’s Day Foolish First Families Fearathon–are as good as anything they’ve ever done, and there’s nothing in this piece that isn’t at least serviceable–it’s pretty darn good for free.
As for the recent CDs, I recommend Boom Dot Bust, which came out about two years ago:
“Boom Dot Bust: A Browser-Blind, Randomly-Managed, User-Unfriendly, Morally Indifferent Cash Vacuum.”
“Boom Dot Bust: Ride in on a boom–go home on a bus. Doom Bot Dust.”
Where Boom Dot Bust (and a lot of the later work) fails is in its overall coherence. There’s no doubt, when you listen to Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers, that you’re hearing a single, well-planned work with a narrative thread–a day, perhaps the last, in the senescent life of George Tirebiter. Tirebiter is cast in all the dramas that make up that work.
On Boom Dot Bust, the four major characters do things, usually unrelated. They’re funny things, but they don’t add up to something big, as they do on, say, Everything You Know Is Wrong.
By the way, I recently purchased Waiting for the Electrician (or Someone Like Him) and was appalled to discover the first few seconds of Side Two were missing! It now begins “Bath. Border. May I see your passport, please.” This ruins the circularity of one of their best pieces. (And there’s a question–were the LP-length pieces or the half-length pieces better, overall?)
Having carefully perused the Firezine site, I see the Four or Five Guys don’t like Boom Dot Bust as well as their preceeding work, Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death.
My memories of that one were fuzzy but unfavorable, so I dug out the copy a friend made (I told him, “Don’t bother making a cover–I’m only keeping this till I buy a legit copy.”)
It turns out Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death is funny as hell. Their recasting of Princess Diana as Princess Goddess alone is well worth the effort of getting the CD.
I’m not so down on Boom Dot Bust as The Guys are–but then, the poor sales didn’t hurt me any (other than slowing down the release of whatever might’ve come next).
So there you have it, Judge Poop!